A strange phenomenon in paradise

Singaporeans are increasingly looking to moving out of paradise for one reason or another. On the other hand foreigners are rushing in to fill up the places vacated by them. This musical chair is also evident in many areas, with foreigners taking over the places of Singaporeans. We have jobs, from the low skilled jobs that Singaporeans did not want to the middle level jobs where foreigners are cheaper and to the top end CEOs when foreigners are deemed smarter or more experienced or more qualified. Then what is left for Singaporeans? We built high end homes to sell to rich foreigners and Singaporeans downgrade and look for cheaper homes elsewhere. From the city to new towns and then to neighbouring countries. We built world class hospitals to service foreigners and encouraged price conscious Singaporeans to go JB and other parts of Malaysia for cheaper treatments. We built schools and universities with Singaporeans complaining that they are increasingly being squeezed out by foreigners for places. We built golf courses that rich foreigners could play and Singaporeans ended playing in Malaysia or nearby Indonesian islands. And the latest, we built casinos and foreigners can go in for free while Singaporeans have to pay or go to Genting Highland for free. And Singaporeans were given the message that if they don’t buck up, they will be replaced by foreigners. Housing agents, insurance agents, foreign student agents, in fact all agencies, Singaporeans are fighting tooth and nail with foreigners for a piece of the action. Is there anything that is exclusive for Singaporeans? Yes, National Service.

Sheng Siong has done a national service

The many outcries against Sheng Siong may be misplaced. Look at the bright side, Sheng Siong could be doing a good national service by helping to phase out the wet markets. Why go to wet markets when you can shop at nice, clean and aircon supermarkets? It is an outdated way of life. We must progress. No need to wipe hands and holding wet money notes. And the stallholders there are, hmmm, how to say it, anyway, cannot compare with the uniformed ones in the big supermarkets. And big supermarkets can buy in bulk and sell cheaper also. They have the muscles, the financial muscles to weed out the inefficiency of small stallholders. And the quality of life will be better. No more wet and smelly markets. And wearing pyjamas to market, an eyesore, will be a thing of the past. Who dares wear pyjamas to supermarkets? Look at the bright side. The stallholders can apply for work in the casinos or food courts. Plenty of jobs around.

The end game is Zero

We may be a multi culture and multi religion country, but the influence of Buddhism is widely felt and even practised as a way of life. Or at least one aspect of Buddhism is gaining prevalence without anyone realising it. Buddhism believes in emptiness. In the end all material things do not matter. We come naked and should go naked or empty handed. This is now a national philosophy. Many years ago we started this great saving scheme called CPF and the workers and employers contributed as much as 50% of an employee's income to the scheme. It was so successful that the Govt even switched its pension scheme to this scheme. The people were happy. They have enough in the CPF to buy their homes and then a handsome sum for retirement. The status quo lasted till probably the late 1970s or early 1980s when the savings in the CPF grew to such a size that it became very tempting to everyone. The CPF members not only smiled when the monthly statement arrived. They were rich with the amount of money in their accounts. And I am talking about the average workers, not ministers. As they said, the rest is history. Today, only a few lucky ones would have some decent money left in their CPF on retirement or to be passed down to their children. Every cent has been computed by all the interested parties to have a slice of it and leaving the owner practically just enough to meet his last rites. Some may say, but they still got a flat. Yes they do. But this is also computed that by the time they retire, they will have to trade it for some money to live on. And if they use reverse mortgages, that will be the perfect scheme in the game of zero. At the end no flat and no money. For those who have some money to live on and not having to trade in their flats, the flats also will one day become zero in value. I don't think this philosophy is Confucianist. It is fundamentally Buddhist in nature. The Game of Zero has been perfected. Come with nothing, leave with nothing. One qualification, it applies to the average Singaporeans only. PRs, foreigners and the rich are not part of this game.

Bloggers unite

Blog this shit: Open source information scares the pants of governments April 1, 2010 · Leave a Comment “If you bloggers self-organize and attach yourselves like leeches to specific issues, corporations, organizations, challenges, you will be the intelligence minutemen of this century. The power is in your hands. There aren’t enough guns to kill us all, and Haliburton can’t build the jails fast enough to keep us down.” I copied the above from Temasek Hedge. This is a video clip of a speech by Robert D Steele, a former intelligence officer, who said a lot of things that needed to be said. Other than the power of the internet, blogging and the role of bloggers, he talked about how govts treat its people as commodities, how govt benefitted from sponging the people's money, how America is committing war crimes and profitting from war, how central banks needed to be closed, how bankrupt America is today and awaiting to break up, and how you and me and every blogger can contribute to a better world. I strongly recommend everyone to listen intently to this video clip posted in Temasek Hedge.

Too much effort to write about rising cost of living

University fees increased, electricity increased, sigh, fee increases are no longer exciting news. It is happening almost daily so I am feeling tired of writing about them. Even rental of market stalls can shoot up for no good reason except a change of owners. HDB flat selling at $650k not high enough. Now Bishan EM selling at $900k with $170k COV. What else is going to go up? Salary, yes salary must go up or else who can afford to buy those multi milllion dollar properties. As for worker's salary, tkk. Worker's salary got to be kept competitive, not low, or else all the jobs will go away. Prices of cars were the highest in the world and are jumping higher. No country can ever dream of beating us in this.