When uncaring, aloof technocrats take over

We have seen some measures taken to curb the property bubble. But such piece meal reaction to a dangerous trend that could make and break a person's home is nothing to cry about. There is a need for a deeper thought on what housing is to the people. We are a country and a nation in the making. Housing is an essential component that welds the people to the country and call it home. If housing is turned into another commodity of exchange, going to the highest bidder, the natural law of a free market will see the rich grabbing all the good properties and leaving the poor at the bottom of the heap. This will only breed discontent and undermine the foundation of this country as a nation of people. From the excuses uttered, I find them all rubbish. Shallow and selfish and arrogant. Young people want to get married, go and register and queue for a flat that will be ready in 3 years time. Are people just machine and getting married is something that can be methodologically programmed 3 years in advance? There are many instances of people deciding to get married over a drink or over dinner and you expect them to wait for 3 years for a place to make babies. And you complain not enough babies when these people are forced by your policies to delay making babies? And another reason, don't pay the price asked, or don't pay COV. Go shopping around for the best price. So easy mey? What kind of silly comment is that? When the supply is not there, or 3 years away, and when the buyers, for some reasons, cannot wait, they are price takers. With limited land, and a growing population, the think tank must start working to redefine what is the housing need, and the important role of housing in nation making. Public housing must not be a commodity of trade. For those who are speculating in properties, the developers, the bankers etc, the more expensive property prices are, the better for them. What about the losers, the people who cannot afford and have to keep on tightening their belts to keep a decent roof over their heads? Property speculation is a zero sum game. Can the speculative element, the investment game of properties be taken out of the formula? Can the govt treat property as an essential item for the citizens, and to provide good and cheap properties for the citizens to bind them to the country, to root them here? There are many areas and industries to speculate and make huge monetary gains. Just leave property out of the game. Building flats in anticipation of needs and demands like in the past is not necessary a bad thing. The citizens need a home, a good home, not just a pigeon coop that is getting smaller and smaller. Other luxuries are secondary. Give the people a good place to live in and bring up children without breaking their banks, or their backs.

More palliative care in the pipeline

And those who can pay will have to pay. Now, what would I want to spend my life counting beans, drawing little circles, painting little red dots, or walking on a ramp, and pay for it? What kind of living is that? Do I want to look forward to 85 or 100?

If we don't do anything now....Obama

This is what Obama warned the Americans in his medical reform speech. If the American govt does not do anything now, the insurance premiums will continue to go up. In our home front, if the motorists don't do anything now, they must be prepared to pay higher premiums. Period. No one sees any urgency in trying to curb this excessive and unreasonable rise in motor insurance fee. And we all know why it is going up. Anyone responsible or looking into this matter? Oh, forgotten liao. That's the fact here. KPKB for a while and all will be forgotten.

A new fad in town

It is damn great fun to own a media agency or a blog or forum and use it to ridicule or malu other lesser beans. It is funny and very effective and you can cheer on others to join the ridicule game. I heard a girl by the name of Ris Low, or something like that, was made fun of in the media. I must qualify here, they did not ridicule her but all made in jest, just for fun lah. And I like the spirit of making fun of others, no matter how insensitive it is. Maybe it is another way to teach people why they must spaek good Inglish. This girl did not speak good or perfect English and became a very convenient and funny target. The more she speaks, the more funny she becomes and more ammunition for attacking her. Oops, I mean making fun of her in jest. No hard feelings. Language is just a skill, like dancing or playing football. Given time and effort, one should be able to pass off quite reasonably. Stupidity is acquired or born and not easily removed by effort and training. For people who were speaking a language for a long time, as a primary mode of communication, or educated in the west, it is easy to laugh at those who are new to the language. It is as good as an entitlement to sneer and ridicule those who can't speak as well as them. I wonder how these jokers will sound if they were to speak to Ris Low in Teochew or Mandarin? Would their dialect or Mandarin sound just as ridiculous? I love to hear them speak something they are not familiar with and use it to ridicule them to the max, in this blog/forum. Let's start a campaign to ridicule people who can't speak English well, just for fun lah. Then we can follow up with a few more campaigns to ridicule those who can't speak their mother tongues. Like they said, orang china bukan china or in different variations to suit the different races.

The Ten Commandments(for the corporate world)

In his article on the global meltdown of yesteryear, Robin Chan listed down ten of the evils that led to the fall of corporate giants and threatening the collapse of the economic world order. His 10 points are: 1. The housing crisis was boosted by a booming stock market and low interest rates, leading to a housing bubble. 2. Financial derivatives of mass destruction like CDS and CDOs which the bankers called ingenious financial products were good for the industry. In reality these were highly leveraged debt which were restructured and layered and were not more than a house of cards. 3. The lack of rules and regulations, or deregulations, allowing financial thugs a free hand to structure secret or shady deals. No regulation is good for the market was the mantra of the day. 4. Irresponsible rating agencies operating under conflicts of interests and aiding the process of tradings in high risks products by giving them AAA ratings. 5. Fair value or mark to market pricing, allowing the market to determine the value of assets rather than its underlying value, believing that the market is the best judge of the value of an asset. 6. Reckless bonus payouts and huge salaries as an acceptable norm to corporate honchos which led to high risk taking for short term gains. 7. Big is good and big banks are better than small banks. The bigger the better. What happened was that the banks and pseudo banks became so big that they could not be allowed to fold no matter how big were their debt and mismanagement. 8. Curbing financial innovation is bad. Innovation is the way forward to creating wealth and profits. The CDS and CDOs are ok and they should not be blamed but for the lack of understanding what they were that led to the demise. 9. To save the economic systems, countries printed money and more money to pump the system, to encourage spending, leading to a disproportionate debt that itself becomes a problem for the future generations to bear. It created a new problem to save an old problem. 10. The death of the theory of efficient market, believing that an efficient market will take care of the loose ends. It failed miserably. The sad thing today is that the above 10 causes and consequences of the financial crisis are still there and kicking, alive. Nothing very much were done to tackle these problems and they are coming back, taking a new life of its own with renewed vigour. In order to stamp out these corporate sins, we need a Ten Commandments to deal with them. 1. Thou shalt not create a housing bubble. 2. Thou shalt not allow high risk derivatives and products to flood the financial industry. 3. Thou shalt not allow thoughtless deregulations to run the financial system and the economy. 4. Thou shalt hang irresponsible rating agencies and financial institutions. Actually should prosecute the CEOs. Amend this to, Thou shalt not bear false witness or tell lies. 5. Thou shalt abolish fair value or mark to market pricing of assets. 6. Thou shalt not cast lustful glances at your neighbours huge bonuses or lusting for them. 7. Thou shalt not allow banks or financial institutions to grow too big. 8. Thou shalt regulate the so called 'financial innovations' and make sure they are safe. 9. Thou shalt not print money and increase public debt. 10. Thou shalt not blindly believe in the goodness of an efficient market to self regulate and heal the evils in the system.