slimfish7
My son and his family live in Singapore and love the Country . Especially the simplicity of life !
skessels
Ask your son to take up Singapore citizenship then. They give it out freely.
skessels
Mr. Reynolds knows so little about Singapore. Does he know that most Singaporeans do not have enough for retirement despite the compulsory savings? Most of the savings are used for housing; a supposedly government-subsidized apartment cost on average about $450,000. And when you buy one, it comes uncompleted. So, you will need to put in another $50,000 to complete the interior.
The high average income is not reflective of the average Singapore. The average salary is boosted up by the salaries of foreign professionals. The median monthly HOUSEHOLD income last year is $5000. Figure out how much retirement savings do a person have after paying off the mortgage over his whole working life?
Healthcare is not cheap; that's why the Singapore government has made savings for medical expenditure compulsory. If you are require a procedure, that would set you back at least $10,000 in the highest subsidy bed in a public hospital. People die because they can't afford the cost of health care.
Pan handling is illegal in Singapore, so you won't see poverty. To qualify for welfare which pays out only $300 a month, you have to go through a laborious series of assessment. This whole process puts of people for even trying. If you have family, your family is required by law to support you financially. That's why official statistics show low rate of poverty.
The Singapore government manages information very tightly. Lots of information that are easily available in developed countries are deemed as secret in Singapore. For example, the Singapore government will not disclose how much reserves it has or make public how the reserves are invested.
I would suggest the author check out other sources of information besides what the Singapore government provides. Live in Singapore for a few years and mix with the locals to truly see how miserable life is in that island state.
chickenstuff
What everyone always overlooks, including this article is that Singapore is the size of downtown Toronto. It's a little misleading comparing it to other nations. How does Manhattan, London or Paris compare to Singapore?
green fella
I lived there in the late 80's for 2 years and I agree, they have got it mostly right.
I left with a sour taste due to the total intolerance of political dissent and vilification (and prosecution) of anyone unlucky enough to get elected from another party. No party, however wise and perceptive, gets it right all the time.
Dissent is the lifeblood of democracy, however messy things get. In fact things get much messier if there is no one to critique those in charge, it's only a matter of time.
Anna Hopkens
This article is very one sided coming from somebody that used to live there ( and thankfully left). You cannot compare Singapore to a developed country as the standards there are very low. Even though they have months of rain they force their people to drink "New" water which is basically treated sewage through a membrane filter. The gov thought that golf courses are more important than water reservoirs.
No mention in the article of the high cost of living for eg. a 2011 Honda accord costs over 120k$. Apartments sold by the gov have no central heat or hot water heating whatsoever. You're paying 400k literally for an uninsulated concrete shell ie walls are bare spalling concrete . People eat in hawker centers without dishwashers so dishes are cleaned with cold water in the alleyways, hepatitus is still a big problem in Singapore.
It seems the writer never talked to anybody other than the Singapore gov. which is famous for self promotion. Proxy servers are used to control info coming in from the internet and all the media is state run. In some ways I found China more free.
thomastoronto
Regardless of what you think about Singapore, Reynolds is pointing out that there are better systems of government other than American and models that suck much less from workers.
Its not necessary to enslave a population to develop a creative, caring and growing society. Government's will always impale you on their "services" spear to keep their relevant alive.
Time has come to reduce the monster by at least 30% and ignore the union carp of "Americanizing" " hard ship for children" all the nonsense that threatens your freedom from tax serfdom.
Victorian Canuck
How does Singapore do it? Well, for starters, it's about 10 metres long, and 20 metres wide.
How productive is it to compare a country that's smaller than many cities, to Canada?
tempsperdue
A disingenous comparison at best to make with a confederation like Canada, Singapore is a quasi-dictatorial (albeit a benevolent one, minus the death penalty) city state, and Canada is a confederation, a dominion and constitutional monarchy...we aren't even a proper Federal state (our provinces have a lot more power)...
A more proper example would be to compare Singapore with other near city states, or other states within states like Hamburg, the city of London --not greater London--, Vienna, etc. These cities are all their own provinces and as such have much more power and say than Canadian cities...and they are rich too, i...[Message truncated]