VEP could be a blessing in disguise

Not that I think it is a good thing as it hits everyone in the pocket from both sides of the causeway. Any hike in such fees will only hurt the people, the ordinary people. The rich would not think of it as a cost thing. In fact it would be good if the fees are higher, like some suggesting the ERP charges should go up to $50 per pass so that their Merces and BMWs and Bentleys could have the roads to themselves.
 
Now a return trip is going to cost $40 or $50 daily and those that have to pay for it would become a real source of pain. For those Singaporeans who have bought homes in JB and commuting daily to Singapore will bear the brunt of these high charges. It would definitely put off people who are thinking of doing the same or relocating their factories or workshops to JB.
 
Why I say that this is a blessing is that it is a prelude to more of such to come. You can the light at the end of the tunnel. And this is just an eye opener. It is better to know what would be coming now before plunging in with all the money and cannot extricate without suffering huge losses later.
 
I hope no one has built any nursing homes for the oldies there or thinking of doing so. Now every trip to visit the old folks is going to hurt the pocket real bad. Filial piety and wanting to be near the oldies are going to be very costly if the oldies are residing in nursing homes in JB. For those who have done that, they may want to bring back their old folks as the cost of commuting would negate the comparative advantages that were there before.
 
The VEP and toll charges have eroded whatever advantages JB has over Singapore. They have leveled the playing field of cost differences. In the case of Iskandar EZ, before the hen lays its golden eggs, it has been strangled to death.
 
See the blessing in disguise? The oldies too would be celebrating as their children would no longer find it attractive to park them overseas unless they chose not to visit them too frequently.

Kopi Level - Green

What are you doing America?

Below is part of an article by:
June 8, 2013. Source: Michael Snyder, Guest Post

In future China will employ millions of American workers and dominate thousands of small communities all over the United States. Chinese acquisition of U.S. businesses set a new all-time record last year, and it is on pace to shatter that record this year.

The Smithfield Foods acquisition is an example. Smithfield Foods is the largest pork producer and processor in the world. It has facilities in 26 U.S. states and it employs tens of thousands of Americans. It directly owns 460 farms and has contracts with approximately 2,100 others. But now a Chinese company has bought it for $ 4.7 billion, and that means that the Chinese will now be the most important employer in dozens of rural communities all over America….

Last year a Chinese company spent $2.6 billion to purchase AMC entertainment – one of the largest movie theater chains in the United States. Now that Chinese company controls more movie ticket sales than anyone else in the world….

Golden Dragon Precise Copper Tube Group, Inc. recently broke ground on a $100 million plant in Thomasville, Alabama. Many of the residents of Thomasville, Alabama will be glad to have jobs, but it will also become yet another community that will now be heavily dependent on communist China….

Detroit. Chinese-owned companies are investing in American businesses and new vehicle technology, selling everything from seat belts to shock absorbers in retail stores, and hiring experienced engineers and designers in an effort to soak up the talent and expertise of domestic automakers and their suppliers…. China is actually mining for coal in the mountains of Tennessee. Guizhou Gouchuang Energy Holdings Group spent 616 million dollars to acquire Triple H Coal Co. in Jacksboro, Tennessee…. And pretty soon China may want to build entire cities in the United States just like they have been doing in other countries. Right now China is actually building a city larger than Manhattan just outside Minsk, the capital of Belarus….
 
When you total up all imports and exports, China is now the number one trading nation on the entire planet.
 
# Overall, the U.S. has run a trade deficit with China over the past decade that comes to more than 2.3 trillion dollars.
# China has more foreign currency reserves than anyone else on the planet.
# China now has the largest new car market in the entire world.
# China now produces more than twice as many automobiles as the United States does. After being bailed out by U.S. taxpayers, GM is involved in 11 joint ventures with Chinese companies.
# China is the number one gold producer in the world.
# The uniforms for the U.S. Olympic team were made in China.
# 85% of all artificial Christmas trees the world over are made in China.
# The new World Trade Center tower in New York is going to include glass imported from China.
# China now consumes more energy than the United States does.
# China is now in aggregate the leading manufacturer of goods in the entire world.
# China uses more cement than the rest of the world combined.
# China is now the number one producer of wind and solar power on the entire globe.
# China produces 3 times as much coal and 11 times as much steel as the United States does.
# China produces more than 90 percent of the global supply of rare earth elements.
# China is now the number one supplier of components that are critical to the operation of any national defense system.
# In published scientific research articles China is expected to become number one in the world very shortly.
 
And what are the Americans doing? Signing military pacts, conducting war games, engaged in warfare, sanctions and threatening nations with wars and regime change. The Empire is only interested in war.

Kopi Level - Green

Eugene Tan and Roy Ngerng not selected as NMP

This is the new talk of the town. For Roy Ngerng, the writing was on the wall and is a non event. For the effable professor, many have kind words for him and would consider him worthy of a second term. His dropping is sending all the jaws dropping as well. For all the NMPs, Eugene is one that has made the most impact in Parliament, dedicated, consciencious, and I think perfect attendance. He is like the teacher’s pet, the class monitor, everything exemplary. Everyone is expecting him to be rewarded with another term.
 
Well, he was not in the new team. Why? Did he not say or do the right thing as a NMP? Many people are asking why such an industrious NMP was dropped? He is about everything that you can ask for in a NMP.
In my view he is deserving of better things. He is good enough, or many times deserving as an MP. The alternative parties should queue up to make their pitches to him to bring him on board. For sure he would not be absent from Parliament sessions. For sure he will take his job as an MP seriously. But these are not the only thing good about him. He has a good mind and a very decent man. At least that is my impression of him as I did not know him personally.
 
Oh, maybe he is being dropped but already invited for tea and would be slated as the next candidate. Now, I would say this is a good reason to drop him from being an NMP.

Kopi Level - Green

Citizenship to those who see Singapore as home

I read a post in the Today suggesting giving citizenship to immigrants who see Singapore as home written by a Maria Socorro and Tan Poh Chin. My immediate reaction is that there are at least 20m people out there wanting to make Singapore home and another 20m wanting to come here to make their piles. So, how to accommodate the demand?
 
Under the present policies, no problem. Out door is wide open and we are talking about 10m. Adding another 10m into the numbers is just arithmetic. And with a population of 20m, our economy will be 4 times the current size and everything will go up in value by 4 times.
 
The authors did qualify by what they meant of people who see Singapore as home. The condition is a 10 year residency in the island. I think this is a reasonable suggestion. It puts value to our citizenship. And those PRs who did not want their children to do NS should be immediately struck of the list. Otherwise every ‘prostitute’ could easily walk in to be a citizen. Maybe we like the company of prostitutes.
 
The authors also suggested for a regime of tests and interviews for the right to be a citizen. This sounds sensible as well. But what if all the talented immigrants said this is bad and threaten to go elsewhere how? I think this is a problem if the intent is to flood the island with 10m population. It will send fear to the policy makers. Think they will go down on their knees and beg the prostitutes not to go to other better places. There are just so many good places that the prostitutes would be welcomed and our little island would be last on their list. We better lay out the red carpet and grab anything that walks past our door, prostitutes, fakes or whatever, we need the numbers for economic growth.
 
So, no need to waste time talking about stringent conditions. Just like the MNCs, they will threaten to move out of the island. That is a frightening thought. The island will be empty without their presence as no one else would be interested to come. We are just a beggar and we have nothing to offer. Beggars cannot be choosers. Everything here is fake and not worth a cent. We should not think too highly of ourselves as a 1st World city. Even 3rd World prostitutes will despise us and threaten us.
 
What do you think? All the long queues at our door would disappear because we are choosy and not worthy of prostitutes?

Kopi Level - Green

The Americans want to take over the leadership of ASEAN

In the latest round of telling the ASEAN countries who is the boss, John Kerry was late for a meeting by more than half an hour and making the rest of the leaders wait for him. While this has been the normal for the Americans with its Allies, and to some extent with some ASEAN members that are used to call the Americans boss, not every ASEAN member will willingly accept this rude behavior of the Americans. But as small countries, and being the host in this meeting, they quietly ignored the lateness of John Kerry.
 
But there is another big country in the meeting and it would not allow the Americans to brush everyone aside as inconsequential. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi promptly told Kerry that he was late and had kept everyone waiting. Kerry had no choice but to apologise.
 
The Americans were trying to tell the ASEAN that they were here to lead. And they came with an agenda, to set the pace and conduct for the countries in the region, particularly on the South China Sea. The western media as expected treated the ASEAN Regional Forum as an American forum. In the front page of the local media, it was reported that ‘South east Asian countries yesterday expressed concern over “increased tensions” in the South China Sea and called for stepped up talks with China, a development the United States said was a setback for Beijing’s effort to play down the disputes.’ It added, ‘A senior US official said ASEAN countries’ concern over China’s maritime actions was at an “all time high” based on private conversations,…’ AGENCIES.
 
The communiqué issued after the meeting included the phrase, ‘We urged all parties concerned to exercise self restraint and avoid actions that would complicate the situation and undermine peace, stability and security in South China Sea.’ There was no reference to the American moratorium or the Philippines called to stop China from its construction activities in the South China Sea. This did not stop Perry from claiming that ‘the communique’s wording was new and strong criticism of recent Chinese actions’. Kerry added, ‘I think the language goes far enough…I think we made the points we came to make. We were not seeking to pass something; we were trying to put something on the table that people could embrace’.
 
The above line of thought that the Americans wanted to put across, that they have set the tone and agenda for ASEAN, was refuted by this comment in the same AGENCIES’ report, ‘But there was no specific mention of China in the final statement from an Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) meeting and the 10 nations did not take up a US and Philippine call for a freeze on provocative acts in the sea’. The Americans may want the world to believe it is the self appointed leader in Southeast Asia, but the ASEAN countries have different thoughts. No, they would not let any Johnny comes lately to boss around with them. And they would not accept anyone being rude and turning up late for meetings among leaders of equals.
 
John Kerry and his men may want to go back to Washington and tell Obama and the American people a different story, but it is clear that its leadership role was never a consideration. The Americans were just a guest to the regional forum. The Americans must not go away thinking that they have wrestled and taken over the leadership of the regional association. ASEAN will be a neutral regional association with its own interests and would not be manipulated by big powers and would not be led by big powers. It is not NATO or SEATO and will never be one.

Kopi Level - Green