Friday, September 27, 2013

Edging Towards The Abyss

Birth rates have gone up, evidenced by the total fertility rate (TFR) growing by a 1.29 rate, compared to 1.20 in 2011. That's a healthy improvement of 7.5 percent. Before you start grinning like the jackass you saw on the live TV forum, the news is not all good.

The non-residential population in Singapore continues to rise unabated. It reached 1.55 million in June, up from 1.49 million a year ago, swelling up the total population figure by 1.6 percent, higher than the 1.3 climb in 2004. Since this relentless pace of growth falls neatly within the 1.3 to 1.6 percentage range used by the notorious White Paper for a target population of 6.9 million by 2030, the horror is confirmed.

The prime minister's assurance in parliament that the 6.9 million number was not a target, but a projection, ostensibly a "planning parameter", has just been shot full of holes by the National Population and Talent Division (NTPFD) report. Member of Parliament Liang Eng Hwa had to rub it in with his Freudian slip, "at this pace, the grow is more sustainable".

6.9 million is not sustainable. Even with the present population figure of 5.4 million, they are unable to cope with the housing demand. The PM himself said the additional buses and trains "will take a few more years, 2015, 2016." And Education Minister Heng Swee Kiat still thinks it's perfectly alright to spend $36 million to import foreign students, to feed, educate and guarantee them a job, so they can take away our own youngsters' lunches. How did we come to this?

Oh, we remember.
"You know, the cure for all this talk is really a good dose of incompetent government. You get that alternative and you'll never put Singapore together again: Humpty Dumpty cannot be put together again... my asset values will disappear, my apartments will be worth a fraction of what they were, my ministers' jobs will be in peril, their security will be at risk and their women will become maids in other people's countries, foreign workers."
(Speech justifying million-dollar pay hike for Singapore ministers, Straits Times, 5 April 2007)

41 comments:

  1. Keep slapping the deaf frogs.

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    Replies
    1. It has reached a stage where many see it as beyond redemption and are inclined to skin the deaf frogs alive.
      * Speaking straight from the heart *

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  2. This is a damn lying government!

    AT PWP, our total pop was 5.1m. Barely 1 year later, it went up to 5.4m. If that is PAP's definition of "slowing down", I can't imagine what was the non-slow down version?

    Imagine we are already supporting up to 15% of the Work permit holders + 5% students = that is a total of 20% parasites who are non-productive and contributing to the society but taking up space!

    The full all-kinds work permit holders are 46%+10%+11% which is a TOTAL 67% !!! No wonder you throw a stone and 2 in 3 are foreigners in Singapore.

    Singaporeans have already said it over and over, no body is going to quibble with the 13% foreign workers here for domestic/construction. But what are we doing with 67% of heroine to our society!!!!

    Screw and fire this government. The lunch, dinner and supper has already been taken long ago!

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    1. This Prime Minister maybe a brilliant number guy, but he is so out of touch and EQ so lacking, people must realize the whole idea of "bequeathing" or "appointing" a successor is just facetious to those who want a real democracy.

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    2. //This Prime Minister maybe a brilliant number guy//

      Are you sure about that? Despite 20 years of tutoring, we have yet to hear anything clever from him. He opens his mouth at a dinner in Washington, and he makes a fool of himself. And if he's so clever, why did he admit "there have been mistakes made, no perfect 20-20 hindsight, things could have been done differently"?

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    3. Did someone just uttered the D word?

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    4. He said future PMs will not have the luxury he has to receive 20yrs of "apprenticeship". He will just hit the ground running. That was said probably to make citizens feel like there is some sort of democratic feel to it. But it is machiam like the NMP - they were all nominated PAP stooges (maybe with few exception) to make people feel like they don't need an opposition party in the parliament in order to have different voices. Nice try, but do you believe that is the same thing?!! He really think we are daft.

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    5. He is great in MATH.
      MATH = Mental Abuses To Humanity
      Agree.

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  3. Right now:
    Is PAP operationally ready to be a competent government?
    Is PM Lee operationally ready to be a Prime Minister?
    If your answer is no.
    Then why not give the Opposition Parties a chance to be government?

    LKY has done wonders for Singapore in the past.
    But maybe if there had been no LKY, Singapore could have done even better.
    Hong Kong got no LKY.
    Taiwan got no LKY.
    Taiwan and Hong Kong got die or not?
    Taiwan and Hong Kong better than Singapore or not?

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    Replies
    1. LKY created a monster out of the PAP that nobody can control.It will ultimately be torn apart by internal dissent. Best insurance for the State is a functioning democracy with an alternative government always ready.Before that, we must strive for more checks and balances in parliament.

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    2. The 'best available' bogeyman cometh.

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  4. If you do the maths correctly, 1.6% growth is right on target to hit 6.9 million. This government is still pushing for 6.9 million. So, the government has not hear us. Let's vote it out now before it is too late.

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    1. The next cabinet headed by a new PM will have to inherit the shits of the present one.

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    2. And more shit can be expected to maintain the status quo.

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    3. Maybe thats why no ones else wants the job!!

      It would be a gargantuan task to undo this.. they are applying scorched earth techniques here... either they win and they have the keys to unlock or they will leave behind so much shit, no opposition party can succeed in unraveling.

      There should be life imprisonment for this.

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    4. All this while it is only they themselves say it's hard to find enough talented ones to govern this country, just like our PM says it so hard to groom someone to replace him.

      Another more truthful way of saying it is that he is so 'reluctant' having to remain as PM until probably before turning 70 as none of the existing DPMs essentially have the potential to become PM in their own capability.

      But honestly why he couldn't find one NOW but can find one when he reaches 70 is really beyond my intelligence, however low that may be ?

      Has he been telling us lies about not being able to find the right replacement for him as PM ?

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    5. He is finding one puppet PM he can control so that his son can take over afterwards.

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    6. At least it is not 7.0 million. Otherwise it will be too crowded.

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    7. 6.9 no problem. 7.0 too much.
      Bata shoes marketing strategy..

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  5. People don't even need to wake up to breakfast anymore...you think they still worry about their lunch being eaten?

    The 4 asian tigers in asia has/needed 50 years to catch up and now you want to be paranoid when your hungry neighbor start building more roads and banks for themselves? Every time he comes back from those small cities in China or 3rd world country, he goes panic mode and tell us hurry up, or we will be left behind..he sees the wind blows and we are supposed to huff and puff with him...where exactly does he want us to focus? other than the usual cheaper better faster gear that is meant for the 3rd world? If his "strategic" investments of those changi hubs and gems and city undergrounds or what not are such game changing moves, then why is he so kan-cheong?
    You can't do good innovative work if you are constantly hurrying your talents. And you certainly can't get a lot of productivity out from them when they are constantly tired and exhausted from work and a whipping master standing behind them. Does this guy have any clue why he is still in the driving seat?

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  6. So when the Cow build more homes, don't be too elated

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  7. I am just tired of feeling like a foreigner in my own country. Being a 4th generation Singaporean Indian, the local community has been completely displaced by huge influx of India Indians. With them returned the evils of chaste system, dowries and prejudice. Make no mistake, these people will never consider singapore their motherland, it will always be India. This country is for them to plunder not defend.

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    1. And that "what do you think" Teo Chee Hean got the cheek to mention "new fault lines" have developed. Who contributed to the new fault lines by bringing in atas Indians from the north?

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    2. and who do you think welcomes them to steal our lunch?

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    3. A sad tale but true. Thanks for sharing it.

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  8. Ever wonder why the Paya Lebar Airbase and Old Police Academy have to make way for new Townships? Last heard from a experienced Real Estate Agent that PLA alone can house roughly 4000 new condominium developments! That's freaky big numbers!

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  9. Freaky yeah yeah.....
    why worry so much ...just let Singapore be..
    Why build so many condominiums, so few HDBs ? Govt make more money from condo sales ?
    Why build so many HDBs so few condominiums? Govt make more money from HDB?
    Yeah yeah ...
    Just let it be, the voice has spoken, the voice says "Just do nothing"
    Let it be.. Let Singapore grow old and see how
    Yeah yeah...
    Let it rot and die...

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    Replies
    1. Wish they would let the old man rot & die.

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    2. Not to worry, the grim reaper on his way soon.

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    3. Old lady needs the rental income from the new immigrants? Ok la, I can appreciate your anxiety looking at the precarious prices of your properties even as volumes plunge. Make sure to enjoy your remaining journey, just hope you won't live long enuf to see the collapse of the housing bubble, because this time, it will be different. if you do live long enuf, make sure to thank the papigs b4 crossing the ledge from top of the (fugly) Sail. cheers

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  10. Watch the grandmaster checkmate his opponent in seven deadly steps

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    Replies
    1. No one can ever checkmate Father Time. No exemption will be granted.

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  11. Prominent Economists and Billionaire Investors Say that Runaway Inequality Harms the Economy:
    ---------------------------------------

    Source:
    http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2013-09-27/whos-who-prominent-economists-and-billionaire-investors-say-runaway-inequalit

    A who's-who's of prominent economists in government and academia have all said that runaway inequality harms economic growth, including:

    Federal Reserve Governor Sarah Bloom Raskin
    Former FDIC Chair Sheila Bair
    Nobel prize winning economist Paul Krugman
    Nobel prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz
    One of America's leading economists, Robert Shiller

    Former chief IMF economist Raghuram Rajan
    Former U.S. Secretary of Labor and UC Berkeley professor Robert Reich
    Stanford University professor John Taylor
    Northeastern University professor Robert Gordon
    University of Oregon professor Mark Thoma

    University of California professor Emmanuel Saez
    Paris School of Economics professor Thomas Piketty
    Famed economist John Kenneth Galbraith
    Harvard Business School professor David Moss
    Paris School of Economics professor Romain Rancière

    London School of Economics professor Robert Wade
    University of Notre Dame professor David Ruccio
    Harvard professor Lawrence Katz
    Arkansas State University professor Christopher Brown
    Global economy and development division director at Brookings and former economy minister for Turkey, Kemal Dervi

    Societe Generale investment strategist and former economist for the Bank of England, Albert Edwards
    World Bank economist Branko Milanovic
    Deputy Division Chief of the Modeling Unit in the Research Department of the IMF, Michael Kumhof
    Former executive director of the Joint Economic Committee of Congress, senior policy analyst in the White House Office of Policy Development, and deputy assistant secretary for economic policy at the Treasury Department, Bruce Bartlett
    IMF economist Andrew Berg (IMF economist)
    IMF economist Jonathan Ostry
    Federal Reserve chairman from 1934 to 1948, Marriner S. Eccles

    And many others

    The father of free market economics - Adam Smith - didn't believe that inequality should be a taboo subject. And even the inequality-creator-in-chief - the Bernanke - has admitted that inequality harms the productivity and efficiency of the economy (video continues here).

    Numerous investors and entrepreneurs agree that runaway inequality hurts the economy, including:

    More than half of all international investors polled by Bloomberg

    Billionaire and legendary investment adviser Jeremy Grantham
    Billionaire and hedge fund manager Stanley Druckenmiller
    Billionaire Bill Gates
    Billionaire Warren Buffet
    Billionaire Nick Hanauer
    Numerous other billionaires and top investors

    And who says "inequality cannot be helped" ?
    - Our Millionaire Ministers who became millionaires on a PAP government salary

    Who do you think is more qualified?
    Who is more likely to be correct?
    Our PAP Millionaire Ministers?

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    Replies
    1. PM and ministers need to go and read their history. They should start with the history of the French Revolution. Then go on to the history of the American Revolution.

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  12. Good at mathematic does not mean one will naturally good at other things. Most probably a mathematician could be poor in most other aspects of living except good in playing with figures. Being highly technical could mean very deficient in humanities.

    patriot

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  13. Now there is even the 'right cartoon' to read...LMAO

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    Replies
    1. According to this blogger we already have a cartooney comical character in our mist:
      http://singaporerecalcitrant.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/the-antics-of-comical-prime-minister.html

      Delete
  14. This is not a WAR for Talents.
    This is a WAR on Talents.

    The PAP under LHL has waged a war on his own talents, his people, the citizens, the singaporean core. At this rate it is going, this is as clear as broad daylight for everyone to see.

    There is NO country in the world whose politicians have the audacity to do what they are doing now, and expect to get away scot free.

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    Replies
    1. But 60% of Singaporeans are not talents.
      That is why PAP will always win.

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    2. Talent n, natural ability or power. We are so modest.

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