Published on Apr 01, 2014
Are we not living in a market society?
IN FOUR decades, our gross domestic product has grown tremendously, making Singapore one of the world's richest countries.
Singapore is on the right track to globalisation by pursuing a market economy, but it is on the wrong track in becoming a market society ("Is there an ideological cleavage in S'pore?"; last Saturday).
The reality of a market society is that wealth generated in the economic system does not necessarily trickle down to the middle and lower classes.
The administration tends to use money to solve problems. For example, we tackle the growing vehicle population and road congestion by using pricing mechanisms.
In Singapore, money may not be the root of all evil. In fact, it is the most important thing in our society, where elderly retirees in dire straits are advised to sell their homes or monetise them for cash, and where price increases are usually justified by the market forces of supply and demand.
Harvard philosopher Michael Sandel laments that market society is "a way of life where market values seep into almost every sphere of life and sometimes crowd out or corrode important values, non-market values".
Are we not living in a market society?
Paul Chan Poh Hoi
Are we not living in a market society?
IN FOUR decades, our gross domestic product has grown tremendously, making Singapore one of the world's richest countries.
Singapore is on the right track to globalisation by pursuing a market economy, but it is on the wrong track in becoming a market society ("Is there an ideological cleavage in S'pore?"; last Saturday).
The reality of a market society is that wealth generated in the economic system does not necessarily trickle down to the middle and lower classes.
The administration tends to use money to solve problems. For example, we tackle the growing vehicle population and road congestion by using pricing mechanisms.
In Singapore, money may not be the root of all evil. In fact, it is the most important thing in our society, where elderly retirees in dire straits are advised to sell their homes or monetise them for cash, and where price increases are usually justified by the market forces of supply and demand.
Harvard philosopher Michael Sandel laments that market society is "a way of life where market values seep into almost every sphere of life and sometimes crowd out or corrode important values, non-market values".
Are we not living in a market society?
Paul Chan Poh Hoi
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