Help needed with higher cost of living

This is the headline of Gabriel Chen's report on a public dialogue session chaired by Josephine Teo last night. 'Retirees, civil servants and salaried workers were united in demanding that the Govt do more to alleviate higher transport costs and food prices. "The current hike in taxi fares - it's becoming ridiculous," said Madam Adeline Chan....Mr Colin Tan chipped in with a radical suggestion: have a two tier GST - one for basic necessities and the other for luxury items.' Like it or not, believe it or not, the pain is sinking in. With the spate of increases coming one after another, it is going to hurt many. In another article by Goh Chin Lian, MP Inderjit Singh was quoted to say that 'one way to relieve the burden on such middle income families is to lift the GST on essential items....He also thinks that the Govt should not have allowed those costs within its control to spiral upwards too quickly...ie not just utilities, rental and other govt charges, but also the property prices.' Economist Tan Khee Giap also 'believes that such institutions and corporations as transport operators SMRT and SBS Transit, should fulfil their social obligation by moderating inncreases. "We are not saying they should run at a loss. But you don't have to make abnormal profit.' These are sensible comments by responsible people, including redbean, but have fallen onto deaf ears. What I think is that the policies are worked out and approved by people who are too comfortable in their lifestyle and have totally lost touch with the hardlanders. The alternatives suggested were not complicated and complex sciences or mathematical formulas that are difficult to understand. They are rejected probably because some supertalents insisted that their assumptions and policies are right and good and do not want to be proven wrong. The verdict will be out in the next General Election. There is no need to insist on who is right or wrong now. PS: For the unthinking doggies who were ordered to disrupt blogs and forums without questions, the above are quoted from the Straits Times, the official paper.

Money nobody wants

Believe me, money on the floor and no one wants to pick them up. I was in town and walking past a shallow drain, the type that is less 10cm deep, just a little below ground level. And there were 3 coins in it, 2 ten cents and 1 twenty cents. And the drain was dry and clean. Everyone just walked by without bothering to pick them up. Now I know why beggars are asking for $2!

42,000 rental flats

We still have more than 42,000 1-rm and 2-rm rental flats and the demand is increasing. More will be built. And very likely these are Singaporeans and not just local residents. In other words, we have at least these number of families that are still struggling in our midst.

Taxi drivers earning more

Today's paper reported that the taxi drivers are actually getting a 10% increase in income. So those who are complaining of a fall in income could be a minority or not working hard enough. There are many sides to a coin. I believe in the official view. They sure have statistics to prove their point. My fear if taxi fare continues to be up. When taxi fare is high relative to MRT and buses, more commuters will switch or some will switch their means of transport. This will give two reasons for MRT and buses to increase their fares as well. They will likely claim that they need to buy more trains and buses or to upgrade their services due to higher demand. Or they will say their prices are too low compare to the taxi fares. Head or tail, the commuters will have to pay more.

Renewed interest in Redbeanforum

Hi bloggers, I have two forumers who have decided to stay away from YPAP forum and post more in Redbeanforum. I hope you people can also post more there as the format there is easier to follow. Cheers

Who would like to be mean tested?

The thought of being mean tested is enough to put a lot of people off. The poor and desperate would not want to be further malu by letting people check their empty bank accounts to prove how broke they are. It is perhaps the most humiliating experience that we can subject our poor to go through. This is probably the main driving reason why the Dover Park Hospice chose to opt out of the Medifund Scheme. I remember the days of holocaust when the Jews were stripped naked to expose everything and being paraded around for all to see. Stripping a man or a woman is as good as tearing away every little pride or selfworth there is left in him or her. I think those who have very fat bank accounts would not mind being mean tested as it would be a way to tell the world how much they are worth. Can we be a kinder society? How can we if we think it is alright to subject our fellow beans to such indignity? Please tell us how the people are going to be mean tested.

HDB prices up by 31%!

Bee tang! All Singaporean HDB heartlanders must cheer for this piece of good news. The value of their flats has gone up like in the 1990 property booms. But better don't rush to sell it off yet. For one must be able to buy another place to live in. Probably not enough to buy a new one. But it may be good to know that the asset is worth more. Can use it as a trade off against the compulsory annuity scheme? Singaporeans are now asset rich again.