Tan Kin Lian's Blog: There are still regulations in Singapore

Sunday, November 16, 2008

There are still regulations in Singapore

I brought my small dog to Yio Chu Kang stadium. After two rounds the track, the attendant called to me. He said that "dogs are not allowed". It is posted in the regulation of the stadium. I checked and found "Animals, birds or reptiles are not allowed".

It is an irony. MAS registered more than 50 series of credit linked notes that are approved for sale to the public who are expected to invest "with their eyes open". It seems that dogs are not allowed in the stadium, but credit linked notes, with "first to default" swaps and 100 or more toxic CDOs are approved - even if you can lose a lifetime of savings.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...: Mr Tan. One law for the ox, another law for the lion. That is why the the Chinese character for
"government" has two mouths, one can say yes, one says no. It means that government can say yes and no about the same situation. As Liang chi-chao wrote, when the top beam is not straight, the bottom beams will be crooked. All governments should take this lesson to heart.; November 16, 2008 9:17 AM
Anonymous said...: Sorry to sound frivolous at such a depressing time but consider this:

Your dog must really look like a dog so poor thing it is banned from the stadium. The attendant can sure know it's a dog when he sees one.

If you had disguised your dog cleverly as something else so it no longer looks like a dog, the poor attendant despite his "education" having gone to an ivy league "animals, birds or reptiles Identification School" and on the job training may be scratching his head and wondering whether he should take the risk of antagonizing you by banning your "dog". So he may just let the two of you wonder around, confusing the other users of the stadium, possibly with some users even getting bitten by your dog.

Get the drift? LOL.; November 16, 2008 9:19 AM
Anonymous said...: You know the Zoo incident where the 2 tigers killed a man. Heard rumours that the shooters had arrived but did not shoot the tigers because that is the natural behaviour of tigers. The guy entered the enclosure at his own risk.; November 16, 2008 10:20 AM
C H Yak said...: Dear Mr. Tan

I think you made a careless mistake by not "dressing up" your dog.

Transit Link and SMRT do not allowed dogs or birds on our public buses. The prohibition sign says so on all buses.

But I have seen bird owners carrying their cages with a cloth overing their cages on our public transport. So it must be allowed and "Singapore OKed".

The problem lies with "dressing-up" and "packaging". If you complain too much NTUC will blame you for causing the loss of "jaga" jobs.

Anyway jagas are only for keeping always dogs. For toxic financial products, it is "No AWAS" in small print but Caveat Emptor.

LOL.; November 16, 2008 10:34 AM
Anonymous said...: I really think we should be looking at how the authorities looked at these products (i.e. these credit default swaps packaged as notes) across the world. From what i see on the net and in the news, in the US and Europe and even elsewhere in Asia (other than Singapore and HK), credit default swaps were never marketed to consumers, only to institutional investors (i.e. banks, hedge funds, insurers etc.). The reason I guess is pretty obvious--these are just not products that regular consumers can be expected to understand. So how did they fall through the safety net?; November 16, 2008 11:16 AM
Anonymous said...: They didnt fall thru the safety net as far as I can tell. I think they are let loose with glee as their eyes are filled with $ - $.; November 16, 2008 11:44 AM
Monsoon said...: Prime minister says "We cannot overregulate", while we can have regulations preventing us from withdrawing all our cpf to protect us from our possibly "overspending habits", we cannot have regulations to prevent the minibonds from being sold in Singapore.; November 16, 2008 12:07 PM
Falcon said...: So looks like the ordinary jaga in an ordinary stadium is doing a better job.; November 16, 2008 12:10 PM
Anonymous said...: You might have a misconception

One is Indiscretion. The Other is Income.; November 16, 2008 12:43 PM
Anonymous said...: Annon, 10:20

It is natural for a mosquito to bite you. Why are you turning it into a pulp when it settles on your body?

Digressing a bit from the serious business of investments, why wasn't tranquilizer darts used on the tigers instead of letting these cats maul the poor guy to death?; November 16, 2008 6:51 PM
Anonymous said...: When u can make money, must hv reg. to control.

when u can loss money so that they can hv more income, no need reg.; November 16, 2008 10:17 PM
Anonymous said...: DEAR "CHEATED"

I have finally understand about 60% of these credit link notes. My conclusion:

"Speeding in highway is safer than entering the banks." At least everything can be caught on camera!!; November 21, 2008 9:08 PM