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According to the BBC, "A Gini-coefficient of 0.4 is generally regarded as the international warning level for dangerous levels of inequality." Our own academic Lim Chong Yah confirms, "A Gini coefficient of 0.5 is normally considered a danger to breach." Singapore is already mired in the danger zone.
The mainstream media tried to ameliorate the deplorable state by judicious manipulation of statistics. According to TODAY, “Singapore’s Gini coefficient of 0.478 last year, before accounting for Government transfers and taxes, is on a per-household-member basis.” It goes on to argue that “some countries compute their Gini coefficients based on the “square root scale”, and Singapore’s Gini coefficient is “0.435 if the (modified OECD) square root scale is used” and would be 0.414 after Government transfers and taxes are factored in. Balderdash. If the income gap is a non-issue, why did DPM Tharman have to defend it, and PM Lee leave it out of the National Day Rally speech?
- http://singaporedesk.blogspot.sg/2013/08/a-widening-gap-in-trust.html
The mainstream media tried to ameliorate the deplorable state by judicious manipulation of statistics. According to TODAY, “Singapore’s Gini coefficient of 0.478 last year, before accounting for Government transfers and taxes, is on a per-household-member basis.” It goes on to argue that “some countries compute their Gini coefficients based on the “square root scale”, and Singapore’s Gini coefficient is “0.435 if the (modified OECD) square root scale is used” and would be 0.414 after Government transfers and taxes are factored in. Balderdash. If the income gap is a non-issue, why did DPM Tharman have to defend it, and PM Lee leave it out of the National Day Rally speech?
- http://singaporedesk.blogspot.sg/2013/08/a-widening-gap-in-trust.html
