Last week I remember the pictures of some of the best fighting dogs published in the media. They were mainly pitbulls, kept primarily for fighting, in some corners of Indonesia. The sight of these dogs was pathetic. Each was chained to an empty oil drum which doubled as their kennels. And the most unpleasant and unexpected, they were so under fed that the rib cages were showing prominently.
How could these fighting dogs fight when they were looking more like greyhounds? And fighting dogs or fighting cocks are like footballs and gamblings. The owners should be able to give them a decent meal and also for them to gain strength to fight. They have to be fed well it they are to bite well.
Perhaps those were the losers or the aged, left to be forgotten, to live or to die. The good dogs and the champions would still be well fed and well looked after.
Feel very sorry for these dogs. In their heydays as pitbulls they must have worth a lot and received a lot of strokings from their masters. They could be growling all the way into the ring as if they were invincible, prized possessions of their masters.
4/07/2012
Revisiting the 60s
The Christians are reliving the past, the days of Jesus Christ, the times when miracles happened. Jesus died and was resurrected to live forever. The past can be a great inspiration to many and can be quite frightening to some. The past could be a milestone, a reference point to mark where we have come from and where we should be going into the future.
Last week Hsien Loong was warning the people that if we don’t buck up, we could return to the past, to the 60s. In this sense, the past is something we do not want to revisit.
What were some of the memories of the 60s that are still lingering in our thoughts? Renting a place to sleep, to get married, to set up homes, is a common thing then. The citizens were so comfortable living and sharing with strangers in little rooms, sharing kitchens and toilet facilities. The toilets at home are like public toilets, just as dirty, with no ownership and untidy housemates.
And of course the rooms were small and crammed. A 600 sq ft unit could be shared by 3 or 4 families. Each family of 4 or 8 or more could be squeezed into a single room.
Car ownership was a great status symbol, a social class to be aspired to. There were TV serials just on the theme of car ownership class and how this became the divide of society.
And there were latch key children, with both parents at work and the children given the house key to return to an empty nest. Life was tough and everyone was working hard. The good thing then was the hope and aspirations, the attainable hopes and aspirations for the ordinary folks to own their cars and their flats. And upgrading to bigger and bigger units of flats or private properties were a way of life. Everyone was improving their lives. This latter part, of living their dreams and attaining them quite easily, kept the people happy and focussed on the good life ahead.
In many ways we are already revisiting the 60s in some areas. It is not that we are going backward. We are already there. We are in the process of going full circle. Singaporeans are encouraged to share their flats to strangers and turning their toilets into public toilets, for an income. The new flats are getting smaller and smaller, and with shoe box flats being brandished as the next good thing, more will have to live in them, as owners and not tenants.
The latch key syndrome has not gone away, only the parents. In the 60s, the parents were in Jurong or working somewhere in the island. Today the parents of these latch key children are further away, overseas.
Another 5 years will be all it takes for car ownership to become another new privilege class. Many would have to abandon their dreams of owning a car. Many will live their lives without being able to buy a car while many will be owning 5, 10 or 20 cars.
The upgrading ethos will still carry on. Many will still aspire to upgrade, from a 1000 sq ft HDB flat to a 600 sq ft private flat that costs a million. And their life style will improve with the millionaires living next door. And hopefully no need to turn their toilets into public toilets by subletting to strangers.
The dreams of being rich and owning properties will always be there. There will be those who will become doctors, lawyers, politicians, top civil servants, and be able to afford the rich life of the talented. Many have made it and the reward is more than worth it…if they made it. But many will return to the 60s to live their dreams that will no longer be that easy to attain. It is not a matter of whether they will return to the 60s, they will, many will.
Some of the women folks may end up as maids if they are not careful, and have irons on their faces or falling off while cleaning windows.
The oldies then fared better than those today. Maybe they died earlier. Many could live off their pensions and faded away. Today, the oldies are richer, with plenty of savings in their CPF, but still have to work till they die.
Last week Hsien Loong was warning the people that if we don’t buck up, we could return to the past, to the 60s. In this sense, the past is something we do not want to revisit.
What were some of the memories of the 60s that are still lingering in our thoughts? Renting a place to sleep, to get married, to set up homes, is a common thing then. The citizens were so comfortable living and sharing with strangers in little rooms, sharing kitchens and toilet facilities. The toilets at home are like public toilets, just as dirty, with no ownership and untidy housemates.
And of course the rooms were small and crammed. A 600 sq ft unit could be shared by 3 or 4 families. Each family of 4 or 8 or more could be squeezed into a single room.
Car ownership was a great status symbol, a social class to be aspired to. There were TV serials just on the theme of car ownership class and how this became the divide of society.
And there were latch key children, with both parents at work and the children given the house key to return to an empty nest. Life was tough and everyone was working hard. The good thing then was the hope and aspirations, the attainable hopes and aspirations for the ordinary folks to own their cars and their flats. And upgrading to bigger and bigger units of flats or private properties were a way of life. Everyone was improving their lives. This latter part, of living their dreams and attaining them quite easily, kept the people happy and focussed on the good life ahead.
In many ways we are already revisiting the 60s in some areas. It is not that we are going backward. We are already there. We are in the process of going full circle. Singaporeans are encouraged to share their flats to strangers and turning their toilets into public toilets, for an income. The new flats are getting smaller and smaller, and with shoe box flats being brandished as the next good thing, more will have to live in them, as owners and not tenants.
The latch key syndrome has not gone away, only the parents. In the 60s, the parents were in Jurong or working somewhere in the island. Today the parents of these latch key children are further away, overseas.
Another 5 years will be all it takes for car ownership to become another new privilege class. Many would have to abandon their dreams of owning a car. Many will live their lives without being able to buy a car while many will be owning 5, 10 or 20 cars.
The upgrading ethos will still carry on. Many will still aspire to upgrade, from a 1000 sq ft HDB flat to a 600 sq ft private flat that costs a million. And their life style will improve with the millionaires living next door. And hopefully no need to turn their toilets into public toilets by subletting to strangers.
The dreams of being rich and owning properties will always be there. There will be those who will become doctors, lawyers, politicians, top civil servants, and be able to afford the rich life of the talented. Many have made it and the reward is more than worth it…if they made it. But many will return to the 60s to live their dreams that will no longer be that easy to attain. It is not a matter of whether they will return to the 60s, they will, many will.
Some of the women folks may end up as maids if they are not careful, and have irons on their faces or falling off while cleaning windows.
The oldies then fared better than those today. Maybe they died earlier. Many could live off their pensions and faded away. Today, the oldies are richer, with plenty of savings in their CPF, but still have to work till they die.
4/06/2012
TRE banning redbean from accessing
Hi TRE, what is happening? I tried to access your site for some reading this morning and found my IP being banned. While your site is reposting my articles, I have rarely made any comments on your site, maybe not more than 5 in all, and all neutral comments, if I can remember.
Must be something funny right? April 1st is more than a week past. You don't have a change of editorial team or administrator for your site I hope.
Must be something funny right? April 1st is more than a week past. You don't have a change of editorial team or administrator for your site I hope.
The Hougang by election court case
The case filed by Madam Vellama Muthu in court for a ruling on when a by election should be held is being challenged vigorously by the Attorney General’s Chambers. The AGC is appealing against Judge Pillai’s ruling for a hearing next week to determine what should be done in view of an MP vacating his seat. The judge has found that there is a prima facie case to have the case heard.
What is the issue of this case? Is it a case of a political party taking a position which other political party disagree. Or is it a case of the people against the govt or the law of the country? If it is the former, where the ruling party is seen as not observing the law of the country, would it then be expected that the ruling party be defending its position?
Or is this a case against the state that the AGC has to come out to take a stand to defend the law? It should be the case if the law is clear. What is now unclear is that the law is apparently vague in the calling of a by election and a case has been filed to have a clear interpretation of the law by the court. Should not this be a good thing, to have a clear position and nobody can then quibble over it? Maybe the AGC’s position is that the law is clear and no need for further interpretation.
What is the best thing to happen? Throw the case out and not wanting to know the court’s ruling and interpretation on what the law really should be?
What is the issue of this case? Is it a case of a political party taking a position which other political party disagree. Or is it a case of the people against the govt or the law of the country? If it is the former, where the ruling party is seen as not observing the law of the country, would it then be expected that the ruling party be defending its position?
Or is this a case against the state that the AGC has to come out to take a stand to defend the law? It should be the case if the law is clear. What is now unclear is that the law is apparently vague in the calling of a by election and a case has been filed to have a clear interpretation of the law by the court. Should not this be a good thing, to have a clear position and nobody can then quibble over it? Maybe the AGC’s position is that the law is clear and no need for further interpretation.
What is the best thing to happen? Throw the case out and not wanting to know the court’s ruling and interpretation on what the law really should be?
4/05/2012
The con game in the world of high finance
The international finance industry is rotting to the core. The revelation by the Goldman Sach executive provided a small glimpse to the crimes being committed in the industry. The fund managers are no longer making money from the market for their clients. They could not. The whole financial industry, including the stock markets, has been redesigned to sell worthless papers and financial products at the expense of genuine stocks. Companies listing their shares in the markets too are getting wiser and no longer value the net worth of their shares. Everyone is trading for quick profit with no regards to fundamentals.
When fund managers find it impossible to make money from trading stocks, they ended up violating one of the major regulations of trading, churning client’s money and making money from the clients instead. Everyone, fund managers and stock exchanges, are trying to keep one step ahead of the competition by running faster while the bridge behind is falling off. And they think they are safe while those who move slower fall off and were swallowed by the bottomless pit below.
The only hope by the funds or exchange administrators is to be the last man standing. But then they forgot that the bridge is still collapsing and the last man will still have to fall in too. The fundamentals of stock tradings when there is real value in stocks and shares of companies have been forgotten. Today the trading is done on fictitious paper creations instead and destroying the values of stocks. Billions and trillions of dollars are piled up on worthless papers instead of real stocks just like the days of Lehman Brothers and toxic notes. Values are being created by shifting and printing of these papers. This paper game will have to come to an end sooner or later.
All the top talents are so deep in the pool of shit that they no longer see further than the tips of their noses. And they keep trying to be clever by trying to be creative and innovative, to stay ahead of a falling bridge.
The collapse of the American and European economies and finances was not due to their inability to produce but through their cleverness in over producing, by printing money for themselves, with no real value added. Asset enhancement, asset swaps, paper swaps, borrowing and endless credits, and buying worthless pieces of papers, etc etc, become an unproductive computer game.
The real producers of values are in manufacturing and farming and their true values have been ignored and even sneered at for the pittance they got for their labour. The smart asses need not produce anything but rewarding themselves with millions and billions by financial engineering. And they think the game will go on and on.
The real stuff, the real producers of goods and services, will survive and outlive the fictitious producers of paper wealth that will come to nothing. It sounds so clever for an asset to be traded hundreds of times it original value. It sounded so clever to buy some papers and sell them at hundreds of times their original values. Where is the real value added? If there is none there is none and the gain is pure fiction.
Try to think what Tharman said, ‘We cannot just be a society of insurance agents, real estate agents and bankers and office workers.’ The best of the American talents are in Wall Street writing paper moneys to make millions and billions without being productive. And we want to go down the same road with everyone paying themselves in millions without producing even a grain of rice.
When fund managers find it impossible to make money from trading stocks, they ended up violating one of the major regulations of trading, churning client’s money and making money from the clients instead. Everyone, fund managers and stock exchanges, are trying to keep one step ahead of the competition by running faster while the bridge behind is falling off. And they think they are safe while those who move slower fall off and were swallowed by the bottomless pit below.
The only hope by the funds or exchange administrators is to be the last man standing. But then they forgot that the bridge is still collapsing and the last man will still have to fall in too. The fundamentals of stock tradings when there is real value in stocks and shares of companies have been forgotten. Today the trading is done on fictitious paper creations instead and destroying the values of stocks. Billions and trillions of dollars are piled up on worthless papers instead of real stocks just like the days of Lehman Brothers and toxic notes. Values are being created by shifting and printing of these papers. This paper game will have to come to an end sooner or later.
All the top talents are so deep in the pool of shit that they no longer see further than the tips of their noses. And they keep trying to be clever by trying to be creative and innovative, to stay ahead of a falling bridge.
The collapse of the American and European economies and finances was not due to their inability to produce but through their cleverness in over producing, by printing money for themselves, with no real value added. Asset enhancement, asset swaps, paper swaps, borrowing and endless credits, and buying worthless pieces of papers, etc etc, become an unproductive computer game.
The real producers of values are in manufacturing and farming and their true values have been ignored and even sneered at for the pittance they got for their labour. The smart asses need not produce anything but rewarding themselves with millions and billions by financial engineering. And they think the game will go on and on.
The real stuff, the real producers of goods and services, will survive and outlive the fictitious producers of paper wealth that will come to nothing. It sounds so clever for an asset to be traded hundreds of times it original value. It sounded so clever to buy some papers and sell them at hundreds of times their original values. Where is the real value added? If there is none there is none and the gain is pure fiction.
Try to think what Tharman said, ‘We cannot just be a society of insurance agents, real estate agents and bankers and office workers.’ The best of the American talents are in Wall Street writing paper moneys to make millions and billions without being productive. And we want to go down the same road with everyone paying themselves in millions without producing even a grain of rice.
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