An awesome $8b budget giveaway

Everyone is wearing a smile when they spoke about the budget. Pauline Straughan appeared on a news interview like an 18 year old girl given the key of puberty. MPs were all beaming and raring to rush to MPS to tell their residents the good news. The budget was a give away, a give, give and give budget. Pioneer Generations will receive Medisave top ups and subsidies on the up and coming and most feared Medishielf Life Scheme. There will also be subsidies for outpatient treatments at polyclinics. Those who missed out by a few years would also be given Medisave top ups. Working seniors will have higher CPF contributions from their employers. And there are also goodies for the SMEs.

Let me just focus on the Pioneer Generation Package. It is all about healthcare and how to pay from their Medisave savings plus Medishield Life and outpatient subsidies. For those who are 80 and above this year, the Medisave top ups and Medishield Life subsidy will see them fully covered without having to cough out extra payement. This is a fairly clear cut case. The 70 to 80 will get their proportional top ups plus 50% subsidies on the Medishield Life premiums. The Medisave top ups range from $200 to $800 depending on the age group with the 65s getting $200 annually for life. The Medishield Life premium subsidies will be 40% for the 65s and 60% for the 90s.

There is a little thing that is not clear here. Would the 65s be getting $200 top up for life or the amount would increase as they hit the higher age group? This point is very important as we get to the details of the give and give budget. What would be the net position when the take and take Medishield Life Scheme is announced?

Assuming the Medishield Life premium for a 65 is at $600, can be more, a 40% subsidy would mean that he still has to pay $360. With a $200 Medisave top up, his net payment is $160.

In the case of a 70 year old and a Medishield Life premium of $1000, a 50% subsidy means he will have to pay $500. If he gets a $500 Medisave top up, he needs not pay anything extra.

For the 80s, the announcement is that the govt will pay fully for their Medishield Life premium for this year, so likely the compulsory scheme will be implemented this year. What about subsequent years? If the Medishield Life premium is $3000, a 60% subsidy means they need only to pay $1,200. With a $800 Medisave top up, he still needs to come up with a cash payment of $400.

The above scenarios look very affordable and reasonable. The situation would not be the same if the Medishield Life premiums are higher than the above guesstimates. And for the 65s, if the Medisave top up is fixed at $200 annually with no match up as they hit the next age group, then the higher Medishield Life premiums will become less affordable and getting worse with years.

The other issue to consider is the Medishield Life package itself, what are being covered and whether there are things like co payments, and exclusion clauses. As for the subsidies for outpatient treatments, the pioneers will be paying less with the subsidies. There is not upfront payment of any kind. But like all subsidised or discount pricing, the trick is how high is the ‘marked up’ The subsidy and discount could be just a marketing ploy and the net effect is that one is paying more and more while feeling shiok with the high subsidies.

The thing that people may forget at this point in time is that while the Pioneer Generation have escaped the dragnet to pay Medishield Life for life, those that were not in the package, the younger generations and their children will be the ones that would be there to pay and pay for life. Can they afford it?

The euphoria now is give and give and give by the govt. Wait for the take and take and take part to fall in place for the net effect of this budget to be felt. Hope the morphine jab will last and the pain will not be excruciating when it comes. There is a saying, ‘xian tian hou ku’, or give you the sweet first then comes the bitterness.

Self funding organisations no need to submit financial statements

The PA has explained why financial statements of grassroots organizations under its charged were not included in PA’s audited accounts. From 2008 to 2011, the auditors KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers had submitted ‘adverse opinions’ on PA’s accounts for ‘the exclusion of the grassroots organisation’s statements that was not in compliance with the Statutory Board Financial Reporting Standards’.

The issue was raised in Parliament by Low Thia Khiang in 2008 ‘and it had explained then its view that the funds in those accounts belonged to the grassroots organizations, which were operationally self funding’. So, does this means that it was satisfactorily explained and all was in order? Apparently it was so and the matter closed.

What does this mean? Self funding organizations need not submit financial statements for auditing? No need even if it is a requirement and financial reporting standards for statutory boards? If this is the case, can one conclude that any non govt self funding organizations, associations, clans, society etc also don’t have to do so? This will include the mega churches that are obviously self funding, the clans association or societies as well, tiok boh?

I am no accounting man, no finance experts so not in a position to make any meaningful comments or conclusions. Anyone could enlighten on this matter? Maybe must ask Leong Sze Hian for advice.

What do you think?

Kopi level - Green

The lies American leaders told the American people

This is reported in the Asian Review on 7 Feb 14. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel was reported to have told a congressional committee, ‘China's provocative actions, including the declaration of a sweeping offshore air defense identification zone, "have raised tensions in the region and concerns about China's objectives in both the South China and the East China Seas,".
 
And while the Americans have been waving the flag of peace and encouraging the ‘neighboring countries to seek diplomatic solutions to their maritime disputes, America is preparing for what-if scenarios’. The Americans are not only ignoring all the provocative steps taken by the Abe Administration, instead they are accusing the Chinese of provocations. And a defensive act like the declaration of an ADIZ which is the right of all countries to guard their airspace against foreign intrusions, the Americans have several of these, it was falsely claimed by the Americans as a provocation.
 
And added to this, the Americans are beefing up their military presence with more and better weapons of wars in the region. The ‘U.S. Navy will swap three ships stationed in Japan with newer, better-equipped ones to boost American deterrence in the face of China's continued military buildup’. The Americans don’t come for peace. The American pivot is not about peace.
 
With the continuous provocation by the Japanese govt and the build up of more American military hardware in Japan, Japan is likely to be the next stage for an all out war between China and the Japanese/Americans. Americans are not pulling back the leash on the Japanese but instead are stoking the fire of Japanese militarism.
 
The Americans have forgotten how the sneaky Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour and how American pilots bombing Japan could seek the protection of China when they crashed landed in Chinese territories after their bombing missions. The Chinese who were their friends, who had never attacked or invaded America, are now the new enemies while the Japanese that killed several thousand unprepared Americans in Pearl Harbour and in the Pacific Islands are now the American allies to fight China.
 
While the Americans have forgotten, the Japanese have not. They are still very bitter over the bombing of Tokyo and the two Atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Americans would one day live to regret their foolishness to encourage the remilitarisation of Japan that could avenge the American bombings of their country and the death of a few hundred thousand Japanese soldiers and civilians.
 
The glory of the sinking of the American Fleet at Pearl Harbour would one day be commemorated as the greatest triumph of the Japanese Empire against the Americans and this could only be topped by another bigger attack in American soil. Roosevelt was furious of the attack on Pearl Harbour and wanted revenge at all cost. Would the Americans be so dull to think that the martial spirit of the Japanese and their pride in Imperial Japan would forget the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? The extreme rights of the Abe Administration are reviving Japanese nationalism and militarism with the stories of American attacks and brutality against Japan as their central theme.
 
Good luck America, for sleeping with the devil. The Chinese have no blood debt to settle with the Americans. Not sure about the Japanese.

Singapore’s soaring land prices ‘suicidal’ for developers

This is the title of a Bloomberg report on 20 Feb 14. ‘Billionaire developer Kwek Leng Beng said last year that skyrocketing prices and restrictive rules make buying residential land in Singapore ‘suicidal’. That hasn’t stopped international developers from rushing in.’
 
Now we know what is the major factor that is causing unusually high property prices. But it is ok, no problem, international developers are still rushing in to buy. This means that there are still a lot of profits to be made.
 
While the developers have a billionaire to speak for them on high land prices, is there anyone speaking for the home buyers when the home prices are skyrocketing to the stratosphere? Anyone bothers and care? Or is that a good thing, higher and higher property prices for the buyers, and they can sit on their profits after every purchase?
 
What we know is that property prices have shot up 2 or 3 times, (not 2 or 3% or 20 or 30%) over the last ten years. Why no one cries wolf? And now that the prices are holding steady or slipping by 1% only in a certain sector while the rest are still going up, and developers are crying foul, that prices are not going up fast enough?
 
What do you think? Are high property prices suicidal for the genuine home buyers?

AHPETC – A battle for Transparency and Impropriety

Ng Eng Hen is furious with the poor verdict of Transparency International on how his ministry spent money on the purchase of weapons. TI ranked Singapore together with Afghanistan and Iraq, in another word, our integrity in procurement is at the same level at these 3rd World countries, or at least in the Defence Ministry. The implications of such a rating are very serious, and many times more serious than the audit report of AHPETC.

Khaw Boon Wan had written a letter to Tharman to instruct the Auditor General to conduct an audit on AHPETC’s account quoting a Disclaimer of Opinion from its auditor, implying serious issues in the town council’s financial and accounting system. The Auditor General will now have to comb through AHPETC’s books to verify on all the misgivings and non compliance of Town Council’s regulations.

What we are seeing is the PAP wanting to set a very high standard of accountability and transparency for all town councils. And all town councils will be judged using the same standard of accountability, nothing less. On the other hand many critics are crying foul, that this is another political scam of the PAP to run down its political enemies, probably getting them disqualified from the next GE or, if serious enough, could see some of them behind bars. If this is indeed a political ploy, one can expect the PAP to extract the full mileage possible with the timing of the findings, the penalties and punishment, to ensure the WP suffers untold damage that it would become a lame duck when the GE is called.

Putting this expected and understandable perception of PAP critics aside, the involvement of the Auditor General to audit a town council’s account would set a series of precedents that would then be applicable to all the other town councils. To be consistent and be seen as fair and impartial, and standing on moral high grounds, the Auditor General would also have to conduct the same investigations on all town councils with the same ratings from their auditors or worse, like Adverse Opinion in auditing terms. The opposition parties and netizen investigative journalists in social media must be busy scouring the auditor’s reports for the same gradings to be tabled to Boon Wan and the Auditor General. And should there be such findings, the PAP would now be compelled, or at least Boon Wan would be duty bound to make similar requests to Tharman for the Auditor General’s audit.

Would this high standard of transparency and accountability also be applicable to similar or comparable institutions like the People’s Association? In a Breaking News TRE editorial, it posted an article stating that the auditors had given the PA several years of Adverse Opinions that were technically worse than the Disclaimer of Opinion in the AHPETC’s audit. Why was there no calls for the Auditor General to investigate? All eyes will now be focussed on Boon Wan to do the necessary to PA. Would he or would he not request Tharman to do the same?

With the issue of transparency and accountability high in everyone’s agenda, how far would these issues be pushed to vindicate Singapore’s standing as one of the top nations in incorruptibility? Would there be any other town council fitting the bill for an Auditor General’s audit? Would PA be put under the microscope as well?

For Boon Wan to take such a drastic action, he must be very sure that his own house is in order, ie all the town councils’ audit were beyond reproach. Like the bible said, ‘Let the one who has not sinned be the first to cast the stone....’ We have several embarrassing episodes involving the WP and the PAP when the ball curved back to slam the attackers. Retribution came fast and swift at times. How would this incident turn out and who would have the last laugh?

Kopi level - Green