Ho Kwon Ping’s Self-Serving Proposals Have No Merit

[Cerebral]

Very funny arh. 100K minimum sum + 500K withdrawn so far + 400K voluntarily remain inside CPF = SGD 1 million not including other assets (like house in New Zealand). That's not super rich but is not "average" either.

I did some back calculations and for A to have SGD 160K after 3 decades of work implies his average monthly salary over that period is SGD 683. Assumptions are 13 months pay, 30% of gross goes into ordinary account, employer contributes same amount. If A is earning only SGD 683 per month, then he is probably in the lower percentiles and after having worked for 3 decades and forced to save SGD 160K, it is fine to withhold this sum from him when he retires at 55? Mmm ...... very interesting.

A is poor at generating wealth and investing because his monthly income does not allow for anything else after compulsory CPF savings and living expenses!

My dad always said that whilst perfection is not attainable, it is no excuse for not striving for excellence. For me I prefer to invest my retirement nest egg MY WAY because it's MY money. Suggesting alternatives for the less educated is hard work and I don't intend to do it since I have already "quitted" or UPGRADED to elsewhere.

Talking about ex-hedge fund managers like KJ is that George Soros I see in the audience? Anyway, this thread is about HKP's suggestion and not CPF.

YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1yfX6VnrSU

He could have gotten the money from flipping his hdb flat and condo after

 

[Confuseous]

http://sonofadud.com/2014/11/15/ho-kwon-pings-self-serving-proposals-have-no-merit/

So the Foreign workers levy doesn’t help Singaporeans and is ineffective.

So isn’t Ho’s proposal an improvement?
Ho’s proposal is to convert the levy into a deferred savings account for the foreign workers. The same problems apply.
• Employers can theoretically reduce their foreign workers’ direct pay by up to the full amount of the deferred savings because these workers will be able to access their savings when they return to their home country.
•Given foreign workers’ weak bargaining power it is likely that employers will be able to cut their direct pay substantially.
•Ho’s proposal thus amounts effectively to a removal of the tax on foreign labour.
•Employers are likely to respond by employing MORE foreign labour and cutting back on their usage of Singaporeans as far as they are able.

Why is that self -serving?

While the number of Mr Ho’s employees in Singapore appears to be small, he speaks clearly with the economic interests of employers in mind and not Singaporean workers or even foreign workers.

What’s your solution?
• A better solution would be to have a minimum wage that was mandatory for all workers, both local and foreign.
•This would remove the ability of employers to drive down foreign workers’ wages to the detriment of Singaporeans competing with them for jobs.
•The levy could then be converted into a CPF account for foreign workers or retained as a tax on foreign labour.

My preference would be to have a cap on the overall number of foreign workers and then auction the entitlements to the highest bidders. This would ensure that foreign workers were allocated to where they would be most productive while controlling the overall levels. The cap could be adjusted up and down to keep wage growth in line with productivity growth.

Unfortunately judging by the comments on my Facebook page many employers are unhappy that the Government is not subsidising them more to take on foreign workers and making it easier for them to employ foreigners. This will always be so as far as employers are concerned. Labour can never be cheap enough. Slave owners in the American South worried that if slavery was abolished labour would become too expensive to allow them to profitably grow cotton and other crops.

Lets hope that Singaporeans are not too naïve to see through the arguments of special interest groups that appear to have altruistic motives but are actually trying to gain a commercial advantage.

http://sonofadud.com/2014/11/15/ho-kwon-pings-self-serving-proposals-have-no-merit/