The musical chairs of the Arabian Nights are being played and replayed over and over again. They were supposed to be ancient and wise civilizations. Somehow they never get over their colonial hangovers. They trusted their colonial masters more than themselves. They fight among themselves and ended as divided people and conquered by the West one by one.
After independence, they forgot about their colonial legacies and went sleeping with their former colonial masters. And they happily parked their wealth in Europe and America only to be confiscated or locked away when they fell out of favour with the Europeans or Americans. And whoosh, all their wealth here today gone tomorrow. And they never learnt.
Now the Brits just declared that they did not recognize the Gaddafi govt and all the monies now go to whichever rebel groups they are supporting. The Arabs are so pathetic. How are they to act as leaders of the Muslim world when they are in such a mess, and being made mince meat by the Westerners?
Would Asian and African countries learn any lessons from the Arabian fiasco and their sleeping with the Europeans and Americans. I think many Asian and African despots and dictators are still parking their ill gotten wealth in Europe and America only to be sorry one day when the loots were forfeited by their safe keepers.
8/02/2011
A stroke of brilliance
Yesterday the SGX went on full time, no lunch break, to improve trading volume. And the result was immediate. During the one and a half hour of trading, without lunch break, it chalked up 100m shares traded. This, as reported, was an increase of 6.4% in volume.
I was dumbfounded. For all the years I spent in human resource management, the profession has been bugged by the difficulties in raising productivity. Money were spent to improve productivity throught mechanization and computerization. The catchphrase was to work smart and not work hard, to work intelligently and not slogging over long hours. And we did not achieve much.
Now I realized that we have missed the wood for the trees. The solution was so simplistic yet so brilliant, so effective. Just extend working hours man. And 100m shares were achieved in an additional one and a half hour of trading. Nevermind if the overall volume was down from 1.7b on Friday to 1.46b yesterday. The 240m shares lost can easily be recovered by increasing trading hours by another two hours.
This is a remarkable discovery of a management theory of great significance. I must write an article to the SHRI’s newsletter on how to raise productivity in the simplest way and cheapest way. If the ministers and their ministries were to work through lunch, gaining another one hour of working time, their productivity would increase accordingly. And if the no lunch break is extended across the country, across all industries, viola, the country would have a 6% increase in GDP. There is thus no need to increase the influx of foreign workers and foreign talents which would bring along high inflation, high property prices, high congestion and competition for space and air.
After 40 years of independence, I think Spring Singapore would not have thought of such a great concept. We have wasted all this time trying out all the dump ideas to improve productivity which obviously did not work. And the one that works, influx of foreigners, actually works on the same principle. Increase in workforce means increase in manhours working. This is the same as increasing the number of working hours, like no lunch break.
I think we will progress more rapidly if everyone simply works longer hours. We will progress, from First World to the Third World.
I was dumbfounded. For all the years I spent in human resource management, the profession has been bugged by the difficulties in raising productivity. Money were spent to improve productivity throught mechanization and computerization. The catchphrase was to work smart and not work hard, to work intelligently and not slogging over long hours. And we did not achieve much.
Now I realized that we have missed the wood for the trees. The solution was so simplistic yet so brilliant, so effective. Just extend working hours man. And 100m shares were achieved in an additional one and a half hour of trading. Nevermind if the overall volume was down from 1.7b on Friday to 1.46b yesterday. The 240m shares lost can easily be recovered by increasing trading hours by another two hours.
This is a remarkable discovery of a management theory of great significance. I must write an article to the SHRI’s newsletter on how to raise productivity in the simplest way and cheapest way. If the ministers and their ministries were to work through lunch, gaining another one hour of working time, their productivity would increase accordingly. And if the no lunch break is extended across the country, across all industries, viola, the country would have a 6% increase in GDP. There is thus no need to increase the influx of foreign workers and foreign talents which would bring along high inflation, high property prices, high congestion and competition for space and air.
After 40 years of independence, I think Spring Singapore would not have thought of such a great concept. We have wasted all this time trying out all the dump ideas to improve productivity which obviously did not work. And the one that works, influx of foreigners, actually works on the same principle. Increase in workforce means increase in manhours working. This is the same as increasing the number of working hours, like no lunch break.
I think we will progress more rapidly if everyone simply works longer hours. We will progress, from First World to the Third World.
8/01/2011
Investigative journalism taking on new meaning
Investigative journalism is the pride of the journalistic world. To be able to fish out information of public interest that are hard to come by must be the aspiration of all great journalists who want to make a name for themselves.
Investigative journalism is taking on a new form, investigating news by the citizens and not by the professional journalists. And their reach is far wider and deeper than the professional journalists. Citizens are up in arms, with the power and tool of the internet, to make their own investigation and contribution to put to print, newsworthy news that are somehow not printable or not available in the main media.
The internet has made possible the availability of news, with no fear or discrimination, to the people. In this area, especially in countries when news are controlled and managed, investigative journalism by the people, a kind of people’s power, is taking shape. The pen is mightier than the sword. Today it is the key pad that is mightier than the pen.
The main media will now have a worthy successor to their once privilege position of telling news the way they want it. The internet will tell the news the way it wants it, in a freedom that has never been experienced before. The internet is going to be the new champion of news and information. The main media will become dinosaurs if they cannot stand up to this challenge, of reporting news that is newsworthy. Both sides can now report selectively, news that each deemed is news. The readers will have a better choice of news to read, of media to look for the news they want to know and to read.
Every citizen can now write their own news, to call his news, 'My News.'
Investigative journalism is taking on a new form, investigating news by the citizens and not by the professional journalists. And their reach is far wider and deeper than the professional journalists. Citizens are up in arms, with the power and tool of the internet, to make their own investigation and contribution to put to print, newsworthy news that are somehow not printable or not available in the main media.
The internet has made possible the availability of news, with no fear or discrimination, to the people. In this area, especially in countries when news are controlled and managed, investigative journalism by the people, a kind of people’s power, is taking shape. The pen is mightier than the sword. Today it is the key pad that is mightier than the pen.
The main media will now have a worthy successor to their once privilege position of telling news the way they want it. The internet will tell the news the way it wants it, in a freedom that has never been experienced before. The internet is going to be the new champion of news and information. The main media will become dinosaurs if they cannot stand up to this challenge, of reporting news that is newsworthy. Both sides can now report selectively, news that each deemed is news. The readers will have a better choice of news to read, of media to look for the news they want to know and to read.
Every citizen can now write their own news, to call his news, 'My News.'
The Americans should have learnt from us
The US could have avoided the subprime crisis if they were willing to learn from us. In fact they would have become a much richer nation if they were to implement the same immigration policies as ours. They would have their property prices shooting to the sky and benefit all their property owners who would then be able to sell them at enormous profits to the new immigrants. All they need to do is to let in 10 or 20 million new immigrants who would then need to buy up the properties to stay. And if they are more aggressive, they could let in a 100m, and the US will be boom town Charlie. All the original Americans will be laughing to the banks by just selling their properties or looking at their market values.
It is a sure win formula. Dumb Americans. They could have turned a crisis into a great opportunity. And to think that they have been coming here to get good advice or words of wisdom. I think they never bother to listen when they were here, just pretend to listen but not letting anything to get into them.
It is a sure win formula. Dumb Americans. They could have turned a crisis into a great opportunity. And to think that they have been coming here to get good advice or words of wisdom. I think they never bother to listen when they were here, just pretend to listen but not letting anything to get into them.
Medisave double speak
Medisave Minimum Sum
The Medisave Minimum Sum is the amount you need to retain in your Medisave Account whenever you make a withdrawal of CPF savings (e.g. at age 55, 56, etc). The Medisave Minimum Sum will ensure that you set aside enough savings to meet your future healthcare expenses. The Medisave Minimum Sum from 1 July 2011 is $36,000 and is adjusted every July of the year.
Medisave Required Amount
The Medisave Required Amount (MRA) refers to the amount you are required to set aside in your Medisave Account after meeting the CPF Minimum Sum requirement. If you have met the CPF Minimum Sum and have a MRA shortfall at the point of withdrawal, you are required to make a top-up to your Medisave Account with part of the balance from your Ordinary Account and/or Special Account to meet the prevailing MRA.
The MRA is set at $27,500 from 1 January 2011 and will increase by approximately $2,500 (to be adjusted for inflation) each year until it reaches $25,000 (in 2003 dollars) on 1 January 2013.
The above is quoted from the CPF online site. How many of you understand what they mean? One point to note is ‘minimum’ which means that they can make you pay more than this, or take more money from you to be locked up. My Medisave saving is now more than the $36,000 minimum and growing. And this taking money from the people to be locked away, hopefully you have a beneficiary to pick them up when you are deleted, the money will go to the govt’s charity.
Read MRA above carefully. It said it is the amount to be set aside after meeting the Medisave Minimum Sum of $36k at this point in time, and this MRA to be set aside is $27.500. They could technically make a CPF depositor set aside $36k + $27,500 or $63,500, and growing every year.
How much money is kept away from the people by this scheme? At 36k per head, at 2m contributors, that is $72b! This is money that rightfully belongs to the people and must be returned to the people. Under the present scheme, even after 62 or 65, or 70, depending on how far the goal posts are shifted before you can get your monthly pittance from the CPF Dispensary, this money in the Medisave still cannot be touched. This is definitely a violation of human rights, when the people’s money is taken away from them, oh, ‘for the people’s good’, so they said.
Just for this reason alone, it is good enough to vote for another govt to make this withholding of the people’s life savings illegal. At the moment it is legal because the people voted them to Parliament to make this legal. How silly can the people be to vote a govt to take their life savings away from them when they need it?
There are many other things that are legal today that should be made illegal by a govt of the people and for the people. I am waiting and will definitely vote for another govt that will make these illegal and return the money to the people.
Why vote for a President to protect a reserve that we do not know? The people should be voting for a President or govt to protect their life savings in their CPF, to be returned to them when they need it, to be returned to them when they are alive, and not when they are dead.
What is the point of going for a heart by pass at 70 or 80 because one has some money in the Medisave, to be kept alive and penniless in old age? Would it be better to spend the money, enjoy a bit of life, and just let old age and the wear and tear of the body take one’s life away, and live more comfortably, even be an emperor for a few days with one’s own hard earn money?
The Medisave Minimum Sum is the amount you need to retain in your Medisave Account whenever you make a withdrawal of CPF savings (e.g. at age 55, 56, etc). The Medisave Minimum Sum will ensure that you set aside enough savings to meet your future healthcare expenses. The Medisave Minimum Sum from 1 July 2011 is $36,000 and is adjusted every July of the year.
Medisave Required Amount
The Medisave Required Amount (MRA) refers to the amount you are required to set aside in your Medisave Account after meeting the CPF Minimum Sum requirement. If you have met the CPF Minimum Sum and have a MRA shortfall at the point of withdrawal, you are required to make a top-up to your Medisave Account with part of the balance from your Ordinary Account and/or Special Account to meet the prevailing MRA.
The MRA is set at $27,500 from 1 January 2011 and will increase by approximately $2,500 (to be adjusted for inflation) each year until it reaches $25,000 (in 2003 dollars) on 1 January 2013.
The above is quoted from the CPF online site. How many of you understand what they mean? One point to note is ‘minimum’ which means that they can make you pay more than this, or take more money from you to be locked up. My Medisave saving is now more than the $36,000 minimum and growing. And this taking money from the people to be locked away, hopefully you have a beneficiary to pick them up when you are deleted, the money will go to the govt’s charity.
Read MRA above carefully. It said it is the amount to be set aside after meeting the Medisave Minimum Sum of $36k at this point in time, and this MRA to be set aside is $27.500. They could technically make a CPF depositor set aside $36k + $27,500 or $63,500, and growing every year.
How much money is kept away from the people by this scheme? At 36k per head, at 2m contributors, that is $72b! This is money that rightfully belongs to the people and must be returned to the people. Under the present scheme, even after 62 or 65, or 70, depending on how far the goal posts are shifted before you can get your monthly pittance from the CPF Dispensary, this money in the Medisave still cannot be touched. This is definitely a violation of human rights, when the people’s money is taken away from them, oh, ‘for the people’s good’, so they said.
Just for this reason alone, it is good enough to vote for another govt to make this withholding of the people’s life savings illegal. At the moment it is legal because the people voted them to Parliament to make this legal. How silly can the people be to vote a govt to take their life savings away from them when they need it?
There are many other things that are legal today that should be made illegal by a govt of the people and for the people. I am waiting and will definitely vote for another govt that will make these illegal and return the money to the people.
Why vote for a President to protect a reserve that we do not know? The people should be voting for a President or govt to protect their life savings in their CPF, to be returned to them when they need it, to be returned to them when they are alive, and not when they are dead.
What is the point of going for a heart by pass at 70 or 80 because one has some money in the Medisave, to be kept alive and penniless in old age? Would it be better to spend the money, enjoy a bit of life, and just let old age and the wear and tear of the body take one’s life away, and live more comfortably, even be an emperor for a few days with one’s own hard earn money?
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