Compare prices and save

'Consumers can save money if they shopped around, Case said, noting that there were variations in prices across supermarkets, even for the same item.' And when I study the price comparison table carefully, I am fully convinced. And I am going to put this great saving idea into practice today. I will buy canned luncheon meat and eggs from NTUC Fairprice, canned sardines and baked beans from Shengsiong, condensed milk and toothpaste from Giant, shampoo and soap from Shop N Save, dishwashing detergent from Prime, and bread from Jasons. Wow, I am starting to count my savings from buying the cheapest from all these supermarkets. And don't worry about my petrol and time. I have plenty of spare time, and I can walk.

A pathetic existence of a life gone drastically wrong

I truly admire, and even envious, the old hags that sit in the board of directors or even as chairman of huge conglormerates and actively employed even in their 70s or feeble 80s. These are the men and women who have a good life. After toiling for half a life time, they ended in a job that demands them to attend a few board meetings and being paid in the millions or at least a few peanuts. And in between board meetings, maybe once a month, and a few corporate functions to grace the occasions, the rest of their time is for their own enjoyment. They can go travelling or spending quality time with friends, girlfriends, boyfriends or grandchildren. It is a life worth 'working' and living for. Anyone in such a privilege position will want to 'work' till death makes them part.With plenty of money and plenty of free time at their own disposal, 'working' for a life time makes a lot of sense when 'working' is once a month to attend board meetings. 'Working' really makes sense to these privileged individuals but not to those who have messed up their lives, wittingly or through a spate of misfortunes. No judgement here as many got into their predicaments through many reasons, self inflicted, environmental or circumstantials. It is a very sad state of affair to see a different set of old hags wiping tables and clearing plates in kopitiams or high end food courts. These octogenarians are a frail presence of their exuberance youth. Now their presence in stark contrast to a new generation of affluent young that have everything that they did not have in their life time. And the new young are enjoying every minute of their time in luxury while these old hags are told to value and treasure their economic independence and dignity, to earn a living at a time when they should be lying beside the boxes and waiting to be carried them home. Is this what life should be in a rich beyond belief first world paradise? That the oldies must toil to the last day of their pathetic existence? That this is called dignity and pride of living? Strongly encouraged by the state! I think this is the most shameful thing to see, and to believe that it is good. Don't we have any better options, a new thinking on what life should be for the oldies? A little tropical paradise as suggested by Boon Wan is not a bad idea as a choice, no compulsion and with true subsidies, to allow the oldies to retire in grace, comfort, stress free and with dignity. Walking the aisles of kopitiams and foodcourts can never be something to be proud of or to look forward to in one's twilight years.

And now I understand

I happened to step into Robinson last week and, to my amazement, the store was so crowded. I didn't know there was a sale on. I picked up a couple of items and headed for the cashier. I almost dropped what I was holding. There were something like 50 people in the queue. I looked around for other cashiers and the same picture struck me again. It might be a big sale. But hey, that's Robinson, and every item there is not cheap ok. And the customers were just grabbing, each with a few items in the hands and under their arms. Easily every customer would be hanging on to a couple of hundred bucks of items. Now this is also a part of paradise. While in the NTUC Fairprice the same crowd was there. But you could notice that price checking seems like a past time. The customers were checking and rechecking the prices and comparing similar items. If one patronises stores like Robinson, it is very excusable to exclaim that the good times are here. What is a few hundred bucks? It is good time and spending is a good distraction to the boring life. What a different world! Please forgive me if I don't have the same world view as you.

Different style

Below article was posted by a blogger in Tan Kin Lian's blog. It presented a different style on the issue of responsibility and accountability. I am not making any value judgement here as it is not a matter of right or wrong. It is just a style, and people do it differently. (Former President of India APJ Abdul Kalam at Wharton India Economic forum , Philadelphia , March 22,2008) Question: Could you give an example, from your own experience, leaders should manage failure? Kalam: Let me tell you about my experience. In 1973 I became the project director of India 's satellite launch vehicle program, commonly called the SLV-3. Our goal was to put India 's 'Rohini' satellite into orbit by 1980. I was given funds and human resources -- but was told clearly that by 1980 we had to launch the satellite into space.... By 1979 ...I went to the control center for the launch. At four minutes before the satellite launch, the computer began to go through the checklist of items that needed to be checked. One minute later, the computer program put the launch on hold; the display showed that some control components were not in order. My experts -- I had four or five of them with me -- told me not to worry; they had done their calculations and there was enough reserve fuel. So I bypassed the computer, switched to manual mode, and launched the rocket. In the first stage, everything worked fine. In the second stage, a problem developed. Instead of the satellite going into orbit, the whole rocket system plunged into the Bay of Bengal . It was a big failure. That day, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization, Prof. Satish Dhawan, had called a press conference....Prof. Dhawan, the leader of the organization, conducted the press conference himself. He took responsibility for the failure -- he said that the team had worked very hard, but that it needed more technological support. He assured the media that in another year, the team would definitely succeed. Now, I was the project director, and it was my failure, but instead, he took responsibility for the failure as chairman of the organization. ...in July 1980, ... and this time we succeeded. The whole nation was jubilant. Again, there was a press conference. Prof. Dhawan called me aside and told me, 'You conduct the press conference today.' I learned a very important lesson that day. When failure occurred, the leader of the organization owned that failure. When success came, he gave it to his team....

The new battle on foreign workers

We have discussed this many times over. Though some were more against foreigner workers, many narrow down to foreign talents that are not really talents but cheap white collar workers. And the gripe is that they are taking away these jobs from Singaporeans who are just as well qualified. Reading the msm today, a new battle is being fought between the govt and the opposition parties even to the extent of ridiculous challenge asking Worker's Party to just hire Singaporeans. This is the same kind of challenge asking Singaporeans to come up with alternative solutions when it cannot happen simply because the one being challenged is not in a position to carry them out. Ya, hogwash. So now we have the trade unions and the govt strongly for foreign workers. On the other corner, the natural opponents, the opposition parties. As far as workers are concerned, it is now an established fact that many jobs are shunned by Singaporeans and only foreigners are willing to accept them. So there should be no question as to whether the employers should or should not employ foreign workers for these jobs. What is needed is in jobs that Singaporeans want and are qualified to do. If these jobs are lost to Singaporeans, with so many things stacked against them, we are going to see many educated, qualified and angry Singaporeans hogging the net and kpkb.