Little sympathy for no pay hike for ministers

AFP reported "that there was little sympathy in the city-state for the world's best-paid politicians.

Ministerial salaries in the financial hub are the highest on Earth, with an entry-level minister paid Sg$1.1 million ($830,000) and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong earning an eye-watering Sg$2.2 million.

The government has argued the huge pay packets are necessary to attract top-calibre talent and prevent the corruption that afflicts other Asian countries.

But the issue has long attracted public anger, and the government responded to criticism by slashing salaries after a review in 2012."

Many people may be grudgingly cheering this decision to stop raising the outrageous salaries of the ministers and even wanted the salaries to be slashed given the dismal performance of the ministers. But I have another take on this as the decision could bring about the demise of the country. The country cannot be run well if the ministers are unhappy for not having more pay hikes to their mouth watering salaries when every worker is getting a pay hike, no matter how small, some may get $10 or $20.

There are several arguments favouring a pay hike for the ministers.

One, it is a Singaporean mindset, or at least among the politicians, that after a few years there must be a hike, in salary, in prices, in fees and in taxes. You cannot keep a salary, price, fee or taxes at the same level for too many years. Since the last hike or cut in salary in 2012, it has been a looong 5 years without a hike for the ministers. This is unacceptable and unreasonable.

And two, there is inflation to consider. The life style of the ministers would be gravely affected if their salaries did not keep pace with inflation even though many have viewed that their out of this world salaries have out paced inflation by a 100 years. Their families will suffer, definitely. This is how some ministers would be thinking, true feelings. And with this kind of thinking, how can the people expect them to continue to sacrifice for the country when they could be earning millions more in the private sector?

Three, many would be thinking of leaving political office to seek greener pasture in the private sector now. These super super talents would easily make more than what they are getting as ministers. The country will suffer if they leave. There are no more such talents in an island where there is a dearth of talents. Would Singaporeans be happy if the PAP starts to recruit third world talents, with fake degrees, dubious experience and credentials and doubtful talents to be ministers?  Many of these foreigners would not even pass our PSLE or O level examinations without cheating or faking.

Four, the most disappointing part is that the Ministerial Salary Review Committee already recommended a 9% increase or a mere $100,000 only. The ministers knew this and would be very unhappy that they are being deprived of such a small increase. It is like meat in the mouth and snatched away again. They would end up with a lot of saliva in their mouths.

Overall the morale of ministers would be low definitely. Remember, they are making very big sacrifices, sacrificing their privacy, their good lives, their families, to serve the people and country. How can the country be so mean to them. And all the time they have been scheming how to make the people rich, well taken care of in old age with plenty of money in their CPF? Singaporeans are ungrateful creatures. If not they should be holding a protest at Hong Lim to fight for a hike in ministerial salaries to show their appreciation to these selfless and honourable men and women.

From the HR perspective, all is not lost. There are many ways to raise the salaries of ministers without raising their salaries, like promotions, more deputy PMs, more senior ministers, ESM or even add the post of mayors to their portfolios, secondary appointments as chairman or directors here and there, big bonuses, study strips overseas, leadership allowances, innovative allowances, etc etc. Another way of raising salary without raising salary is to half the job size. Instead of one minister doing a job, have two or more ministers and each minister would theoretically only need to do a portion of the job. A two minister ministry would mean the job is divided by half, and being paid a full minister's salary for doing half the job. Very neat.

Anyway. the govt must seriously reconsider this decision not to hike the high pay of the ministers. It would affect their morale and performance. Must be, they are also human, just like they would be corrupt if salary not high enough. I am worried for Singapore and the well being of Singaporeans going forward. If the economy is not doing well, you cannot blame the ministers for not performing when you don't give them a hike in salary. First thing that comes to mind is the MRT.

Singaporeans should not expect their ministers to look hagged, lean, badly dressed and unhappy and troubled by a stagnant salary with no pay hike. The ministers must be well fed, happy, well dressed and with high morale so that they can only think of working for the people without any financial worry, or unable to give their families a Swiss standard of living. We are all in the same sampan. Their well being is our well being.

The taxi trade - how to make money from the stupid

The statestimesreview has an article with this headline, ''ComfortDelgro wasted S$642 million acquiring Uber''. The reason given by the article is that ComfortDelgro drivers were introduced to Uber's dynamic pricing software but after a while most of them gave up using it, thus making the purpose of acquiring Uber totally wasted. This may be a simplified way of looking at the acquisition which would include things like gaining market share, disruptive technology and buying over a competitor. There must be very good reasons to spend $642 million to buy over a company, uppermost must be the bottom line.

So, with the acquisition of Uber, and maybe Grab will be the next target, ComfortDelgro could eventually be the major taxi service provider, again, with the biggest market share of the business. Sounds pretty logical. The acquisition of Grab, hypothetically, could cost another $500 million or thereabout. This would mean a total outlay of a billion dollar to stay on top, to regain the market share. The big question is how to make a billion dollar of profit and how long would it take to make this sum just to square the book?

Let's look at the business again. Before Uber and Grab, there were X number of customers and a handful of taxi companies, maybe 5. So with Uber and Grab, there will be 7 taxi companies but the number of customers would still be X. With the acquisition say of Uber and Grab, the number of taxi companies would be back to 5, ie ComfortDelgro/Uber/Grab becoming one company, and the number of customers is still X, caveat from new citizens. See the stupidity in the logic of acquiring Uber and Grab?

The pie is the same. Before and after, the pie is still the same. But by letting Uber and Grab to operate in the same market, the pie is shared by more players. The acquisition would mean technically the number of players will be as before but the pie is still the same. So, by allowing Uber and Grab to come in and to be bought over by ComfortDelgro, Uber and Grab made the money and scoot off, leaving ComfortDelgro with a billion dollar hole in the pocket, just to retain market share for the same piece of pie, or to return to square one. This analogy is hypothetical of course.

So, after Uber and Grab, another GrabU taxi operator may set up business again, the story could be repeated with ComfortDelgro buying over the new company, and GrabU would walk away with another few hundred millions. This musical chair game could go on and on and the stupid will keep paying and paying just to retain market share which is still X.

The same formula is being repeated in the telco business. Have Starhub and M1 been bought over by SingTel or the govt to maintain market share? And a new player has come into the market in Circles.Life. This telco needs not make profit. Just go for market share and eventually some stupid would make an offer to buy it over for a few hundred millions. And Circles.Life can walk away laughing to the bank. And the circus can be repeated all over again by other telcos and taxi operators.

It is so easy to make money from the stupid. And the stupid did not know why. This is an exercise to identify the stupid. Give you some clues. Who is the biggest loser? Who create the situation for the loser to lose without knowing why? The best part, some stupid would be thinking that they are fighting against competitors and very clever to buy over the competitors to retain their share in the market?

Hundreds of millions were wasted all for nothing. To gain market share that was there but given away only to be bought back by the hundreds of millions?

China has no military allies

This is the sneer the Americans keep broadcasting to the world and its allies. China may not have military allies, but it has friends all over the world and is the top and second biggest trading partners of more than 100 countries. China does not need military allies for two main reasons. One, China does not aspire to be a hegemon military Empire and has renounced war as an option to settle differences between states. China does not seek to threaten any country with sanctions or with wars. Two, China is now more than capable of defending itself against any external threat from the Americans or a combined force of hostile military allies.
 
Is China concerned about the Quad, the encirclement by the American Empire, or the military exercises conducted by a pretentious regional power like India? With China’s military might today, and growing, soon it would have at least 6 aircraft carriers, China is not even bothered by the threats of an American preemptive strike or an all out war. As far as India is concerned, it is irrelevant, insignificant and would at most be a pin prick irritant. China could overrun India any time if India did the foolish thing again.
 
India is positioning itself as a regional power and aspiring to be a superpower with a third world economy and infrastructure. All the silly countries that think India is going to be a super power and eager to be a part of this ‘great super power’ and India as their regional master are welcome to defer to this ‘great’ military power that has never won a war except to bully its small neighbours and treating them as semi colonies.
 
Even if India is to form a military pact with the 16 countries that are holding a joint military exercise, it would at best be a joke. Economically, militarily, in science and technology, India is still a third world country in every aspect. And these countries want to call India boss?
 
Would China be worried about a little ant crawling around when it is in contention with the USA to be the Number One super power in all fields? India is just not in the super power league for another half a century at least, if it ever gets there.

SHOOTING OFF THEIR MOUTHS -

If  it  had  not been such a mega tragedy, the performance of some American

leaders  in  the  aftermath  of  the  Marjory  Stoneman Douglas High School

massacre  would  have  made for a rip-roaring comedy. But thanks to some of

the  most  tragically  comical  personalities in US politics, it has passed

into the realms of tragicomedy.

Leading the cast is the 45th president of the United States who brilliantly

suggested turning teachers into armed sheriffs in defence of their charges.

Not  all  teachers  mind  you,  “only  people  with  a  natural talent (for

shooting)  or hitting a golf ball, or putting”, assured Mr Donald Trump. As

an  incentive, these firearm-adept school staff will be given “a little bit

of  a  bonus”  for  carrying  weapons,  much like Singapore civil servants’

language allowance. Adding icing to the cake, the president also shared how

he  would  have  reacted  to the situation at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High

School  had  he been there (but he wasn’t of course). “I really believe I’d

run  in  there  even if I didn’t have a weapon”. Then without the slightest

tinge  of  irony, he went on to talk about mental institutions. “We’ll have

to  go  for  greater  institutionalisation  of  mentally ill people who are

capable  of  violence. A lot of folks in this room (state governors) closed

their mental institutions because of cost, so now we have nothing between a

prison and leaving him at his house”.

Next  on  the  list  is  the honorable Wayne LaPierre, head of the National

Rifle Association (NRA) who blamed gun control advocates for pushing, well,

gun  control.  Decrying  the  “shameful  politicisation” of the tragedy, he

accused  them of wanting “to strip law-abiding gun owners of their firearms

freedoms”.  Mr  LaPierre went on to say that the Second Amendment staunchly

defends  every  American’s  right  to  bear  arms,  and  (again without the

slightest  tinge of irony) assured that the NRA would be happy to work with

schools  to  make  them safer. To be fair, it wasn’t just talk. He actually

sat  down  with  President Trump over lunch and managed to convince him (in

the  president’s  own words) that “the gun advocates want to do something”.

Even  better,  he and his side-kick Chris Cox had the president purring and

tweeting  post-lunch:  “What  many people don’t understand or don’t want to

understand  is  that Wayne, Chris and the folks who work so hard at the NRA

are  Great  People  and  Great American Patriots. They love our Country and

will  do  the  right thing.” It was a mantra the president carried into his

session  with the governors, saying: “Don’t worry about the NRA, they’re on

our  side.  Half  of  you  are  so afraid of the NRA, there’s nothing to be

afraid of”.

These  two  leading  men aside, no tragicomedy would be complete without an

able  supporting cast. They don’t come any more able than Florida’s Senator

Marco  Rubio,  the  failed  Republican  aspirant  for the 2016 presidential

election,  who  famously (or infamously) opined in 2015: “None of the major

shootings  that  have  occurred in this country over the last few months or

years that have outraged us would have been prevented by new gun laws (such

as  expanded  background  checks)”.  Asked  by  a student if he would still

accept  campaign  donations  from  the  NRA  after the latest shooting, the

senator replied: “The answer is people buy into my agenda. And I do support

the  Second  Amendment, and I support the things”. Huh!!?? He got away with

that  one as a politician in America but if he were a student in Singapore,

he  would  have  flunked  our  ‘O’  levels  for  failing to answer a simple

question.

Post by Foo Siang Luen, our new contributor

2020 GE is a conscious choice if the people still want to go along with the PAP

The govt will raise goods and services tax (GST) from 7% to 9% sometime between 2021 and 2025. This is to help fund growing expenditure in areas like security, healthcare and other social spending.

2021 is the year when the PAP may decide to raise the GST. Why 2021? 2020 is likely the election year and the people will have to decide if they still want the PAP in charge. The 2020 GE is critical as it will affirm and confirm the choice of the people, meaning that the people do not mind the hike in GST to 9%. It will be a mandate for the PAP to do whatever it intends or proposes to do. GST hike is just one of them. The taxes raised, among other things, would be channelled to more foreigners to increase the population and thus more infrastructure needs. Hopefully the compulsory Eldershield, which is likely to be another profit making scheme has not been forced down onto the people and the people also have the chance to decide on this issue.

The PAP is holding back the GST hike to after the GE not without reasons and concerns. Raising the GST before the GE is as good as casting the die and there is no room to manouvre. The people will feel the impact of the hike and will vote according to how the hike affect them. By delaying, the people would still be kept in a quandary, not sure whether it would be raised. The hike would also be an issue in the GE and the PAP would be able to feel the reactions of the people. Despite all the crap talks that the GST is good for the people, all the taxes are good for the people, the PAP is still cautious that this could the bridge too far.

A big vote of approval would mean that the hike is accepted by the people and will be raised. A big fall in popular vote would have the PAP thinking if the hike should go ahead or to go ahead with the risk of losing more votes.

The people are given an option, an opportunity to vote for the GST hike in 2020. It would be their decision and after the GE they should live with it.The PAP is not taking the risk to raise the GST first and hope for the best or come what may. They knew that this is very painful on the people, especially the lower income group as the hike would affect everything and the cost living.

The 2020 GE is a gauge as to how far would the PAP go to raise more taxes, to bring in more foreigners and all the unpopular and extravagant policies and projects.