The Finance Industry – Who are the real criminals?

Big international banks have been caught for all the things that they were not allowed to do, money laundering, cheating on their clients, selling toxic products, using computers and algorithms to cheat traders, creating fictitious derivatives that are worthless to sell, like printing money, even selling the gold in Fort Knox and the vaults of some countries even have their national gold bullions emptied.

Some banks have been fined for cheating, violation and criminal offences. Some traders have been caught and found guilty. For the banks and traders cheating on the system for profit, they knew that their acts were criminal. They knew that when caught, they would pay the price for the infringements. Oops, I have to correct this statement. The CEOs of the banks would not be made to answer, would not be put behind bars. There have a special immunity from financial crimes.

It is fair game out there for traders to try to outsmart or cheat the system. Every profession you will have people doing that, to take advantage of the system, to find loopholes, to use privilege information, to profit from them, nothing new and nothing to crow about. But they know there are cheating and can be caught. They are not above the law.

What is bad, is the ultimate crime when regulators and govt who are supposed to be regulating and approving financial system to condone or allow and approve unfair practices or systems to operate legally. How can govt and regulators knowing that a practice or system is wrong, unfair, cheat on the innocents and allowed it to be part of the system? This is the ultimate crime, when the real criminals are the govt and the regulators. And the same govt and regulators would go around talking about ethics, honesty, fair practices and not doing anything that is criminal. Just look at the financial system in the USA and the West and you will get what I mean. It is simply operated by crooks with govt and regulators backing.

Singapore is an exception. Trust me. I just cannot find any faults or flaws in our system. If you don’t trust me, you must trust the priests and monks and the highly moral and upright super talents in charge.

Welcome to the 21^st Century of hypocrisy at the highest level when the crooks and criminals are in charge.

SGX versus Remisiers – Who is the referee?

The Stock Market is collapsing, the industry is dying, remisiers are resigning and leaving, business has fallen to an intolerable level that some remisiers are earning less than a cleaner. On the other corner, the Stork Market is doing well, and improving, getting betterer, more trades, more volumes, more participants, more products, in the pink of health. Many measures and improvements have been introduced by the SGX and everything is fine.
 
Obviously one is lying through the skin of his teeth. Which one? Who is to judge and call the bluff? The facts cannot lie and it does not need a rocket scientist to know the truth. But no one is saying anything, or have they said and concluded that everything is fine?
 
This is like two guys inside a lift. One farted, and both got into a heated argument on who farted. Sure, between the two of them they jolly well knew who farted. But the outsiders looking from the outside would not know who the liar was. But if one has a vested interested in the argument, one could side with the side that favours him. A neutral party would or could easily prove who the farter was by smelling their pants.
Guess the verdict? Would the real farter stand up or be asked to own up? Is it so difficult to know the answer? Would the referee still be thinking, thinking hard or would he be assuming that everything is fine? No thinking needed?
 
Maybe it is better to set up a committee to look into it, a board of inquiry, ya?

Touch your heart

Many of you out there are professing that you are all kindness, wanting to look after the less fortunate. I ask you one simple question, ‘Are you real?’
 
Touch your heart and ask yourself, are you cheating on the oldies, the senior citizens, of their money, their life savings? If you are, you know for sure what you are doing, please repent. You still have time to repent before the curtain falls. Do not let your evil ways catch up with you and regret when it is too late.
 
Do not cheat on the oldies. Do not cheat their life savings under the pretence of being kind and helping them.
 
You cannot run away from your evil karma. Trust me.

Phillip Ang – Stand up against PAP’s flawed housing policy

Phillip Ang wrote an article calling for the singles, divorcees and single parents to stand up against the PAP’s flawed housing policies in the TRE. The small issue that I would disagree with Phillip Ang is that Sinkies have this daft habit of being swayed by shifting goal posts. Today someone sells them something for $10, tomorrow the same thing for $100, and the day after for $1,000, the Sinkies will then think $1,000 is acceptable and used it as the new reference point.
 
The good PAP of the past took the road to the dark side when they changed the housing policy from providing cheap and affordable housing for the people, to give the people a roof over their head, a stake in the country, to paying a ransom for a leased flat that in all counts is owned by the govt. Several unfavourable policies followed suit when the mission was changed.
 
From affordable housing to market priced housing, to asset enhancement, to not building enough to meet the needs of the people. And now everyone is paying for a hot potato that they believed would only go up in price when the truth is that it would end up worthless at the end of the lease.
 
And they still did not know why all their life savings are gone? Do I really have to put down the numbers, 1,2 and 3 to show them that all their money that should be sitting in their CPF accounts for retirement has been transferred out because of this change in housing policy?
 
It is not only the singles, divorcess and the single mothers that should be standing up to this flawed housing policy. Everyone should be standing up to it, for paying for something at so called market prices that made them feel rich when it is just an illusion, a transient thing, with a zero bottom line and the depletion of their life savings.
 
Can see this or not?

Medishield Life panacea, now CPF panacea

Or is it Medishield Life panadol, CPF panadol? Another panacea in the making? The committee members are so happy. Hsien Loong is also so happy that he even said the CPF is a good scheme getting gooder, not his exact words. But it is a scheme that is getting betterer and betterer. I can hear champagne bottles popping and corks flying everywhere. A great scheme and a job well done.
 
Singaporeans are really fortunate to have so many super talents helping to govern the country and to rule them. I am sure the average politicians in the world would not have thought of such great schemes to better the lives of their citizens. The rest of the world must be very envious of Singaporeans and how well their lives are gonna be.
 
There are so many things to talk and praise about these two great panaceas. I am so excited that I lost the cork of my champagne bottle. It must have flown out of the window. ‘Now where is the cork?’ Just a glimpse of the great stuff in the new approved proposals. How many of you have your salary adjusted for inflation every year? Some may get more with promotions and increments. Only very few did not get any increments. Is there anyone out there where the company gives you a raise to compensate for inflation?
 
In this proposal, the CPF account holders will have the privilege of their savings being adjusted for inflation so that its value will not be badly affected. There will be a 3% adjustment to the retirement sum, I take this as the minimum sum, to account for inflation and rising household expenditure. Like that it means their income from the CPF when they are eligible to withdraw will always be enough. Whether an account holder gets a raise, no raise, or jobless, he will still have to make up for this 3% adjustment with his CPF savings.
 
Employers that did not compute an adjustment to the salaries of their employees to account for inflation and rising household expenditure should be put to shame. Maybe this will be the next step the govt will be taking to make it compulsory for employers to do so. What do you think?
 
I just do not know where to start on this CPF panacea. Let me just touch on those things that were not said, not recommended, but spoken loud and clear by this proposal. One, you are not going to get back your CPF money at 55 that CPF account holders are expecting. And when you get back some, the large portion of your CPF savings would still be stuck in your CPF account. Two, the govt still retains the right to decide how, when and how much of your money you can use. You Do Not have the right to decide on your life savings. Three, many of you may die young, before 55 or 65, sorry, you would not have the pleasure to enjoy your life savings. Four, many of you will leave behind quite a sum of money after you pass on in life in your CPF accounts. And for this, make sure you sign the right form to allow the balance to be taken out in cash by your beneficiaries and not transfer to their CPF accounts unless you so decided. Five, the minimum sums would go up and up, oops, I mean the Medisave Minimum Sum. Six, there will probably be more committees set up to make the CPF even betterer in the future if there is another Roy in Hong Lim.
 
I am lost for words for the moment. Let me recollect myself and my thoughts before talking about the details and the fine prints. Very tired, really. Am I happy with this new proposal? Or are you happy with this proposal?