Loan shark Country – An effort in vain

Many loan shark runners have been arrested recently when the police stepped up their acts. Many were jailed or caned. When the police meant business, no way can the criminals hide. Those who are still engaging in this activity, to threaten the innocents and to paint graffiti everywhere they like should take note. It is only a matter of time before they go behind bars, and their behinds will be sore too. And ouch, another photo in the media showing another O$P$ graffiti at the Kallang Tennis Centre when an international tournament is in progress. Talking about arrogance, who can beat them? The loan sharks really believe that they are one step ahead of the law. They are as good as flipping their nose at the law. This problem used to be other people’s problem for too long. Innocent victims have suffered for months and years at the mercy of the loan sharks. As long as it remains as OPP, nothing much will be done. Would the latest affront against the law at the tennis centre be enough to provoke the law to come down harder and extinguish the light of the loan shark activities? By reading the reports that only little runners were being caught all the while, it looks like the law is just scratching the surface of the problem. If the big sharks are not in the net, there will be an unending supply of runners running around in circles in loan shark country.

Crying foul again!

Super computers and high speed trading system in equity and derivative tradings. These traders are armed with the latest technology, computer systems and algorithms to place their bets in the stock markets. The technology gives them the advantage to buy and sell at the best price after having a quick peep at all the orders in the market. And they have a big war chest to back up their bets to drown out the small traders. Now, is this a game of pokers, a game of chance, or stock trading? Is it investing or gambling? Who are the big traders with their expensive gambling machine playing against? Are they gambling against their peers with the same formula 1 machine or are they cheating or violating the small investors? When they are competing against the same kind with the same level of resources, technology and equipment, it is fair play. But if they are employing their mean machine to take advantage of the small and ill equipped investors, someone must cry foul. Fair play is what stock markets swear to do. Protecting the small investors against foul play, against being taken advantage of by unfair practices is what the stock markets stood for. By allowing such machine to maul down the innocent small investors must be a serious breach of the integrity of stock market principles and operations. If not, stock markets must be renamed as casinos and be governed by the rules of gaming applicable to casinos.

Beating the inflation beast

Govt policies have long term implications, some good and some bad, and some effects can be very extreme. Today everyone knows that Singaporeans are asset rich and cash poor. Everyone knows why. Singaporeans used to be very rich in their savings. Today, not many can smile at their CPF monthly statements as most have been depleted by you know what. Whatever little left will be schemed away and becomes untouchable. It all started when someone realized that Singaporeans have a lot of savings. Then schemes started brewing. How to get hold of this money while they laid idle in the CPF accounts? The rest is history. Today practically everything is priced to empty those savings. Of course they don’t said it this way. They said, Singaporeans can afford to pay because there is money in the CPF accounts. And everything is priced, carefully calibrated, to be affordable according to how much money there is available in the CPF accounts. Brilliant but disastrous. Clever but very short sighted. On one hand encouraging the people to save and on the other helping the people to spend at double quick time. Then utter the big surprise, why money not enough? Now there is a problem when it should not be. So we blame the inflation beast. It is all because of inflation. And inflation eats up a life time of savings at 40 to 50% of one’s income. If only time can be unwound to bring back to where it started and this asset inflation nonsense be killed before it gets wilder. So how? How to return to the time when housing was really affordable, medical fees affordable etc etc and people’s savings keep growing and they can smile at their CPF monthly statements? The inflation beast needs to be beaten. But there is no way to bring down the price of housing or medical fees. Doing that will be even more disastrous. Perhaps inflation can be beaten by inflation. How about inflating the CPF accounts of Singaporeans to the tune of $300k or there about? This will return some cash to the Singaporeans whose savings have been whittled away by inflation. And it will help Singaporeans wanting to buy those inflated HDB flats or pay for those inflated medical bills. It will cost he govt nothing. It is just printing money like all countries are doing. Follow our role model America and we can’t be wrong. When the rest of the world is printing money, we will lose out if we don’t. The buying power of our dollar is shrinking in a frightening way for domestic purchases. This must be done right. And there is no need to throw the whole amount to all Singaporeans. It can be carefully calibrated to the young and old, and to new and old citizens. We cannot repeat the silly thing by throwing all we got to new citizens. More thoughts can go into this little idea of inflating the CPF savings accounts of Singaporeans to fight the inflation beast. And the amount must be meaningful to right the excesses of the last 30 years. Let’s see what Tharman is going to say during his budget speech. Would it still be $1 for you and $1000 for me again?

The elitist Presidency

Do we need an elitist President? I can’t imagine an elected President saying. ‘Get out of my elitist and uncaring face!’ Of course this is unlikely. No got chance for a President to say such things. The barriers have been set up so high that only a select few elites would qualify. The door has been shut on the general populace. I still think that there could be loop holes. For instance a Stanley Ho would definitely qualify. Or a char kway teow seller who went on to build a food chain and got his company listed in the stock exchange could also qualify. Similarly a construction worker who could turn around a small construction firm into a construction giant must surely qualify. I don’t think a school principal or a lecturer in the university will qualify. A doctor of a small clinic will not qualify. This would rule out many talents and good people from standing for the Presidency. No wonder there were so few candidates, actually only one candidate, that stood up in the last election. A dearth of president material. What if the rules are relax and less stringent? What if Wally becomes qualify and gets himself elected? I bet he will be asking someone to write a book about his conquest as emperor of Lijiang. Or Matilah, the longkang intellectual, he would want to write a book about his amorous adventures and his fun loving vagabond lifestyle. Just these two examples will be enough to convince me that an elitist President is a right one. Oh, need to tighten the rules a bit more to exclude successful people like char kway teow chefs and construction specialists from the University of Hard Knocks.

Policies that are anti family

Low fertility rate and lesser babies seem to be the problem of this little country. And we have many positive govt policies to encourage more babies with cash even being thrown in to help the mothers to be. Why is it not working? Let me venture to make a few educated guesses. Babies mean family and family support groups plus a social and economic system to support their growing up to be healthy and well balanced individuals. They need good homes and space to grow up too, without having to worry about the finances and high cost of living, education and medical expenses. What are the policies that are anti babies and anti family. 1. Housing. You need affordable, I mean really affordable and not a life time of debt to be serviced by two incomes, and reasonably spacious living spaces for the children to grow. Ideally a 3 tier family with the grand parents or other siblings lending a hand when needed to look after the babies. The alternative is for maids, but with someone at home to supervise, thus proper living space for maids. Are shoe box flats good enough to bring up children? Sure, the midgets will tell you. You don’t need more than a store room size room to live in. Ok, the ants and bees live in smaller niches, so don’t complain. And Hongkong is a good example to prove how luxurious our shoe box flats are. 2. Now, the problems of housing policies against families and babies are obvious. Without housing, how to start a family? Wait and wait, and queue and queue for housing? By the time one gets to the front of the queue, several years have gone by. By the time one gets to the housing unit, several years have gone by. Not forgetting the years needed to save for the down payment. 3. Two income family. Is this conducive to family life? With a 3 tier family, workable. If both parents have to be out most of the day and return home dead tired, what is there left for the family? And if the couple is on their own, the burden and responsibility of looking after babies will be passed to someone else that may bring more problems, stress and even tragedies. 4. Medical cost is not cheap to bear a child and to see them through in good health. 5. Education, transportation, living costs etc all adds up to a huge bill to pay. 6. Cannot afford cars, take public transport. Who doesn’t know? One baby with the pram and all the accessories will be more than enough to lug around. Taking public transport once in a while may be bearable. But to do it for several years, ferrying the kids to grandparent homes or nurseries for day care, kindergarten, play schools, schools, my god, how to cope? And if both parents have to rush to work, and what if there are more than one child? Private transportation is essential! No joke, it is no luxury. Now COE already $70k! KNN. So you want everyone to be economically active, you want everyone to produce children, what for? And you don’t want to build housing. You demand that people book first and wait for 3-4 years. Lao liao by the time the flat comes. And the govt is telling people cannot afford buy smaller and smaller flats. Cui kong lan par song. With the kind of prices for a flat, many young couples will only have to buy smaller and smaller flats or shoe box flats. Oh ya, some will be buying private and landed properties. Now grandparents also must work as cleaners. Why don’t govt provide incentive for grand parents to stay at home and look after grandchildren? Cannot lah, welfare state is bad lah. Looking after children and grand children are individual’s responsibility. Ok, then what the shit is the govt complaining about not enough babies and asking people to produce? Individual responsibility what! There is such a word called holistic approach. But if left hand doesn’t know what right hand is doing, or left hand does one thing, right hand does another, then the balls will ding dong all the way. Oh, they also have a saying, have your cake and eat it as well. Now that is simply ingenious if it works.