Faults appearing in our society

By now, many people would have form the conclusion that the Police was incompetent in handling the Little India riots. But, this is a reflection of the situation in many parts of the public and private sector in Singapore.
The inability of SMRT to fix the train faults is another clear example of that failure.
Our leaders are too busy making money, playing golf and networking with elites. They are neglecting the fundamentals of what makes the economy and society works.

Government policies that lead to high cost of living

Someone said:

Mr Tan, every country also got inflation. For a small country like ours with no natural resources where everything we need is imported, how do you expect the Govt to stop inflation? ..... 

REPLY

The government policies that led to high rates of inflation and high cost of living in Singapore are:

1. High property prices

2. High COE

3. GST

4. Lack of control over health care cost, over charging

This is made worse by:

1. Stagnating wages due to outsourcing and inflow of cheap foreign workers

2. Low interest rate on savings

3. No minimum wage.

4. Reservist and remedial training for NS men

A good government, a good finance minister, will address these issues. IB trolls will defend the ineffective government by saying "inflation is beyond anybody's control".

Trickle down economics and Singapore

Is trickle down economics working for Singapore? Someone sent this article to me. 

http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/trickle-down-economics-working-spore

MY REPLY
it is not working for Singapore, and not working in America either. It is a bad system, that leads to a widening income gap. It is based on false assumptions and convoluted logic.

Cost of health care in Malaysia and Singapore

I am not surprised that Malaysia ranked quite well in an international ranking about affordable health care.
Many Indonesians go to treatment in Malaysia, and bypass Singapore, which is too expensive. Malaysia offers quite good medical care at less than half the cost of Singapore.
We have allowed our cost in Singapore to increase too much, due to inefficiency and waste. We are a wasteful and high cost country. We need drastic action to be taken to bring our cost down to competitive levels.
I fault the Finance Minister for his failure to recognize the challenges facing the economy of Singapore. We cannot continue to rely on a property and car bubble to achieve economic growth. It is like stealing the future of our children.

Pioneer Generation should include the people called up for NS in the early years

Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen said that he is glad that the pioneer generation now includes the people born in 1949 that was called up for NS. The number is just a few hundred.
What about those born in 1950, 1951 and later years? This is where the large numbers are, and they are left out of the generous benefits provided to the pioneer generation. Surely, these people should also be considered as pioneer generation, as they were the people that built up a strong defense capability for Singapore?
As defense minister and a cabinet minister, does Dr. Ng see beyond one year?

Cutoff date for Pioneer Generation extended by one year

When the pioneer generation package was first leaked to the press, it was reserved only for those who were 65 years and older at the time of the budget. This would apply to people born in 1948 and earlier, and exclude those born in 1949. 

I wrote in Facebook that the first batch of NS men called up for full time military service was those born in 1949. They would be excluded under the original scheme.

I know of this fact, because I was born in 1948 and missed this "privilege". I wrote that it was an irony that the cutoff date would exclude the people the people who had to serve full time NS.

Someone probably read my comment and perhaps pass the message to the Cabinet. They probably decided to extend the package by one more year, to include the first batch of NS men.

What about the second and subsequent batches? This is the flaw of giving benefits based on a cutoff date. Some people get a lot of benefit, others get $0. This is a divisive policy.

It is better to give the benefit to everyone who has reached 65 years of age, now and in the future.