My Money My Vote

Come the next General Election the people should think carefully on what they want and who to vote to represent them. I will be voting for my money. Who ever is protecting my money will have my vote. I will not be voting for people who want my money and also my vote. The people must wake up to the fact that the money in their CPF/Medisave is their money and no one shall have designs on this money. For too long, people have been quite callous in thinking that the money is there for them to take. In the name of, for the people’s good, thinking and planning for the people’s good, they just go to Parliament and legislate away the people’s savings, to keep the people away from their savings. The next election is the time to put a stop to such haughty ideas and attitude. Let them know whose money it is. And let them know that they should piss off and stay away from the people’s money. Watch Parliament and see which MP is still entertaining such ideas. You vote for MPs to represent your interest and protect your money, not to take away your money, no matter how good is the proclaimed intention. Please do not plan the people’s lives with the people’s money. The people will be very grateful if the plans are with public money.

When Singaporeans stop complaining

No one likes to hear complaints. No one likes to be the object of complaints. In cybespace, we have complaints everywhere and on many issues by Singaporeans. Complaints against the high cost of living and high property prices are rampant. Is it good or bad? I think it is good. For when Singaporeans stop complaining, it means that they have given up, they no longer see anything here that is worthy of belonging, that they no longer belong or want to have anything to do with this place. In short, they are opting out. When Singaporeans no longer care about their country and its well being, no longer care about how it is turning into, that will be the sign that it is coming to an end. Such a state of affair was best described in the last few years of Hongkong before 1997. Everyone gave up and prepare to run with whatever they could grab. They had forsaken Hongkong and abandoning ship. Just listen to the complaints. When it is silence....

High demand for HDB flats due to immigrants

The most authoritative political writer of the ST has given her take on the high demand and high prices of HDB flats. Chua Mui Hoong has concluded that it was due to high demand, particularly from the immigrants. She quoted figures to support her conclusion. 25,000 couples marry each year. Over 7,000 couples file for divorce annually and some may need a new home. In 2008, nearly 80,000 granted PRs and 20,000 given citizenships.The number of resale transactions in 2009 was 37,205, a 31% increase over 2008. Were her figures convincing? I think so. And she must have got them from official sources, not from the gossip circles. HDB has replied a few days ago that the cries of demands were misplaced as demands were not high and they have enough supplies to cater for them. Everyone who applies will get a flat in 3 years! And inspite of saying that, HDB is ramming up the building of more flats. I think if the demand is not there, the high building programme will end up with over supply. But then again no. Only those who have registered are considered demands and when there are enough demands then only HDB will build. Somehow HDB is missing something. Chua Mui Hoong should present her statistics to HDB to let them have a better look at the overall picture of population growth. But it may be of no use as the numbers may not be translated into genuine demands if the immigrants did not apply to HDB. So, who is wiser?

Are we better off?

An analysis of the UBS study: Singapore has the lowest wages and domestic purchasing power among the Asian Tigers By Eugene Yeo, Consultant Editor The worldwide study conducted and released by UBS lately, titled “Price and Earnings 2009″ has some unflattering results for Singapore. (download the study here) While our economy has the highest GDP (PPP) per capita in Asia at $49,288 according to a World Bank report (source:Wikipedia), our people do not enjoy a quality of life which commensurate with it. Though we are technically a developed first world country, some economic indictators as shown by the UBS study suggested that Singaporeans are not that better off than those in Third World countries. Low wages Singapore has a GDP (PPP) per capita higher than Switzerland, but our wages are way below the Swiss. The UBS study found that employees in Copenhagen, Zurich, Geneva and New York have the highest gross earnings. With its extremely high gross wages and comparatively low tax rates, Switzerland is a very employee-friendly country. The net wages used have been deducted for taxes and social security. Zurich and Geneva have wage indices (gross) of 119.8 and 107.5 respectively. In contrast, Singapore has a wage index of only 31.3, comparable with Moscow (30.9), Tallinn (28.7) and Johannesburg (26.7). In the Asia-Pacific region, it is exceeded by Tokyo (83.0), Sydney (74.1), Auckland (44.1), Hong Kong (42.3), Taipei (35.5) and Seoul (32.3) Low domestic purchasing power Where does an average income buy the most products and services? Wages alone do not determine the standard of living in a particular city or country. A better way to measure prosperity is to divide the average annual salary by the total price of a selected basket of goods and services (as used in the UBS study). This tells us how much purchasing power local wages. Again, Zurich (106.9), Sydney (95.9) and Luxembourg (95.4) topped the list – its citizens have the highest domestic purchasing power. Singaporeans have a low purchasing power of only 39.9, comparable to Kuala Lumpur (39.5), Warsaw (34.0) and Bogota (33.7). Other countries in the Asia-Pacific region which are ahead of us are Tokyo (82.2), Auckland (68.9), Taipei (58.9), Hong Kong (58.1) and Seoul (57.4). In other words, though the cost of living is higher in Tokyo, the average Japanese has a domestic purchasing power more than twice that of an average Singaporean. Though Malaysia is still a developing country and has a GDP (PPP) per capita of only $14,215, less than 3 times of ours, the ordinary Malaysian citizen has about the same domestic purchasing power as the Singaporean. Low relative purchasing power of wages This is calculated in the UBS study by using a specific, highly uniform product that is available everywhere in the same quality, and then calculate how long an employee has to work to afford it in each city. For the purpose of this article, the iPod nano (with 8 GB of storage) is used. An average wage earner is Zurich and New York can buy a nano from an Apple store after nine hours of work. A Singapore worker will have to work three times longer after 27..5 hours. The figures for selected Asia-Pacific cities are as follows: Sydney (9.5hrs), Tokyo (12hrs), Auckland (16hrs), Hong Kong (19hrs), Seoul (22hrs) and Taipei (23.5hrs). Again we came in last among the 4 Asian Tigers. Long working hours People work an average of 1,902 hours per year in the surveyed cities, but they work much longer in Asian and Middle Eastern cities, averaging 2,119 and 2,063 per year respectively. European cities had the lowest working hours per year. A global comparison showed the people in Lyon and Paris spend the least amount of time at work: 1,582 and 1,594 hours respectively. Singaporeans spent on average 2,088 hours at work per year with 11 days of vacation. This is less than Hong Kong (2,295) and Seoul (2,312), but more than Tokyo (1,997), Taipei (2,074), Sydney (1,747) and Auckland (1,884). Singaporeans also took the least number of holidays after Hong Kongers (10 days/year). High cost of living Singapore was ranked the second most expensive place to live in after Tokyo, surpassing Hong Kong for the first time. Let us compare the food prices in Singapore and other developed countries since food is a basic necessity. In the UBS study, a basket of 39 food items is put together and weighted mainly according to Western European consumption habits. The average worldwide cost of the basket is USD385. In Asia, Tokyo topped the list with an index of 124.7, followed by Hong Kong (96.5), Singapore (89.4), Seoul (89.0), Taipei (67.9) and Sydney (66.3) Conclusion The high cost of living coupled with low wages and domestic purchasing power condemns the average Singapore worker to an ignonimous, monotonus and stressful working life. Singapore workers have to work harder to earn the same amount of money and save for a longer period to purchase the same product. In 1991, then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong promised Singaporeans that we will be able to achieve the “Swiss standard of living” within a decade. Ten years later, we have a living standard which is closer to Russia than Switzerland. Like Singapore, the Russians has a low wage and domestic purchasing power and Russia, especially the city of Moscow, has one of the highest cost of living in the world. The above article was emailed to me and I am not sure which paper was it published, most probably the ST or Business Times.

Consequences of grade inflation

More letters are pouring in and more grouses will be heard when 6A1s and 4A2s are not good enough for admission to Hua Chong JC. And the same thing will apply to admission to Raffles Institution. Parents are right to be fuming mad that their children with such great results could not find places in the two top JCs. Why? Grade inflation or Integrated Programme(IP) programme? Like it or not, the top students are in the IP programme and have already been admitted. The second best, now filling the places in the normal distribution of straight As are not the same as the best in the IP programme. It is damn good feeling to get straight As even in the Normal stream. But the reality is that straight As in Division Two are not the same as straight As in Division One. What shall the MOE do to please parents and students? Continue with grade inflation or grade the Division Two students as the Division One students which means that many may not get their straight As? Alternatively it can open up more places in the top JCs for these students and appease their parents. Tough situation requiring tough fixes.