The govt took less than a month to decide on spending $750m to solve a little ponding problem in Orchard Road. The recommendations by the committee of experts were revealed only a few weeks back in the main media. Looking from a positive angle, it is decisiveness, a govt on the ball and is trying to tackle the problem as fast as it could. I still remember that it needed one whole year of studies to decide to give those on public assistance $50 extra a month. I am not privy to how long the committee took to come out with the recommendations but the decision was made super fast and super serious.
I don’t know how many and how big were the ponds. If there were 10 ponds, it means each pond will cost $75m to remove. And looking at the works to be done, many of the facilities were meant to be for monitoring and data collecting purposes and not really to solve the flooding problem. I think the $124m map is one of them, plus all the CCTVs and early warning system. By the time they have the map ready and all the new data, another big sum of money will be needed to implement more new measures from the new findings.
Well, money can solve all problems. True or not? Or money down the drain into the ponds? What is $750m? May not be effective as the sum is too small.
1/31/2012
Incompetence or negligence?
A contributor to the ST forum today, Woon Toon Tuan, wrote an article titled, ‘Why property prices will remain high’ and quoted some amazing numbers which he said were from official sources.
He stated that from 1995-2010, the population of citizens and PRs increased by 758,000 while 128,896 private homes were built. The 758,000 when translated into homes needed with a 3.5 person per household were 216,628 homes. Between the two, there was a shortfall of 87,732 homes needed. To date, there are 77,089 units of incompleted homes in the pipeline and these would still be insufficient and will thus not quench the demand for housing. Prices will thus remain firm.
I am not sure if public housing would affect his numbers as he mentioned that the 128,896 were private homes. Then he added that in year 2010, the population increased by another 107,000 foreigners. This would translate to another 30,000 units of home for them.
It is really very funny that if these are official data, how could they be missed and some jokers happily cut down on the building of public housing? Actually it is not funny at all when so many people were adversely affected and their savings kenna wiped out because of high demand and low supply of housing. Home buyers could have suffered a few hundred thousand dollars extra in the prices they paid because of this boo boo. Some would have to push back their buying decision only to end up seeing the prices rocketing to the sky. And they are stucked with no housing till today. Those that have to pay the exceptionally high prices would have no recourse to the monetary loss they have incurred because of this fiasco.
Nobody is responsible for the shit they have ended up in. Ya, they can blame it on market forces.
He stated that from 1995-2010, the population of citizens and PRs increased by 758,000 while 128,896 private homes were built. The 758,000 when translated into homes needed with a 3.5 person per household were 216,628 homes. Between the two, there was a shortfall of 87,732 homes needed. To date, there are 77,089 units of incompleted homes in the pipeline and these would still be insufficient and will thus not quench the demand for housing. Prices will thus remain firm.
I am not sure if public housing would affect his numbers as he mentioned that the 128,896 were private homes. Then he added that in year 2010, the population increased by another 107,000 foreigners. This would translate to another 30,000 units of home for them.
It is really very funny that if these are official data, how could they be missed and some jokers happily cut down on the building of public housing? Actually it is not funny at all when so many people were adversely affected and their savings kenna wiped out because of high demand and low supply of housing. Home buyers could have suffered a few hundred thousand dollars extra in the prices they paid because of this boo boo. Some would have to push back their buying decision only to end up seeing the prices rocketing to the sky. And they are stucked with no housing till today. Those that have to pay the exceptionally high prices would have no recourse to the monetary loss they have incurred because of this fiasco.
Nobody is responsible for the shit they have ended up in. Ya, they can blame it on market forces.
1/30/2012
Obama - A contented man
In his latest State of the Union Address, Obama Barack came across as a happy, balanced and contented man. In his Presidential speech it was all about nation and people, nothing about self. He was not there to defend his pay or asking for more pay. The only time he did mention about his pay was to say that he was very satisfied with his meagre official pay and was more than willing to pay more taxes on top of what he was paying under the current tax laws.
Some may squirm and privately mumble to themselves that Obama could be paid more under the table. But no one has any evidence to say so. Given the American liberal and open system, any such wrongdoings would not hide pass muster. It is not so easy to be corrupt or be paid under the table without being discovered as the President of the USA. This is unlike Asian systems of opagueness, non transparency and non disclosure when many things could be hidden or undisclosed and plenty can be hidden under the sun.
The closest Asian system that is as transparent as the American, and clean, must be our very own system. The slight difference is that Obama is a happy and contented politician who is happy with his lesser pay than our politicians who are still feeling quite sore of the hair cut. A contented man, some say silly man, is a wise man. Of course this is very subjective and many in paradise will be laughing themselves silly at Obama for such a big job and responsibility and afraid to fight for more pay. He could simply use our model to justify his $600k pay upwards many times.
Whether he is wise or silly is a matter of opinion, a judgement call really.
Some may squirm and privately mumble to themselves that Obama could be paid more under the table. But no one has any evidence to say so. Given the American liberal and open system, any such wrongdoings would not hide pass muster. It is not so easy to be corrupt or be paid under the table without being discovered as the President of the USA. This is unlike Asian systems of opagueness, non transparency and non disclosure when many things could be hidden or undisclosed and plenty can be hidden under the sun.
The closest Asian system that is as transparent as the American, and clean, must be our very own system. The slight difference is that Obama is a happy and contented politician who is happy with his lesser pay than our politicians who are still feeling quite sore of the hair cut. A contented man, some say silly man, is a wise man. Of course this is very subjective and many in paradise will be laughing themselves silly at Obama for such a big job and responsibility and afraid to fight for more pay. He could simply use our model to justify his $600k pay upwards many times.
Whether he is wise or silly is a matter of opinion, a judgement call really.
Close down our Medical College
I read that it will cost a student about $600k to study Medicine in Australia or more in the US or UK. This is a princely sum of money to acquire a skill to earn a living. I can presume that the cost of training a doctor locally is just as much, though it may cost less to a student after govt subsidies. The full cost could be as much as a million to produce a locally trained doctor to practice as a GP. For the specialists, the cost will be much more.
In my view this is just not cost effective. When we can get fully trained doctors overseas, including specialists, without paying a cent for their training, why do we need to spend so much of our resources on training doctors locally? All the infrastructure, the manpower, resources, etc can be put to better use elsewhere. In a way, we can outsource our medical training overseas by recruiting foreign talents. And we can pay them cheaper than our locals with their unjustly high expectations.
Boon Wan is talking about cutting cost in the medical profession by increasing productivity. I think he should consider this option. The cost will definitely come down, without the costly investment and with cheaper doctors readily available.
In the name of efficiency, cost effectiveness, we can put this kind of thinking further by closing all our universities and recruit foreign talents and graduates to work in the professions and industries as well. Definitely cheaper, hungrier, and more dynamic and with cost advantage, will make our economy more competitive and vibrant.
As for the Singaporeans, they are quite expensive to train locally. If they can afford it, they can join the army of locals in their march to foreign universities which are deemed to be more valuable and better, and come back as foreign talents. They can foot their own training without the state having to fund the local universities and to provide subsidies on their tuition fees.
The net effect is that we will have cheaper doctors who are better trained by overseas universities to serve our people. It is a win win situation.
In my view this is just not cost effective. When we can get fully trained doctors overseas, including specialists, without paying a cent for their training, why do we need to spend so much of our resources on training doctors locally? All the infrastructure, the manpower, resources, etc can be put to better use elsewhere. In a way, we can outsource our medical training overseas by recruiting foreign talents. And we can pay them cheaper than our locals with their unjustly high expectations.
Boon Wan is talking about cutting cost in the medical profession by increasing productivity. I think he should consider this option. The cost will definitely come down, without the costly investment and with cheaper doctors readily available.
In the name of efficiency, cost effectiveness, we can put this kind of thinking further by closing all our universities and recruit foreign talents and graduates to work in the professions and industries as well. Definitely cheaper, hungrier, and more dynamic and with cost advantage, will make our economy more competitive and vibrant.
As for the Singaporeans, they are quite expensive to train locally. If they can afford it, they can join the army of locals in their march to foreign universities which are deemed to be more valuable and better, and come back as foreign talents. They can foot their own training without the state having to fund the local universities and to provide subsidies on their tuition fees.
The net effect is that we will have cheaper doctors who are better trained by overseas universities to serve our people. It is a win win situation.
A jaw dropping act
The big salary cut for ministers and politicians is a jaw dropping act of sort. It is a very significant admission that the salary paid to politicians was way way excessive in all counts and that finally it came to the open, and no one in his right mind would dare to defend it. It is also a confirmation that it was wrong in the private thoughts of many people, maybe even among the recipients of the huge salaries, but all just buat bodoh and makes hay while the sun shines.
And now that the genie is out of the bottle, it is pointless and helpless to put it back. The ugliness of the high pay cannot face the light of moral justice, not even political correctness. It is just indefensible. It has to be dumped into the darkness and be forgotten.
The troublesome part is that, how could something that is so wrong be upheld and perpetuated for so long as something that is right? It can only happen in a country with unthinking people or absolute power.
So what is the new mantra? Greed is good, greed is normal, greed is the way to go, unstoppable. It has to be that way if we are to progress. Feed the greed and the greedy will be more motivated and will excel in what they are doing.
Actually one can be damn greedy without being productive at all. And one can spend all his energy trying to grab the money by all kinds of schemes instead of working for it.
I wrote the above before the Parliamentary debate. And I was completely wrong. There were still people staunchly believing in it and defending it with tooth and nail. We know who they are now. We also know who kept quiet throughout the debate, either they were against it or too embarrass to defend it, or wanting to enjoy it without being caught defending it.
The biggest sin in this issue is that the people who are benefitting from it are defending and justifying it. And the people who are against it have no avenue to fight it except for 6 opposition members. And if my poll is anything to go by, the majority of the people are against it.
Can the ministers walk around with heads held high, that the people approved their high salary? Did they ask the people about it. Or there is no need to ask at all? And some were very angry at those who spoke against it. They have decided how much they want to pay themselves and they will vote for it in a Parliament where they have absolute majority, with the Whip in force. They will have their way, all 81 of them, not the majority of the people who did not agree with them.
This is democracy at its peak. The rule of the majority in Parliament, by the people, of the people, and for the people. Maybe this definition of democracy needs a little tweaking.
And now that the genie is out of the bottle, it is pointless and helpless to put it back. The ugliness of the high pay cannot face the light of moral justice, not even political correctness. It is just indefensible. It has to be dumped into the darkness and be forgotten.
The troublesome part is that, how could something that is so wrong be upheld and perpetuated for so long as something that is right? It can only happen in a country with unthinking people or absolute power.
So what is the new mantra? Greed is good, greed is normal, greed is the way to go, unstoppable. It has to be that way if we are to progress. Feed the greed and the greedy will be more motivated and will excel in what they are doing.
Actually one can be damn greedy without being productive at all. And one can spend all his energy trying to grab the money by all kinds of schemes instead of working for it.
I wrote the above before the Parliamentary debate. And I was completely wrong. There were still people staunchly believing in it and defending it with tooth and nail. We know who they are now. We also know who kept quiet throughout the debate, either they were against it or too embarrass to defend it, or wanting to enjoy it without being caught defending it.
The biggest sin in this issue is that the people who are benefitting from it are defending and justifying it. And the people who are against it have no avenue to fight it except for 6 opposition members. And if my poll is anything to go by, the majority of the people are against it.
Can the ministers walk around with heads held high, that the people approved their high salary? Did they ask the people about it. Or there is no need to ask at all? And some were very angry at those who spoke against it. They have decided how much they want to pay themselves and they will vote for it in a Parliament where they have absolute majority, with the Whip in force. They will have their way, all 81 of them, not the majority of the people who did not agree with them.
This is democracy at its peak. The rule of the majority in Parliament, by the people, of the people, and for the people. Maybe this definition of democracy needs a little tweaking.
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