NWC's unenviable task

The NWC will have to make its recommendations on wages soon. This time it is very likely on how to cut wages or reduce wage increases. Bet with you the people who is going to get the wage cut or wage freeze will be the workers. We will likely see how the use of absolute sum and percentages at its best. Some will be affected by a fixed sum and some by percentages to the benefits of some and disadvantages of others. The message is likely to be belt tightening to save jobs.

Myth 204 - The rich pays for their wants

This is a long embedded myth that people have forgotten to question and accepted as the truth. In reality the poor pays for everything, including what the rich is enjoying. And the poor pays for them in blood, sweat and tears. The poor is the one that does everything. They work, do, build, make, move, carry, climb, run, walk, practically everything to make goods and provide services. The only think that they do less is think. In the case of the rich, they make the poor pays for everything and at a huge profit. They pay the poor workers less if they employ them. They take as much as they can for themselves when they are the boss. Then they spend as if they were paying for it. No, it is the poor workers that are paying for it. The rich took the wealth created by workers leaving the workers poor and insufficient while they have abundance to spend away.

$46k for French cooking course

A top civil servant reportedly spent $46k for himself, wife and son to study fine French cooking. He took 5 weeks of annual leave, flew to France to learn this exquisite skill. Normally this is a thing that the rich and famous will do and will not raise an eyebrow. In this case, cyberspace is riled by such flaunting of wealth. Should it be? Why can't a man who earns an honest living spend his money the way he wants it? Put it in the proper Singaporean context, here is a case of someone that is overpaid, paid too well, that he could spend big money on niceties. The best part is that he is a public servant and his money is paid from the taxpayers' money. It is a good example of a very well paid civil service and that the people is ired by it and any flaunting of wealth by this group of public servants will definitely invite criticism. The top civil servants and politicians are increasingly being viewed as being overpaid, and not ending. More pay rises will be on the way as there is now no cap to how much they should be paid given an unique formula that could literally pay them hundreds of millions when the condition is right. This case proves that they have more money than they need and are finding creative ways to spend them. Any justification for more pay rise at the top level is going to get rotten tomatoes and rotten eggs. It is difficult to be frugal when you have too much money.

Cannot afford to be frugal

How could it be that people cannot afford to be frugal? Frugality used to be a fad in the era of the hippies. Scions of wealthy families went around in torn and tattered jackets and jeans and looked scruffily poor, like children of working class. It was not that they had to be frugal. They were just making a statement. They were dissociating themselves from their wealthy background as if it was a shameful thing, They were denouncing the decadence lifestyle of the bourgeoisie. Then there was the legendary Tan Kah Kee, probably the richest man in the island whose daily meals were plain porridge, salted peanuts and vegetables. He died penniless after giving away his wealth. He was frugal to a fault. The financial crisis has made some of the affected rich to cut down on a holiday or two, drink cheaper wine etc. There is no need to be frugal but a little less lavish living. For those who were living quite comfortably or just getting by may need to be frugal to save a little. Life will go on practically unchanged. But for those who have been making ends meet, whose income are stagnant or falling, the rising cost in everything will make frugality a meaningless word. They cannot afford to be frugal. There is nothing left to be frugal. To them, living frugally is not about making a statement. It is poverty in a rich oasis.

Time to be credited.

Many of the bloggers here are still using anonymous to post. Increasingly there are more who are using a nick to represent themselves. This is year 2009 and we have seen how the internet has evolved over the last few years. The quality of the postings are getting better compare to the early years when it was a lot of battering just for the sake of battering one another. We are seeing many respectable people in the cyberspace using their own names to express their views and make their points, not necessarily anti establishment or to bring down the establishment. The discourse in the internet is far ranging, very informative and challenging. Many views are expressed ingeniously and artfully. It is time that bloggers should be credited with what they post. It is not necessary that they should use their real name or identity. A pen name, like many authors or even journalists did will be good enough. It will be a cyberspace identity that will grow with the author and may become part of the author. I strongly encourage all the bloggers to use a nick of whatever that they fancy to post. It will be more meaningful for everyone. Cheers.