Wisdom of the Crowd: 76% of the respondents said that the CPIB and AGO are not acting independently of politics.
Wednesday, January 26, 2022
Tuesday, January 25, 2022
Monday, January 24, 2022
WOTC - Relax the restrictions
Wisdom of the Crowd - 51% of the respondents said that we should continue to relax the restrictions, as omicron is mild.
Sunday, January 23, 2022
WOTC - Reduced pay for shorter working hours
Wisdom of the Crowd: 53% of the respondents said that workers cannot afford to have reduced pay for less working hours.
Saturday, January 22, 2022
Trading in bitcoin
In this post, I share the price movement of bitcoin during the past three months and my experience in trading in the bitcoin future.
Wisdom of the Crowd - New Issues
2. Singapore allows employers to recruit foreigners and apply for a work pass
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Key indicators of the covid situation
It is difficult to follow the MOH data on covid as one important indicator is missing.
Why the scams get out of control
My friend said - Our police seems quite helpless and unable to cope (with the scams). Isn’t it a disgrace? It’s time they revamp the police investigative and forensic abilities. There is a need to catch up with the sophistication of the new age criminals.
TKL gives his opinion:
WOTC - Identify a person
Wisdom of the Crowd: 89% of the respondents said that the best way to identify a person is to use the NRIC (not the mobilephone).
Friday, January 21, 2022
WOTC: Use of NRIC
Wisdom of the Crowd: 53% of the respondents said that NRIC should be kept private and used only by the government.
Thursday, January 20, 2022
Facing the challenges of large population increase
I expect that the PAP government will return to its earlier strategy of increasing the population to 6.9 million and maybe to 10 million.
This will impose challenges.
I share my views.
WOTC - CareShield
Wisdom of the Crowd: 46% said that CareShield should be funded by taxation. 23% said that it should be funded by individual premium, but be voluntary.
Wednesday, January 19, 2022
WOTC - CPF and staff benefits
Wisdom of the Crowd: 56% of the respondents said that all workers, including casual and part time workers, should be given CPF and staff benefits.
Tuesday, January 18, 2022
Digital signature
We need to allow a person to register and use a digital signature. Here is how it can work.
Reduce working hours by 20%
A country can create additional jobs by reducing the regular working hours. Singapore may have to adopt this approach some time in the future.
Wisdom of the Crowd - New Issues
2. Can China be self sufficient?
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WOTC - Increase GST
Wisdom of the Crowd: 70% of the respondents said that Singapore should not increase GST. Instead, it should cut down on wasteful spending.
Monday, January 17, 2022
How to stop scammers from raiding victim's bank accounts
I suggest that people who are aware of the scam should work together to flood the fake website with false login credentials.
Sunday, January 16, 2022
Corporatization of NTUC Income
I have sent a notice to the secretary that I wish to raise the following questions on the corporatization of NTUC Income.
1. After the corporatization, will the bonuses of participating policies issued in the past when NTUC Income was a cooperative, be negatively affected by the change in the cooperative status of NTUC Income? If these bonuses will not be negatively impacted, how will the board ensure that this goal is achieved?
2. Will the board form an oversight committee, composed of members elected by the participating policyholders, who has the duty of ensuring that the bonuses distributed on these participating policies are not negatively impacted, for example, by diverting the surplus to pay higher dividends on the share capital?
Wisdom of the Crowd - New Issues
Wisdom of the Crowd - New Issues
1. How do you rate the education system in Singapore.
2. How can the bank stop scammers from making large fraudulent withdrawals?
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Beef up the police to deal with crimes
Some people were shocked that 470 customers of OCBC bank were scammed and fraudulent transfers were made from their compromised bank accounts.
They asked - why did the authority not act earlier to stop the scam?
I give my view on this issue, i.e. the lack of action.
How to deal with scammers
Maria May said.
I wondered why we never learn what we preach, that is, faster, cheaper and better?
Do not be arrogant in making judgment
Do not make judgment based on incomplete facts.
Do not assume that what you know is correct, and that other people are not aware of what is happening.
Saturday, January 15, 2022
Wisdom of the Crowd - New Issues
2. How to reduce the demand for popular schools?
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Friday, January 14, 2022
Wisdom of the Crowd - New Issues
2. What is the main cause of dirty public toilets?
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Thursday, January 13, 2022
Answering questions in Parliament
I share Lowinsky's opinion about a better approach to answer questions in Parliament. It is quite troubling to see how the questions are being answered now.
To whom it may concern
From the Speaker of the House to the Leader of the House to the Minister in the House it is very clear that they not only do not wish to answer the question but instead they wish to befuddle it to death.
All that the Opposition Member of the House wishes to clarify is whether there are schools practicing vaccine discrimination policy among the students.
If it is not true then all that the Minister needs to do is to stand up and deny the validity of the allegation referred to in a telegram post put up by a concerned parent.
If the Minister does not know the answer all he needs to do is to request for time for the Ministry of Education to look into the allegation.
If the Speaker of the House is truly a fair and
unbiased Speaker and recognizing that the Opposition Member of the House derived the information for his question from a telegram post he should not keep pushing haranguing bullying disrespecting and ordering the Honorable Member of the House to take his seat and keep his lips sealed as if he is a child in school
To behave the way he did and for the Leader of the House to join in to chastise the Honorable Opposition Member of the House is to say the least absolutely un-parliamentary.
It is not as if the Opposition Member of the House is raising a trivial question. His question deals with Covid vaccination and given the proclivity of this government to use compulsory measures to get a perfect score and get children from 5 to 11 to be vaccinated as well the question raised by the PSP Opposition Member of Parliament is perfectly relevant and in order. It is the ill-mannered PAP Speaker of the House who is totally out of order.
Lowinsky
13th January 2022
http://tklcloud.com/Feedback/feedback2.aspx?id=5191
Wisdom of the Crowd - New Issues
2. Do Singapore leaders speak the truth based on the facts?
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Discount in China stocks listed in Hong Kong
Many stocks of big companies in China are listed in Hong Kong and in Shanghai. The HK price is often at an attractive discount (of 25% to 80%) compared to the Shanghai price. See this webpage for the difference.
I have often been asked - why is there a difference in the prices? Is it possible to buy the stock in HK and sell them in Shanghai? This is called arbitrage.
Tuesday, January 11, 2022
Compare the prevalence rate
The minister reported that 2,600 omicron cases have been imported into Singapore, accounting for 60% of the 4,322 cases recorded in Singapore. Report.
This information is not helpful. It is potentially misleading.
Wisdom of the Crowd - New Issues
2. Should we continue the restrictions to slow the spread of omicron?
3. Should we close the borders?
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WOTC - Defense spending
Wisdom of the Crowd: 80% of the respondents said that Singapore should reduce its defense spending and still maintain a credible defense capability. This will reduce the tax burden on the people.
Monday, January 10, 2022
Ask a simple question directly
Someone asked me a question - why are you negative on PD?
This is the kind of nonsense that I get regularly. Why does this question really mean? I learned later that he was referring to privacy of data.
Why did he consider me to be against PD? I learned later that he was referring to my view that NRIC should be a public ID and not kept private.
Here is a smart person who does not want to ask a simple question - why are you against keeping NRIC private? Instead, he asked - why are you negative on PD?
By framing the question in that manner, he is actually being dishonest.
This is how American politicians behave. They twist a fact and present it with words that convey an entirely different meaning.
I hope that people do not follow this bad and dishonest practice.
China Mobile (0941.HK)
The price of China Mobile (0941.HK) received a boost when it was floated in Shanghai on 5 Jan 2022. The price corrected somewhat and has since recovered to its recent high.
I invested in this stock in HK for the reason explained here:
How to get a monthly income from your property
Someone asked me about "reverse mortgage". He has a fully paid property and wish to use it to provide an monthly income to meet his living expenses (and for his spouse) for the rest of their life.
I offer this suggestion.
Use a mobile app with fingerprint access
It is dangerous to use a OTP send by SMS as a second level authentication (2FA) for a bank transfer. The SMS can be intercepted by a sophisticated hacker.
It is safe to use a mobile app as a 2FA device. The app generates a 6 digit PIn which can be used for entry into the banking platform. As a further safeguard, the app requires user to provide his fingerprint.
A mobile app with fingerprint access is safer than a physical token.
Wisdom of the Crowd - New Issues
2. Should non-regular workers be exempt from CPF and other staff benefits?
3. Do you agree that CareShield should be paid by individual premiums?
4. Should NRIC be kept private?
5. What is a better way to identify a person?
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WOTC - Biggest liar
Wisdom of the Crowd: 51% of the respondents voted LHL as the biggest liar, followed by Joe Biden (40%).
Sunday, January 09, 2022
WOTC - End of pandemic
Wisdom of the Crowd: 53% of the respondents expect the covid pandemic to be over by 2022 or early 2023.
WOTC - Omicron variant
Wisdom of the Crowd: 83% of the respondents said that the omicron variant will be mild and will lead to less hospitalization and deaths.
Ponzi scheme involving a crypto exchange
My friend invested $1,000 in a crypto exchange. He receives $5 a day (perhaps in crypto currency) for 400 days. This gives him a 100% return (assuming that the value of the crypto currency remains stable).
He asked my view about this investment. He asked if it is safe for him wants to put more money into the crypto exchange.
Bank charged a high interest rate for a loan
The business customer applied to renew a loan from the bank. He opted for repayment at floating interest rate.
The application was not finalized. Apparently, the bank was overwhelmed with too much business and the workflow was chaotic.
The customer realized the problem when he received a statement from the bank charging him the default interest rate of 6.5%, when the floating rate was only 1.6%. The difference was a few few thousand dollars each month.
Saturday, January 08, 2022
Top property developers in China
Here are the top property developers in China. Report.
I analyzed the financial indicators for them below.
I expect the property market in China to stabilize. There was a recent announcement from the regulator that made it possible for existing developments in strong financial position, including several state owned developers, to take over the projects of weak developers (such as Evergrande) and to complete them.
The new regulation stipulated that the debts of these projects will be excluded from the computation of the debt ratio of the rescuing developer from the "three red lines".
Friday, January 07, 2022
WOTC - No right to insist that all workers have to be vaccinated
Wisdom of the Crowd: 63% of the respondents said that it is not right for the government to insist that all workers have to be vaccinated.
How the e-CNY will be transacted
I expect that China will promote the use of the e-CNY for international trade in the following way:
Investing CPF savings in a property
Summary of the key points in this article.
1. 13% of owners who sold their property are not able to return the CPF savings together with interest at 2.5% p.a.
2. They are not required to top up the shortfall (lucky for them)
3. They lose the cash that they paid towards the purchase of the property entirely. The amount depends on each individual owner.
4. However, they enjoyed the benefit of living in the property, i.e. they do not have to pay rental.
5. At one time, people think that purchase of a property will lead to a big gain, plus a free stay in the property. This does not apply to 13% of the home owners now. Property investment is not as attractive as it was a few decades ago.
Thursday, January 06, 2022
WOTC - Taxi
Wisdom of the Crowd: 56% of the respondents prefer a taxi driven by a human, rather than an autonomous taxi.
Wednesday, January 05, 2022
WOTC - Self driving taxis
Wisdom of the Crowd: 67% of the respondents said that it will take more than 5 years for self driving taxis to be popular.
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