Are you ready for 7 million people on tiny Singapore?
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Irrelevant:
MNCs is not a problem. How can direct investment in Singapore a problem? But over relying on them such that they know our weakness to the point that they can bargain with EDB to bring along all their professionals in high paying positions and to allow them access to high quota foreign workers is bad.
Hi WeiHanWeiHan:
I'll say that if we we have many creative people that invent and create competitive products that sell to the whole world, many of the problems can be solved. Our problem is partly that we are so beholden to the MNCs, more than Taiwan, Korea etc...
Personally, I do not see any problem with these MNCs. Take Taiwan for example. Their economy is being hollowed out by China. Youth unemployment is at 14%. PPP GDP at <$40,000 is significantly less than Singapore's ($60,000). TFR is lower. Corruption / Bribery highly prevalent in Taiwanese business culture. Singaporeans are angelic in comparison.
Are there more prominent Taiwanese personalities and companies in the world arena than Singapore? Yes
Are Taiwanese more creative than Singaporeans? Looks like it if the quality of TV programs are an appropriate yardstick.
Is Taiwan more democratic than Singapore? I believe so, depending on the kind of benchmarks we use.
Would I want to trade our circumstances for theirs? No.
An absolute comparison with Taiwan will show that they are worse off than us. They do not have a vibrant finance industry like us. They do not have the world highest traffic port like us. No oil refinery industries like us. But they have more creativity and a huge proportion of the world semi-con outsourcing are done by Taiwanese companies. They would have been worse off without this. Does the point negates that creativity will helps us more?
Taiwan has a high percentage of degree graduates. -
Just relax:
Happy CNY....
To me the Govt. is doing what it can in the circumstances and that it does not have all of the solutions.
The Govt. must not feel unsure of itself at this time in the face of the barrage of criticisms that it has faced. It must take heart and strength from its many policies that have worked in the past and to not be afraid to be bold again. There are enough Singaporeans who believe that we will overcome the challenges that we face but that the policies must be articulated clearly and Singaporeans convinced that what the Govt. is doing is right. i think it has been repeated ad nauseum that the Govt.'s misstep was to push the White Paper through in its final form as if it was a given that the people would accept the same on the face of it. We want the Govt. to understand that it can only get the support of the people if the Govt. itself believes in the people and that enough right-thinking, passionate, honest and upright citizens will pull together to ensure Singapore's future continues to shine brightly for generations to come.
And I disagree with your opinion. Sometimes INERTIA is better than takIng too strong a position. Especially in an \"very efficient society like Singapore\" where KPI is the sole metric of performance in the civil service and things get into the extreme.
A good robust system must be responsive to feedback. In history, there are numerous examples- failure of the communist regimes and excesses of the capitalist system during the industrial revolution. It is not good if the pendulum is swung to the extreme end.
Coming back to the point, what makes the policy makers so sure about their stand when there are some many dissenting voices even from learned pple like yeoh lam keong, ngiam tong dow, lim chong yah, tan cheng bok.
Immigration may be good to drive GDP growth, but we know that this will also drive up social inequality unless there is sufficient wealth redistribution measures through appropriate tax policies. Foreign talents intake can cut both ways, hurting income and employment of locals unless it is done properly to ensure that there is complementarity with the local employment and this requires detailed planning. I dont see these safeguards in the current white paper so how can we be sure that the balance does not get tipped too far. To think that we cannot even get the minimum wage law passed when countries all around us including HongKong has it implemented.
Closer to triviality, IP programme is good but not when there are so limited places and every thing hinges on PSLE. Teach less learn more is good but not when testing gets too far outside of the content that tuition is becomes essential and places the poor at a disadvantage. DSA is good because there are some kids with other talents but not when the poorer students are disadvantaged because their parents cannot sponsor swimming programmes and piano/violin lessons and are not given the options. Aren't these cases of good intention but require tweaking and responsiveness to feedback/
We are too far behind other countries in political development that we will suffer if nothing is done about it through our naivety.
And HAPPY CNY again!!! Lets hope we are more politically developed by 2016. -
Just relax:
Maybe he meant \"NOT that...\", instead of \"note that\"....To Quote from Weihan's earlier post
\"All advances in the west did not come about during the dark age when people and idea was oppressed. Note that I am saying that we are oppressed under PAP and need an opposition party.\"
An extra \"e\" instead of missing \"Not\"..? -
AWSP:
I don't think there is anything to disagree with what I have said. I have merely stated that the Govt. must continue to be robust and not pander to populist policies based on the people's feedback as that is the slippery road to partisan politics that currently has made many democracies less than efficient. For these other democracies such deficiencies and inefficiencies will not cripple the country. Singapore does not have the luxury of allowing for these inefficiencies or deficiencies as another country or large Chinese, Indian or neighboring ASEAN city could come in to take over the position that Singapore occupies in a certain sector.
Happy CNY....Just relax:
To me the Govt. is doing what it can in the circumstances and that it does not have all of the solutions.
The Govt. must not feel unsure of itself at this time in the face of the barrage of criticisms that it has faced. It must take heart and strength from its many policies that have worked in the past and to not be afraid to be bold again. There are enough Singaporeans who believe that we will overcome the challenges that we face but that the policies must be articulated clearly and Singaporeans convinced that what the Govt. is doing is right. i think it has been repeated ad nauseum that the Govt.'s misstep was to push the White Paper through in its final form as if it was a given that the people would accept the same on the face of it. We want the Govt. to understand that it can only get the support of the people if the Govt. itself believes in the people and that enough right-thinking, passionate, honest and upright citizens will pull together to ensure Singapore's future continues to shine brightly for generations to come.
And I disagree with your opinion. Sometimes INERTIA is better than takIng too strong a position. Especially in an \"very efficient society like Singapore\" where KPI is the sole metric of performance in the civil service and things get into the extreme.
A good robust system must be responsive to feedback. In history, there are numerous examples- failure of the communist regimes and excesses of the capitalist system during the industrial revolution. It is not good if the pendulum is swung to the extreme end.
Coming back to the point, what makes the policy makers so sure about their stand when there are some many dissenting voices even from learned pple like yeoh lam keong, ngiam tong dow, lim chong yah, tan cheng bok.
Immigration may be good to drive GDP growth, but we know that this will also drive up social inequality unless there is sufficient wealth redistribution measures through appropriate tax policies. Foreign talents intake can cut both ways, hurting income and employment of locals unless it is done properly to ensure that there is complementarity with the local employment and this requires detailed planning. I dont see these safeguards in the current white paper so how can we be sure that the balance does not get tipped too far. To think that we cannot even get the minimum wage law passed when countries all around us including HongKong has it implemented.
Closer to triviality, IP programme is good but not when there are so limited places and every thing hinges on PSLE. Teach less learn more is good but not when testing gets too far outside of the content that tuition is becomes essential and places the poor at a disadvantage. DSA is good because there are some kids with other talents but not when the poorer students are disadvantaged because their parents cannot sponsor swimming programmes and piano/violin lessons and are not given the options. Aren't these cases of good intention but require tweaking and responsiveness to feedback/
We are too far behind other countries in political development that we will suffer if nothing is done about it through our naivety.
And HAPPY CNY again!!! Lets hope we are more politically developed by 2016.
Let us look no further than Johor which is attempting to build a petrochemical hub to directly compete with Jurong Island. M'sia has the advantage of having a petroleum giant like Petronas to co-fund and partner other petrochemical companies. For Singapore to not act or to remain INERT invites disaster.
That is just one example. Let me give another. Iskandar is developing an education hub that will rival Singapore and universities from the UK have already set up campuses or have plans to do so. Logically Iskandar will be competing for the same Indian and Chinese international students that now head to Singapore to study. The difference is that Iskandar has space to grow and can build many university towns and the ringgit is far cheaper. For Singapore to remain INERT invites disaster.
I have only cited 2 obvious examples, there are others because Iskandar dwarfs Singapore yet is aiming for the same level of efficiencies as Singapore yet with a more abundant and cheaper labour force.
Yet here in Singapore we nitpick about issues which matter little in the big picture about Singapore's economic competitiveness. The IP prog and the DSA processes probably can be better improved butto me we still have to look at beyond our borders and realize everybody is gearing up and becoming more efficient.
Even an exclusively Catholic country like the Philippines has seen the benefits of having a casino, having observed Singapore and are building a casino to rival Singapore's. And this in a country which has abundant resources and people. Yet it picks up on an aspect that has nothing to do with its inherent advantages of low cost, abundant people but because Singapore has succeeded, it will do it as well in direct competition.
It is the reality of Singapore's situation that because it does not have any of the resource advantages of its neighbours (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia - oil; Philippines - mineral resources; Thailand and Vietnam - large population and low costs) it will always have to do better and more efficiently and cannot ever be INERT. -
3Boys:
Yeah man and I thought I gave enough clues for the answer.
Crazy isn't it.
Imagine such opposition supporters driving future government policies and bringing ruin.
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JannettLee:
Self-serving guy who is talking his book (to borrow an investment jargon). Need I say more?Below is an article about the ineffectiveness of ABSD..........
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The writer is the CEO of real estate agency International Property Advisor Pte Ltd
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Enjoy reading your post, Just relax.
You sound very familiar.....
:celebrate: -
WeiHan:
Although there might be pockets of such problems, there is no need to tar all companies with the same brush. In fact, my personal experience tells me it is really difficult to find Singaporeans in my profession. Typically, we will get applicants from India, Indonesia, the Philippines, etc. Seriously, I would love to have more Singaporeans (and they do get better pay, approx 10% more) but my industry is probably not sexy enough. We are lucky if we could get some decent CVs from Malaysians. The point that I am making is that sometimes it is due to force of circumstances, more than anything else.
MNCs is not a problem. How can direct investment in Singapore a problem? But over relying on them such that they know our weakness to the point that they can bargain with EDB to bring along all their professionals in high paying positions and to allow them access to high quota foreign workers is bad.WeiHan:
I reckon that more creativity would help us too. But I'm against more creativity at all costs, just like I'm against more babies at all costs. And so far, I'm happy with Singapore. High median income, don't need to create too many flashy billionaires. Whereas if you know Terry Guo (Foxconn), you will know that his wealth is built on the \"contributions\" of many people.....But they have more creativity and a huge proportion of the world semi-con outsourcing are done by Taiwanese companies. They would have been worse off without this. Does the point negates that creativity will helps us more?
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JannettLee:
It is very important for me to clarify all the misleading statements you made, as below (in same blue colour):
Just relax:
At the time when GST was 1st mooted there was lobbying that certain essential food items should not have GST because of the poor. Govt. made the promise that GST was essential as a revenue creator so that no. of people paying income tax could be reduced and that Govt. would give GST vouchers to help needy.
Did the govt say they give GST vouchers to the needy only after implementing GST? Are you sure before that they didn't give any vouchers (although not in the name of \"GST vouchers\")? Changed name to \"GST vouchers\" to justify GST? More importantly is how much more benefits they give to the poor after implementing GST? Didn't they try to shoot down the suggestion of additional $30 per month for the needy a few years ago?
And How do you define \"needy\"? I am afraid there are many more who have fallen outside the govt's definition of \"needy\" after being slapped with GST.
I would like to remind you that when GST has been implemented, 1 of the main reason is because they wanted to reduce (and had since reduced) the income tax top bracket from 25% to 18%, and hence reduce the income tax of the high-paying rich and they need to increase revenue from somewhere to make up for the tax revenue collection. In response to critism for reducing the tax of the rich while increasing the tax of the general people and imposing tax on the young, the retirees, the unemployed and the poor, they say they are implementing GST to help the poor. Now that GST has not been increased anymore, so does it mean that the govt has since decided \"not to help the poor\"?
To the extent no. of people paying income tax has not increased but has in fact reduced the Govt. has kept to its promise. So there is the raison d'être for Singapore's GST.
Number of people paying tax has not increased? Oh please don't beat around the bush and try to mislead people. You mean those people who are unemployed, the retirees, the house-wifes and the young ones who are too young to work are not \"people\"? After implementing GST, all of these people need to pay taxes for even drinking water! Remember, GST has been implemented on everything, including water, electricity etc!
Those who complain should look at those countries where GST is >10% and income tax is >30% and where everybody is taxed even when you die! (estate duty tax!), so u pay 3 types of taxes at least. In Singapore everybody pays GST but less than 30%, 20% (???) pay income tax.
Are you ignorant or what? Please compare apple to apple. Let me remind you if you are ignorant that in all those countries where GST is >10% and income tax is >30%, they are entitled to:
1) Medicines, basic food necessities, young children's products are exempted from GST/VAT.
2) For >30% of tax they pay, they are entitled to unemployment benefits and social benefits which they can claim and collect after they retire after certain age. So, the actual tax nett of all these benefits and entitlements are not that high after all.
Oh btw don't forget many countries have capital gains tax where they tax the profits on the sale of house or shares (Singapore does not have that)
So, you are saying that the govt should implement capital gains tax? I have no issue with that if that means taxing the rich more? :boogie:
Why do u think so many FTs want to come here? I sometimes wonder why Singaporeans complain so much :siao:
May be you can tell us why so many FTs want to come here? You mean their main aim of coming to singapore is to contribute to singapore and enrich the singapore citizens and not for themselves?
The statements that you have highlighted in blue are not misleading. I am very puzzled as how you can equate giving away more than 1/2 of what you earn to taxes (where everybody is taxed anyway since they all pay VAT on every product and it does not matter if you are homeless or young) and where the social service network does not really work (please read BBC news about how the wonderful NHS has failed so spectacularly in the UK and then read CNN about how Obama is trying to fix a completely broken Social Security system in the US). I am surprised if you can even save anything if you give up more than 1/2 your salary. You only have 1/2 your salary to pay the mortgage, utilities, put food on the table and purchase the necessities of living.
Oh and by the way have you actually used the medical services of these countries that you are so fond of? Have you not realized in so many of these social welfare countries that you are so fond of the system is broken! Why is Europe in such a crisis? The Govts cannot continue to pay the pensions or provide the social welfare that they had promised. The Govts. cannot balance the budgets as the expenses of social welfare is going up as Europe ages and they have already taken 50% of income as taxes. So the crisis continues in Europe.
Have you seen the public and subsidized housing given to the poor there? Have you visited the council estates in Nottingham, UK? The HDB rental flats in Singapore are equivalent in standard to many of the private fully paid apartments you find in the UK
Now let's talk about education. The poor in the US, Europe or UK do not get
proper education as their schools are poorly funded, teachers poorly paid and these students never finish school. They do not get the opportunity to go to polytechnic or to ITE unlike Singapore children. Forget about going to university if you are poor. There is no money for bursaries unlike Singapore.
I think I have said enough. It is important you open your eyes to the difficulties other people face when their Govts take 50% of their monthly income and still cannot afford to give you basic social welfare. As they say \"welcome to Greece\". Need I say more -
Very strange indeed. I am just pointing out the problems as they are, and you asking me for solutions to these problems? :siao:
You said \"throw stones very easy\", but the fact is, there are many people who can't even identify / recognize the problems! What do you call these people? :rotflmao:
Also, by asking me for solutions, you thought I am the ones given the job of solving these problems and in turn being paid Millions $ of salary a year? :evil:3Boys:
And what's your solution, keeping in mind balance of payments, need to control car population, and free market economy?JannettLee:
In summary, why we are in this current situation - high cost of living today?
It is the consequences of Gahman's policies all these years.
1) GST
2) Commercial & industrial properties prices and hence rental escalation
3) Transportation cost
Throw stones very easy hor....
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