Is my memory failing?

If I can still remember, sometime, not too long ago, there was an official announcement that there will be no increases in govt services or charges. But today we are facing higher electricity tariffs, higher phone bills, higher transportation cost, while we were told to brace up for a recession. Maybe I did not read them or understand them correctly. All these are private organisations, so it is still correct to say that govt services and charges have not gone up. Would hospital or medical bills be considered private as well? How private are our private organisations? Can a govt organisation or govt linked organisation be private by simply restructuring it and call it private when the major shareholder is still the govt? These are difficult and tricky things for the simple minded Singaporeans to decipher. It is easier to just accept any thing as private when it has a private label. That all is well.

Disneyland or beggars paradise

Orchard Road is the closest we can get to being another Disneyland. The cool and rich shop there and are seen there. The heartlanders will find it quite an expensive place to be. The parking and CBD charges will be enough to burn a hole in their pockets, unless they go there by public transport. You need to pay to be in Singapore's Disneyland. But this Disneyland is in a state of transformation. Other than the foreign workers and maids gathering there to size each other up for a weekend tryst, or for some serious business transactions, there is another big group of people seen regularly at Orchard Road. The beggar sects of all the neighbouring countries have turned Orchard Road into their business district and playground. From buskers to beggars, to monks and conmen, they lined the famous sidewalks of Orchard Road, mingling around and inhaling the expensive perfumery, and the beautiful shops and their gorgeous wares. The Twains have met, in Orchard Road. Both extremes found Orchard Road a paradise in their own ways. The rich and famous, the poor and ragged, are all in Orchard Road. A Disneyland and also a beggars paradise.

CPF - Ignorance is bliss

This Ah Pek told his kakis that the happiest moment of his life was to read his CPF statement every month. He said he felt so rich, so comfortable knowing that he had so much money in the CPF. My money would not run away. It would be there, guaranteed by the govt. And the money is growing with very high interest rate some more. Hopefully the CPF is still there when he needs the money. My CPF money did not run away, except that it retreated away from me when I reached 55. Now it has ran 7 years away. And after that, I still cannot touch all of them. I can only take a few hundreds every month until it runs out or I run out or comes 80. No, not true. Some can only be taken out after I die, at least $30k in the Medisave. I am not sure whether to be happy for the Ah Pek. Obviously he is another ignoramus who did not know anything about inflation. When the interest paid to his CPF saving is less than inflation, his money is withering away, becoming lesser by the day. And when real inflation hits him, for the cost of basic necessities are shooting way more than the official inflation rate, he might as well forget about saving when it all comes to nothing. His $3 today that becomes $20 in 20 years time may just buy him another bowl of wan tan mee. No matter what kind of spin is being churned out, it is all craps. The best option is to take your CPF money and put it into your own pocket. Use them when there is still some value. Who knows, one might just kick the bucket tomorrow and not smelling the CPF savings completely.

New format

Hi everyone, I have just changed the template and trying to work around the system. For the moment I have lost the list of contributors and I will try to get it back asap. Will see how much or what else I can add to the new format. Cheers PS. Please click on 'follow this blog' to insert your name in the box. This should do the trick.

One week to change the world

In one week, we are entering a brave new world. The Americans are now the biggest communist country, with its banks nationalised and the govt in control of many private enterprises. State intervention instead of letting the economy running along freely under capitalist system. Govt handouts and state welfare to help the poor. In one week, the G8 countries were bankrupted, practically. All resorting to printing more monies to aid their ailing economies and the banking systems. The G8 used to be known as a rich man's club, with the world's richest as members. Now the world's richest, in terms of liquidity available in the trillions, are not in the club. These include China, India and the Arab countries. The latter should form a new G group of countries where the real money is. G8 is history. The 'diseased' Sovereign Wealth Funds, SWFs, that were once shunned by the West and kept at arms length like lepers are now the knights in shining armour, welcome by their detractors to save their arses. SWFs are now in vogue, they are cool. They have the money. In one week, Capitalism dies. The excesses and the extremism of Capitalism dug its own grave and buried itself. In one week, all the financial wizards and all the whiz kids in New York are in debt, running risk of losing their jobs, and many have been exposed as simply con men and greedy crooks. In one week, George Bush's name will be engraved in stone in the Hall of Infamy as the US President that only knew how to spend money in starting wars but forgotten that there was an economy to look after. And he broke the banks. In one week, Europe and America went around begging for financial aid. In one week, America and Europe were lost in what they could do to save themselves from the financial mess they created. In one week, the world will no longer believe that the West knows what they are doing and should no longer be in a position to teach or tell the whole how to run their economies. In one week, the power equation of planet Earth shifted.