8/05/2014
SGX is in the pink of health
After two months of public consultations and another two months of thorough studies, the MAS/SGX have came out with several recommendations that would ensure the stock market to be in the pink of health and will continue to grow and grow with reduced risks, and the small investors well protected, with better liquidity and with more choices of stocks for the small timers to invest in.
It is a signal that all is well. There could be a few possibilities in the recommendations by the MAS/SGX. A slew of big and drastic changes could mean that things were not healthy, and thus the need to bring out the chopper to get the bad parts out of the way. And if there is nothing substantial that needs to be changed, just a minor tweaks here and there, it is as good as saying all it fine, nothing much needs to be done. Or there is nothing wrong with the stock market, really, sure.
Initially I was disappointed to think that the few minor changes would be too small to make any impact on a sick market. I was expecting some dramatic and major changes to save the market from dying. Obviously I was very wrong. There is hardly anything wrong with the stock market. I was being paranoid and saw only the bad stuff that was not there in the first place.
For those who think that the changes could be the last nail that goes into the coffin, they will be disappointed. The measures would surely help the market to revive, to survive and to grow in strength.
Mark my word, the market will be simply great and more buoyant, with more liquidity, and more investors will be swarming in to invest in the market when the new measures are introduced, just like all the previous introduced.
What are the new measures? Never mind. It is the result that is important.
Kopi Level - Green
6.9m dream scuttled by Fukushima
The talk of 10m population is getting to sound sillier after Fukushima. Now 6.9m is already out of synch when nuclear power has been put on the back burner. The basic factors to support a big population in a resource poor island, not enough water, no indigenous food supply and power sources like oil, geothermal heat, hydropower, etc are simply not there to sustain a big population. Nuclear power was thought safe and feasible to fulfil such megalomanic dreams of 6.9m or more population. This has been ruled out since the fallout of Fukushima confirmed that nothing is safe as the snake oil sellers would want you to believe.
Without nuclear power, with a near total dependency on foreign sources of food supply, one cannot imagine how serious would be the socio economic problems the island with face in an energy or food crisis when the population is 6.9m or more.
Every snake oil seller is talking about the economic growth arising from bigger population. But what would a bigger population demand from the system to be sustainable in the long run? The assumptions, continue prosperity and economic growth leading to a strong dollar to buy all the food and energy needed. Other assumptions, food supply and the cost of energy are stable, cheap and reliable. Any fluctuations in these supplies could bring down the whole socio economic system like a pack of cards.
Small or big have their advantages and disadvantages. Both are like knives that could cut both ways. Perhaps a major health epidemic like the Ebola could wake up those having sweet dreams that all is well and the bigger the population the better things will be. A hit by something like Ebola will be unimaginable in a dense city state full of people. The only advantage is that a bigger population will see more victims but also more survivors after the plight is over.
The 6.9m dream may have been scuttled by Fukushima. But more snake oil sellers are appearing and advocating for bigger dreams. How would 10m or 20m stand when 6.9m is unsustainable without nuclear power? Really we have so much money to buy all the fuel we need to support 10m people?
KopiLevel - Green
8/04/2014
Ebola threat is real and imminent
This is copied from John Harding’s blog dated 3 Aug 14.
‘There are fears of a world-wide Ebola outbreak after a passenger from Sierra Leone collapsed and died as she got off a plane at Gatwick. If the woman had Ebola the virus could spread globally as Gatwick services over 90,000 passengers every day.
The woman, 72, became ill on the gangway after she left a Gambia Bird jet with 128 passengers on board. She was sweating profusely and vomiting. The aircraft was immediately quarantined.
According to officials, “The passenger was taken to hospital and sadly died. The patient was not symptomatic on the plane and therefore there is no risk of Ebola being passed on to either flight crew or other passengers.”
This is incorrect, as the woman could easily transmit the Ebola virus to others on the aircraft as could her vomit once as she exited.
The passengers from Gatwick have since departed for nearly every country around the world.’
It is unbelievable that the Brits allowed the passengers to depart without quarantined them. It is like go forth and multiply, Ebola. The 128 passengers could be the angels of death, bring Ebola along with them. It is very difficult now to track those people they have come into contact. So were the crew of the Gambia jet.
Is this the beginning?
Kopi Level - Yellow
‘There are fears of a world-wide Ebola outbreak after a passenger from Sierra Leone collapsed and died as she got off a plane at Gatwick. If the woman had Ebola the virus could spread globally as Gatwick services over 90,000 passengers every day.
The woman, 72, became ill on the gangway after she left a Gambia Bird jet with 128 passengers on board. She was sweating profusely and vomiting. The aircraft was immediately quarantined.
According to officials, “The passenger was taken to hospital and sadly died. The patient was not symptomatic on the plane and therefore there is no risk of Ebola being passed on to either flight crew or other passengers.”
This is incorrect, as the woman could easily transmit the Ebola virus to others on the aircraft as could her vomit once as she exited.
The passengers from Gatwick have since departed for nearly every country around the world.’
It is unbelievable that the Brits allowed the passengers to depart without quarantined them. It is like go forth and multiply, Ebola. The 128 passengers could be the angels of death, bring Ebola along with them. It is very difficult now to track those people they have come into contact. So were the crew of the Gambia jet.
Is this the beginning?
Kopi Level - Yellow
What kind of Singapore do the Singaporeans want?
We need to know where we are heading and the social economic model that
will make life better for Singaporeans. This is our country and we must
do everything to favour the Singaporeans, to assist them to lead a good
life. There is no point of having a rich and prosperous Singapore but
benefiting only a few elite families and foreigners while the rest of
the Singaporeans were made to struggle and to downgrade their quality of
life. Today, the catchphrase for Singaporeans is all about downgrading
except for the few privileged elites and the super rich.
And if you look at the family structure of Singaporeans, even the rich would not last more than one generation. The cost of living is so high that if their next generation of children are going to be mediocre, they would be taking the downgrading road as well and that will be the end of their fortune and their good life. Some may not care since they did not want to have children. They just want to live this good life and call it quits when they turn to ashes.
We need to develop a system that would advantage Singaporeans to sustain their good life, their children and grand children’s good life. We must not have a system that only helps the foreigners to enjoy a better life at the expense of the Singaporeans. We should not be using our public funds to nurture foreigners to have a good life and not our children. We got a lot of table tennis gold medals. So? Anyone feeling excited about it? How is it going to better the children of Singapore?
We are spending millions and millions of public money to bring in foreigners, to hire them at very good pay, but to discard our own just to claim that we have talents. Is this good for Singaporeans? It is not about envy or jealousy. It is about stupidity. If you are talking of a handful of foreigners, fair enough, we need some diversities and some competition. When we go in blindly, and flooded our social economic system with foreigners, instead of supplementing our needs, or as interim measures to train our own, to replace our very own, what the fuck are we thinking? Where are we heading? Where is the future of Singaporeans and our children? I am talking about the children of all Singaporeans.
Do we want to replace our own kind with foreigners simply because they are better? I am not even thinking of fakes and half bakes. As a country and a nation of people, we must protect our own kind, provide all the opportunities for our own kind, provide them the space and avenues to have good jobs, good incomes, good homes. Not telling them to downgrade to be taxi drivers and security guards or cleaners because there is a long queue of foreigners waiting at the door. This is seditious talk..
Am I talking Greek? Or am I talking to dunces? This is your country and you must be the preferred choice for good jobs, good homes, good educations and good of everything. The foreigners can come only as a side show, at our pleasure, not displeasure, to compliment our needs, not to replace ours. We must not commit socio economic suicide by welcoming the foreigners to take over our jobs, our homes and our country, and to rule us. The foreigners must be laughing silly at our stupidity which we bragged to the world as the secret to our success.
And for those who want 6.9m or 10m people in this island, I simply ask, what for? You mean Singapore cannot be a rich and prosperous city state without more population? Is that the only answer? Is this the only trick that the pony knows?
Kopi Level - Yellow
And if you look at the family structure of Singaporeans, even the rich would not last more than one generation. The cost of living is so high that if their next generation of children are going to be mediocre, they would be taking the downgrading road as well and that will be the end of their fortune and their good life. Some may not care since they did not want to have children. They just want to live this good life and call it quits when they turn to ashes.
We need to develop a system that would advantage Singaporeans to sustain their good life, their children and grand children’s good life. We must not have a system that only helps the foreigners to enjoy a better life at the expense of the Singaporeans. We should not be using our public funds to nurture foreigners to have a good life and not our children. We got a lot of table tennis gold medals. So? Anyone feeling excited about it? How is it going to better the children of Singapore?
We are spending millions and millions of public money to bring in foreigners, to hire them at very good pay, but to discard our own just to claim that we have talents. Is this good for Singaporeans? It is not about envy or jealousy. It is about stupidity. If you are talking of a handful of foreigners, fair enough, we need some diversities and some competition. When we go in blindly, and flooded our social economic system with foreigners, instead of supplementing our needs, or as interim measures to train our own, to replace our very own, what the fuck are we thinking? Where are we heading? Where is the future of Singaporeans and our children? I am talking about the children of all Singaporeans.
Do we want to replace our own kind with foreigners simply because they are better? I am not even thinking of fakes and half bakes. As a country and a nation of people, we must protect our own kind, provide all the opportunities for our own kind, provide them the space and avenues to have good jobs, good incomes, good homes. Not telling them to downgrade to be taxi drivers and security guards or cleaners because there is a long queue of foreigners waiting at the door. This is seditious talk..
Am I talking Greek? Or am I talking to dunces? This is your country and you must be the preferred choice for good jobs, good homes, good educations and good of everything. The foreigners can come only as a side show, at our pleasure, not displeasure, to compliment our needs, not to replace ours. We must not commit socio economic suicide by welcoming the foreigners to take over our jobs, our homes and our country, and to rule us. The foreigners must be laughing silly at our stupidity which we bragged to the world as the secret to our success.
And for those who want 6.9m or 10m people in this island, I simply ask, what for? You mean Singapore cannot be a rich and prosperous city state without more population? Is that the only answer? Is this the only trick that the pony knows?
Kopi Level - Yellow
8/03/2014
Historical millionaire clubs
The lower two pics were of the Lu Wu Club, also at Club Street a short distance away from Weekly Club. It was empty and appeared to have moved or defunct. A big red no entry sign greeted the visitors at the main entrance. It is now gone, with its stories of the wealthy of the past hidden in the memories of its existing members if they are still around.
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