A niche stock market?

The world is increasingly interconnected with businesses and money flow all intertwined in a complex web. The pulling of one string will affect every corner of the web. Talking about a niche market maybe a nonsensical whim and fancy proposition. It is better to be like everyone, be everything, and be part of a big web. But being in a niche market in the midst of a bigger complexity is nothing new. Every small biz is trying to differentiate itself, to find their own niche. Can our stock market differentiate itself and find its own niche instead of being a little flotsam that drifts with the tide and taking directions from everyone? In recent years our stock market has been a non player for all its worth. It is lost in an ocean that is too big for its own good. Now is the time to reflect and seek a new direction as to its role and reason for its existence. Forget about being everything or like everyone else. Carve out its own niche and find a path for its own existence. The interdependency is there. The world's economy will affect everyone and us. The money flow will still affect the tide. Here calls for the exceptional talents of supertalents to be different, just like being a safe haven for funds to be parked here. We need a stock market that can shield itself from the tsunamis, be resilient and stay afloat for its own reasons. Small can still be beautiful and useful in its own ways. We can select our own stocks, dictate our own rules, play a game that is designed for our own good, or be lost and perished in the ocean that we have no control. Under the present crisis, the funds managers must be looking for exactly such a market for safety. Unfortunately there is none around. If our stock market is seen as a safe haven, we would have provided the funds a way to safety in trouble times.

Star gazing at the Pinnacles

Come next year there will be a big announcement that all the units at the Pinnacles Duxton have been snapped up at the new market price. This will vindicate that the pricing is correct, that there is real demand for such units even at higher prices. And there will be interviews with the happy and successful proud owners for being so lucky to own them. More such flats will be built in the future to cater for the growing demands, at market prices of course.

Singaporeans could be a happier lot

Yes, with so much wealth, a disneyland like environment, Singaporeans could all be much happier, more contented if there are less criticism and cynicism of the ways things are. If only Singaporeans just count on their blessings and be happy with what they are and do what they are supposed to do, this will be the dreamland of happy people. The people who are supposed to sweep the floor or wipe the tables, be happy doing it. The workers work and do their best, the food courts serve their best dishes, the businesses do their roaring businesses and the let the politicians run the country as they are supposed to. How nice things can be. The fault lies with all the critics and cynics. They should stop all the gripes and kpkb. Let all and one perform their fated roles in life and all will be fine. There is really no big problems here. Everyone has a job, a roof over their head, clothing and enough food to eat. It is a real paradise. Just look at the beautiful parts of everything around us. The future can only be more beautiful.

Incest in Wall Street

Was Wall Street a victim of incestuous relationship? All the evidences pointed towards that direction. The regulators not doing their job to regulate, the auditors slept on their job or not doing their due diligence and got away with murder, and the con men allowed to con their way through, duping all the Americans, including foreigners, rich and poor. And they did what they did for years. In the meantime everyone was celebrating the greatness and genius of these supertalents. This is the other part, other than incestuous relationship, the state of delusion. The madness of idolizing the big earners who were cheating all the way by paying themselves crazy was seen as good, all worthy of their huge pay packets and demanding more everyday to justify their worth. The combination of incestuous relationship and delusion is a potent concoction. The former prevented the checks to be conducted expeditiously by the people tasked with the jobs, the watchdogs afraid to bark for fear of being muffed, and the law enforcers turned a blind eye thinking that supertalents cannot be wrong. And every year end would be time for their big bonus handouts, everyone laughing all the way to the banks. And despite the fraud being exposed, they are still laughing all the way to the banks. The delusion is still unshaken. The same formula of success is still intact. The supertalents will still be paid their supertalent salaries and bonuses. And in the New Paper SEC's CEO Christopher Cox regretted for banning the short selling of financial stocks which he might think would have saved the market from falling. His position, a very familiar one, was to do nothing. "What we have done in this current turmoil is stay calm, which has been our greatest contribution - not being impulsive, not changing the rules willy nilly, but going through a very professional and orderly process that takes into account unintended consequences and gives ample notice to market participants." This kind of non action is only good when the system is sound and not flawed. When it is flawed, when there is non regulation or closed one eye regulation, when there are frauds, it is the surest and shortest cut to destruction. And exactly because of his non action that Madoff could pull off his con job for so long. The kind of mess that minibond would have caused, and more serious if not abruptly exposed, to our investors. It will happen to our stock market and financial system too if we do not repair the damage to the system and pretend that everything is fine and do just nothing, like Cock. Oops I mean Cox.

The ridiculous nature of cyberspace

It is so ridiculous that cyberspace has now been use to its best to ridicule officialdom. Any dignitary, thoroughbred, infallible or otherwise supreme talent that once was sharing sermons of wisdom is now the convenient target of ridicules if he/she reveals his/her true self too often. The weapon of ridicule is perhaps the most power weapon available at this point in time to netizens. I think netizens know that there is nothing that they can do to engage in a real discussion with officialdom. They know that they will be ignored for good reasons. So, at best, they will make a silly statement looks even more silly than it really was. But would it matter? I think no. Officialdom lives in another world and there is no engagement. The hardcore netizens swear that they will not read the old media or main stream media. Likewise officialdom will not waste time in cyberspace to read the ridiculous postings. Officialdom will simply say what they want to say in the old media and that's it. It is official. When shall the Twains meet? Or will ever the Twains shall meet? Actually I got this feeling that they met but pretended not to meet. And cyberspace will remain as ridiculous as it can get while the old media will remain as official as it can get.