Statement A: underpayment leads to illegal act by political leaders. Statement B: underpayment leads to criminality Therefore, Statement C: Political leaders are akin to criminals.
Sensational, yes. Logical? I think no. Reflect the truth of the situation in Singapore? Hardly.
In all our hearts there is a dark space for criminality. A carrot and stick system, underpinned by education, reduces that dark space. It is well recognised that high pay helps and is necessary, but not sufficient to reduce that dark space.
If our national median income is $48,000 per year, then to an ordinary Singaporean,
$96,000 (2 x 48,000) is good pay $144,000 (3 x ) is very good pay $240,000 (5 x ) is high pay $480,000 (10 x ) is very high $720,000 (15 x ) is sky high $960,000 (20 x ) is extremely high $1.2 million (25 x ) is exorbitant $1.44 million (30 x ) is outrageous $1.68 million (35 x ) is #%&$@!
If we wish to pay our ministers between sky high to exorbitant pay, then our ministers’ pay should be about 15 to 25 times the median income (those who demand more than 25 times are not suitable to be a minister). This would be about $720,000 to $1.2 million annually.
The new ministers’ pay of $1.1 million to $1.76 million (grade MR4 to MR1) is about 23 to 37 times the national median income. They are overpaid by more than 50% if we compare the entry pay of $720,000 and $1.1million (1,100,000/720,000 = 152.8%).
Like President Obama's speech about resourcing jobs back to America, this is a patriotic President with Americans at heart, and on a much reduced Pay packet compared with our PM and his Ministers. The patriotism, if any, shown by the Ruling PAP is tied closely to how much money is tangled enough to attract talents to join their gang. An economy based on sin, rogue financing and real estate industries are too naive to sustain our growth in the long term. The manufacturing industry is dying, propped up only by temporary, artificial incentives that are unsustainable in the long run. The PAP now only has short term range in planning, in a hurry to accomplish as much as possible within a 4 to 5 year span, as if prepared to fade away very soon, or as if the leaders are going to drop dead the next day, and these short term policies are what hurting us most, are what making us angry most.
My friend, who sent this cartoon to me, said "this is relevant to Singapore! " How true!
ReplyDeleteTrue, but please consider this:
ReplyDeleteStatement A: underpayment leads to illegal act by political leaders.
Statement B: underpayment leads to criminality
Therefore, Statement C: Political leaders are akin to criminals.
Sensational, yes. Logical? I think no. Reflect the truth of the situation in Singapore? Hardly.
In all our hearts there is a dark space for criminality. A carrot and stick system, underpinned by education, reduces that dark space. It is well recognised that high pay helps and is necessary, but not sufficient to reduce that dark space.
If our national median income is $48,000 per year, then to an ordinary Singaporean,
ReplyDelete$96,000 (2 x 48,000) is good pay
$144,000 (3 x ) is very good pay
$240,000 (5 x ) is high pay
$480,000 (10 x ) is very high
$720,000 (15 x ) is sky high
$960,000 (20 x ) is extremely high
$1.2 million (25 x ) is exorbitant
$1.44 million (30 x ) is outrageous
$1.68 million (35 x ) is #%&$@!
If we wish to pay our ministers between sky high to exorbitant pay, then our ministers’ pay should be about 15 to 25 times the median income (those who demand more than 25 times are not suitable to be a minister). This would be about $720,000 to $1.2 million annually.
The new ministers’ pay of $1.1 million to $1.76 million (grade MR4 to MR1) is about 23 to 37 times the national median income. They are overpaid by more than 50% if we compare the entry pay of $720,000 and $1.1million (1,100,000/720,000 = 152.8%).
Like President Obama's speech about resourcing jobs back to America, this is a patriotic President with Americans at heart, and on a much reduced Pay packet compared with our PM and his Ministers. The patriotism, if any, shown by the Ruling PAP is tied closely to how much money is tangled enough to attract talents to join their gang.
ReplyDeleteAn economy based on sin, rogue financing and real estate industries are too naive to sustain our growth in the long term. The manufacturing industry is dying, propped up only by temporary, artificial incentives that are unsustainable in the long run. The PAP now only has short term range in planning, in a hurry to accomplish as much as possible within a 4 to 5 year span, as if prepared to fade away very soon, or as if the leaders are going to drop dead the next day, and these short term policies are what hurting us most, are what making us angry most.