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Soaring Prices Hit Singapore's Poor

L

LeeHsienLoong

Guest
Soaring Prices Hit Singapore's Poor

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BygOYrP722Y

One of the richest countries in Asia is seeing a dramatic rise in the number of people turning up for free meals.

For the third straight month inflation in Singapore is at a 26 year high at 7 and a half percent.

That along with soaring food costs and wages staying the same is forcing many Singaporeans to tighten their belts.
 

linnaohia1

Alfrescian
Loyal
What to do, it is mainly due to 1) oil prices and 2) Property prices and rental going up ...

Thos with properties, whatever cost of living going up has been cancelled off by the property price going up .... I just pity those just starting out and with no property ...
 

suteerak1099

Alfrescian
Loyal
What to do, it is mainly due to 1) oil prices and 2) Property prices and rental going up ...

Thos with properties, whatever cost of living going up has been cancelled off by the property price going up .... I just pity those just starting out and with no property ...
well, thats y we need to rethink whether their calculations for giving us watever ESS/NSS or GST rebates were fair. those of whom do not own property bt live under the same roof of folks who own them... get merely the same amount. while it shouldve been more since, the children do not own the unit.
 

linnaohia1

Alfrescian
Loyal
Agree with you .... rich should be tax more .... the problem is they have to juggle between getting foreign talents here .... so tax hv to be low to compete with HK ... not just for individuals but also for companies. If foreign companies dont come, I think we will hv more problems ... I think, it is a choice they hv to make ... whether right or wrong, only time will tell 10 years down the road, see whether we are still as competitive as now ...

Best thing to do now, try to work in emerging countries like China and get expat pay :smile:
 

suteerak1099

Alfrescian
Loyal
Agree with you .... rich should be tax more .... the problem is they have to juggle between getting foreign talents here .... so tax hv to be low to compete with HK ... not just for individuals but also for companies. If foreign companies dont come, I think we will hv more problems ... I think, it is a choice they hv to make ... whether right or wrong, only time will tell 10 years down the road, see whether we are still as competitive as now ...

Best thing to do now, try to work in emerging countries like China and get expat pay :smile:
trying to be competitive with HK? i think its almost impossible to match. the taxation in HK is relatively lower than sg, while costs of living is nt exactly pricier. which means both employers n employees can still afford to smile at the morrow.

nt to mention, HK has some of the richest tycoons in asia, to back up watever their economy has to offer, while the territory enjoys the benefits of mainland's high influx of PRC tourists. just imagine every PRC tourists dumping HKD1.5k per visit, multiplied by the armies of tourists each quarter annually for the next decade... the sustainability of their sustenance from mainland alone can keep HK laughing all the way to the swiss bank.

conversely, wat's the situation like over in this archipelago? instead of us raking income from our neighboring countries, we're sucking $ from our own ppl, n eventually dumping the $ in other developing and/or emerging countries. bt factually, have we ever did the math to see how slow n little the returns/dividends turns out to be?

how many silenced n failed (multi-million dollar) projects spearheaded by some of the GLCs in the last decade has really been accounted for? while, we've also been piping millions into disaster relief for neighboring countries, bt at the end of the day, we still get the stick-up between the legs in recent months, in lieu of inceased oil prices.

10yrs down the rd? i can only envision it to be.... a beautified island (using its citizens blood n sweat $), so to make it a better place for non-citizens to enjoy. while its citizens eventually r forced to become skilled/cheap labor in another country.
 

scoobyhoo

Alfrescian
Loyal
it's sad that i still need to struggle to get the ends meet while my ang-mo friends are beginning to plan for their retirements and enjoying life. i think i am among the poor as i notice generally singaporeans are rich. for instance, admist the high soaring prices, the confirmation of booking of sight-seeing tours are even more than last year.
 

kitkat

Alfrescian
Loyal
Soaring Prices Hit Singapore's Poor


Can lowering the high salaries of civil servants help to defray the cost?

If the PM's salary is tied to the US President

If the ministers is tied to the US Department Secretaries

If we eliminate one of the DPM position

If we eliminate the redundant MM Lee and SM Goh post (these are real million dollar wasters)

If we eliminate the support staff that goes along with the MM, SM and one of the DPM post

If the salaries of civil servants is tied to the US civil servants (NKF head will draw $100K instead of $600K). This one is a big savings as we are talking about many, many people - ministries, stat board, GLC linked companies, Police, Military etc.

If we do all the above, we can save $1 billion a year, this money can be used to help the poor (also charities no need to appeal for donation)
 

KouChiu

Alfrescian
Loyal
Can lowering the high salaries of civil servants help to defray the cost?

If the PM's salary is tied to the US President

If the ministers is tied to the US Department Secretaries

If we eliminate one of the DPM position

If we eliminate the redundant MM Lee and SM Goh post (these are real million dollar wasters)

If we eliminate the support staff that goes along with the MM, SM and one of the DPM post

If the salaries of civil servants is tied to the US civil servants (NKF head will draw $100K instead of $600K). This one is a big savings as we are talking about many, many people - ministries, stat board, GLC linked companies, Police, Military etc.

If we do all the above, we can save $1 billion a year, this money can be used to help the poor (also charities no need to appeal for donation)

Can you run for PM? :biggrin:
 

friskygambit

Alfrescian
Loyal
The income gap is really rising in Singapore. Soon it will be like Hong Kong, where the affluent folks live in a parallel universe to the ordinary peasants.
 

suteerak1099

Alfrescian
Loyal
Can lowering the high salaries of civil servants help to defray the cost?

If the PM's salary is tied to the US President

If the ministers is tied to the US Department Secretaries

If we eliminate one of the DPM position

If we eliminate the redundant MM Lee and SM Goh post (these are real million dollar wasters)

If we eliminate the support staff that goes along with the MM, SM and one of the DPM post

If the salaries of civil servants is tied to the US civil servants (NKF head will draw $100K instead of $600K). This one is a big savings as we are talking about many, many people - ministries, stat board, GLC linked companies, Police, Military etc.

If we do all the above, we can save $1 billion a year, this money can be used to help the poor (also charities no need to appeal for donation)
we cant even be certain that that's exactly wat the MIW (men in white) r drawing monthly. some hold dual portfolios... n they may get more "allowances" too. we'll never know the exact figures.

bt just the hypothetical example of UN not being able to afford our SM for secretary general, is already raising brows worldwide.
 

eQuipment

Alfrescian
Loyal
metal rice bowl + fat pay cheque = comfortable life. they forget the feeling of taking public transport, they forget 1 bowl of econmy rice how much, they don't know feeling of kena ERP many times a day. hwo to expect them to know how it affecting the poor?

ppor ppl Q up go see MP cmoplain also no much result. MP only can say i empathise u. but i never hear b4 MP say he help to share financial burden for poor.

dragon boy say he forfeit his pay raise to give charity, bt is wayang only la. if don't get pay raise, u think he will cut some of his alraedy high salary for charity meh?
 

i1u12

Alfrescian
Loyal
10yrs down the rd? i can only envision it to be.... a beautified island (using its citizens blood n sweat $), so to make it a better place for non-citizens to enjoy. while its citizens eventually r forced to become skilled/cheap labor in another country.

They are paying themselves well? What else ? Of course they want to leave behind a legacy at the cost of Sgn.
 

mentos1

Alfrescian
Loyal
This situation is not only unique in Singapore. You can find it everywhere in the world whereby the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Basically this is a trend whereby we are powerless to stop unless we all revert back to the barter trade era.

It is always near a zero sum game whereby when someone gains, some others must lose. Even if you impose heavier taxes on the rich, to them they can still afford it with a bit of grumbles.

The way that the society is right now, seriously there will always be poor people. It is just like studying, why not have just a pass or fail mark instead of going to the trouble of setting grades?

Another alternative will be the communists way of thinking whereby everyone shares equally of what they have. The morale behind this idea is good just that humans are evil. To the extent that there is no way we can perfectly execute this idea.

If one really want the rich to give up their riches to help the poor, why not let the middle class do it first, since they are still relatively richer than the poor. Of course there will be 101 reasons of why it must be the rich and not us to do that. They too will have the own reasons.

Like what i said. We are the king of excuses, always have one of them to avoid doing something. :smile:
 

chinkangkor

Alfrescian
Loyal
This situation is not only unique in Singapore. You can find it everywhere in the world whereby the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Basically this is a trend whereby we are powerless to stop unless we all revert back to the barter trade era.

It is always near a zero sum game whereby when someone gains, some others must lose. Even if you impose heavier taxes on the rich, to them they can still afford it with a bit of grumbles.

The way that the society is right now, seriously there will always be poor people. It is just like studying, why not have just a pass or fail mark instead of going to the trouble of setting grades?

Another alternative will be the communists way of thinking whereby everyone shares equally of what they have. The morale behind this idea is good just that humans are evil. To the extent that there is no way we can perfectly execute this idea.

If one really want the rich to give up their riches to help the poor, why not let the middle class do it first, since they are still relatively richer than the poor. Of course there will be 101 reasons of why it must be the rich and not us to do that. They too will have the own reasons.

Like what i said. We are the king of excuses, always have one of them to avoid doing something. :smile:

While globalisation have caused the divide between the rich and the poor to become wider, it is the govt's job to distribute the nation's wealth to the extent that it neutralises social tensions.

If social and economic inequalities are not handled properly, social tensions when out of control will eventually destabilised our society and destroy everything.
 

thisrocksmysock

Alfrescian
Loyal
ntuc helping more lower income families no?

i think the govt is trying to help too.. but too little too late.. the poverty gap is widening.. rich ppl too busy to sex, poor ppl too much time sex all day.. end up more children no $ to educated.. the cycle continues
 

Boyle

New Member
I think also short recession in USA is happening.
Many people stuck with shares now.
Some facts about past recessions.

Most recessions are fairly short. Of the 10 recessions since World War II, only two lasted more than a year. Those two - in the mid-1970s and the early '80s - were crushing and did merit substantial portfolio readjustments. But more often, recessions only disrupt investment strategies temporarily.

The stock market isn't the economy. Growth may be way below average all this year, and unemployment may continue to rise. But the stock market anticipates future trends, and share prices typically start to recover six months or so before the economy rebounds. That means share prices could be rallying by middle of next year.

Valuation matters more than growth. Really big losses occur when stocks are hugely overvalued, as they were in the late 1990s. The recession that followed lasted only eight months, but share prices fell for more than two years. Last year, however, stocks were only modestly overvalued. And share prices could probably get through a mild recession without falling a whole lot more than they already have. :smile:
 

suteerak1099

Alfrescian
Loyal
They are paying themselves well? What else ? Of course they want to leave behind a legacy at the cost of Sgn.
lets ask ourselves... how many of the MIW (men in white) have their own kids studying abroad & not coming back?

wat r they gonna do with the accumulated fat pay cheques? no matter how much $ stashed aside, they cant bring it to the grave. while their kids quite likely arent coming back to continue the legacy. if they boast that our varsities in sg r world class, wats the purpose of sending their kids overseas? ever wondered where would they be once they step down/ retire from politics? would they cont staying here, or would they pack n go?

the income gap is splitting wider by the day, the rich remain comfortable, maybe a small percentile fall into the middle income grp due to some miscalculations, the poor become poorer, while some of the middle income grp also relegated into the lower income grp.

sad to say, while the poor r getting poorer, the criterias set for aid entitlement is stipulated at beggar category. making alota ppl ineligible.
 
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