When the boss gets a wage freeze…

Fear is spreading like wild fire among the SMEs that the recommendation of Lim Chong Yah is going to raise the cost of doing business here. The 3 year 50% wage adjustment will be very costly. Sure. But can this be offset by the 3 year wage freeze of the top management? Lim Chong Yah’s proposal is like Robin Hood, robbing the rich to pay the poor. Not pay the poor and pay the rich more.

How much does the top management get for their pay rise, visible and invisible, ie cash, perks, bonuses, share options etc etc? Assuming a CEO gets $500k in pay hike, plus an unspeakable sum of shares which could be another few hundred thousand, or say $200k, these would give a total pay increase of $700k. This amount can easily be translated into a pay hike of $1000 pa for 700 workers without adding more cost to the company. And if one is to add the top 20 or so management’s pay hike, the total could easily be a million or two, which means more employees could benefit from this transferring of wealth.

I know that the numbers are very simplistic, but still reasonable and real. What is so wrong about it? It is wrong only when the increase at the lower half is not accompanied by freeze at the top. Sure, they will be very unhappy and want to quit and look for more well paying jobs with more increments.

The company can take the opportunity to cut cost at the top and bring in fresh blood that is younger and more energetic to fill the empty seats. Can or not?

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.