Inflation in Singapore on the rise: Your views; Discuss.

[Godspeed64]

Shinobi bro.. Inflation in our country is actually quite low for a developed country..
Just that we ain't used to the figures, that's all.. Its much much much much worse in a developing country.. Where prices of staple food can hike up to 3 times more over a year..

 

[ac]

=empihsrow


Though singapore doesn't have a pension system, the CPF functions in roughly the same way, as well as the coming annuities. Ask anyone else who's paying for it what they think of it all.

But really why is the pap always voted back in? It's rather complicated but well, mostly because the population is afraid of change. But think about what it means to have a one party democracy. There's no other party that challenges decisions and bills that are put into place. Look at NKF, and all other charities that have gone the way of the wayward cloud - it's all about dancing in the loo and eating watermelons. The horrors!

And great, no one could contest minister pay increases, or the fact that you're now supposed to file a request if you want to conduct any investigations on a minister, or the bill where you get more shit for hitting a minister than hitting anyone else? How about the abolishment of estate tax and, what is it about creating new posts for supposedly retiring ministers?

So has the government done a lot to help the people? They can, if they get the jerkwads to donate ( hell it's not even a donation) all their salary increases to

1. improving frequency of public transport
2. improving teacher to student ratio
3. improving bus conditions
4. beefing up the police force

 

[fgl]

paying bills like siao nowadays ....

 

[empihsrow]

Think about it. The government can ONLY help the citizens to a certain degree. No government in the world has been able to totally help every citizens in every aspect and the day will never come.

I know it's kind of weird that PAP gets voted in every general election but have we ever really wondered why? Why do the people not trust in the opposition but vote in favour of PAP? I will not think that the majority was crowed into voting for PAP because for the past few decades, PAP had done a lot of Singapore and turned Singapore into a developed country. No one can deny what PAP has done for us. And have you ever thought of the opposition? Have you ever seen them in action? Yeah, perhaps we do see them in action... All for the wrong reasons.

In fact, I think the opposition is too weak. They cannot effectively challenge PAP because they are unable to capitalize on any PAP's weaknesses. And the people still think that PAP is effective up till today. And I think so too(other than the education system).

I have nothing to say about the increase in ministers' pays though. I mean, nothing is really affected. Look at it this way. This year's Budget was larger than expected because of a huge surplus... Which means that the percentage of the government's expenditure on civil servants will still remain the same. Just some simple mathematics. And so, I don't really think it is a big problem.

And it's not like our government is corrupted.

Also, I think we have one of the world's best transport system. Why don't you try going to NY or Tokyo for a day and compare our transport system? Although I think our buses kind of suck...

 

[ac]

kekeke

you have much to learn padawan.

Singapore right now is facing many challenges from china and india. And one of the many pronged methods of combating this is to encourage foreign talents to stay in our country, but at the same time, it's a horrendous numbers game. Have you seen the IT industry? Some don't know function pointers from a ceiling fan. How about the local coffeeshops? It's all china chinese. They come here and they take our jobs. At the same time, business owners aren't complaining, they pay them pittance for these low level jobs. But with all massive immigration, there's going to be consequences - overcrowding, crime.

And really, do you believe everything in the newspaper? These past quarter growths are fueled by property price increases that are just buoyed by market sentiment thanks to these reports. There was a feeling of euphoric spending in all sectors, all of which i suspect is done to indirectly contribute to the sovereign wealth funds, and their buyout of companies during this ongoing global crunch. At the same time, while this is a great method of gaining traction in a global economy, it doesn't mean there's no risk involved, which is why minister pay increases to the tune of 61% is pure bullshit. It's a golden parachute for them and leaves nothing for the people, because if it goes all pear shape, guess where the money to fund all this came from? It's either a. more money got printed ( aka welcome to the world of inflation ) b. It's from taxes,cpf contribs, erp, etc. i.e. everywhere else.

And have you wondered why estate duty has been axed? Right, when the big numero uno kicks the bucket, no amount of setting up trusts, giving off gifts, is going to make it easier for the people to swallow when they see the amount of wealth accrued over the decades. The pill swallowed by one and all is not the same for other people.

So think about what it means to be a democracy. Can a one party democracy be a good thing? In a 2 party or more democracy, if policies are unpopular, the other party can veto it (though essentially iirc the president can do so for matters involving government reserves ). But there are no such safe guards in a single party system. And if you really think simply voting in a pap candidate is always the best option, think about the system in place that put them there, and ask yourself if there's a better way of doing things.

When lky is gone, there's going to be a big rift in the party, and i would like to see someone else not moulded by that machinery step forth and represent me.

BTW i have gone and seen first hand the transport systems of america and japan, and i can safely say: if that is your holiest of holy grail of an epitomic transport system, then we're really lucky you're not the transport minister.

 

[snuffleupagus]

maybe he is just using Japan and the US as examples la in terms of transport infrastructure, they being 1st world and all. Hongkong is worse, Germany and Holland quite horrid, I dunno about the other european countries though, perhaps you can share with us wheres a good bet? Switzerland perhaps?

Anyways, As much as I agree with ac about alot of things he said, i think that maybe its never gonna be easy running a country like Singapore for anyone, and so far, it looks like they are doing a good job so far compared to the neighbouring countries around us. Better to trust the devil you know than the devil you don't. Politicians in every part of the world and throughout history do always have personal agendas. No point believing otherwise.

"But with all massive immigration, there's going to be consequences - overcrowding, crime."

Interesting....

 

[ac]

Swiss rail is great! The land & ferry system is also ok but like most european countries, bus scheduling has long waiting times, and you have to really have to be on time, or it's a very long wait for the next bus especially in the countryside. Really there are pros & cons, but back to horrid transport systems, then does anyone really think that cramming a lot of people onto a train or bus is the ideal situation for commuters? If you hold all the other countries as shining examples, then maybe we're all aiming a little too low.

It's not easy to run a small country without any natural resources like singapore, and i can stomach quite a bit of unpopular policies, but the pay increases are a joke. They should eat their own dog food and not pay themselves first. The only reason to do that is to hedge their bets just in case the policies fail. It's a win win situation for them, and isn't all about retaining their services. "So long and thanks for the fish ...." i'm hearing that all the time as i lim my kopi together with "... in your face" & "how you like them apples?". This money could have gone a long way to helping everyone.

At the same time, all the supposed increments as reported in the media about teacher's pay in the news is all bs. It barely covers inflation, in fact indirectly fuels inflation, and whatever reported bonuses include the 13th month in that count, which is a given. So no wonder teachers leave the education system, and in the end we get lousy schools with low teacher student ratios and badly behaved prima donnas. This little discrepancy between the reported and the actual makes me wonder what other facts are just a different shade of grey.

And so we have democracy. In an ideal democracy you're going to have a few parties elected by the populace for their ability to lead and deal fairly with resources that are put into their hands by the people. No one cares if they have their personal agendas, as long as the population feels the policies are just, and if not, rival parties will call them out on it, if only to voice the dissension of the people, because they wouldn't get the mandate to be elected otherwise. This provides a means of keeping everything transparent, because who's going to install gold toilet bowls when the other guy is going to ask why you didn't use it to improve hospital staff training?

 

[snuffleupagus]

Love your style man, alot of valid points!

Swiss rail is great! The land & ferry system is also ok but like most european countries, bus scheduling has long waiting times, and you have to really have to be on time, or it's a very long wait for the next bus especially in the countryside. Really there are pros & cons, but back to horrid transport systems, then does anyone really think that cramming a lot of people onto a train or bus is the ideal situation for commuters? If you hold all the other countries as shining examples, then maybe we're all aiming a little too low.

So where would this eutopia of yours be at then? Teach us where to aim? Seriously I am curious. with a population to land ratio like ours of course.

It's not easy to run a small country without any natural resources like singapore, and i can stomach quite a bit of unpopular policies, but the pay increases are a joke. They should eat their own dog food and not pay themselves first. The only reason to do that is to hedge their bets just in case the policies fail. It's a win win situation for them, and isn't all about retaining their services. "So long and thanks for the fish ...." i'm hearing that all the time as i lim my kopi together with "... in your face" & "how you like them apples?". This money could have gone a long way to helping everyone.

I dunno man, I'm a bit on the fence with this. I used to think that civil servants are supposed to help the society selflessly else they are not fit to be in that position in the first place, but that leaf flew out my book together with alot of the other childhood moralistic beliefs as I grew older.This is the real world with real needs and wants- E.G, a scholar could earn major moolah heading a MNC, but instead is targetted to aid in the leadership of the country. We have to be fair to them in terms of compensation. I'd rather a smarty pants that rules with his/her head than an eccentric passionate patriot-flag-flying nutjob who will only rule by his/her heart.(well thats just me la) Also, I see the pay rise as an unconventional way of bribery from the government itself, to prevent corruption through external forces.

It barely covers inflation, in fact indirectly fuels inflation, and whatever reported bonuses include the 13th month in that count, which is a given.

Well at least the media had published the stats over and over again about this inflation crisis which has inadvertently affected the adjustments made in many firms that I know of in an effort to battle inflation. Yes I also do know that the lower classes in menial jobs are affected more than ever as we are talking about necessities which they are unable to afford, but as the budget cutbacks promised recently could tide through for the time being. I think its an interesting economical approach this is, in promoting higher consumer spending by "redistributing" the wealth back to us, so that we can "buy" our way out of this crisis as opposed to having government intervention to "protect" the volatility in fluctuating prices for consumers. I think this directive is still currently under review and if the shit hits the fan so to speak,there will some adjustments la hopefully.Also, the Employment act states that the 13th month bonus is not a given if I'm not wrong.

So no wonder teachers leave the education system, and in the end we get lousy schools with low teacher student ratios and badly behaved prima donnas. This little discrepancy between the reported and the actual makes me wonder what other facts are just a different shade of grey.

Well I agree with ya, and I hear ya, thats just the media doing their job.

And so we have democracy. In an ideal democracy you're going to have a few parties elected by the populace for their ability to lead and deal fairly with resources that are put into their hands by the people. No one cares if they have their personal agendas, as long as the population feels the policies are just, and if not, rival parties will call them out on it, if only to voice the dissension of the people, because they wouldn't get the mandate to be elected otherwise. This provides a means of keeping everything transparent, because who's going to install gold toilet bowls when the other guy is going to ask why you didn't use it to improve hospital staff training?

Elections happened and yet nobody vetoed the men in white out completely yet, I guess the people have spoken in this aspect unwittingly of course although they do not subscribe to us having a democratic environment, which is rather amusingly ironic.


Dude, we all just need a beer la.

 

[pedialite]

Free Beer!!!

 

[ac]

10q 10q.

The point i'm trying to make is that there is no such utopia, only what we can build for ourselves. But i do know if we keep comparing our situation to be so much better than other countries that we don't seek to improve, then in the end we will be exactly like other countries. So maybe it's time to not just always point out that other developed countries have it much worse than us, and therefore we should just grin and bear it when you cannot even sit on an mrt train, or have half an ass falling off the seat on a bus because it's too small, but it's time to look into how to improve on our system.

The entire opportunity costs of going into public vs private sector bit is rather tenuous. I'd like to see some of these fast tracked scholars make it in the business world backed by their actions rather than by the machine that put them into the bureaucratic mazinger deathbot. I submit to you that most would not attain whatever they're getting in the public sector. At the top end, it's a 60% increase in pay. Would you like to see public spending being used on something else other than to grease egos to work for the govt? How about larger chairs on buses? ( on a side note, it's actually no chairs in newer buses hehehe) How about increased bus frequencies? How about more teachers in schools? A better police force? I would rather bribe better teachers into the education system.

Here's also a fun fact about life. Take 365, divide it by 7, then divide that by 4. It's one of those crappy facts of the gregorian calendar that they don't tell you about, esp employers.

I also think you're missing the gist of what i said. We need an opposition, if only to keep people honest through the paranoia of being exposed. It doesn't make sense that in a country where 33.4% of the people voted the other way, the representation of this in a parliament of 84 seats is just 2. What does this indicate about our electoral process?

 

[sidmontu]

It doesn't make sense that in a country where 33.4% of the people voted the other way, the representation of this in a parliament of 84 seats is just 2. What does this indicate about our electoral process?

Sorry sorry, but I'm a complete (well, not really) idiot on politics. This little fact here interests me very much though. How does PAP explain this then? 1/3 votes for the opposition should qualify for 28 seats...no? Or is there some special calculation involved?

Thanks!

 

[empihsrow]

It's not the process. But that's the problem with democracy. As long as a party wins more than 50%(be it 50.1% or 88%) of the votes for a seat, the seat will be given to the party. That's why PAP won the most seats.

Think about it... Inflation is a global affair and it cannot be helped. It's caused by worldwide events and since Singapore is a free market, Singapore will be hit. We don't have a choice. Why don't we ask US what they are doing with their own markets?

And I don't think that teachers' pays are given a rise. I have never heard that in the news and to be truthful, despite the shitty education system in my opinion, Singapore does have an education system capable of producing and honing talents. Teacher-to-student ratio is not really a very big problem yet because we are not Switzerland. Our education system does not emphasize on vocational training and student-teacher relationships. Our purpose is just to study and to think about it practically, it works. No matter how much we hate it, how much we think it sucks, it still works. Of course, I hate the system cos there are so many flaws besides its practicality. But it still works.

And as long as things work, do we actually see a need to complain? Of course, they can improve, but there isn't a need to have a total revamp.

Anyway, I have personally been on public transport systems in Australia and Korea. Although I think they really have nicer buses and trains, their efficiency isn't as good as Singapore's. And yes I know, Singapore is small. Just be thankful. All the talk about developed countries. Singapore's transport system is just good.

And all these debates... Feels like I'm reading my literature text again. Enemy of The People... Haha.

Majority vs the truth.

I have never really wanted to root for PAP because I also believe that a one-party authoritarian democracy is not gonna work. However, after Budget 2008, I began to believe that the government is really here to help, not to wreck our lives. I don't want to deny all of the help they have offered to the people and small firms to curb inflation. I think they did a good job. And to think about it, if the media increased the hype of the property market, they did a good thing after all. They allowed the government to have a larger surplus and have more funds to help deal with inflation.

Lastly, let's not complain about the political situation. Can we complain about the negative impacts of globalization?

Because I think that is affecting us in every way! Even more than how policies affect us!

 

[soft]

ac, any chance that we might see you in the next election?

well, so far I have not experience the ill effect of inflation. My lunch and dinner still cost the same. The pump price went up but dont think that is due to inflation. Hmm... other daily expense .... still buy beer when it is cheaper and stock them at home.

Actually, I rented out my flat for a higher price and my clients kept asking me if I need to increase my rates cos of the raising inflation! ha..ha.. so, it is all good for me. So far. Do give me some pointers to look out for though.

 

[visa]

I think we don't have good opposition because all good candidates would rather join the PAP, it's safer and has better prospects and pay!

I believe we will see the PAP split with different views and styles once MM Lee moves on. There are some of our most intelligent men in there, and I doubt all of them are just sheep. They will have their plans.

 

[pedialite]

The only thing inflating is the pockets/wallets of our government/ministers.
Kidding la, that was a very ignorant comment

 

[bockscar]

i realise

property price go up. but in singapore. majority own homes

in other countries, not everyone owns their own home/owns property.

in a way, no matter how exp. eventually, singaporeans cope with it. it's not inflation like war times where people totally cant afford anything and your Yusuf Ishak paper becomes worthless.

 

[guitarsan]

I think we don't have good opposition because all good candidates would rather join the PAP, it's safer and has better prospects and pay!

There ARE good oppositions out there. But the unequal, unfair and very bias media coverages (a.k.a. the government's mouthpiece) led the public to perceive the oppositions as uninterested, inefficient or even stupid. Likewise, what makes you think PAP's candidates are all good? Again, it's the influence of the media. Many S'poreans like to be spoonfed and are conditioned to swallow anything the local media dish out to them. A sad truth.

 

[ac]

=soft

Ha! No, i'll do my part as an active citizen by calling bs when i smell it. Do you do your own groceries? Keep track of condensed milk, fish and meat. Oh and try shopping at ntuc. It's usually a lot easier to see if you do a single consistent large set of purchases.

At the same time, there's large discounts on wine, because the buyers stocked up in anticipation of a long term bull run, which turned out to be .... go go fermented grape juice!

Anyway sidmontu, the reason for this discrepancy is that singapore is zoned into different constituencies, and to contest in some of them, you'll have to field a group of candidates. Those constituencies are known as GRCs. So one of them could contain something like 5 candidates and the opposition would have to field that same amount. As we all know, opposition parties seldom can garner enough candidates plus the money needed to support a nominee ( about 10k per person iirc), so they usually just concentrate in the constituencies that give them the most support. But really just looking at the voting figures just makes you wonder about the skewedness of the representation. It's all available on the internet. Also the grc was implemented ... surprise supplies ... in the 1980s. So for those softies who were born in that decade and hence think that it's always been this way and is just part of singaporean democracy, think again and read outside of the schoolbooks.

BTW, in singapore, home ownership is also bs. You effectively just lease the space for 99 years from the government ( strictly speaking from HDB ), unless it's a freehold private property. You pay something like $350,000 for a 4/5 room flat, and depending on when it's been released on the market, you could have a ballpark figure of 60-99 years left on that lease. Just enough time for you to konk off and let someone else take up the slack. Since it's been implemented, remember we're only just 45 years old, we haven't yet gotten to the point where we'll see what happens when hdb takes back those leases. I'm sure it'll spread like a spin 2 massless particle on ice.

 

[snuffleupagus]

As much as I agree with many of the concerns pointed out by our fellow erm "softies", I still think that it is far more easier to be cynical and criticise all the aspects of how the Gahmen runs itself, in terms of self-regulation and to a certain degree, the manipulation of the people . What credentials do we as laymen have in the experience of running a small country in a highly volatile region? How do we understand the magnitude of political management when all we do is read our pretty books and sneer with our academical noses in the anticipation of persimisstic adversity? Do we know the intricate ins and outs of dealing with a delicate and compromising situation such as this?

Like I have said in my previous posts, politicians will be politicians, and to expect perfection and total adherence to people's needs and desires is a major folly and a waste of time historically speaking. We all know that there is no such thing as a perfect democracy or a utopian democracy, hell, even plato said so in the Republic.

Breaking it down further, what we actually have here are the actual facts that we are where we are today based on the ideas of a few gifted men who had planned out carefully a path for us, knowing fully well that they would not be able to please everyone. Yes , to you it's not perfect, but if you really subscribe to the theory that a country's political environment can truly accede all of her people's whims and needs, then I'm sorry to say that no such place exists currently and never will either.

I still think that the gahmen here is doing a good job , helping the majority of the people. And the majority as a whole, could actually help out the minorities who may be left out in the overall process instead of whining and complaining without any real plan of action. And yes, paradoxically speaking, help from the majority or the enlightened few could be seen as instances as these, where the plight of those who we consider as neglected, are given a voice and a platform by netizens (yucks) like us.

Inflation is a global concern as someone had pointed out earlier, and developing economies such as China have hit above the 10% mark mainly because of the lack of government anticipation programs to tackle it at its early inception. Right now, the question is how are we going to ride out this global storm, and are our current implementations relevant. So far it looks like it is.

 

[empihsrow]

=snuffleupagus

Totally agree except for the minority part. Because somehow the minority will always be the minority. Unless they feel like doing a Kosovo.