Is the election of Obama a mistake?

The Americans were joyous in their election of Obama into the highest office in their country. Many people around the world too received this news in good spirit. Behind closed doors in the guarded confines of our elite, I suspect this event was received with a big frown. How could an average man, with average achievements, without a first class honours from an Ivy League university, be qualified for such a job? He would not be qualified even to run for our Presidency. He is simply not good enough. The issue is that with our elitist system and assumptions, no ordinary man can even smell the highest office of the country. It is reserved for the elite. All kinds of elitist criteria have been thrown into the path to prevent the lesser mortals from getting through. Not even in the kinds of Obama. Definitely no George Bush. The Americans are simply too slack, too complacent, to allow any Tom, Dick and Harry to take office in the White House. They should adopt our system and choose the best men or women to do that job. They could introduce the same criteria as ours. Then perhaps America will be a country that will be forever great. Then their Presidents, Congressmen and Senators could stand as equals with our elite. Under the current selection criteria, they could not hold a candle to our MPs and Ministers, and our President. Ours are great achievers with a string of pristine academic qualifications and achievements. Our leaders will definitely stand a shoulder above theirs, not physically of course. But there is a hitch if the Americans were to adopt our meritocratic system. They would have to pay them according to their talents and qualifications. In America, such talents will be commanding a few hundred millions a year. They will likely to come from Wall Streets, the CEOs of the financial institutions like Citigroup, Lehman, Goldman Sach or the property companies of Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, or the top lawyers. I think the Americans cannot afford to pay for such talents, and it is better for them not to. Their leaders should pay more visits to this paradise to learn from our leaders. In monetary terms, we are the best paid and thus the best leaders in the world. Obama is not even paid as much as our Ministers of State or our Mayors. He is simply not good enough for paradise.

Finally it is happening

We have been blogging for so long, finally it is happening. It is a miracle in the making. Unbelieveable that we can see it in our life times. We have been complaining about using the reserves to help the people. We have cried for public transport fares to be lowered. We have been cursing at the high rentals of commercial/business space. We have been complaining about the high salaries of top civil servants and political leaders. We have been up to our neck with the high cost of living. Amazing that all these gripes will now be answered. It appears that the govt is listening and taking the people’s complains seriously. The govt is digging into the reserves, lowering public transport fares, lowering rentals, lowering salaries of top civil servants and political leaders, and overall, the cost of living should come down a little. Even being insensitive to the feelings and sufferings of the lesser mortals will be taken to task. Cannot sneer at the lesser mortals. We may see and hear lesser brutal truths and the losers will not be embarrassed publicly. This is a good start for more changes to come. Who knows, top civil servants and politicians may be banned from attending public functions in Mercs and BMWs. They may have to buy a small Japanese car for such activities to level down with the lesser mortals. At least the lesser mortals will not see the flaunting of wealth in their faces. It is a good sign that the govt is starting on the right note, to feel more for the people and to be more with the people. No more we the super talents and you the losers. No more we deserve to be paid world class salaries and your wages must be frozen to keep the workers competitive. Happy Lunar New Year to all.

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.

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.