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- Dec 30, 2010
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So now that PM Lee himself has said that we’re more a city than a country, that begs the question of whether we need that many MPs in parliament. After all, if we’re more a city than a country (at least in terms of area), our top dog in the executive is doing more of a governor or mayor’s job no? Ok, granted that since we’re a country, we would need someone to perform all the duties pertaining to international affairs, so I can understand the need for the Prime Minister and his cabinet. Even then, won’t a single person be enough for most districts rather than teams filled by GRCs? Are our MPs that unproductive that we have teams of them in a tiny island like ours?
I’m not sure what the response of the lowest income quintile would be if they were asked whether they’d prefer S$200,000 of equity locked in their HDB flats or more transfers to deal with the cost of living for basic necessities such as healthcare, education and basic food supplies. It seems to me the question could be translated to “Do you prefer to sleep with a more expensive roof over your head or do you prefer to sleep better at night?”
First off, let me say that I don’t think our government expenditures relative to our economy is high. The bone I have is with the way past reserves are used. I don’t have the data (maybe another blog post is needed for this) but if 2% of government expenditure is covered using reserves, then given the record reported by GIC and Temasek over the years, there must be a hell lot of reserves being built up over the years (although some are getting skeptical. If there are indeed a hell lot more reserves available, then I believe we can do more to help the lowest 5-10% of our citizens, children and elderly without raising taxes.* Also, the scare-mongering at the end is, in my opinion, totally unnecessary.
*All figures arbitrary but does not seem improbable to me. After all, the lowest 10% of Singapore citizens number some 320,000. Boosting their average household income to S$2,000 per month (see here for current) will take roughly S$2 billion, not even a percentage point of our official foreign reserves (see here). Also, Singapore citizens are a dying breed. It’s not as if the economically lowest 10% of Singaporeans are all young and have decades to go. I’m willing to bet that more of them are nearer the end than the beginning.
- http://ryangoh.wordpress.com/2012/06/10/thoughts-on-pm-lees-speech-at-the-ess-dinner/
I’m not sure what the response of the lowest income quintile would be if they were asked whether they’d prefer S$200,000 of equity locked in their HDB flats or more transfers to deal with the cost of living for basic necessities such as healthcare, education and basic food supplies. It seems to me the question could be translated to “Do you prefer to sleep with a more expensive roof over your head or do you prefer to sleep better at night?”
First off, let me say that I don’t think our government expenditures relative to our economy is high. The bone I have is with the way past reserves are used. I don’t have the data (maybe another blog post is needed for this) but if 2% of government expenditure is covered using reserves, then given the record reported by GIC and Temasek over the years, there must be a hell lot of reserves being built up over the years (although some are getting skeptical. If there are indeed a hell lot more reserves available, then I believe we can do more to help the lowest 5-10% of our citizens, children and elderly without raising taxes.* Also, the scare-mongering at the end is, in my opinion, totally unnecessary.
*All figures arbitrary but does not seem improbable to me. After all, the lowest 10% of Singapore citizens number some 320,000. Boosting their average household income to S$2,000 per month (see here for current) will take roughly S$2 billion, not even a percentage point of our official foreign reserves (see here). Also, Singapore citizens are a dying breed. It’s not as if the economically lowest 10% of Singaporeans are all young and have decades to go. I’m willing to bet that more of them are nearer the end than the beginning.
- http://ryangoh.wordpress.com/2012/06/10/thoughts-on-pm-lees-speech-at-the-ess-dinner/
