Many cities stay away from ERP because it brings more bad than good

Some people are proud that Singapore is taking a lead in implementing ERP for the world to follow.
That is not the case. Most cities found it to be a bad idea after balancing the pros and cons.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_pricing.

Quote:
Many recent road pricing schemes have proved controversial, with a number of high-profile schemes in the US and the UK being cancelled, delayed or scaled back in response to opposition and protest. Critics maintain that congestion pricing is not equitable, places an economic burden on neighboring communities, has a negative effect on retail businesses and on economic activity in general, and is just another tax.

A 2006 survey of economic literature on the subject, however, finds that most economists agree that some form of road pricing to reduce congestion is economically viable, although there is disagreement on what form road pricing should take. Economists disagree over how to set tolls, how to cover common costs, what to do with any excess revenues, whether and how “losers” from tolling previously free roads should be compensated, and whether to privatize highways.
Unquote:

Bank charges a cable charge of $20 for overseas payment

I wish to make a payment to a bank account in India. DBS Bank said that I have to pay a commission of 1/8% (which is fair) and a cable charge of $20.

I asked - why the cable charge? We are in the world of the Internet now. Is this outdated? Or is the bank just wanted to make extra fee? Is this too much?

I know that most banks probably have a similar charge. I think it is unfair to consumers.

www.leaseproperty.sg

www.leaseproperty.sg

This portal is now operational. Listing is free. It is suitable for owners who wish to look for tenants. Can be used for renting of apartments, rooms, houses, offices, shops, etc. Agents can also post on behalf of owners.

I have just received an inquiry from a prominent tenant. Hahaha.

Here are some listings:

Apartment

http://www.leaseproperty.sg/ViewListing.aspx?idlisting=1

HDB flat

http://www.leaseproperty.sg/ViewListing.aspx?idlisting=3

Serviced apartment

http://www.leaseproperty.sg/ViewListing.aspx?idlisting=6

Shop

http://www.leaseproperty.sg/ViewListing.aspx?idlisting=4

Office

http://www.leaseproperty.sg/ViewListing.aspx?idlisting=2

Polling for Democratic Presidential Nomination

Hillary Clinton is still ahead in the national polling, but Bernie Sanders is catching up fast. The gap has now reduced to only 5%.

A few months ago, the gap was 25%. Bernie Sanders managed to close the gap in an impressive way.

Singapore needs a stimulus package to tide over the difficult times ahead

The Singapore economy will go through a very difficult time. It could be worse than 2008.

During the global financial crisis in 2008, the world was saved by the quantitative easing introduced by the Fed in America. But it did not solved the underlying problem. It only postponed the problem to a later date.

This time round, the Fed could not save the problem with quantitative easing.

The Singapore economy will be badly affected by events around the major economies and by events in Singapore.

What can be done to save jobs and incomes in Singapore. We need a stimulus package - Singapore style. What type of package?

Kenneth Jeyaretnam has some ideas. Read what he has been saying in his website.
https://sonofadud.com/…/plunging-exports-will-result-in-ma…/

Ridiculous protocol followed by Sing Tel call center

I called SingTel hotline to check if a SIM card that they gave to me 2 years ago is still active.
I had to go through their call center maze and press all kinds of buttons to reach a person.

That is just the first part of a stressful experience. More to come.

TKL - I want to check if this mobile number is still active.
The call center staff asked for my company registration number, address, how we pay the bill, etc.
TKL - I only wanted to check if this number is active. Do you really need to provide so many layers of verification?
Staff - Sorry sir. This is our protocol.

I lost my temper. I told the staff to send the telephone conversation to the service quality manager to change their "stupid" protocol.

Earlier, my staff could not go through their protocol, so I had to take over.

The person who wrote Sing Tel's protocol is an idiot. And that idiotic protocol is being practiced day in and day out for many years.

Useful announcements on Tokyo trains

I took the Yamanote Line several times during my stay in Tokyo. The Yamanote Line is a circle line connecting all the interchange stations. It must be the busiest line in Tokyo.

I am impressed with this very busy train. Before reaching each station, they will make an announcement in Japanese and English about the name of the next station and the door will open on the right or left side.

There is also a digital display that shows the names of all the stations on the line and the number of minutes to arrive at that station. This display is updated on reaching each station.

When I take the MRT in Singapore, I often have to look out of the window to see if the door will open on the left or the right side at the next station. In some trains, there is a digital display (which is often confusing) but in other trains, there is no such display.

The people in Tokyo knows how to provide relevant and useful information to the commuters. I hope that SMRT and LTA can learn from them.

I spoke to a friend today about my experience. He confirmed that he encounters this problem often, and often ended up on the wrong side of the train.

Dealing with refugees

Many countries in Europe are facing a crisis. They have allowed hundreds of thousands of refugees from Syria and other countries into their country as an act of humanitarianism. Some of the refugees behaved badly and caused problems with the locals. 

Looking at the videos, I am surprised to see that many of the refugees came from Africa. Most of the videos showing the bad behavior of the refugees involved this group. I thought that the problem was with the war in Syria. How are the Africans involved among the refugees?

The European governments faced a dilemma. They have to deal with a humanitarian crisis and show compassion towards the genuine refugees who are freeing the bombs, shootings and fighting. But other people from the poorer countries, who are not affected by the war, are joining in the bandwagon to enter into the European countries for their welfare and a better life.

The Singapore experience

In the 1970s, there were boats of refugees freeing Vietnam. Some of them wanted to land in Singapore. The Prime Minister, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, was far sighted. He refused entry to all of them. His reason was - Singapore is too small. We are not able to accommodate large numbers of refugees into our country.

The few refugees that entered Singapore were confined into a refugee camp and were sent to third countries who were willing to accept them. The refugees were not allowed to become part of the society.

This may seem harsh, but it was necessary. Mr. Lee foresaw that a soft attitude will encourage more refugees to brave the seas on their flimsy boats to come to Singapore.

Lesson from Singapore

The European countries could learn from Mr. Lee's approach. If the refugees enter into the country, they should be allowed temporary refugee in special camps that are secluded from the local population. After the end of hostilities, they should be sent back to their home countries.

Some of the refugees can apply to be allowed permanent residency.  This should be handled according to their eligibility and their ability to integrate into into the host countries. It should be separate from the humanitarian factor.

Conclusion

I hope that the approach taken by Singapore in the 1970s could be useful to the European countries in dealing with the refugee crisis.

 

Compare governance of Singapore with the United States

When we compare the governance of Singapore and the United States, we have to remember that Singapore is a city state of 5.5 million people and the United States is a large country with a population of 318 million people (nearly 60 times of Singapore) living in 50 different states and a few hundred large cities.

The government of the US comes at three levels - federal, state and local. They have election for their President, Senators, Representatives at the federal level, governors and legislators at the state level and majors and city officials at the local level.

The job of the President of the US is many times more complex than that of the Prime Minister of Singapore.

Track your vehicle

Do you want the ability to track your own vehicle on your mobile phone?

This will come in useful when your vehicle is driven by an employer or family member. In the case of a family member, you want to know that they are safe.

If your vehicle is stolen, you can find out where it went and where the vehicle is now located.

The tracking device has a SOS button. When it is pressed, a SMS is sent to your mobile phone.

You can play back the route taken by your vehicle for any day and time period during the past 60 days.

If this service is available for a modest fee, or is provided free by your insurance company, would you be interested to join it?

Platform to track vehicles - prototype

This is the prototype of a vehicle tracking system. To view this prototype, take the following steps.

a) Go to tklcloud.com/fleet
b) Click on [Testing]
c) Select a user, e.g. S03
d) Go to Play Back
e) Select a vehicle from the drop down list
f) Click on Go

Watch the play back of the route taken by the vehicle for the current date.
Try other dates and time period and watch the play back.
Go to Live Track and select on [All vehicles]. What where are your current fleet of vehicles.

Note - the movements of the vehicles are simulated in this demo. When it goes live, the actual movements will be recorded.

Nevada State Democratic Primary Caucus - 20 Feb 2016

The Gravis poll showed that Clinton's lead over Sanders had been falling from the high 30s to 23%. A recent poll from TargetPoint showed a tie for both candidates. Take note that the TargetPoint poll is the most recent and has the largest number of respondents.

Bernie Sanders is likely to Nevada caucus on 20 Feb.

Bad investment in Profitable Plots

I met a security guard in Midview City. He is bitter about losing all his savings (more than $200,000) in the UK land sold by Profitable Plots. Because of this loss, he now has to work as a security guard.

He spoke to me about this matter two years ago. This is the first time that I saw him again, after two years. He is bitter that the government allowed this type of company to operate in Singapore and sell the overpriced land to the people.

He said that he still holds the title to the land plots and asked me if there is a hope that the land will appreciate in value when the UK government gave approval for rezoning to residential land.

I said that the real value of the land is probably one tenth of what he has paid for it. So, it will be difficult and will take a long time and some good fortune for the land to show a profit.

It is sad. But there is nothing that can be done now. I asked about his family, and he said that his children are now doing okay.

I hope that the government and MAS should be more proactive in preventing this kind of businesses to operate in Singapore.

Outsourcing of jobs

Government agencies and government owned companies should set the example and employ their workers directly and pay decent wages to set the benchmark for other employees.

It is deplorable when they start to outsource for the purpose of cutting cost. By doing it, they are depressing the forcing the same workers to accept lower wages from the contractors.

http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/manpower/outsourcing-has-depressed-wages-of-many-low-wage-workers-zainal-sapari?utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&link_time=1455330715#xtor=CS1-10

Nevada Primary Election on 20 Feb

This must give a scare to Hillary Clinton. From a lead of 23% in Nevada, the polls now show a tie with Bernie Sanders. The Nevada caucus will be held on 20 Feb.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/…/nevada_democratic_presid…

Living in a time of deception

Book by Dr. Poh Soo Kai - Living in a time of deception.

http://theindependent.sg/singapore-story-cannot-masquerade…/

Oldest candidate get the highest support of young voters

Which candidate for the US Presidency is most popular with young people?

Surprise! It is the oldest candidate - Bernie Sanders, age 74. In the New Hampshire election, he got 84% of the votes of young people - which is really fantastic. Here are his messages that resonate with young people:

a) We have to act on the problems caused by climate change
b) Public colleges should be tuition free
c) We have to reduce the burden of student loans
d) We need to create jobs for young people, instead of allowing them to idle and get into trouble and jail.

The support from young people towards Bernie Sanders is, in a word, fantastic - and I mean it in a positive sense.

Bernie Sanders - as viewed by my friend

My friend, Lindell Lucy, created this Facebook page to show his support for Bernie Sanders. He has posted many speeches made by Bernie during the campaign for the US Presidency. Read the postings in the page and the comments of the people in the group, including me.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/123941524658733/

Vacancy for Microsoft .NET developer

I have a vacancy for a Microsoft ASP.NET developer with at least one year of working experience. Applicant must be Singapore citizen, permanent resident or dependent pass holder. If you are interested, send your resume to kinlian@gmail.com.

Supplement to Eldershield

Many people bought supplement to Eldershield, which is a long term disability insurance. Eldershield pays them  a monthly income of $400 if they are severely disabled and need to stay in a nursing home or have a full time care giver. As the monthly benefit is inadequate, they buy the supplement to provide an additional benefit.

They ask me, "Mr. Tan, is it worth while to buy the Eldershield supplement? This is offered by many insurance companies under different product names".

A good way to determine if the insurance is worth buying is to look at the ratio between the claims and the premium. If you pay a premium of $1,000 a year and you get back $100 (on average) in claims, is it worth buying? Of course, insurance covers the extreme cases, so you may have a 1% chance of claiming for $10,000. If the claim payout is only 10%, surely it is a bad product?

What is a fair payout rate that makes the policy worth buying? The answer is 50% to 70%. If the total claim payout is 50% to 70% of the premium, the insurance product is worth buying.

How do you find out the claim payout under an insurance product? Fortunately, this information is provided in the website of the Monetary Authority of Singapore. I have extracted the data and put them in this website for your easy reference.

www.tklcloud.com/mas

The Eldershield supplement is classified as "Disability - Individual". You can view the results in this webpage:

http://tklcloud.com/MAS/publicview.aspx?class=20

The top four insurance companies are Great Eastern, NTUC Income, Aviva and AIA. They have an average claim payout of only 7%. However, as this product collects a premium for a limited period (usually up to 65 years) and provides cover for the whole of life, we have to look at the profit ratio.

The average profit ratio is 50%. Allowing for expense ratio of 20%, the long term claim ratio is only 30%. This is extremely high.

Conclusion - the payout for the Eldershield supplement is too low. Consumers are paying too a high premium for a small return. It is better for them to keep the premium as a "self insurance" plan.