How would restricting immigration reduce money supply?
Why not just print less money then and we would then have less money supply and cause deflation according to your logic?
1) Migrant peons move out of SG, change Sing dollar to foreign currency. => Less money supply
2) Less peons lead to less spending. => Money supply shrink further
Resulting in deflation and increase in domestic purchasing power and ...
Peasants would be unemployed while shortage of labour and supply will cause a double squeeze on the on their purchasing power.
"Peasants would be unemployed" (1) and "shortage of labour will negatively impact their purchasing power [truncated]" (2) seem to be contradictory. The idea is to cause a deliberate shrinkage in the availability of foreign labour so that (1) will be reversed and (2) will be improved as reasoned above.
It causes unemployment because w/i the foreigners who do the work that locals won't do at higher wages, companies will be forced to close and the 6 locals will have no jobs.
If there is a good reason why companies are located here (eg. public transport, taxis, food, childcare), the jobs will not go anywhere. Even for industries that are not monopolies, if the government tighten the spigot, companies would become more active in redesigning work processes to improve productivity, pay better salaries and improve working conditions in order to stay competitive. Without these costs and regulatory pressure, companies become lazy and complacent. We need to stick spurs in their hides in order to innovate.
For the internationally mobile companies that choose to operate in Singapore, it is time to reassess the working relationship. Are these always win x3 situations? Do they not already have enough compelling reasons for them to be located here? I have my doubts and suspect we have been overly accommodating in some areas.
The govt does a great job in running the country. Thats why we have a boom with low unemployment now.
Employment may be low, but is there a catch? Have individual wages risen faster than the cost of living? Did cost of living rise because the government has covertly reduced subsidies or try to operate it as for-profit businesses?
Remember that Singapore is a democracy with universal suffrage. There can be many reasons for a 6% swing in votes against the incumbents in GE2011, but voters own well-being should influence their decision to a great extent.