The idea that money buys success and its ripple effect on our society
March 28th, 2023 | 
Author: 
There is an old story about Midas, a man who was given one wish. To Midas, riches was everything, so he wished that everything he touched would turn into gold.
Midas realised too late that the food and water he touched also turned into gold. He starved to death because he foolishly wished for the wrong thing.
Now if we switch Midas to Minister, we can unveil the picture of what’s happening in this country.
The one thing people often associate with this country is that we have the world’s highest-paid politicians.
This gives rise to the idea that money buys success. Pay the world’s highest salaries and you attract the best, the brightest, the most talented to run the country.
If only the formula for success were that simple.
If money can buy success and happiness, many countries wouldn’t be in dire straits, many rich and prominent families wouldn’t be so acrimoniously torn apart.
There is an unfortunate ripple effect to the idea that success can be bought with money.
Parents do whatever they can to get their child into a top school, and pay top dollar for tuition and enrichment. Their children grow up equating money with success and aim for a course of study that leads to a career that pays the most, and then as working adults, they inevitably measure success by the house and car and luxuries they own.
Life becomes one mad scramble after another for all the material comforts money can buy.
Couples are too busy making money, no time to make babies. They are not prepared for the sacrifices involved in raising children.
Human relationships are neglected and pursuits and ambitions in life that do not involve money-making are put on the backburner.
Families find themselves in debt because the cost of living and cost of home ownership keep going up.
The elderly work through their twilight years because they need to fend for themselves.
We can only fear that it will get worse with each passing day.
Is it a surprise that salaries cannot keep pace with tax and price hikes?
Is it any wonder that home and commercial rental has skyrocketed, and that we have the world’s most expensive pasar malam stall?
The people who are paid the world’s highest salaries to solve problems are:
• too busy growing the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at any cost
• too obsessed with foreign talents as a quick fix
• too focused on concocting new ways to tax the people
• too engrossed with a family dispute
• too concerned with hoarding the country’s reserves and keeping the size of the reserves a secret
• too preoccupied with attracting super-rich foreigners to invest and take up citizenship
• too caught up with turning Singapore into a playground for the wealthiest of Asia and the rest of the world
Our Ministers of today are like the Midas of old.
They think that money and riches are everything, they foolishly wish for a pot of gold when they should be wishing for Singaporeans to be relieved of stresses and struggles in a pressure cooker society.
Augustine Low
Posted in 
Singaporeans where got stress?
I see many Singaporeans Sat and Sun hang around kopitiam TCSS, drink beer, touch touch the PRC beer girl here and there.
So, where is the stress and pressure ?
Chow Chee Bye… when they lose money gambling on horse, you will see flying bottles and fight.
If they win money, they (the chi ko pek) gambler will hire scantily clad girls to dance for their chi ko pek God.
竹田鳳興宮
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PerVDyU95H0
I say again the hundredth times, temples are operated by gangster and chi ko pek to get rich for themselves.
Do you see temples contribute positively building schools, hospitals etc.
The answer is No. Period.
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Midas Touch is substituted with *HABIS* TOUCH in $ink-a-poor land.
Wats wrong with collecting more money.
You *HABIS*,your problem.
As a FIRST WORLD COUNTRY ,WE TURN TOO MANY OF OUR CITIZENS INTO THIRD WORLD OR WORSE!
If we could take money from our sgs’ ressrves to fund furlough- instead of cutting wages- of highly paid including non-sgs working here,WHY CANT WE ASSIST OUR OWN ELDERLY POOR N NEEDY?
A FRACTION OF THE $100 BILLION COULD EASILY BRING ABOUT GREAT RELIEF FOR OUR NEEDY ESPECIALLY ELDERLY SGS.
MINISTRY OF FAMILY N SOCIAL,WHAT YOU THINK?
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We need better quality of life.
Not more stress and high cost of living.
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Money cannot 100% buy success, but it sure can buy protests.
US has been exposed for funding last year’s Hong Kong …
https://www.scmp.com › Comment › Opinion
Jul 2, 2020 — The National Endowment for Democracy, another Congress-funded entity, spent US$643,000 in Hong Kong last year. In 2013, according to its own …
Hong Kong’s protesters are being used to further their own …
Al Jazeera
https://www.aljazeera.com › opinions › hong-kongs-p…
Apr 23, 2020 — Taiwan has even become the primary source of funding for the 2019 protests through organisations like church and activist groups, citing
Did the USA secretly provide funds to the Hong Kong …
Quora
https://www.quora.com › Did-the-USA-secretly-provide-…
No, USA openly provide funds to the Hong Kong protests. Because they know it’s meaningless for them to hide, every Chinese knows the fact.
5 answers
· 2 votes: After the funds (bank accounts ) allegedly used to support riot
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That village chief said village housing price is reflection of good place to live. Goodness, prices shooting through roofs and he said good place to live as if the place was extremely different 2 years back. Dodging issues on soaring prices, skipping depreciation values and housing payment burdens. When village chief, housing chief and head with big pays cannot solve housing problems. Three chief idiots more interested in party hegemony than true service to villagers.
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“The people who are paid the world’s highest salaries to solve problems are:”
- Too arrogant for their own good and wayyyyyyyy out of touch with the common people. Just look at how they behave in parliament, remember a certain Disgrace Fu DEMANDING for Sylvia Lim to apologise for her test balloon statement? Or the many times they told off Mun Wai when the realised they couldn’t answer his questions in a proper dignified manner? Or how about when Chan Chun Choy (read that in canto) said Pritam was being divisive when Pritam asked for a breakdown of the 80% jobs went to Singaporeans figure that Chan so proudly quoted in parliament
- Like to talk about their achievements so as to try and impress citizens but make small mention of their mistakes. The handling of Covid in particular. The White Paper on it had both positives and negatives and we all know how it went.
- Got nothing to show for their high pay. No accountability nor transparency except when it comes to the opposition. Their fabled 4G was touted as the ultimate ensemble ready to take over at a moments’ notice only for us all to see how badly they fumbled in handling Covid. A bungled leadership succession followed when the successor had to say his runway was too short only for them to have to scramble for another fall guy to be successor. And this successor was never even #2 when stroke man was touted to be the successor!
You can see for yourself just what voters think of the 4G. if they were even half as good as advertised PAP would easily be getting close to 70% of votes. But that hasn’t happened. Why?
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https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/hdb-nest-egg-retirement-pm-lee-property-value-public-housing-3375271
The dafts agreed with LHL that HDB is a retirement egg nest or else why would property prices keep going up and up. May the dafts have their wishes come true but beware of what you wish for.
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Ruled by animals(animalistic behaviour,wisdom and instinct) That’s why you have wolves(leaders, in sheep’s clothing(white), and sheep(the people)
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@ Money buys protest:
Can also buy you into China else why are pro China fans still stuck here ? Left long ago.
Look at Jack Ma. Monies can buy his freedom and buy his way back into China also. Basically 求 or 請他回來. P
As Mr Tan KL always said i may be wrong. But the only remaining reason besides monies, you guys still here instead of China is i think probably you have some criminal record or black mark.
Anyway your links are just opinions and comments.
Tech: Since you caveat your comment with “just opinion”, I won’t fault you for being ignorant. China has NO official immigration policies for MALE foreigners, female married into the country yes, male no. Long long time ago, record or not, RMB$100,000 could easilly buy yourself a bona fide citizenship regardless of your crimminal record. So if I had then bought one (only S$20k), I would have 2 citizenship by now to play with. lol
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Thanks for the clarification.
If true, I m quite sure this info will help the rest here to make up their mind.
Male foreigners nope.
Female foreigners okay.
Sorry to say 根本就是種族主義. But from another perspective, afterall China males 30 millions more than females.
Tech: Yup, there is a joke among peasants that each female in China should be entitled to have 2 husbands to solve the inequality problem. In fact, in some parts of Tibet and Mongolia, each female can have as much as 4 husbands, and it is allowed.
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https://visaguide.world/tips/countries-you-cant-travel-to-with-a-criminal-record/
Tech: Hm… I wonder which idiot setup that website to hoodwink and maybe earn some cheap advertising dollars. Let’s take Taiwan as an example, both Roy and Terry have been convicted in a court of law, they are now in Taiwan, no? Amos Yee landed in US of A after he was convicted multiple times in a court of law. Need I say more?
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哈哈。說得好，說得妙，笑得我keke叫，笑得我肚子也咕嚕叫。哈哈哈哈。
Yes，Money cannot 100% buy success, but it sure can buy protests and lots of other things
I challenge Opposition to serve for FREE，yes FREEEEE… but all, yes ALL Opposition chicken out. All are coward Bully the weak but fear the strong.
錢雖然不是萬能，但沒錢是萬萬不能。
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Money buys loyalty.
Not just subordinates.
Even their wives and children
And grandchildren.
And mistresses.
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“He who acts with a constant view to his own advantage will be much murmured against. A gentleman would be ashamed should his deeds not match his words. The superior man thinks always of harnessing virtue; the common man thinks of securing comfort.”
~ Confucius
The Pappy unashamedly arrogates to itself a whole people’s lifetime savings for their own “god damn perversity” and offers the commoners a path to the grave in unending labor…. which is never enough to make ends meet in the trickle-down super inflationary Papeconomy…..
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Got la. A lot of people very mang Zhang (irritable)
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The FINANCE MINISTRY has to work more closely with MCCY N MSF to cater to the needs of ELDERLY NATION-BUILDERS ASAP.
TOO MANY of our aged NATION-BUILDERS who are so impoverished by the constantly sky-rocketting COST OF LIVING here.
Now,lets be very frank n HONEST N SINCERE here with regards to the SOCIAL SECURITY (IN BROAD TERMS) WE,AS A RICH NATION,ACCORD TO OUR ELDERLY SGS WHO ARE NOW VERY MUCH IMPOVERISHED ,mainly a result of GOVT POLICIES THAT NEGLECT THE NEEDS OF OUR MORE ORDINARY ELDERLY.
WE SPEAK MUCH ABOUT HAPPY AGEING.
BUT WE DO MUCH TOO LITTLE TO SEE THROUGH IT,CAN MINISTERS DISAGREE?
MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE.
FROM DEDICATED RETIREMENT VILLAGES TO HETHCARE TO GST-FREE *ZONES* for our neglected seniors.
We can AFFORD to do so much for the well-heeled n even FTs by taking money ($100Billion) from our sgs’ RESERVES BUT WE ARE SO CALCULATING WHEN IT COMES TO HELPING OUR SENIOR CITIZENS.
ELDERLY SUICIDES ARE ON THE RISE N WHY?
SMART N ENRICHED SCHOLAR-GAHMEM SHUD KNOW THE REA$ON/s.
Touch our hearts or HEART$ and we will admit we have done too LITTLE for our deserving seniors especially the NEEDY while VERBALLY ADDRESSING it especially during GE.
TIME TO ACT,ENOUGH OF TALKING…
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Even a thing as simple as FOOTWAY FOR PEDESTRIANS.
WE ignore the CONVENIENCES N SAFETY OF OUR ELDERLY BY OFFICIALLY ALLOWING CYCLISTS to CO-USE SUCH *FOOT*paths which are barely adequate for 2-way pedestrian movements???
Iswaran,GO CHECK IT OUT OWNSELF BY MAKING USE OF SUCH FOOTPATHS in already crowd-out TINY RED DOT.
THEN,MAKE YOUR WISE JUDGEMENT N NOT JUST CONCEIVE IT IMAGINARILY.
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All chi ko peks know money can and do buy love.
No money no honey
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Money buys respect.
People give face, deferential to the wealthy.
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Can money buys respect?
It depends on the individual brought up and principle.
For some principled individual, they choose truth over money.
https://truthallianceusa.com/
extract:
Democratic Taiwan, with a population of 23 million, has the greatest resource and pride compared with the authoritarian China on the other side. Not only does it have a regular election system, but it also adheres to the social values and moral standards of honesty and integrity. At this point, it is even more prominent that Taiwan is a part of Western civilization, which is in sharp contrast with the false deceit of authoritarian China.
Unfortunately, Taiwan’s current President Tsai ***** has controversial fraud in her doctoral dissertations and degrees.
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https://www.quora.com/Can-loyalty-be-bought-Why-or-why-not
Peter Spering:
Well on the loyalty part, you can buy loyalty…but it only lasts as long as the people’s loyalty you’ve bought think there’s more to be gained from you. You can call it loyalty, but it’s bottom of the barrel stuff. It doesn’t last long and it has no depth…
True loyalty can only be gained when there is no incentive in play. To get it, the people giving their loyalty must want to do so of their own volition, even if there’s nothing physical to be gained from it. Forming bonds; friendships, relationships, teamwork etc., take your pick.
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Spering never saw the size of Alibaba treasure that needed Ali’s family to count for 10 years. Furthermore, the forty thieves were working hard to add to the treasure.
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From trickle down effect. now its trickle up. Be warned. Migrate when u have the chance
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