Tan Kin Lian's Blog: Economic problems of Ireland

Friday, November 27, 2009

Economic problems of Ireland

Read this article about Ireland. Is there a lesson for Singapore?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...: Like S'pore, Ireland had embarked on growing "high value-add" industries since 1990s, namely financial, biotech & IT.

The danger of being too pro-financial industry friendly is that it tends to promote greed and risky behaviour, as can be seen in recent happenings in the financial markets around the world.

For places like Ireland, where there is a buffer of countryside living and domestic-oriented industries, hard-hit people can still easily move to smaller cities for lower cost of living, down-grade lifestyle etc.

For urbanised, MNC-dependent city states like S'pore, the citizens will be much harder hit with no buffer available. Unless they willing to become farmer in Batam, like a recently come-back ex-bankrupt lawyer who I think was a DPP.

Good example of what can happen to S'pore will be Dubai.; November 28, 2009 1:57 AM
Anonymous said...: We have super leaders in Singapore.

We pay top dollar for the best available talents from around the world.

We are uniquely Singapore.

What happened in Ireland and Dubai will never happen to Singapore.; November 28, 2009 10:16 AM
old man said...: Yes, I agree with annonymous 1:57am.
Singapore has no buffer and none was provided. Should there be one? Can there be one?
We are nestled in a geographic position that is highly strategic.Oil flows through our sea channels and we have built up a large petro-chemical industry.
It serves the interest of East Asian economies.
Our only opportunity for a buffer was in the 60's when we broke ( or kicked out) with Malaysia. We are now divorced and have resorted to prostitution.
It is the only viable route to fast forward our living standards.
Now that we are older, we worry about the future and who will take care of us.
I do not know what to do or how to deal with this. The people with MBAs,Phds, are suppose to have the brain power.
But lately, it seems inadequate. Armed with statistics, numbers and percentages, we have crowded trains. we have asset bubbles.. and soon a over populated island filled with cheap, faster and not so good workers.
It seems that this is all a large experiment that is a learning curve for young MBA and Phds... they learn, we curve... or more likely, we bend... till we break.
I am in my fifties. In my work, I encounter young executives who will launch new ideas ( with tacit approvals from CEOs who are also in their fifties or more)
When I provide feedback that some areas need to be changed because of my experience.. they will inadvertently counter with ..."just try first".. only to realise that I was right... oh! well.. the learning curve..keeps comming up again and again...; November 28, 2009 12:53 PM
Anonymous said...: It has already happened to certain extend in our pro- financial friendly industry--- thousands innocent investors lost their live savings on toxic financial product.; November 30, 2009 8:36 AM