Nasdaq and BATs to stop flashing orders

'New York: The Nasdaq stock market and BATs Exchange will "voluntarily" stop offering flash orders, a controversial service that gives certain firms an advance look at market bound trading orders....' This is the first para of a REUTERS/Bloomberg report in the ST today. How could any responsible exchange allow this to be put in practice in the first place? To let it go and then to put a stop to it after being investigated is unacceptable. How many of such unfair practices have been allowed into the system? The US watchdog is still reviewing all the 'illegal' and unfair practices and will be putting a stop to them. Top on the list is 'high frequency trading' which gives the big boys an unfair advantage over the small investors. Are such practices criminal? Shouldn't someone be held accountable for allowing them to be in practice? Do we have such unfair practices in our stock exchange, and if there are, are we going to keep quiet about it because we don't have a powerful watchdog like the Americans to bring justice and fair play to the small boys and continue to let the sheep stumble blindly to the slaughter house? I hope, really hope, that we are clean and no unfair practices were allowed into our system. I can only hope, but I have this nagging suspicion....

Are you 30 something?

All those 30 somethings out there, stand up and be counted. You could be the next PM of Singapore. The search is on for the next PM to succeed Hsien Loong. All eyes will now be starring at the next batch of PAP candidates for 2012. Those in young PAP or helping in the MPS would probably stand a good chance. Youth is capital. All those above 40s or above mid 30s, well, keep slogging, over the hill.

The Verdict: 93% say Singapore governed well

Reach has done a survey and the results are very comforting and encouraging. 80% are confident of the economic future, 87% say the country is corruption free, 92% happy with the quality of education and a smaller percentage still not comfortable with the cost of living. With so many happy people, let's ignore the unhappy voices, at least for now as we are celebrating the National Day. Maybe we should brush aside all these irritating voices or better, ask them to pack up and go. The survey was conducted on 1558 Singaporeans. The sample size is definitely much bigger than the bloggers in mysingaporenews. Here we have a very happy and contented Singaporeans against maybe 5 or 6 unhappy Singaporeans. If I were to conduct a poll here, I think the happiness index will be at most 20%. But that will be unfair. A sample size of 5 or 6 and from a generally biased group in cyberspace, you can expect what the result shall be. Reach has done a good job in having a sample size of 1558, good number for 4D, and from a neutral group. The result should be more representative of the perception of the population. Now this is something we can celebrate for this National Day.

Mum to be put off by ungracious people

A letter to Today paper by Tan Ai Chern described how she was put off by ungracious people, a child/mother who refused to offer her a seat in the MRT, commuters pretending to close their eyes, ignoring her, people jumping queue to buy fish soup in front of her. I hope mums to be will not be put off from having babies because of ungracious people. While we are encouraging people to have more babies, people should think very carefully why they are having babies. The last thing they should do is to have babies because they are told to do so. Or worst, because the economy needs a few more workers as cogs in the gigantic machinery. Or for the money minded, having babies because of the monetary incentives. Then there are those who have babies because someone from somewhere said so. A baby is a life. One must be responsible for bringing that life into this unforgiving world where losers will pay painfully for their whole lives. It is so easy for those who are naturally productive to keep producing. But producing babies to be prime ministers or to be manual workers? The most important and simple point is to give life only if you love the life and are able and willing to give the life a good life. Otherwise it is a very cruel and wicked thing to do to bring life into this world and let that life fend for itself as a deprived and underprivileged.

What is Seagate saying?

2000 jobs gone and company relocating to cheaper place. Are we expensive? What is making us expensive? Labour cost, land cost, infrastructure cost, govt cost, and whatever cost, are all going up, which is good. Then we can be in the league of the first world cities, notable for being expensive. But one of these costs can and will surely go down if we are to remain at least competitive to keep some manufacturers here. Or maybe manufacturing is already a gone case and service is what is the next biggest employer. We need to thank the two IRs for the job opportunities available. Hey wait a minute, the problem is still there. What problem? Labour cost still must come down, which means the income of the workers is not going to go up by any measures. Ok, where is the problem? With a stagnating income, who is going to pay for the services and goods with escalating prices? Housing, transportation, medical, food and entertainment will only get more expensive because the demand is there. How come, when our workers are not creating the demand? That is beside the point. Our workers will just have to live with the situation, lower income and higher living cost. But don’t worry, housing, go for smaller units or rentals. Food, go for cheaper substitution, don’t each chicken, eat fish, I mean ikan bilis, not pompret or groupers. Actually the real situation is that life is good. People are all very rich and with big disposable income. Just walk to the big shopping centres in Orchard Rd and you will know what I mean. And the long queues of people in private property launches will tell a happy story. What is real and what is make belief? I think the buying frenzies in Orchard Rd and property launches are real.