Got this from email. No idea who is the author.
In the early 1980s there was this magazine called 日本第一 (Japan No. 1) which had monthly updates of the developments in Japan.
The title reflected the widespread belief that Japan would surpass USA and become the No. 1 economy in the world. At that time the Japanese economy was considered a miracle - a phoenix that rose from the ashes of WWII to conquer the world economically. It turned out that the Japanese economy was largely a bubble and it only became clear how flawed the system was and how incompetent the people running it were when it fell apart. The real
miracle was the how the highly motivated and extremely hardworking Japanese workers held up the whole system for so long. Nowadays so-called economic miracles are common place. China, India, Taiwan, S. Korea, Hong Kong and of course Singapore have at one time or another been described as economic miracles. The S. Korean miracle was unravelled during the Asian crisis and it was only when the chaebol system and the political system fell apart that ordinary citizens understood its weakness.
There were changes that could have been implemented to avoid the downside but it is difficult in countries like S. Korea which had an authoritarian govt that believed that it was largely responsible for the past success and stand to benefit by keeping the flawed system going. Critics who pointed the flaws when they were hairline cracks were silenced. It was only when the cracks become gaping holes that cannot be hidden that political and economic reform came.
Singaporeans wonder at which point something will be done about those cracks ...cracks that bloggers and members of the opposition have brought out. You would think that a highly paid admin service would quickly steer the country away from trouble but things don't work that way...never have. Civil servants work in a very hierarchical system and they climbed up this system doing what they are told, obeying the rules and pleasing their bosses. If such a system could have worked withour additional external check and balance, the Soviet Union would still be around today. This year many cracks showed up and even the PAP govt acknowledged there is a need for change ...but they want to "change themselves". It will never happen because it has already shackled itself in its own form of elitist ideology .....and the cracks are getting bigger:
1. Income Inequality.
A decade old problem that keeps getting worse every year. Why is it getting worse? The floodgates of foreign workers caused not just structural unemployment and underemployment of older workers, it also caused the wages of Singaporeans to be depressed. Singapore has the worse income inequality in the developed world and worse than all our peers in Asia. The PAP's claim is that the import of these workers is necessary to keep businesses in Singapore. Labor is only one cost factor and the others ( rental, utilities) have increased over the years as wages remained stagnant for a large segment of the population. The shopkeeper who hires a mainland Chinese for $1000 instead of $1200 now pays $200 more in rent to the govt or the landlord. Company profits as a % of GDP has risen to record highs. Also, foreign workers are willing to accept low wages, poor living and working conditions because they are from 3rd world countries where there are few laws to protect workers from exploitation. Importing these workers without the implementation of minimum wage and other laws imperils our most vulnerable workers.
2. Debt.
Debt levels have risen because the cost of living rose as wages remain stagnant. The household debt as a % of GDP is among the highest in the world. Debt is what makes slowdown and recessions painful. Debt for public housing burdens a family for 20-30 years. We see the wave of downgrading, defaults and bankruptcy every slowdown...this recession HDB saw an 8% default rate at the beginning of the recession. This number is set to rise. There have been numerous letters to the forum asking HDB to be more transparent in the pricing of flats. HDB's standard reply is that public housing is affordable and subsidised - this reply is no longer good enough for so many Singaporeans financially strained by the cost of housing. Expensive housing drains CPF funds meant for retirement. The HDB has responded by saying it will build 4000 smaller flats.....yes, the solution to the problem is to have Singaporeans lower their standard of living not HDB containing the cost of new flats. HDB is now sort of stuck because it has sold so many "expensive" flats, lowering the prices of new ones will cause earlier buyers to scream.
The other problem with debt is the level of unsecured lending - credit cards and credit lines. Many banks have resorted to predatory lending activities to boost their profits. Many other Asian govt have stepped in years ago with tough legislation on predatory lending while the rollover credit card debt has been growing in Singapore.
3. Rising Costs.
The average Singapore worker is pushed to work much harder today than he did 20 years ago. More households today have both parents working than in the past decade yet the financial strain on the Singapore family has been rising. Why? Cost of living has been rising much faster. 30 years ago the cost of a HDB flat was $35-40K. Today the same flat sells for $350K. The cost of medical care and transport have escalated. The worker is pushed to work much harder for the same wage as wage increases are kept below productivity for decades....while the ev erything else rose in price.
4. Rising Profits.
Company profits as a share of GDP steadily over the decades to the highest level in 2007. When the Transport Minister was asked if the public transport cost can be lowered he said the GST has to be raised if we do that. What about SMRT profits which has been rising over the years? Singapore Power made so much profits it was able to buy billions worth of assets in Australia even as a rising number of Singaporeans had their electricity cut off because they can't afford their electricity bills.
5. CPF and Retirement.
The govt urge workers to work harder and longer so that they can retire. But at the same time, it adopted policies that caused and worsened structural unemployment. We are not talking about people in their 60s finding it hard to get a job. People in their 40s whose financial obligations are high find it hard to get employment. For many, getting a job to make ends meet is already hard so you can forget about saving for retirement. The govt tweaks to liberalise the CPF has caused it to be inadequate. The lastest tweak to introduce compulsory annuities only guarantees more tweaks because the amount people
will be getting in annuities will not be sufficient to live on.
6. Temasek and GIC.
For many years Singaporeans asked for greater transparency in these entities. We really have no idea what is going on. We did get a glimpse when they made spectacular and what was seen by many at that time as risky bets on western banks. The loss at this point in time run in the billions. Anywhere else in the world where the politics allow, it would have resulted in a big outcry and reform. But in Singapore.......nothing. While the govt can afford to lose billions, it still cannot afford to give out sufficient funds to those on Public Assistance to live on.
There was this belief in the PAP that if they kept the GDP growing fast, everything else can be solved. They took policy decisions that made the GDP grow and many of these did not benefit the ordinary Singaporeans. Instead of looking at what was happening to ordinary Singaporeans they took comfort in this number. When demographics dictate that the GDP growth had to slow, the PAP open the floodgates to foreign workers to keep it up. During the 'Golden Period', Singaporeans held on hoping that some of the wealth would trickle down to them. The 'Golden Period' is over and that hope is gone. Miracles often turn out to be illusions and illusions are shattered when reality arrives. We were supposed to be headed for the Swiss standard of living...but for many Singaporeans it is still very much about keeping their homes ....keeping the electricity and water running in their homes and being able to afford medical treatment when they are sick. Singaporeans are running on a treadmill....and they have been bumping up the speed to make you run faster ....they play this nice video with great scenery (of Switzerland?) and sound in front of this treadmill so that you think you're running to a better place. 2 decades later on the treadmill your legs are tired and you're all worn out.... the treadmill breaks down, the video gets turned off and you step off and realised you haven't run any where at all......that is when reality hits you...and illusions get shattered
In the early 1980s there was this magazine called 日本第一 (Japan No. 1) which had monthly updates of the developments in Japan.
The title reflected the widespread belief that Japan would surpass USA and become the No. 1 economy in the world. At that time the Japanese economy was considered a miracle - a phoenix that rose from the ashes of WWII to conquer the world economically. It turned out that the Japanese economy was largely a bubble and it only became clear how flawed the system was and how incompetent the people running it were when it fell apart. The real
miracle was the how the highly motivated and extremely hardworking Japanese workers held up the whole system for so long. Nowadays so-called economic miracles are common place. China, India, Taiwan, S. Korea, Hong Kong and of course Singapore have at one time or another been described as economic miracles. The S. Korean miracle was unravelled during the Asian crisis and it was only when the chaebol system and the political system fell apart that ordinary citizens understood its weakness.
There were changes that could have been implemented to avoid the downside but it is difficult in countries like S. Korea which had an authoritarian govt that believed that it was largely responsible for the past success and stand to benefit by keeping the flawed system going. Critics who pointed the flaws when they were hairline cracks were silenced. It was only when the cracks become gaping holes that cannot be hidden that political and economic reform came.
Singaporeans wonder at which point something will be done about those cracks ...cracks that bloggers and members of the opposition have brought out. You would think that a highly paid admin service would quickly steer the country away from trouble but things don't work that way...never have. Civil servants work in a very hierarchical system and they climbed up this system doing what they are told, obeying the rules and pleasing their bosses. If such a system could have worked withour additional external check and balance, the Soviet Union would still be around today. This year many cracks showed up and even the PAP govt acknowledged there is a need for change ...but they want to "change themselves". It will never happen because it has already shackled itself in its own form of elitist ideology .....and the cracks are getting bigger:
1. Income Inequality.
A decade old problem that keeps getting worse every year. Why is it getting worse? The floodgates of foreign workers caused not just structural unemployment and underemployment of older workers, it also caused the wages of Singaporeans to be depressed. Singapore has the worse income inequality in the developed world and worse than all our peers in Asia. The PAP's claim is that the import of these workers is necessary to keep businesses in Singapore. Labor is only one cost factor and the others ( rental, utilities) have increased over the years as wages remained stagnant for a large segment of the population. The shopkeeper who hires a mainland Chinese for $1000 instead of $1200 now pays $200 more in rent to the govt or the landlord. Company profits as a % of GDP has risen to record highs. Also, foreign workers are willing to accept low wages, poor living and working conditions because they are from 3rd world countries where there are few laws to protect workers from exploitation. Importing these workers without the implementation of minimum wage and other laws imperils our most vulnerable workers.
2. Debt.
Debt levels have risen because the cost of living rose as wages remain stagnant. The household debt as a % of GDP is among the highest in the world. Debt is what makes slowdown and recessions painful. Debt for public housing burdens a family for 20-30 years. We see the wave of downgrading, defaults and bankruptcy every slowdown...this recession HDB saw an 8% default rate at the beginning of the recession. This number is set to rise. There have been numerous letters to the forum asking HDB to be more transparent in the pricing of flats. HDB's standard reply is that public housing is affordable and subsidised - this reply is no longer good enough for so many Singaporeans financially strained by the cost of housing. Expensive housing drains CPF funds meant for retirement. The HDB has responded by saying it will build 4000 smaller flats.....yes, the solution to the problem is to have Singaporeans lower their standard of living not HDB containing the cost of new flats. HDB is now sort of stuck because it has sold so many "expensive" flats, lowering the prices of new ones will cause earlier buyers to scream.
The other problem with debt is the level of unsecured lending - credit cards and credit lines. Many banks have resorted to predatory lending activities to boost their profits. Many other Asian govt have stepped in years ago with tough legislation on predatory lending while the rollover credit card debt has been growing in Singapore.
3. Rising Costs.
The average Singapore worker is pushed to work much harder today than he did 20 years ago. More households today have both parents working than in the past decade yet the financial strain on the Singapore family has been rising. Why? Cost of living has been rising much faster. 30 years ago the cost of a HDB flat was $35-40K. Today the same flat sells for $350K. The cost of medical care and transport have escalated. The worker is pushed to work much harder for the same wage as wage increases are kept below productivity for decades....while the ev erything else rose in price.
4. Rising Profits.
Company profits as a share of GDP steadily over the decades to the highest level in 2007. When the Transport Minister was asked if the public transport cost can be lowered he said the GST has to be raised if we do that. What about SMRT profits which has been rising over the years? Singapore Power made so much profits it was able to buy billions worth of assets in Australia even as a rising number of Singaporeans had their electricity cut off because they can't afford their electricity bills.
5. CPF and Retirement.
The govt urge workers to work harder and longer so that they can retire. But at the same time, it adopted policies that caused and worsened structural unemployment. We are not talking about people in their 60s finding it hard to get a job. People in their 40s whose financial obligations are high find it hard to get employment. For many, getting a job to make ends meet is already hard so you can forget about saving for retirement. The govt tweaks to liberalise the CPF has caused it to be inadequate. The lastest tweak to introduce compulsory annuities only guarantees more tweaks because the amount people
will be getting in annuities will not be sufficient to live on.
6. Temasek and GIC.
For many years Singaporeans asked for greater transparency in these entities. We really have no idea what is going on. We did get a glimpse when they made spectacular and what was seen by many at that time as risky bets on western banks. The loss at this point in time run in the billions. Anywhere else in the world where the politics allow, it would have resulted in a big outcry and reform. But in Singapore.......nothing. While the govt can afford to lose billions, it still cannot afford to give out sufficient funds to those on Public Assistance to live on.
There was this belief in the PAP that if they kept the GDP growing fast, everything else can be solved. They took policy decisions that made the GDP grow and many of these did not benefit the ordinary Singaporeans. Instead of looking at what was happening to ordinary Singaporeans they took comfort in this number. When demographics dictate that the GDP growth had to slow, the PAP open the floodgates to foreign workers to keep it up. During the 'Golden Period', Singaporeans held on hoping that some of the wealth would trickle down to them. The 'Golden Period' is over and that hope is gone. Miracles often turn out to be illusions and illusions are shattered when reality arrives. We were supposed to be headed for the Swiss standard of living...but for many Singaporeans it is still very much about keeping their homes ....keeping the electricity and water running in their homes and being able to afford medical treatment when they are sick. Singaporeans are running on a treadmill....and they have been bumping up the speed to make you run faster ....they play this nice video with great scenery (of Switzerland?) and sound in front of this treadmill so that you think you're running to a better place. 2 decades later on the treadmill your legs are tired and you're all worn out.... the treadmill breaks down, the video gets turned off and you step off and realised you haven't run any where at all......that is when reality hits you...and illusions get shattered
