10
June
2010
June
2010
A Nice Day0
A good day is sitting in a quiet cafe, great music coming out of the headphones and no more errands to run for the rest of the day.
6
February
2009
February
2009
Track Record8
With all the recent budget talk, one fact that jumped out at me was that in the last decade, Singapore has had 4 recessions. We’ve had the 97/98 Asian financial crisis, the 2001 Dotcom burst, SARS in 03 and now the credit crisis in 07. 4 recessions in the span of about 10 - 11 years. All rather huge world changing events, and all externally driven of course. But really can we lay claim to the best economic managers in the world, if the country’s fortunes are that much tied to external events? Does it mean that our economic policies actually have very little influence in the performance of the country.
While everyone in US is screaming for the blood of the bankers, and for their bonuses to be repaid. Should we really still be paying million dollar salaries to our ministers. Our economy is not that unlike business in a US Investment bank, in that our growth is made possible by leverage. We leverage on foreign workers, skilled and unskilled alike, in our pursuit for growth, not unlike IBs leveraging up their balance sheet. And we leverage up big time, 2/3 of all jobs created last year were for foreigners, or look at it another way, we’re leveraging our workforce by 3 times. Also we place big bets on “growth” sectors, not unlike how banks bet with their balance sheets, look at the amount of money we have thrown at the bio-tech sector. What all that ultimately leads to is a more volatile economy, one where booms and bursts are bigger than in other countries.
Our ministers are certainly paid like some of Wall Street’s best fund managers. Of course the fund manager gets paid well in a year where he made money, but if a fund manager had lost money in 4 of the last 10 years, I’m pretty sure he would have been fired, let alone get paid.
Of course the government is busy congratulating themselves on a “good budget”. And in truth it’s not too bad. But if we want to be symmetrical about things, they have taken the credit for the boom times, just look at their salary increases ( again not unlike how fund managers talk about alpha and their rare ability to make money in the equity bull run), should the government not then shoulder the blame for the current recession? After all a lot their counterparts in the big banks ( which incidentally are what they like to peg their pays to) are taking the blame and paying for it with their livelihoods. It’s almost human nature that we like to take credit for anything that goes well, and try to shift the blame when things go wrong.
The beauty of the private sector is that people get rewarded for their ability and for taking risks, that means that when things go right, these people get rewarded a lot. But when things go badly, they bear the consequences as well. On average most people will get paid well for a few years and maybe be unemployed for another few.
Of course that is not going to happen here, because our ministers here get a much better deal than the best in US. They get paid their million dollar pay regardless of what happens. They not only have a golden parachute, they have a golden rice bowl.
Maybe that is why they have lost touch of the reality on the ground. After all why do you have to pay attention to the people and their problems when you get paid no matter what happens. The security provided to our leaders breed not only complacency but arrogance and even contempt for the average person, if the recent comments by our now famous MP is any gauge. The fact that they have to be constantly reminded in parliament to be more humane and sensitive to people, is evidence of their mindset of talking down to people.
Security in power breeds elitism and arrogance. The only way to restore their mortality is strip the government of it’s absolute power. Like what our government likes to tell us, competition is good. If that is true in the job market and business, then it must also be true in government and politics.
26
December
2008
December
2008
Where to2
Where do I want to live?
I’ve come to the conclusion a long time ago that Singapore is a good place to work in but not great for a good living. I can fully understand the influx of expatriates into Singapore, because as a place to work it has a lot going for it. It’s in east Asia, where even with the current recession, economic growth is likely to be the highest in the world for at least the next few years. Language is not a barrier, it’s convenient to every amenity, and most importantly, it has one of the lowest income tax rates in the developed world.
But as a place to live, I think there are many other places in the world that has so much more to offer. If it’s urban excitement that we want, London, New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo all provide a more exciting lifestyle. If it’s a more relaxed city life we’re after, Melbourne, Vancouver and Amsterdam seem to be well regarded. For nature, the list gets even longer, and for culture, well that’s everywhere else in the world.
If we do a comparison netting of cost of living and average income earned among the different cities, Singapore doesn’t really come out ahead as well. Sure Tokyo and London are expensive places to live in, but then average pay there is also higher, and netting them out assuming similiar jobs and livestyles, the residual amount saved is not much different in real terms. ( Real being a comparison of purchasing power). A 4 bedroom flat here, is the price of a landed house on the outskirts of Melbourne. A Toyota Altis here, is 3 times the price as one in London or New York. I would argue that Singapore is not a cheap place to live.
The only significant category that I think of where Singapore tops everywhere else is in terms of safety.
Of course every city in the world has it’s flaws and bad policies. But the world is a much smaller place now than it was 10 years ago. and we really should take a page out of the expat’s handbook in terms of doing the rational thing. You choose a place that is better for work to work, and that when you’re done with work, choose a place that is better for living to live in. As many expats come into Singapore to work, Singaporeans (mostly) can emigrate to other “better” places to live as well.
Of course, emigration is not easy, as there will be criterias to meet, and for some it’s not really an option. As much as we think that the educational system here is flawed, it really gives us an advantage over a lot of other people when it comes to immigration criterias. For most young professionals in Singapore, making it all the way through the educational system was the hard bit, emigration test/ criterias by comparison is a piece of cake.
Yes, everything has to be weighed against the consideration for friends and family. And it’s subjective which column will end up with more weight. But until we sit down and tally up the score, we will not know if it’s actually a viable alternative.
23
July
2008
July
2008
Public Transport0
Public criticism in the state papers of the public transport system?
http://motoring.asiaone.com/Motoring/News/Story/A1Story20080714-76503.html
Is this a revoke? The end of the “Everything is the best in Singapore” propaganda?
Or is it that the public transport has just gotten so bad over the last few years that it’s no longer taboo to talk about it?
A round of applause for the brave writer please.
9
April
2008
April
2008
Why0
Over the pass few months, the idea of starting a site has popped up with increasing frequency. Which is a strange thing for me, given that I’m never one for writing, or keeping with trends and fads.
It might be that the debacle of the election last year first sparked it off, and the subsequent price and tax increases, not to mention the ministerial pay hikes, just added to my sense of injustice.
However, even when I discarded the governmental and civic elements, there was still a lot nagging at me. After all a lot of people grumble or complain about governments, some rightly, some wrongly, depending on your leanings
What bothered me more, was the fact that there was so much going on around me that I could not make sense of, so much that was contradictory and sometimes outright idiotic. I’ve been told often that I’m not completely in touch with the masses because I do not watch the mass market TV programmes or stay in neighbourhoods that are typical or shop and eat at places that most people go to.
I’ll admit that I’m never one to follow trends nor am I interested in local celebrity scenes, but somethings are supposed to make sense, regardless of what the latest buzz is.
So this site is a way I guess for me to set my thoughts down, to try to work out through some of the anomalies that I see around me, and to chronicle them for future references.
