Yesterday still got flood!

Flooding seems to be a regular occurrence nowadays. Every torrential rain of a couple of hours could see some area flooded. Yesterday was MacPherson and Tai Seng/Paya Lebar area. Where would it be today if it rains? This is bringing me back to the 1960s when flood was a common thing. Quite fun actually, with cars stalling in the middle of the roads.

Fifth straight hikes in Electricity prices

'Electricity prices will rise by an average of 2.4 per cent this quarter – from 1 July to 30 September. The new rate for households will be 24.13 cents per kWh, up from last quarter’s 23.56 cents per kWh. This is the fifth straight quarterly rise in electricity rates. Compared to Apr 2009, electricity tariff for households has increased by 33.8 per cent.' The above was copied from Temasek Review.

To celebrate or to kick asses?

HDB resale prices up another 3.8% for the second quarter. Private housing up 5.2% for the same period. Analysts are revising the annual increase to 12-15%. This means that HDB owners will have a paper gain of more than 10%. A $500k property will appreciate by $50k, $400k property by $40k. Correspondingly the property tax next year will be up. To keep pace with the rapid rise in price of HDB flats, buyers must have pay increases of the same percentage just to stay even. Those who have lower pay increases will find the price running away faster. For existing HDB owners, getting paper windfalls, shall they celebrate or cry? For those who have to buy resale flats, there is only one option, pay more. So, shall the Minister in charge of housing be given a big bonus or a big kick in his ass? It all depends on whether one is benefitting from this glorious rise in prices or having to pay more.

Affordable Sultan Fish

'...a 35-year-old diner, Mr Liu, and four friends who feasted on a steamed fish dish called the white sultan fish at the high-end Feng Shui Inn restaurant on June 12 at Resorts World Sentosa (RWS). ' This is quoted from Yahoo News. Wow, Singaporeans are truly one of the richest people in the world. A 1.8kg fish, called Sultan Fish and reputed to have silky white meat that tasted like fruits cost S$1,224! The fish is noted to be vegetarian as it eats fruits fallen from trees. That is why it is so exquisite in taste and price. Each mouthful will cost $100! Must be more expensive than the best caviar.

Getting carried away with delirium

A housing agent, Vincent Kang, was so piss off with the way the policy on public housing is heading that he wrong a personal letter to the Today forum to vent his anger. To him, and I agree with him, public housing is to provide a roof over the heads of the average citizens that could not speculate on properties to get rich. That was the original objective which people were generally happy with though there were a few of grouses for not being able to speculate with public housing. Now, when the policy has changed, anger is coming out instead of grouses. For every dollar someone speculates on and profits, someone is gonna pay for it. And that someone is also a Singaporean. The down spiralling of a good policy started when things got to go wrong, when CPF savings was not enough, high cost of housing and high cost of living. This led to finding new ways to squeeze money from nowhere. So the most precious item, the HDB flats, become a commodity, to be traded, to be used to generate income, to keep up with the high cost of living. Some thought it was clever. And clever it was indeed. Those who profitted were laughing, for a short while. Then when the little windfall was not enough, they could end up living in the beaches or the parks High public housing prices and high cost of living are never good. They put stresses and demands for higher income to sustain the useless and unproductive assets appreciation. The people must not be misled into thinking that they are wealthy when in fact they got poorer instead.