Shedding crocodile tears

Why is property speculation bad? The buyers are happy, the sellers are happy, the land owners are happy, the developers are happy, and so are property agents and conveyance lawyers. And everyone is laughing to the bank. Let's churn the property market higher, limiting supplies, increasing demands, and get the media to write more frightening stories about the prices going higher and better rush in to grab one before it is too late. Or write about how a $200k property is now selling at $400k to move the herd for the slaughter. In property market, we only hear of the money people are making. We never hear who is paying for the enormous sums and how many years they must slog to pay back. But these are the normal things in a free market when prices are determined by supply and demand. Go for it, let the prices surge higher. It is good. There will be money everywhere. I forget, the banks too will be very happy to loan out more money. And all the property owners will be beaming, seeing how much their properties are worth now. The same 4 walls, and many with dwindling lease life. Still the herd will rush in to buy, fearing that they will miss the boat. Anyone remember the dizzy demands for country and golf clubs a few years back? 30 year lease and most of them with less than 15 years left. And the value for the less prestigeous clubs is probably 20% left from their highs. And this will keep going down, and may become negative value when the lease expires and a new top up is demanded from every member for a new lease.

We are still waiting?

I thought I remember that people are looking into the motor insurance and workshop repair scam. Now, how many days have passed? Is the issue dead, resolved, or is it water under the bridge? Or is it that since no one is talking about it, the scam is now acceptable and nothing needs to be done? Motorists better make more noises before you start to pay another hefty insurance premium to fatten the crooks in the scam. You need to complain louder to be heard and to be taken seriously for things to happen.

Of Mavericks and supertalents

Either our education is a fake, a failure, or our selection process for govt scholars and top talents is missing something. We talked openly about identifying and selecting mavericks for the civil service but did we see any? Philip Yeo and then who else? Oh, one who ran his ministry so well that he could go on leave to pursue his passion, knowing that without him, the ministry will do just as well. Where are the mavericks? Then we look at Temasek, presumably with so many local talents, they could not find one to fit the shoe and went around looking for something cheap and good. I think Liew Mun Leong should comfortably fit in with the wealth of experience that he has been exposed to, if none internally is good enough. We should not keep on telling the world that we have no local talents and dismiss our local talents as furnitures. Look at all the actors and actresses in MediaCorp! If we don't give them a chance, would they be what they are today? Would Hongkong and Taiwan entertainment industries give them the same chance? Lim Goh Tong was never a supertalent. But he built an empire that stretches through several continents. So were some of our not so talented entrepreneurs like Wee Cho Yaw and the Queks. So, what is the truth, system failure, no talent, or what?

No shame, no guilt, no remorse

Did anyone notice any sense of shame, any feeling of guilt or any hint of remorse? Any sensible person faced with such blatant and outrageous acts of impropriety would have long said, enough, can’t take it anymore, run away to hide, and not to face the world again. But no, there is nothing wrong. Everything is justifiable, can be explained and is reasonable or normal. I am above the law, above all human norms and behaviour, nothing can stain me. I have done so much good, so much merit, whatever things that I have done were mere little indiscretions. No, not indiscretions, they are normal acts of a human bean and I am a normal human bean, with all my greed, lust, and extravagance. The above probably explain why all the shit were allowed to be aired in public over so many days, for all to see. Is there any decent man kind enough to advise the tart that the whole thing is so ridiculous it is better to call it off immediately, not even to have it started in the first place? Anyone with an ounce of intelligence could see the senseless nature of the whole proceedings. But no, it must go on public record that I have done no wrong. I am beyond reproach, and if I have done anything stupid, they are excusable as I have done big things and done great things. All the great things that I have done must be enough to mitigate the little silly things that I have done. Oops, whatever I done were not silly or wrong. I have done no wrong. That is why I am standing here facing the music. For no dirt or shit can stain me. Oh come on, spare the people and the teacher and the truth from being tarnished by your stupidity. Or have we reached a stage when all the rich and powerful believes that with money and fame, there is no fear of shame, there is no shame as long as your bank account is full of money.

Peeking into stock orders 'an unfair advantage'.

'The hallmarks of our markets are that they are open and above board, and the little guy has as much of a chance as the big guy.' - Senator Charles Schumer, Chairman of the Senate rules and administration committee. What is happening in Wall Street and many stock exchanges across the world where the hedge funds are operating is that they tapped into the main exchange operating system to peek into stock orders from other investors. This gives them a 0.03 sec lead time to compute and place their orders to take advantage of other investors with their powerful computers. According to the Tabb Group, it reported that these high frequency traders accounted for more than half of all the trades and pocketed 'about US$21 billion in profits last year. Who lost? Schumer wants a stop to such advantage against the small investors and wants to prohibit trading by high frequency traders. Well, the Americans have some decent man to call a thief a thief. There is conscience to do right and justice. Do we have such high frequency traders trading here and taking advantage of the small guys? If there are, what are we going to do about it? Or why did we allow this go on for so long? Fair game? Caveat emptor? This is worst than minibonds! Are we fair to the small investors? If billions have been lost by the small investors because of such malpractice, who is going to pay for it? No one is responsible for sure. Does anyone know what is happening?