Mary Jo White – A stupid woman?

‘Mary Jo White, the SEC chairman, said on June 5 when
announcing initiatives that would increase supervision of electronic traders and dark pools that the stock market is neither broken nor rigged. Individuals are “doing better” now than they did when trading was manual, she said at a conference sponsored by Sandler O’Neill & Partners LP.’ – Bloomberg
 
If you want to know what is a stupid woman, this is one, unless of course she was saying all the above under a different agenda. Obviously she knew what she was saying was stupid but she just had to say it or else…. Dark pools and high frequency trading are under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Federal Bureau of Investigation and New York attorney general. Is this woman saying that these agencies are stupid and doing the unnecessary, wasting their time and there is nothing to investigate. What is her agenda?
 
In the same Bloomberg report, ‘“It’s not an open market,” said Sriram Srinivasan, chief executive officer of Wall Street Investment Management in Chantilly, Virginia, and a poll respondent. “People that do not have access to the dark pools are going to lose. And it is nine out of 10 investors that are losing.”’
 
Those who are benefitting from this unfair practice and a rigged market would say they are ‘misunderstood and a target of demagoguery’. What is there to misunderstand when there are unfair advantages and lack of transparency in the way high frequency trading and dark pools are operating?
 
Unfair trading practices, lack of transparency and differential access to information are all forbidden by market rules and regulations. The SEC must provide a fair and level trading field. Traders can be charged for violation of the exchange’s rules and regulations.
 
Why are the Americans so polite and refused to call a spade a spade, a crime a crime? And why is the SEC Chairman still professing that there is nothing wrong with the two practices? The market is not rigged? Of course she is not stupid. The issue is, why is she pretending that something that is not right is right? Would she be renaming the SEC as New York’s Stock Exchange and Casino? The decadence of the American system has reached a state when regulators are prepared to allow people to cheat the system and look the other way. And many silly Asian exchanges are blindly following what the SEC is doing. It is fine for the Americans, it must be fine for us.
 
Heheh, it is fine for all the airlines to fly over Ukraine. The ICAO said so. It should be alright for us to fly there as well.

Kopi Level - Green

The most evil form of taxes

I have not seen a hospital bill for a long time. I am still wondering whether these bills are subject to GST. Anyone got any idea on this? I can’t imagine that people who are sick, some dying and seeking medical treatments would have to pay GST. I hope I am wrong, being taxed when one is sick and suffering from terminal illnesses. Such bills are often in tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars. A 7% GST on $100k is $7,000!
 
What about those suffering from diabetes and kidney problems that need regular dialysis? Are they paying GST as well on their bills?
 
And with the push and pleading by the govt for more baby makings, and with a tin of baby milk powder costing $50 or more, would anyone think it is timely to remove GST from baby food at the very least.
If medical bills and baby food are still being taxed, would the prudent govt start to have a change of heart and reconsider if such life and death items be taxed exempted? Too troublesome and difficult to work out and need 56 man years?

Kopi Level - Green

Healthcare: I’m thankful we have a prudent SG govt

“No matter how much the government raises taxes, there is no consolidating the budget unless social welfare spending is curbed,” said Robert Feldman, head of Japan economic research at Morgan Stanley MUFG in Tokyo. “If the government continues to let the spending swell, it will get out of control.”….
National budget outlays on social welfare spanning health care to pensions climbed 23 percent over the five fiscal years through March 2015. Medical-related spending, which accounted for 32 percent of social welfare outlays in fiscal 2012, is forecast to soar 54 percent to 54 trillion yen in fiscal 2025, according to the welfare ministry.
Abe needs to put more priority on social-welfare reform to prevent the system from becoming unsustainable, said Hitoshi Suzuki, a senior researcher of Daiwa Institute of Research in Tokyo….
I am thankful that we have a very prudent govt in Singapore. You should all be thankful too. Our govt spend prudently and ensure that basic healthcare services are provided without burdening the whole system.

By Concerned Citizen on unfettered bashing of our govt

This Concerned Citizen wrote an article posted in the TRE with the above heading on the excessive healthcare spending by the Japanese govt. He quoted a Washington Post/Bloomberg post with the above comments. The gist is that Japan was overspending on healthcare and this is becoming unsustainable even if taxes continue to go up. And this is the reason why this Concerned Citizen felt so appreciative of our Govt for not overspending in healthcare. He is very concerned that our Govt will go down the road of welfarism.

I can share his concern and agree with him that we have such a prudent govt that did not spend excessively in healthcare. But he is only right in knowing a little of the truth. Our Govt had sent two study missions to Japan led by Boon Heng and Gan Kim Yong, one to study how to solve the ageing problem and the other about healthcare. From the dearth of information on these two trips after their returns, I can only hazard a guess that they found that there was nothing much that we could learn from the Japanese.

The revelation by Concerned Citizen and the Bloomberg report confirmed that the Japanese experience was nothing useful and maybe irrelevant to our case. If the report is true, then Japan is facing a crisis that would get graver by the days. We must not go along that path. And we don’t have to. We are in a very superior position financially as we did not spend much in healthcare. The people are paying their own medical bills. Now the Medishield Life Scheme will make sure that the people would foot their own bills without burdening the Govt.

The end result is that the Govt would have a lot of money for other pursuits from the savings in healthcare. We are so comfortable that we could use the money to party and party like there is no tomorrow. Next year we could see the country partying the whole year round, with big budgets for celebrations within the country and with countries around the world. We can invite foreign dignitaries here to party and they will invite us over to party in their countries.

We are very rich. We have so much money to spend on happy things. We could spend billions and billions on mega projects that would require hundreds of millions of dollars for annual maintenance. We bought top universities almost lock, stock and barrel. We owned think tank schools with scholars from the world, paid by us handsomely of course, to come here to think.

Notice that I use the word, ‘We’? Yes, we the people are paying for it. See how comfortable we are? We could have such a good healthcare scheme and with so much money to spend in other good to have glorious and fun stuff. Wait for the next National Day when we parade the F35s and our aircraft carriers.

By being prudent in healthcare spending, we can afford not to be prudent in other areas. Don’t worry, be happy. Money is not an issue. Prudence? When we have so much money to spend, there is no need to be prudent. We only have to be prudent in healthcare.

Kopi Level - Green

Ee Hoe Hean Club - Pioneers Memorial Hall

I visited a few millionaire clubs in Chinatown with a few friends yesterday. The most famous of these clubs is the Ee Hoe Hean Club at Bukit Pasoh. This is the place where many political activities took place in the early 1900s and during the 2nd World War. Tan Kah Kee made this his centre for the anti Japanese movement and to raise fund for the Nationalist army fighting the Japanese in China. This was where he hid during the Japanese Occupation before escaping overseas.

In honour of Tan Kah Kee and the pioneers, the Club has converted the ground floor into a museum called the Pioneers' Memorial Hall. Tan Lark Sye, the founder of Nantah and who contributed a handsome sum of $5m at that time to the University, Lee Kong Chian and several others were mentioned with exhibits of their history in display. Below are some photos that I took during the brief visit.

The pics from top to bottom. The Club Building, Main Entrance used for the Pioneer's Memorial Hall, Side Entrance to the Ee Hoe Hean Club, Tan Kah Kee exhibits, Tan Lark Sye and Lee Kong Chian exhibits, Other Pioneers, Plague on the Pioneer's Memorial Hall. The last pic shows visitors taking photo with a wax figure of Tan Kah Kee in the Hall.

When your heart beats with the rhythm of the drum

This phrase from the French Revolution song strikes a cord to many oppressed people around the world for decades and will go on to drum the heartbeats of more oppressed people in the future.

When your heat beats with the rhythm of the drums in The Miserables is like the mass consciousness coming together to think like one and act as one. When the consciousness of the people becomes one, an uncoordinated thought of the people somehow becomes the thought of everyone in the masses, it is a kind of mass awakening. It is a rare event, but often happened in the historical pasts to move a people in a common direction, with a common purpose, for a common goal.

The actions of the unruly and uncoordinated masses gelled together with an unconscious consciousness of what is best to do and what is the right thing to do. No one could envisage what really went on in the minds of the people in the Hougang and Punggol East by elections. No one was there to tell the people how to vote for the best result for the interests of the masses. Even if someone tried, the people would not necessarily do as told.

The strange thing about Hougang and Punggol East was that they all thought and acted in the same way, as one people in a calculated move of sophistication. The way the masses came together to vote in a similar manner, as if they were thinking as one, was a very powerful force. It was like the force was with them and they were the force.

When the unconsciousness of the people is one, their hearts beat with the rhythm of the drums and they move as one, act as one. The unconsciousness is emerging and becoming clearer as the people becomes one people. Some call it people power. It is here and growing, a strange phenomenon that arises like being guided by the invisible hand. The force is here, you can feel it in the air. The moment has come for a momentous change.

Kopi Level - Yellow