Monday, August 26, 2013

A Widening Gap In Trust

First we heard Lee Kuan Yew say that our declining population woes had nothing to do with his stop-at-two policy. Now we hear Deputy Prime Minister Tharman  Shanmugaratnam declare that the gap between the rich and poor here is not the result of the Government's recent growth strategy. The Gospel accord to S Tharman wants to believe us that "the spike in education levels exacerbated the high inequality". He was speaking at the Academy of Medicine which conferred him a honorary fellowship, not the Academy of Wisdom, or Academy of Blind Faith.

Recall Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's take on how a higher Gini coefficient could be even better for all of us. "Supposing the world's richest man, Carlos Slim, comes to live in Singapore. The Gini coefficient will get worse. But I think Singapore will be better off. Even for the lower-income Singaporeans, it will be better."

That's entirely consistent with his father's line of thought. Dismissing the minimal wage as a method to reduce the growing income gap between the rich and poor, Lee Senior had insisted, “Never mind your Gini coefficient. If you don’t have a job you get zero against those with jobs. So our first priority is jobs for everybody.” Others beg to differ.

At the 18 Jan 2013 press conference in Beijing, China's State Council released for the first time the Gini coefficient for the past decade to demonstrate the government’s resolve to bridge the gap between the rich and poor. Despite year-by-year retreat, the Gini coefficient has stayed at a relatively high level of between 0.47 and 0.49 during the last 10 years. "The statistics highlighted the urgency for our country to speed up the income distribution reforms to narrow the wealth gap," said Ma Jiantang, director of the National Bureau of Statistics.

According to the BBC, "A Gini-coefficient of 0.4 is generally regarded as the international warning level for dangerous levels of inequality." Our own academic Lim Chong Yah confirms, "A Gini coefficient of 0.5 is normally considered a danger to breach." Singapore is already mired in the danger zone.

The mainstream media tried to ameliorate the deplorable state by judicious manipulation of statistics. According to TODAY, “Singapore’s Gini coefficient of 0.478 last year, before accounting for Government transfers and taxes, is on a per-household-member basis.” It goes on to argue that “some countries compute their Gini coefficients based on the “square root scale”, and  Singapore’s Gini coefficient is “0.435 if the (modified OECD) square root scale is used” and would be 0.414 after Government transfers and taxes are factored in. Balderdash. If the income gap is a non-issue, why did DPM Tharman have to defend it, and PM Lee leave it out of the National Day Rally speech?

17 comments:

  1. How can this government hope to regain the lost trust desribed recently by Catherine Lim if it continuously deny that this serious and potentially explosive problem does dot exist, not caused by the actions, or is irrelevant. The IPS has confirmed that this problem was caused by the government's policy of unrestrained immigration just the day after Mininster Shanmugaratnam's denial. You get this feeling that they will continue to try and bamboozle the citizens with selective use of statistics. With intelligent and perceptive netizens like you and Leong Sze Hian there is npwhere to hide. Congratulations.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Politicians are generally opportunists or conmen to some extent, even great liars if they need to hide something. I suppose the lie detector test will never fail if you apply to most of them.

    If there is a God, they would not dare say he is the only god in front of him. But if there is a Satan, they can praise him as the only God.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The widening gap in trust would stop growing as soon as the government cease blaming the people and others for their own shortcomings.

    By continuing to deny their faults and take responsibility, any corrective measures taken or to be implemented are insincere and missing the underlying issue. This only sets up for the blame game to continue.

    As it is, the gap is continuing to expand.

    faber

    ReplyDelete
  4. he is not called botak for no reason and has therefore earned his right to play balderdash

    ReplyDelete
  5. Let them deny. Let them manipulate.Let them exaggerate.For the tipping point is nearer than they thought, according to my gospel.

    ReplyDelete
  6. "Jobs for everyone" heh? What can we say about an "economic policy" which creates plenty of $600 cleaners jobs which used to pay $1000 10 year ago when the cost of living has doubled over the same period? Had we stagnated all the ah gong and ah mah cleaning toilets in mrt and national library barnches would have been much better off. What kind of economic policy keeps raising the withdrawal age and minimum sum of each citizen's social security savings so that the elites can continue their On-Job Training in high finance? Can one seriously call the wholesale copying of failed immigration policies used by UK and Yankees in the 1990s, alongside housing bubbles, easy credit and an open guarantee of "strong sing dollar" which simply guarantees more hot money inflow so the would's rich will have a place to launder their ill-gotten gains but creating unbearably high inflation (and negative real interest rates for local retireee savers) - can this type of blind copying be called a "policy"? Even the market fish seller can earn a million dollars as finance minister or PS if copying failed policies, inflating bubbles, cutting taxes for the rich and creating money laundering centres (that game at least is over for now) can be called a "policy"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Slogans a plenty. Cheaper,better and faster.
      A low paying job is better than no job.Upturn the Downturn.

      Delete
  7. There are a few factors playing in the high inequality of wages of the haves and have not. The spike of the higher educated new generation compared to the older generation is a very, very minor at the most.

    The biggest factor is the open door policy of the floodgates of foreign labour.The lower educated population are best suited for manual jobs,like mechanics, security,electricians and wiremen, production,transportation workers,etc.

    Let me illustrate, in the early 80s, a local grasscutter was paid $40 daily,a wireman $35-$40 daily,electrician $50.Considered big money then. 4R flat cost only $60K then.

    But what happened? They replaced local grasscutters first with Thai workers at $17-8 daily, and subsequently Indian workers at $15. Even now, at every construction sites, Indian & Bangla wiremen and electricians are paid $18-$23 daily.

    Eventually local workers are priced out and disappeared altogether. What was the reason the government and employers gave? No Singaporean want these jobs? They prefer to scavenge dustbins for empty cans and cardboards?



    ReplyDelete
  8. I winced when I saw the picture of President Tony Tan giving award to his Minister Tharma in the Academy of Medicine ceremony. Isn't it a form of elitism?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is a mutual admiration club.

      Delete
    2. Bread and circuses. Or is that Hello Kitties and Jollybees.

      Delete
    3. You are too kind. It is a mutual masturbation club. Shiok sendiri.

      Delete
    4. Just like giving each other national day awards and medals.

      Delete
  9. One peculiar COMMON TRAIT of Singaporean is they get joy in screwing and getting screwed.
    Maybe some kind sociologists can tell us how such a such a sadistic trait is born?
    It is quite obvious that Singaporeans are not affected by whatever policies they are subjected to. And those who formulate the policies need not worry about the peoples' feelings cause they know the people will gleefully accept whatever dish out by their leaders.
    The relationship between the leaders and the people has all along being good, at least cordial, much to the envy of other citizenries.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aah, Sin City - the larges mushroom farm in the world. Feed on bullshit and kept in the dark.

      Delete
  10. Great inequality fuels greed at one end of the spectrum and discontentment at the other. The social fabric is bound to tear if it's not already tearing as GDP grows and inequality worsens. Who is going to bear the responsibility at the end of the day for bringing about a filthy rich but dysfunctional society? Don't play with fire if you're not genuinely flame-proof.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Actually...we don't need to do a single thing..

    Why...

    Look...once people wake up and realize they are being screwed until they cannot turn to anyone for real help or no way out...

    And if somehow they realize the papigs are causing these...these people will do very bad things...because they realize who is actually giving them no way out...

    Better to die with the bastards who did this to me...then die alone then.

    Then we will see some change to the usual song and dance rubbish by the papigs controlled Singapore gov't.

    zzzz

    ReplyDelete