1/25/2009
We watch, as the house crumbles...
We are entering the golden era. We are entering a crisis, an exceptional crisis that needs exceptional budget and solutions. Is there a contradiction?
Our economy is in a recession, immediately after the proclamation of golden era. We did not see it coming.
We watch as the minibond crisis unfolded and the financial industry crippling with toxic products. We did not see it coming.
We watch as the stock market collapsed. We did not see it coming. No, wrong. We did not know that it has collapsed. We still think that it is fine.
We watch as medical cost shot through the roof, rental and property prices gone berserk. No we did not see anything wrong with them. It is good, healthy and normal in a free market.
We watch as top civil servants and ministerial salaries gone to heaven. We cannot see anything wrong with it. It is good for the system. In fact the salaries should go up further.
We watch as the cost of living, public transportation, etc ate into the little income of the lesser mortals. We did not think it matters. We think they are necessary to keep the system running. We believe it is all affordable.
We watch as the job market is taken over by foreigners. We celebrate the diversities and the arrival of new talents. We did not see the consequences to our citizens. We want our citizens to embrace and invite the foreigners into their homes. We believe all these are good for the country.
Where is the contradiction? No, there is no contradiction. The best example to prove this is in the ST today. It has two pictures of a 59 year old man and a 21 year old undergraduate commenting on the dipping into our reserves. Here are their comments.
David Ching, 59, old businessman, 'These are really hard times. If you don't make use of the reserves now, I don't know when is a hard time...'
Charlene Sng, 21, undergraduate. ' $4.9b is a lot of money. I don't quite feel the pinch of the recession yet so I don't agree now is the right time....We should at least wait till things get worse.'
Both are right in their perceptions of things. They live in different worlds, different lifestyles and different roles. One has to support a whole family and pay all the bills. The other only studies and receives pocket money for her own expenses.
You can imagine what the demigods or immortals will say. 'Now is the best time to spend and enjoy the good life. We can go on long long leave. Everything is fine.'
And the best part of all these, while we are watching the house crumbling, nothing is being done to prevent it from hitting the ground. For they could not see the problem and thus no need to do anything. Everything will be fine when the economy of the world recovers. Just wait. The resilience budget will buy us some time. We have done everything right, and put in the best systems with the best people in place.
We need to pray that gods and demigods are kind and will do the right things. Pray, pray harder. Ignore Gurmit if he says 'Don't pray, pray.'
In god we trust.
Frugality is a false virtue
Someone sent me an email about how frustrated teachers are today. And the in the email were several works of students that made my day. I quote a few sentences from this one. ‘I am a boy. I am a boy because I am not a girl. A boy is a boy. I have two mothers and one father. They are mad. I am also mad. I hope they have plenty of money. And when they die I can have all their money….’ Actually I will love to have such students. The life of teachers must be hilarious.
There was this MP who was invited to a trade association dinner. He started his guest of honour speech this way. ‘A car is a car. A small car is also a car. I drive a small car. You all drive big cars. My small car takes me here. Your big cars also take you here. I am smarter, right? Oh, he did not say all these lah. I just made it up.
I think the MP was trying to impress the big businessmen that just because they were driving big Mercs and BMWs, they don’t make any difference to him. Maybe he was trying to educate them on frugality and not be show offs. The new catchphrase is boastful. But he forgot that lesser mortals are just lesser mortals. All show offs. He can continue to drive his small Japanese car, the lesser mortals will still want to flash around in their big continental limousines, yes to show off.
Oh, I remember someone telling me that in paradise only the rabbis drive around in Rolls Royces.
1/24/2009
Gems of Parliament
'Tapping into past reserves, instead of exhausting current savings, allows the Govt to act quickly to deal with future challenges.'
The above is quoted from Jeremy Au Yong's article, quoting Tharman Shanmugaratnam.
Don't use current savings. Use the reserves. This is another logic that lesser mortals can never comprehend. CPF, do you understand the logic? If you do, please allow the people to use their savings in the CPF in times like this instead of their little savings in their bank accounts. And many don't even have any savings and can only rely on their CPF savings.
World Bloggers Association
I have just founded the World Bloggers Association(WBA). I have proclaimed myself as the Emperor of this Association. All bloggers of the world shall now be my members and they must pay homage to me daily. They are also to pay a blogging fee for the right to blog in the free world of bloggers.
The first two bloggers paying homage to me shall be appointed as the King of Eastern Blogosphere and King of Western Blogosphere. Those following behind will be appointed as Kings in their respective regions.
And for those who are late in joining, they have my permission to appoint themselves as Kings of whatever their fancies.
Redbean, Emperor, World Bloggers Association (WBA)
Extraordinary budget working
Public transport companies are going to cut fares! The sun is rising from the west! Did I hear it right? This is an industry whose cost can only go up and not down, so how can it drop fare prices and remain profitable? The extraordinary budget to the rescue. They are going to pass the savings to the commuters. Without this budget, prices will continue to go one way, up.
Public transport is the only business that is dependent on fuel price, labour cost and equipment renewal. This is an unique industry. No other industry is affected by fuel price, labour and equipment renewal cost. That is probably why the cost of other industries do not affect the prices of their goods and services.
Oh, there is another industry where the price must go up. Rentals and property prices. They must be dependent on fuel, labour and equipment renewal as well. I nearly miss this one.
Oops, actually I miss a lot more industries and services. They all depend on fuel price, labour cost and equipment and the prices must go up.
And there are industries or services that don't depend on fuel prices or equipment renewal, but the price of their services must also go up? How so?
On the contrary, there are industries that depend on all 3 but the price of their goods and services only come down, or can come down. How so?
Ah, extraordinary men with extraordinary skills and ideas. Only real extraordinary men can provide better services, better quality goods at lower prices or at the same price. The rest are all bull even if they called themselves supertalents. The only thing super about their talent is to collect super pay.
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