… just like today. Sigh. Sometimes when I feel down, I blog. When I am happy, I blog. When I am in deep thoughts, I blog too.
But for today, I don’t know what to write. However, I found this picture from stickgal that perfectly describes how I am feeling…
Gua gua… =’(
Continuing from our previous debate over the standards of living, we now try to look at how Mr Lim’s solution can actually solve a few of the nation’s problem at the same time.
By getting people to adapt to the idea of spending on cheaper products, their basic needs can be met. Yes, this may mean a lower standard of living, but most of their essentials may still be gotten at a fraction of the price. I’d akin this to buying laptops - where you may choose between different models - from Acer to Apple to Dell to Fujitsu to Sony to Zenith - there’s a range of them with almost similar functions but yet could cost up to $2000 different in prices. You can also think of it as getting a Meizu’s M8 instead of the Apple iPhone.
When people are forced to spend less, they’d probably want to go home early instead of spending too much time in town - since they can’t really afford to spend much anyway - this will, no doubt create the evening rush on the roads for the people who drive, but this will just be what it is meant to be - The Evening Rush, not the Evening-cum-Night rush and the CTE towards the north will not be jammed anymore at 9pm. Theoretically, it’d be very jam from 5:30pm onwards, but should clear by around 9pm; the latest 10pm, and not like 11pm to midnight nowadays.
Given this, not only will there be a shortened jam, but it’d also boost the revenue from ERP. since (i) people who try to beat the ERP will now be forced to pay here since they can longer afford to pay for their evening hangouts anymore and (ii) the LTA would have another reason to relook into upping the ERP charges during the super-peak period.
Subsequently, people will begin to wonder about the point of having a car since they can’t really go places and if they have to go to kopitiam instead of MoS/Harry’s/TCC, they might as well go home. Thus, car ownership rates will eventually go down and traffic conditions should improve. Whether the ERP rates will go down is beyond this argument.
In addition, less people will spend on taxi since it’s premium service and thus more people will utilize public transport. There will no longer be issues of taxis missing just before midnight because there will not be anyone to take the taxis before midnight! Everyone will be home in the warmth of their family!
Hence, when people are forced to stay at home because of rising cost of goods outside, the next best thing that can keep them entertained is to procreate - which by doing so, improves the national birth days and thus helps in nation renewal. The government will not have to force it down people’s throat for them to have more babies. It will come naturally and for most people, this is free! No more having to spend $15 for a beer when you can have better things to do - moreover, it’s helping the nation too! You save and the nation grows with you!
So, by just convincing people to spend on cheaper goods (or not spending at all), you inevitably solve 3 problems - the road congestions, the taxi issues and nation renewal.
Nevermind that our transport system is not really that efficient and ready to serve the peak hours. Afterall, you don’t really have a choice but to take public transport. Whether I serve 4 buses in 1 hour or 1 bus in 1 hour, you’d still have to take the bus home. Unless of course you want to walk.
So, who says spending less doesn’t help? Why bother about standard of living when you can solve at least 3 problems? Afterall, Singaporeans have short term memory and are easily adaptable. =)
I had another debate with my friend again regarding the cost of living in Singapore. Naturally, we referred to the article below, titled "Inflation could hit 5% early next year, then taper off", and argued about the notion of "spending less = lower cost of living = lower standard of living?".
Mr Lim, Singapore’s Minister for Trade and Industry, commented that by spending on alternative, cheaper goods, we can effectively lower the cost of living. However, some people seem to interpret that as lowering the standard of living.
To this, Mr Wang Says So argued:
Instead of saying that “switching to cheaper products can reduce the cost of living”, Minister Lim would have been more accurate to say, “switching to cheaper products can lower the standard of living”. For example, instead of living in a 5-room HDB flat, you can live in a 1-room HDB flat (a cheaper product). Instead of having chicken rice and vegetables for lunch, you can just eat plain porridge (a cheaper product).
Living in a 1-room HDB flat and eating plain porridge constitutes a lower standard of living. So yes, by switching to cheaper products, you can lower your standard of living. And a lower standard of living does cost less to maintain.
My friend shared the perception that, by spending on (possibly) lower quality (and hence cheaper) goods, there will be less demand for the costlier goods. Given such a scenario, it is possible for the costlier goods to cost cheaper since the demand is now lowered. After all, economics is all about demand and supply - and hence Mr Lim’s advice is not entirely wrong.
He also added that, it is not possible for everyone to stop spending - so people should spend less - perhaps on cheaper products, but not entirely stop spending because the entire economy will collapse. Thus to prevent either extremes from happening - (i) goods getting costlier (ii) economy collapsing, Singaporeans have to start spending moderately so that both goals become achievable.
From the point of economics, I have to agree with his points. However, the entity that we are talking about are humans, and not robots, and so a greater amount of PR has to be injected while getting people to face reality.
Mr Lim had been infamous for his statements when he was the health minister, which includes asking the women to "save on one hairdo and use the money for breast screening", his regret in intervening to admit a premature baby to KKH to save the baby’s life because "…in the end, the baby continued to be in intensive care, and KKH now runs up a total bill of more than $300,000…", and his call to raise hospital rates to hotel rates because "if these patients (hospital overstayers) want to treat hospitals like a hotel, then they’ll have to be charged hotel rates.", of whom mostly are likely to be older than 60, with no income, or are from families with incomes below $1000.
AS CONSUMER prices continue to rise, inflation in Singapore will likely surge to 4 or 5 per cent in the first quarter of next year.
But it should taper off by the second half of the year to ‘more normal conditions’, said Trade and Industry Minister Lim Hng Kiang yesterday.
The average rate for next year should be around 3 per cent.
Fuelled mainly by rising global oil and food prices, inflation recorded a 13-year high of 2.9 per cent in August. It is expected to dip to 2.7 per cent in the last quarter, Mr Lim told Parliament.
But it was his 2008 forecast that made analysts and consumers sit up yesterday.
Citigroup economist Chua Hak Bin said that the 5 per cent rate predicted would be a ‘historic high’ in the 25 years since 1983. The previous high was in July 1991, when it hit 4 per cent.
Most economies, including Singapore’s, size up inflation by tracking the Consumer Price Index, or CPI. The CPI measures the cost of a basket of goods and services consumed by most households.
Yesterday, Mr Lim cautioned against ‘interpreting a rise in the headline CPI as necessarily reflecting an increase in the cost of living’.
It depends on the individual household’s spending. ‘Switching to cheaper products can reduce the cost of living despite a rise in the CPI,’ he added.
A CPI increase may also not reflect actual hikes in consumer prices. For instance, flat prices soared, but flat owners do not pay rent.
Higher inflation, he said, should also be viewed against rapid economic growth, with the gross domestic product rising more than 6 per cent on average since 2003 and wages also on the up.
‘Against this backdrop, we should not be surprised to see inflation rise above the unusually low levels seen in recent years.’
However, MPs such as Madam Halimah Yacob worry that residents, especially the elderly on fixed incomes, are feeling the pinch. ‘They go to the market with a similar sum of money. But they can buy less,’ she said.
Mr Lim promised: ‘The Government will continue to keep a tight watch to ensure that inflation remains low.’
He sketched out how the landscape will look like next year.
Explaining why there will be a spike in inflation before it plateaus, he cited two reasons: First, it is as compared to the first quarter of this year, when inflation was at 0.5 per cent and oil prices were low.
Second, the ‘one-off’ effect of the goods and services tax hike, which will be felt until next June.
Thereafter, the trend will ‘revert to more normal conditions in the second half of next year’.
The numbers come against a global backdrop of rising oil and food prices, such as more expensive chicken due to costlier feed. Adverse weather in food-supplying countries has also reduced supply, even as demand has risen.
Diversifying sources is one way to maintain more stable food prices, Mr Lim said, but there was a limit to this given the worldwide increase in food prices being seen now.
But inflation has not affected Singapore’s economic competitiveness, he said.
‘We are tracking our competitiveness position very closely and so far we are in quite a good position,’ he said, adding that inflation here was lower than in other countries.
He noted that imported inflation has been reduced because of the policy of gradually appreciating the Singapore dollar.
Other watchers suggest more aggressive measures. Citigroup’s Dr Chua, for instance, believes that the economy is in danger of overheating.
He called on the Government to re-prioritise projects, given that unemployment is already at a low.
‘The economy cannot be growing at that pace - it is reaching a bottleneck, there’s a supply constraint, with wage, price, rent increases. It is costly for everyone.’
xueying@sph.com.sg
Article obtained from straitstimes.com dated 13th November 2007 on 17th November 2007
I woke up really late today; actually once at about 8:45am, then 10am then 1pm. Hoohoo… I think it’s because I am sick. Oh well. Oh, did I mention that I got my blood test results back? Well, everything seems ok… just that it’s at the lower limit’s borderline - so that means having to watch everything again and another blood test 6 months later. Oh well…
Just took my passport photo just now. Hehe… looks quite good, but probably have to do some PP (post-processing). I hope it can be good enough for Monday. =)
I’ll be going back home to collect my letters and then perhaps to the clinic to see my skin doctor. Ran out of facial wash. Yup… I had quite sensitive skin, which is why you’d seldom find me in makeup. It’s quite a chore cleaning up after that. =P
Then it’s back to office for me! Woohoo! Seems like a pack day today. =P Do come down and join me if you have some time to spare, ya? =P
Kk.. gotta go, tata!
PS: Hmm… I wonder which Starbucks Min-tea is at now…
This is another case of reading the fine prints, which I am not sure if there is, since I have not been down. However, according to Best Denki, the lowest price guarantee apparently applies ONLY TO BEST CARD HOLDERS, and not to any other people who patronise the store!
Goodness! So their lowest price guarantee COMES WITH A CONDITION! Hmm, now I am starting to wonder if the so-called lowest price guarantee is the same for Courts or other places that guarantees that.
This is really news to me.
Lowest-price guarantee open only to Best Card members
WE REFER to Mr Reshma Sangappa’s letter, ‘Camera bought because of lowest-price-guarantee tag, but sold cheaper elsewhere’ (Online forum, Nov 13).
We would like to advise Mr Reshma that the prices of cameras in our stores follow the vendors’ recommended retail price. This is consistent with the message in our advertisements and promotional materials.
However, we do guarantee the lowest price for our Best Card members when they make purchases at our stores using the Best Card. The terms and conditions are available in the Best Card application form with regard to the price guarantees.
We hope that we have clarified the matter and should the writer have any other queries, he may write to me at clarayap@bestdenki.com.sg.
Clara Yap (Ms)
Senior Executive Officer - Public Relations
Best Denki (S) Pte Ltd
Article obtained from straitstimes.com on 17th November 2007
The Media Development Authority has reversed its decision to ban the XBox game "Mass Effect" here. Its earlier ban caused a stir amongst gamers here and elsewhere in the world, becoming the first nation to ban a game.
It was said that there was no proper rating system to categorize the games sold in Singapore and hence a ban was necessary to ensure that it will not be made available to unsuitable audience.
Games, unlike movies, cannot be censored before sale and thus would require some form of classification methods before it can be sold. There are however, no avenues to ensure that such games are not resold or lent to younger audiences.
IN a reversal of its earlier decision, the Media Development Authority (MDA) has decided to allow role-playing game Mass Effect to be released here under an M18 rating.
The Board of Film Censors (BFC) said in a statement on Friday evening that it will selectively use games ratings to ‘enable highly anticipated games to be launched in Singapore’ until it puts in place a games classification system in January.
The statement said that ‘this will allow such games to enter the market with immediacy and give the industry and members of the public a better understanding of the benefits of the proposed games classification system’.
Mass Effect was banned earlier for containing a same-sex love scene, making Singapore the only country to disallow its sale. It caused a furore among local and international gamers.
Other games with graphic violence such as popular action game Assassin’s Creed - released this week - was allowed on store shelves after distributors affixed a consumer advisory label declaring the game ‘Not to be sold to young children’.
Article obtained from straitstimes.com on 17th November 2007
I’m making a call for people who would like to be part of a community music video (MV) project. There is no budget for this project so I can’t really pay anyone. However, you will be part of a community MV that will probably be seen by the public, so there will be some minutes of fame =)
Timings for shooting are as below:
If you would like to be part of this low-cost, low-tech MV, kindly drop me a message here and let me know what are your free time slots and if you would like to bring your friends along. I’d let you know what the project is for and more details about it. Do leave a contact number so that you can be notified of any changes.
If you would like to help out in other ways (post-production, coordination, etc.), do drop me a message at the contact form too.
Thank you so much! =)
PS: This post will be sticky for the duration of 19th November till 25th November
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