The Americans are coming to Asia to lead the Asians to a better future. Asia is where they belonged. They have never left. If you stand at Changi Point and squint your eyes a little, you may be able to see LA at the horizon. Bangkok or Jakarta would probably be too far away.
This morning when I read Tommy Koh’s address to the Japanese on how peaceful and how welcomed the Americans are, I feel that I must be pretty naïve, or I am suffering from dementia. It is more a combination of both, really.
The Americans are like Asians on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. And they have been bringing peace to Asia for the last 70 years since the end of World War II. When the Koreans and Vietnamese were trying to start another big world war, it was the Americans who came in to defeat them and bring peace to East Asia. Otherwise the region will be marred in unceasing conflicts among the belligerent regional states.
The great deeds of the Americans can best be seen in the Middle East. Look, they have brought peace to Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Libya. Now that their job is done in that region, it is the turn of the Asians to receive the American blessing.
And the Asean countries are opening their arms widely to receive the Great White Hope, to emancipate them from poverty, war, dictatorship and authoritarian regimes. The Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia are feasting the President like a Hollywood star. They were all gaga where he graced the Asean summit with his imposing presence. Without him, the Asean summit would have been meaningless, leaderless.
And India too would be flipping over with the sight of the Americans. The President even goaded the Australians to sell uranium to India, the first beneficiary of the American generosity, for peace of course.
The next great blessing coming the Asian way will be the Trans Pacific Pact to replace the FTAAP. The later is moribund, ineffective without the great leadership from America. And who says the TPP was an American concoction? It was launched by Chile, New Zealand and Singapore. The Americans just assumed leadership and make it better, that’s all.
And it has absolutely nothing about containing China. China is not excluded from joining. It can invite itself in on condition that all the members agree to accept its membership just like when China tried to join WTO. Nothing unusual, nothing of the sort like containing China. Please do not read too much into this kind of arrangement.
The Americans will lead the region to prosperity and peace with more cheap American goods to go around. Chinese cheap goods are of poorer quality and manufactured from exploitation of its own labour and abusing human rights and should be excluded.
The Americans are in the region to share power with the Chinese. But China’s entry into TPP would have to be blessed by the Americans. Oops, not really, but by all the members of the Pact. The Americans have no more use of their military forces in the peaceful Middle East they have left behind and would probably deployed these peaceful soldiers to the western Pacific Region for peace and stability. The first beneficiary of this peaceful gesture is Australia where the first consignment of troops will be stationed. But the 2,500 marines would be too small a force to maintain peace. The Asian nations will have to wait for the full deployment of the American main forces with its HQ likely to be in the Philippines or Vietnam, for a better guarantee of peace in the region. Without the presence of American troops in the region there can never be peace.
Remember the Korean War and the Vietnam War? It was the presence of American troops that brought peace to these two countries.
My apologies for the incoherent grumbling. I am just too naïve to see the goodness of the Americans in the region. The ineffective regional associations like Asean and FTAAP should make way for new associations led by the able leadership of America. Only then can this region live in peace and prospers. Please forgive me as I also have a bit of dementia and my views are pretty childish at times. You can be nicer to me by calling me innocent. But I must say that with the return of America to the region, good times are coming.
The Philippines, Indians and Vietnamese are celebrating. Of course Australia, Japan and South Koreans will feel more secure and more Asians. Not sure about the rest of Asean and China.
12/06/2011
About time to switch from cars to taxis
The charges for taxis will be going up next week. ComfortDelgro, the biggest taxi operator, has just announced the price hike, for good reasons. Cost of diesel, cars etc have been going up. Also, taxi operators need a pay rise too with the high cost of living. And demand is getting stronger with bigger population and more tourists coming in. I agree that these are all good reasons for a price hike.
And comfort is asking the other taxi operators to follow their footstep, to raise their fares. This is nothing to do with anti competition or collusion to fix prices. The other operators have a right to do otherwise.
With the higher fares being charge, it is expected that some of those who cannot afford the hike will have to take buses or trains. I will wait for another few more hikes to make it a bit pricier so that only dignified people can afford to take taxis. Then I will give up my car and switch to taxis when taking taxi becomes a dignified affair.
And comfort is asking the other taxi operators to follow their footstep, to raise their fares. This is nothing to do with anti competition or collusion to fix prices. The other operators have a right to do otherwise.
With the higher fares being charge, it is expected that some of those who cannot afford the hike will have to take buses or trains. I will wait for another few more hikes to make it a bit pricier so that only dignified people can afford to take taxis. Then I will give up my car and switch to taxis when taking taxi becomes a dignified affair.
Minus one zero from your Sing dollar
Singaporeans are feeling rich with high property value and high salary. If you compare the wealth of Singaporeans today and 30 years ago, Singaporeans are generally better off, richer, with more asset value to their credit. And the smarter and more talented ones are richer than their counterparts in the past beyond words.
Yes everyone is getting richer, but the real wealth or value is about one zero less from what they have. The real value of a 5 rm today is really the same value of a 5 rm flat yesterday, with a little enhancement. A $500k flat is actually the same $50k or $30k flat then. And only half life left.
An income of $5k is really $500 then. That is the real value of our money’s worth. There are certain items where the prices are about the same as in the past, some may even be cheaper. But for many things, the prices have gone up by more than 100%.
A 10c cup of kopi is $1. A 30c bowl of noodle is $4. A car of $10k is $100k. A flat of $30k is more than $300k.
In order to maintain the same level of living, one should rightly be earning 10 times the income 30 years ago, ie $1000 income should be $10k income. Today this is achieved in quite a number of households by adding two incomes together. While in the past, it was quite reasonable for an average worker to earn $1k. Today, to make $5k is not that easy really and to take home $10k by an employee is quite exceptional, unless one becomes an MP.
So, is it reasonable to say that our real money value compares to 30 years ago is less 10% of the face value? It is actually much lesser. One can’t even buy a decent HDB flat with $400k from the resale market when $40k could get one a semi D then.
There is no need to officially remove one zero from our paper currency yet. Pray that there will not come a day when a few zeros need to be written off. The Americans and Europeans are actually writing one zero off now without saying so.
Yes everyone is getting richer, but the real wealth or value is about one zero less from what they have. The real value of a 5 rm today is really the same value of a 5 rm flat yesterday, with a little enhancement. A $500k flat is actually the same $50k or $30k flat then. And only half life left.
An income of $5k is really $500 then. That is the real value of our money’s worth. There are certain items where the prices are about the same as in the past, some may even be cheaper. But for many things, the prices have gone up by more than 100%.
A 10c cup of kopi is $1. A 30c bowl of noodle is $4. A car of $10k is $100k. A flat of $30k is more than $300k.
In order to maintain the same level of living, one should rightly be earning 10 times the income 30 years ago, ie $1000 income should be $10k income. Today this is achieved in quite a number of households by adding two incomes together. While in the past, it was quite reasonable for an average worker to earn $1k. Today, to make $5k is not that easy really and to take home $10k by an employee is quite exceptional, unless one becomes an MP.
So, is it reasonable to say that our real money value compares to 30 years ago is less 10% of the face value? It is actually much lesser. One can’t even buy a decent HDB flat with $400k from the resale market when $40k could get one a semi D then.
There is no need to officially remove one zero from our paper currency yet. Pray that there will not come a day when a few zeros need to be written off. The Americans and Europeans are actually writing one zero off now without saying so.
12/05/2011
New opportunities in hawking
Raising standards of hawkers is a good thing and offers many opportunities for more economic activities and economic growth. The first thing is to set up a culinary school for hawkers, give it a good branding and French men may come here to take lessons too. Make sure the fee is high and at the end of the course, give a nicely printed Diploma on a nice shit of paper.
The next money making opportunity for the hawkers is to raise the price. The customers can’t expect to pay $4/$5 for a plate of quality char kway teow prepared by chef from our culinary school right? The hawker chefs will definitely be preparing better quality food in hawker centres and food courts and the customers will definitely be happy with better quality food. No doubt about it.
Actually there is another way to make easy money in hawking, and no need to work so hard. Just get a hawker stall and sublet it to the hawker chefs and sit back to collect $10k or more rents. This is the clever way of earning big money without having to sweat the small stuff.
Next development will be making fishmongers, butchers and vegetable sellers more professional, and upgrade smelly wet market to clean air conditioned market. The quality of life must improve and we cannot go on and on with wet and dirty markets. They can join the hawkers and call themselves PMETs. This is upgrading definitely.
The next money making opportunity for the hawkers is to raise the price. The customers can’t expect to pay $4/$5 for a plate of quality char kway teow prepared by chef from our culinary school right? The hawker chefs will definitely be preparing better quality food in hawker centres and food courts and the customers will definitely be happy with better quality food. No doubt about it.
Actually there is another way to make easy money in hawking, and no need to work so hard. Just get a hawker stall and sublet it to the hawker chefs and sit back to collect $10k or more rents. This is the clever way of earning big money without having to sweat the small stuff.
Next development will be making fishmongers, butchers and vegetable sellers more professional, and upgrade smelly wet market to clean air conditioned market. The quality of life must improve and we cannot go on and on with wet and dirty markets. They can join the hawkers and call themselves PMETs. This is upgrading definitely.
Are you glad that lease buy back scheme is extended to 4 and 5 rm flats?
Some people are glad that this scheme is extended to them so that they can sell their flats away and live on the proceeds till they die. Come with nothing go with nothing. I think they are all Buddhist or are living out the philosophy of Buddhism. And probably these people may also be those with no children to want to hand something down to them. Or maybe they have lived a dignified lifestyle, financially independent of their children and there is no obligation or attachment to want to do something kind to their children.
Or maybe family and kinship are no longer relevant or important in the culture of Singaporeans. So everyone is independent, no emotional attachment, no sentiments. They may want to die in some foreign land and would not care less if their children or relations will be present or absent at their last days or last rites.
Of course many probably understand that by the time they hit old age, they will be so broke, for one reason or another, that the only thing they can fall back on is their little flat to see them through the last years. Just pray that they do not need to be hospitalised or the little flat would not be enough to pay for the hospital bills. Or if enough, they would not have a lease buy back to fall back on anymore.
It reminds me of fate of living in smaller space. Eventually it is not unforeseeable that each Sinkie will have a space as big as those in the mortuary. And they will say no choice if we want economic growth and a better quality of life. They forfeited the right to think, to ask themselves if this is what they want, if there is an alternative, or if other people’s choice is The Choice and they cannot do anything about it.
Or maybe family and kinship are no longer relevant or important in the culture of Singaporeans. So everyone is independent, no emotional attachment, no sentiments. They may want to die in some foreign land and would not care less if their children or relations will be present or absent at their last days or last rites.
Of course many probably understand that by the time they hit old age, they will be so broke, for one reason or another, that the only thing they can fall back on is their little flat to see them through the last years. Just pray that they do not need to be hospitalised or the little flat would not be enough to pay for the hospital bills. Or if enough, they would not have a lease buy back to fall back on anymore.
It reminds me of fate of living in smaller space. Eventually it is not unforeseeable that each Sinkie will have a space as big as those in the mortuary. And they will say no choice if we want economic growth and a better quality of life. They forfeited the right to think, to ask themselves if this is what they want, if there is an alternative, or if other people’s choice is The Choice and they cannot do anything about it.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)