Take a break

Sunday is a good time to take a break. God also takes his break on Sunday. Take the family to church or welcome all the children and grandchildren home for a family lunch. Go to the beach, to the parks, read a book or indulge in a little hobby of doing something just for the loveof it, for a little pleasure, not for money. Allowing oneself to unwind, to be free from the mundane and repetitive daily chores and struggling, it is the same everywhere, in a 800 sq ft HDB flat or in a 30,000 sq ft sprawling bungalow. It is a little moment of release from the material world. Looking at the sky without purpose, looking at the trees or the birds, sharing the sight and creation of nature. Won't it be nice if Sunday is everyday? Far from the maddening crowd? Leaving all the pursuits of material comfort to the following week when the mind is put to the gruelling threadmill of making more money, of surviving. How many people can take a simple break like a quiet Sunday, free from worries, free from the problems of this materialistic world? You be surprised that many are still caught in their own mess, unable to untangle themselves from the financial woes they have stepped into. And many are worrying themselves to death. Freeing oneself from worries seems so easy, so effortless. But not really. Our lives are not really ours to take charge. Other people are planning our lives everyday of the week, how we live, how much we have, and how much to take from us, especially our savings. In the end, many ends up with very little for themselves and have to spend their Sundays worrying how to make ends meet. And the best part is that all the hustlings to take your money away, or to make you spend or empty your pocket is for your own good. The old saying, if you have friends like this, you do not need any enemy. Has anyone ever wonder whether the people who are claiming to be helping them, who are doing all the things for their good, are the people who are killing them, slowly, like hanging heavier and heavier millstones on the people's necks? Give the people a break.

Obama cracking down on GREED

Our beloved model of progress, America, where we copied practically everything except for political system, is showing us how wrong that system is. The financial system has been a con game all the while and we imbibed everything wholeheartedly as the elixir of life. The culture of greed is mirrored in every aspect of our society to the extent that we idolised greed and brushing aside the little goodness that is left in the heart of the little man. We throw away all the goodness and virtues as nice sentiments that are not realistic in this brave new world of greed. The more greedy the more respectable. Allow me to quote a few phrases from a report by AFP, Bloomberg and AP in the ST today on what Obama will be doing. He slammed 'Wall Street for a me first mindset that fed the financial meltdown,...Congress, the White House, financial fat cats and regulators who, he said, "fell asleep at the switch".' There is the 'failure of oversight and accountability'. 'He pledged to "crack down on the culture of greed and scheming that's led us to this day of reckoning".' He thought the Americans were frustrated because 'there's not a lot of adult supervision out there.' The systems were supervised by a bunch of greedy old juveniles. The Madoff's case "has reminded us yet again of how badly reform is needed when it comes to the rules and regulations that govern our markets." We may not have cases of such a scale here, but we do have our shares of spectacular frauds. Maybe the big ones are waiting to be uncovered. The SEC under Christopher Cox, 'is accused by the critics of turning a blind eye to market abuses by well connected banks and financial firms. The agency failed to detect ample signs of trouble on Wall Street that lead to the global economic meltdown,...' Obviously the SEC were going after the small thefts committed by the little guys and closed their eyes to the big and powerful and well connected. The Americans have two systems, one for the rich and one for the poor.

A vote of confidence for Tan Kin Lian

Tan Kin Lian is the new breed of politicians appearing on the scene in troubled times like this. This is a politician that comes from a different mould, with different ideas and values. Tan Kin Lian is offering the people a new kind of politicians that will change the political landscape and new ways of doing things. He is still collecting his 100,000 signatures, which is a sign of how much the people wanting a change. He is not perfect for sure. I wonder if there is any politician that is perfect or godlike. I am not sure how many people following this forum/blog will give him a vote of confidence. I for one will give him mine. I think he is as good as any politician in Parliament today. I no longer feel comfortable with the new values and ways of doing things and a change with credible people is good for everyone.

WYSIWYG

I have been posting about the obscene prices of HDB flats at Pinnacles Duxton for a while and have seen some responses to my views. I must admit here that it is not an easy task for the govt to cater to the needs of all the people. It often has to make tough decisions. And these decisions made are not an issue of right or wrong but a matter of judgement and values. To price the same flats sold at an average of $300K with decent profit by another $180K comes out as milking the people to the maximum. This is my view. But the HDB/govt do not think so. It said, repeatedly, that this is the fairest way of pricing HDB flats. And they sincerely and honestly believe that this is the best method. They are transparent about it, not batting an eyelid when they argued in favour of this method. I am not saying that they are wrong. I am saying that it is obnoxious and I fully disagree that the govt should just slap a $180k bill onto its people, arbitrary, on the ground that the market is willing to pay for it. Today I read that the US govt is coming out with new laws to protect consumers from arbitrary increases in interest rate or related stuff. Basically the principle is the same. Protecting the consumers from profiteers. Can this Pinnacles case be considered as profiteering? What is the position of CASE? Its mission is to protect the consumers. Do they agree with this kind of pricing policy? CASE cannot just shut up and pretend not to see or hear. The amount may not be as big as a peanut but is a very big sum of money to the buyers. Then there are the MPs. Do they also agree to this policy? If they don't, why are they not fighting to get it thrown out? Or is simply raising questions in Parliament is job well done, nothing can be done anymore? If this is considered a fair practice by the govt, if this is their definition of fairness, then the people must accept that all govt policies will be based on this kind of principles. The people get the govt they deserve.

Can we afford to look the other way?

Not my problem. They were brought in by contractors and abandoned by contractors. So the contractors responsible should take care of their problems. There were 179 Bangladeshi workers out of job, out of money, out of food, and no where to go. Who should do something to help them? Like it or not, they now become a social problem to everyone. The whole process of bringing in foreign workers and the problems arising is going to fall flat on the citizens and the govt. The contractors are going to abscond and the people and govt will have to pick up the pieces. For these poor workers, sending them back is only the beginning of their bigger problems. They have a huge debt to settle that the cannot be settled without a job and an income here. And now it is only 179. It can be 1790 or 17900. Then what?