America's decline is unstoppable

 A continuation of the status quo in the USA is going to make the world really upside down. From first world to third is really nothing to laugh at in reality.

As living conditions around the world improves with all the developments being carried out in even poorer countries leveraging on the BRI, who is to say that poor countries must and will always remain poor.

China is a clear example of its rise from poverty to what it is today in just three decades. With more than a billion people wallowing in poverty for decades, China reversed all that within three decades. Isn't that a clear enough message to the rest of the countries in BRICS and the Global South?

And as living conditions in the USA continues to deteriorate, who is to say that the USA will always remain a touted first world country? As the USA slides down in the other direction, the rest of the world will rise in tandem. What then would USA citizens be thinking and looking at the world passing them by?

The saying that the Wheels of Fortune is always turning and will not remain static to favor anyone playing a game, so it should also apply to countries as well. Empires rise and fall, dynasties come and go. There is no such thing as 'exceptionalism' being created to go against nature.

Anonymous

Singapore GE - More fear mongering

 As a long-time opposition voter myself, the PAP cannot totally lose the coming election, which is just fanciful thinking. PAP may just lose a couple more constituencies or another GRC, which is possible.

All that fear mongering about the opposition going to rule Singapore is just, well, fear mongering by the PAP. It does not hold water, knowing how well they have played the game with knowing how and when to throw chicken wings.

When Hougang was still under the PAP before the 1991 election, Pinky started the fear mongering that if Hougang falls to the WP, rubbish will pile up to the third Storey. You cannot try to scare the Teochew majority in Hougang using such tactics and the PAP lost to the WP under Low Thia Kiang. That third Storey story has now become a more than thirty-year story of Hougang being in WP hands.

Anonymous

US education system is a race to mediocrity by sidelining top performers

 What is the point of asking USA education system to undergo significant reforms to encourage competition and recognize excellence, when the USA Government is afraid to face open competition and using underhand tactics to stifle those that outperform the USA in many fields. As I always believe, no competition will stifle innovation, and no innovation means stagnation.

This is not just about stifling Chinese innovation. They USA already did that against Toshiba of Japan and Alstrom from France long ago and using the same formula to keep countries down. More recently such tactics were used against Huawei, then followed by Tik Tok and now going into action against Rednote and DeepSeek. Is this the kind of mentality that will change with a change in its education system? Obviously not. This is only empty rhetoric and not actually going to walk the talk. This is not how things move in the USA, unlike in China.

Had China not been coming out with all the cutting-edge domination in EVs, high-speed rails, batteries, infrastructure construction, space exploration, telecommunication, mobile phones, shipbuilding and now aviation, the USA would still be thinking that it has the edge and can keep its head in the clouds. The sudden realization of what China is capable of doing gives them a wake-up call to take a closer look at the Chinese education system. And they found out the real reason why China had been progressing beyond what they could not expect.

It is perhaps not too early to say that the USA is just trying to close the stable doors after the horses have bolted. It is too little too late to realize it is now doing the catching up. Changing the country's education system takes years to bear fruit and time is not on the USA's side. Just like trying to secure raw materials and rare earth that the early China bird already had the worm in its mouth.

Anonymous

High end chips and high IQ tech talents are essential in the AI race

 China's dominance in technology appears inevitable and the final outcome is not just dependent on who has the best high-end chips or the best lithography machines. Without the technical personnel with the necessary background through education, innovation is impossible. Give the best EUV machine or the top end chips to a non-technical person or company and it is just a piece of hardware. So, which is more important. Both are and complement each other.

The USA may have the ability to control EUV machines and high-end chips but lacks the kind of education system turning out scientists and engineers to benefit from its control. And changing an education system is not a year of two job. It is more a generational undertaking of decades in the making.

China has the scientists and engineers to know how to make full use of machines and chips to do a better job. This is not to say that China is distancing itself from trying to produce its own EUV machines and high-end chips. China is already well on its way to work on this as a priority. What I mean is using the example of DeepSeek's rise and its innovation that does not need multi-billion dollars investments to attain.

Anonymous

Singapore Inc - for what and for who?

 Singapore has been run like a corporation and often been called Singapore Inc. The political leaders are the board of directors, the head of ministries, the CEOs of GLCs are the top management, and their employees are the employees of Singapore Inc. Singaporeans, the citizens are the minority shareholders. Theoretically or legally, Singapore Inc belongs to all Singaporeans, the national reserve belongs to all Singaporeans. The only difference between Singapore Inc and private corporations is that there is no policy on the distribution of surplus profits to the minority shareholders. Private corporations have clearly defined corporate policies to distribute dividends or shares to the minority shareholders when they are profitable. Singapore Inc does not but may once in a while, on an ad hoc basis, throw out a few crumbs to the minority shareholders like a great gesture of generosity.

The wealth of Singapore, the national reserve and GLCs etc etc were painfully built over several decades by the pioneering generations and following generations of Singaporeans. The benefits to the Singaporeans are mostly indirect, like infrastructure and essential services to maintain a good and comfortable living standard and a continuous process of building the national reserve.

No one would be against the policy or objective of building an ever growing national reserve for the rainy day. Today, many are guessing how big the nation's reserve is, some saying it is way above $1 trillion or at least somewhere there. There is no acceptable formula to say what is enough or how big is enough for the reserve. The question is, other than saving it for a rainy day, which came a few times, what else is the reserve for and for who to benefit from.

Is it time to work out a policy, a formula, like private corporation, to share a bit of the surplus revenue of Singapore Inc with the people? I emphasise, surplus, not wanting a leg or a wing of the chicken. For so long, the only people that benefited directly and handsomely from the huge nation reserves are the fund managers managing it and the board of directors and top managements. Many have become millionaires or multi millionaires. And many are foreigners hired to do the job. In a way, the big national reserve is like for the foreigners or fund managers rather than for Singaporeans. 

Singaporeans can only look at it from a distance, like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, can see but cannot touch, cannot even smell. Accepted that in recent years the govt has been sharing a little of the reserve to help the people especially the seniors, as well as all Singaporeans to alleviate the pain of high cost of living. 

Perhaps the govt may want to table a discussion in Parliament on how to make good the belief that the national reserve is for the good and benefit of Singaporeans, that the reserve is for the Singaporeans, not just to enrich the fund managers and top management. Work out a sustainable formula and policy to pay out dividends to the minority shareholders, the Singapore citizens, while continuing to grow the reserve at the same time, meaning pay dividends like private corporations only in good time, not anyhow, suka suka, pay and deplete this precious and vital national reserve. The citizens, especially the older generations, have contributed a fair share of the reserves we are proud of today. It is payback time before they disappear without enjoying a little return from their long term investment over the years.

What do you think? What is the national reserve for, and for who to benefit?