Question: can economy contract without unemployment rising?

[Fook Seng]

Boss, do you think I would trust a list that ranks Sinkieland as having a larger economy per capita than the likes of Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28PPP%29_per_capita or a list that appeals to my intuition that Sinkieland isn't even fit enough to be included in the top ten? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28nominal%29_per_capita

Why not? But that is only the GDP per capita and it does not mean that everyone is getting that. The average guy is not getting that. In fact the average guy should be only getting about 60% of that because of our high Gini. In contrast, a country with lower Gini, the average guy should be getting much closer to their GDP per capita, maybe closer to 80%. GDP per capita doesn't tell the whole story even if the figures are correct. Because our Gini is so high, it only implies that our middle class is mediocre, our lower income is very poor but the elites are very, very rich.

 

[Fook Seng]

He is but not recognised by anyone in authority.

If somebody can believe so strongly on his own ability, then he must be the Chosen One.

 

[johnny333]

I was channel surfing & saw at Channel NewsAsia a blurb warning that Spore might go into another "Technical" recession

It is debateable whether Spore has really recovered from the last recession

 

[Cruxx]

Because our Gini is so high, it only implies that our middle class is mediocre, our lower income is very poor but the elites are very, very rich.

How exactly rich are the elites? According to a Merrill Lynch report, one third of the high net worth individuals in Sinkieland are Indonesians. That leaves the chinks, British, Swiss, Americans, Taiwanese, Hong Kongers, Indians, Aussies, Japanese, Arabs and Sinkies jostling for the remaining 2/3rd. There are merely five sinkies on the Forbes Rich List with not a single entry among the richest 200. Switzerland, on the other hand, has 9 entrants. Surely a cuntry as unequal as Sinkieland could produce a few more rent-seeking billionaires than that?