No one wants to talk about it

We cannot let higher income Sinkies to buy HDB flats. It will add to the demand and deprive lower income Sinkies from the chance of getting one, or they compete with the lower income and lowering their chances for a public flat. It sounds so clever, so logical. How many higher income Sinkies would want to buy a HDB if they could afford the million dollar private properties? No, they must be kept out to protect the lower income Sinkies. No they must be made to spend all their savings on that private property. Prudent, spending within their means and make them spend everything?

And every year they add on something like 20,000 new Sinkies, give them a pink IC and called them citizens. The truth is that they are foreigners who were added into the housing queue and it is okay. While the Sinkie singles and other Sinkies who need a flat would have to give way as the queue is getting longer, bigger demand, because of the so called new Sinkies. And no one want to mention this.

Did they add up to our housing problems? At 4 per family, each year the demand for public housing is 5,000 and over 10 years it is 50,000 units which could have gone to Sinkies. But no. These new Sinkies have priorities over original Sinkies, and original Sinkies can be cut off from the queue for all the good reasons.

The Sinkies are so blessed to have such a caring and considerate govt to think of their housing needs. And want them to live a better quality of life by spending all their money on private properties.

Which country is threatening freedom of navigation?

The US has been telling the world that China is threatening freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. Where is the evidence? Is China preventing any country from using the sea lanes, or is China arresting the fishing boats and fishermen in the South China Sea? Only countries that go around using their naval warships to harass and arrest ships and fishing boats are the ones that threaten freedom of navigations.

The Philippines have been doing it all the time, arresting Chinese fishing boats and fishermen. The latest incident which some called it a stand off, the Philippines were again at it, trying to bully Chinese fishermen with their biggest piece of floating antique. My apologies, they called it their biggest warship. The Chinese had to send in their civilian surveillance ships to stop them from doing it. Was it a stand off? Far from it. It was like an old hag waving his fist at some grown up men and thinking he would frighten them off. It was a mismatch in all counts.

The main point is that the real countries that are threatening freedom of navigation and raising tension in the South China Sea are the little pesky countries and their master pulling the strings from behind. Freedom of navigation in the region has never been an issue until the little pests start to throw their weights around, arresting Chinese fishermen. And they have to be kicked in the butt to stop them from being a nuisance to everyone in the region. These are the real trouble makers. And there is the international gangster from afar plonking his warships here in the name of peace but instigating war.

When angels speak…

The angels are up in arms to protect the oldies. They are all claiming that health insurance for the oldies is not enough. The cost of healthcare for the oldies is just too high and the payout of Eldershield, another automatic compulsory scheme that I just heard of, unless one opted out at 40 from his Medishield, is paying only half of what is needed. And the insurance man roared in approval. Yes, yes, not enough. The govt must do more and provide the direction…for more insurance?

First thing, why is healthcare so expensive? Why is the cost not coming down especially for the oldiers? If the cost is not coming down, who can afford to pay an insurance premium that is running along with higher medical cost, like two devils waltzing happily to the tune of The Last Waltz?

The second point is that many simply cannot afford to pay and pay. With so many big ticket items, high cost of living and expenses, high protection money locked up in CPF, where got money to pay for more insurance and more premiums? And oldies got no income you know.

The third point, please lah, many oldies’ lives are already so miserable that there is no need to prolong their agony and suffering on earth. Many would long to die and go to heaven. What more health care and more money to perpetuate their misery?

What is the real problem? What should be done? It is not a money problem. It is only a money problem for those who sees money to be made and the poor buggers, all with pockets already empty, are being targeted to pay more when there is heaven waiting. Why stop these oldies from going home to be with the Lord?

The expensive insurance schemes to take care of oldies till they are one hundred years old should be personal, individualized and never be compulsory or across the board. For those who are living a life of heaven on earth, go and ask them to pay more for their precious life. Leave those who cannot afford it to live in peace and return to the Lord soonest. Don’t rob them again when they are all dying and waiting to go home.

When angels are out to help, be frighten, be very frighten.

Crying for leadership

The state and health of the international financial system is so deplorable. Expecting the US to throw out a leader to challenge the scoundrels of Wall Street is like asking for heaven. With Congress being in the pockets of the white collar crooks, there is no possibility of any one of substance to break through the layers of bureaucratic corruption to do what is right and save the financial system. Corruption and mismanagement in the system have been institutionalized and legalized, and copied by many western countries. Period.

While nothing can be done to stop the rot in Wall Street, what other countries could hope for is to stop the rot at their doorstep, to keep the rot out of their national system. The Chinese are defending their infant financial system and are threading very carefully to avoid the pitfalls. But the sexiness and attraction of instant wealth for some are too tempting to resist. When there are so much to gain personally, people become blind to the flaws and the consequences to the country and other people. And if the Americans and the Europeans are doing it, it cannot be too wrong. Or at least they can point the finger to the Americans to justify their crimes. They are putting on the same blinkers not to see the rot. The Chinese are veering towards a tipping point to embrace the failed American financial system of computer and algo trading plus all the derivatives and toxic notes and currency manipulation.

Hongkong is equally cautious. There are brighter people there who could smell a rat and are resisting from falling into the abyss. They are not easily conned by a few westerners who came claiming to know it all and were able to show the way…to oblivion.

At a time like this, when everyone is selling snake oil as the panacea to immortality, it needs a very strong leader with the wisdom to know what is going on to say no. Is there no one out there who is thinking and can see the flaws in the whole financial system? The thinkers, the financial experts, must seriously look at the system and, if things are not right, to say so. Many are so bogged down with their own preoccupation and the money grabbing past time that no one has the time to take the pulse or to diagnose the sickness. There is an urgent need for someone to do this. Someone must have the conviction, and the power to go with, to say the system stinks and needs to be stopped and revamped.

Where is the leadership, the man to call a spade a spade, and want to change and save the system from sliding to self destruct? For the moment the jokers are having a great time, like Nero, fiddling on the roof while Rome burned. There is no one brave enough, knowledgeable enough, to challenge the snake oil salesmen?

High population is good. High property prices are good. High car prices are good. The stock market is in the pink of health. Just believe.

No let up in push for 6m population

Another big convincing article in the ST, and in other news media, telling how precarious the country will be if there is no intake of immigrants. The need for population growth or replacement is a critical issue and without growth or at least replacement it is like we are going to perish. This one track mind on population growth and economic growth will not change and will be the basis for all other policies of the country.

Why must there be population growth to survive? The fact is that if every country goes on this path, the world will come to an end faster. This world, and this island, needs lesser population growth. Lesser population and less growth in economic numbers do not directly lead to lower quality of life. We were 1m and 2m before. We survived very well. Why a need for 6m or 10m? Better economic growth? More people, more demand for goods and services, more jobs, more housing, but lesser space for everyone. And replacing Sinkies with foreigners so that the country can be proud of great economic numbers?

If we have lesser people, if the world has lesser people, there will be lesser demand and pressure for production of goods and services and lesser or slower depletion of the limited resources available. We don’t need to empty the oceans of fishes. There is no need to dig out everything from the earth, no need to burn away fossil fuel at such a rapid rate. They will be more spaces and resources for everyone.

This world and this island need to downsize the population to be sustainable. It is like chasing high property prices and ever increasing salaries but ending like a dog chasing its own tail. It is a circus, a joke. With lesser population, there is no need to build up every little space we got. There will be more people able to own cars and drive around, and living in bigger homes. There is no need for more departmental stores, shopping complexes, more food courts and more housing and more housing. There is a need to rethink this economic growth strategy and ask what is the ultimate objective for all this growth? What kind of life and what quality of life?

We are laughing at the Japanese for no growth and an ageing population. But their quality of life has not gone down despite lower economic growth. And with a smaller population, they will live better and the world will be safer, the whales and tunas will live freer and longer.

Do we really cannot survive without population growth, without more immigrants? Can someone think out of the box please and stop chiding people for not able to think out of the box. This one track mindset is going to destroy our quality of life instead of making it better. The thinkers and policy makers mindset is so fixated and nothing else can do except more people. So what if property prices fall with lesser people and lesser demand? So what if rentals of commercial spaces fall with lesser demand? Who needs to buy so many property and commercial spaces and ended the people being squeezed in every aspect of their lives?