Modern day pirates, slave traders and drug peddlers

They used to make it big time catching slaves and trading them for profit. The same group was also active in piracy along the coast of Africa, but not of the Somali kind. They were Europeans. Some went further to China to push drugs, selling opium to the stupid Chinamen. And many built huge mansions in England, Europe and America from their lucrative businesses. Brown University was named after a slave trader. Jardines, Mathesons, Brooklyns, Rockefellers, Rothschild and what else, were all infamous and even became conglomerates. They were the heroes of the crowns and were knighted as members of their empires. There were no moral issues, no righteousness, no fair play, no wrong, all for good and clean profits. And they became respectable gentlemen and nobilities. And they got to be addressed as Sir. The modern pirates, drug peddlers and slave traders are also in respectable industries and professions. The finance industry is infested with these great gentlemen and talents. They pushed toxic notes, toxic bonds and improvised all kinds of rules and regulations and gaming of all kinds, to fleece the unwary and the weary, the innocent and ignorant and the not so well connected. And the modern day robbers, pirates and drug peddlers would also be knighted, respectable, and would build mansions all over the world, hop and sail in their private jets and yachts. And there is also no need to be woolly about morality, about fair play and about righteousness. These are only the concerns for the losers to cry over with, after they were fleeced.

China should raise the Korean tension issue in the UN

While the belligerent parties are bent on provoking the North Koreans with more war games in the Yellow Sea and the borders of North Korea, and calling the North Koreans provocative, China should not keep quiet and let the unjust blame game to go on. China must name the gangsters as they are and bring the matter to the UN to let the world community knows who are the real provocateurs. China cannot afford to be on the defensive and allow the US to put the blame on her when the US is the real culprit in the whole crisis. The american deception and ill intent to raise tension in the Korean Peninsula must be revealed for all to see. One simple resolution that the UN can adopt is to stop all parties from conducting war games in the Yellow Sea and 200km from the Korean borders. This alone should be good enough to lower the tension in the peninsula. If not, the belligerent countries will continue to carry their big guns to threaten North Korea. In addition, China shall call for a thorough investigation on the blowing up of Choenan and find who is the real murderer of the South Korean seamen. This incident must not be forgotten and laid to rest without giving justice to the dead men and their families. It must be pursued rigorously. Otherwise more innocent people would be killed with more of such incidents to raise tension and war between the two Koreans will be repeated. The two Koreans too must support such an investigation, and avoid conducting war games to provoke one another.

Another isolated youth slashing incident

A 23 year old was slashed in Yishun for asking a group of teenagers for his lost mobile phone. The youngest of the slashers was only 13. They attacked the 23 year old with parangs and leaving him bleeding with many cuts. He was lucky to be alive. This must be another isolated incident involving wayward youths. I don’t think they are gang members, just nice little neighbourhood kids on an outing together. The only difference today is that kids don’t only carry mobile phones only. They also tucked a parang in their waist pouch. And they are willing to wield the parangs and chop anyone when confronted. This is how far our society has progressed. We have upgraded our communications skill, from talking to arguing to quarrelling and now to slashing. And the fashion gadgets the kids are attaching to their bodies include tattoos and parangs, not 3 inch jack knives or pen knives. Any slashing incident is just a once in 50 year affair. And our nice neighbourhood kids will not be involved in any gangland warfare. Maybe a little staring incident now and then. Nothing to worry about. Singapore is still a very safe city.

In praise of Greed

68 medical specialists left the public sector to go into private practice. And the lure is a ten fold increase in income. Current income of public sector specialists ranges from $12k to $60k pm or $160k to three quarter of a million as compare to a million to 5 million in the private sector. And with COE hitting the $100k mark soon, these poor doctors would not be able to buy a decent car to drive. Nothing is wrong with the specialists wanting to earn a few millions a year. What is fearful is that the next round of salary increment in the public sector for medical specialists would push medical fees out into deep space. But that is the price to pay for a booming economy when there is so much money to be made and with a price tag of a few millions for anything as only small change. The way it is going, all the specialists should soon end up in the private sector, and more private hospitals can be built to reap more profits from this life and death business. The public sector can never hope to compete with the private sector on money alone. If they do, it will create a continuous domino theory with every other professional expecting to earn more than the doctors, starting with the politicians. We now have a great trend going in the property sectors when everything is for sale for more profits. And the foreigners are not short of cash with liquidity flooding the world’s financial system. The Chinese, the Indians, the Europeans and Americans are all pouring their petty cash here to sweep up every available property left. The recent announcement of Caldecott Hill being available for good residential properties could see more being built and sold off. And the GDP numbers are going to look very good indeed. Everything is for sale, for profit and for money. For those who fall into the CBF category of workers, tighten your seat belt and trouser’s belt. The ride is going to be exhilarating. We are in the best of time of our economic boom. The big cars are selling fast even with $60k for a piece of COE. The good times are here.

Responsibilities of Stock Exchanges

Goh Eng Yeow wrote an article in the ST on 6 Dec expressing concern on the role of high speed trading and the interests of small traders. High speed trading as an instrument used by big funds to take advantage of sophisticated computer technology is giving the funds an unfair advantage against the small traders. With the aid of high speed computers, the fund is able to tap into the system to know the queues of buy and sell and more, and could then come to a quick decision to buy and sell to its favour. When funds are trading in a big way, high volume and high speed, against the small investors or the rest of the investors, the losers are obvious. What then is the position of the stock exchanges on this new development? There are some fundamental responsibilities and roles which the stock exchanges are governed by its own regulations to uphold and to protect investors. Among these are: 1. Provide a level playing field. With the participation of high speed trading, is the playing field level? Is there an unfair advantage in favour of high speed traders? 2. Churning is against the regulations of stock exchanges. 3. Buying and selling without change of ownership is a violation of stock exchange regulations. 4. Buying and selling and creating a false market through such actions is also a violation of stock exchange regulations. 5. Is the trading of big funds transparent to the small investors when transparency is a hallmark of a proper stock exchange? How could stock exchanges protect the interests of investors and maintain the integrity of the system without compromising on its own regulatory role with the introduction of high speed trading? Is there a problem here?