TR EMERITUS

The pioneer generation Very well said and kudos to @2cents for a well researched and incisive piece of work. I look forward in earnest to read the second part of his essay. There is one more card up their sleeve that is not widely talked about and that is to constitutionally recognise PRs and grant them dual citizenship. This can be a sizable addition of some half a million votes in favour of the PAP, a staggering 16.7% vote gain in an electorate of 3.0 million eligible to vote. People need to be well prepared for this contingency and should this come into renationalisation, it is imperative that a national referendum need to be be called. The PAP will do anything to stay in power, the process of which need to be deeply scrutinized. The increased voter numbers of those ≥50; an additional 138,600 votes (or +12.8% for their cohort) since GE 2011 is going to decide the fate of the PAP. Constituting up to about 41% of the electorate is significant. Rampant rise in cost of living, CPF and Healthcare issues coupled with PMET joblessness & constrained social mobility for their offspring is already talking a toll on this group of Pioneers. No wonder the government came up with trivialities like PGP & MediShield Life to try buy back the votes from this group. Judging by the ways they hard sell these packages, you know they are in trouble. It seems the Pioneers are not biting into these trivialities. I am in this group of Pioneers retired with zero income. Daily we have been going round talking and talking and it is apparent that many suffer the same fate and are determined to see change within our present lifetime. We know deep down inside that the toxic PWP is the root cause of all of our social and economic issues. Like someone said here the ill-perceived PWP is going to sound PAP’s death knell come the next GE. It stands the opposition in good stead to keep beating on the PWP issues and for sure they will gain them tremendous political traction. Forward to end of 2015 for that’s when GE is likely to occur after the government lavished all they can to whip up the nationalistic instincts of the people in an all year SG50 celebrations next year 2015. Be in the know that the PAP is not Singapore and Singapore is not the PAP and that the current 3rd generation team of PAP pales in comparison to the 1st and 2nd generation PAP. They have been fast undoing what the earlier governments have done to our detriments. Remember, when you are hungry and when jobs are snatched under your noses in favour of the massive economic migrants you cannot have the mood for SG50, stay away from being brainwashed. VTO 2015.   A Pioneer Uncle * Comment appeared in: GE: 3rd tea leaves reading (Part 1 of 2)    Read More →

NMP Laurence Lien NMP Laurence Lien wrote an article and was published in ST yesterday ('Joint responsibility for old age income security', 21 Jul). Mr Lien wrote that some Singaproeans have asked if their CPF money is still there and wondered if it has been lost. Mr Lien didn't think so. He wrote, "As a previous director at the Ministry of Finance overseeing government investments I can only say that no one should worry about that. Unfortunately, the Official Secrets Act does not permit me to say any more than what is publicly known." He opined that GIC's 20-year returns - at 6.5% in US dollars and 5% per annum in Singapore dollars - are not substantially different from benchmark returns. Still, Mr Lien feels that the Singapore Government should be more transparent with Singaporeans and release detailed numbers of the Government's balance sheet, including the actual size of GIC's assets under its management. "We have reached a stage of our political maturation process in which the lack of transparency, and perceived lack of public accountability, needs to be addressed. Transparency breeds trust," he said. Mr Lien also highlighted the Minimum Sum issues in our CPF policies. He said, "Apart from inflation eroding retirement savings, the widening income inequality here means that pitching it for the lower middle income household would make it increasingly less relevant for large segments of the population. A monthly payout of $1,200 is inadequate for many as the median monthly income is $3,250. Meanwhile, many other CPF members are not able to accumulate the Minimum Sum by age 55." "Multiple uses of CPF for purposes other than directly meeting retirement needs and the insufficient social safety nets - for example, to cater for periods of unemployment - have increased the pressures to expand the uses of the CPF," he noted. Speaking of CPF returns, he thinks that the Singapore Government should share more with Singaporeans if it is able to make more in its investments. He said, "The Government is not a commercial entity that needs to be profitable and obtain compensation in return for taking risks. It can take a long-term view and smoothen returns on behalf of CPF members. Even the Ordinary Account can be invested in the long term. Although more liquid by design, the net contributions into the Ordinary Account are generally positive year on year." "In fact, the total balances of CPF members have increased every year from $52 billion in 1993 to $253 billion in 2013. This gives GIC the stability that it needs to invest CPF funds for the long term," he added. "Apart from more transparency, I believe the Government should commit to being revenue neutral over the long term on the investments of CPF funds. Based on GIC's current asset allocation, the Government should be able to accumulate excess returns on invested CPF funds over the long term and pay out bonus returns periodically," said Mr Lien. However, Mr Lien also thinks that the majority of CPF members should not be too focused on the Minimum Sum or on wresting control of it. He opined that CPF members should instead look at total retirement planning in order to answer questions such as: How much money do they require for retirement? What is the potential shortfall? How much must come from personal savings? How much longer do they need to work? In conclusion, he called for the government and the people to start working together to address the CPF issue. "Income security in old age presents dilemmas and hard choices for policymakers everywhere, not just in Singapore," he said. "The sooner everybody - government and people - starts working together, with openness and cool heads, to address it today, the better off everyone will be in the future."    Read More →

“No matter how much the government raises taxes, there is no consolidating the budget unless social welfare spending is curbed,” said Robert Feldman, head of Japan economic research at Morgan Stanley MUFG in Tokyo. “If the government continues to let the spending swell, it will get out of control.”…. National budget outlays on social welfare spanning health care to pensions climbed 23 percent over the five fiscal years through March 2015. Medical-related spending, which accounted for 32 percent of social welfare outlays in fiscal 2012, is forecast to soar 54 percent to 54 trillion yen in fiscal 2025, according to the welfare ministry. Abe needs to put more priority on social-welfare reform to prevent the system from becoming unsustainable, said Hitoshi Suzuki, a senior researcher of Daiwa Institute of Research in Tokyo…. I am thankful that we have a very prudent govt in Singapore. You should all be thankful too. Our govt spend prudently and ensure that basic healthcare services are provided without burdening the whole system. By Concerned Citizen on unfettered bashing of our govt This Concerned Citizen wrote an article posted in the TRE with the above heading on the excessive healthcare spending by the Japanese govt. He quoted a Washington Post/Bloomberg post with the above comments. The gist is that Japan was overspending on healthcare and this is becoming unsustainable even if taxes continue to go up. And this is the reason why this Concerned Citizen felt so appreciative of our Govt for not overspending in healthcare. He is very concerned that our Govt will go down the road of welfarism. I can share his concern and agree with him that we have such a prudent govt that did not spend excessively in healthcare. But he is only right in knowing a little of the truth. Our Govt had sent two study missions to Japan led by Boon Heng and Gan Kim Yong, one to study how to solve the ageing problem and the other about healthcare. From the dearth of information on these two trips after their returns, I can only hazard a guess that they found that there was nothing much that we could learn from the Japanese. The revelation by Concerned Citizen and the Bloomberg report confirmed that the Japanese experience was nothing useful and maybe irrelevant to our case. If the report is true, then Japan is facing a crisis that would get graver by the days. We must not go along that path. And we don’t have to. We are in a very superior position financially as we did not spend much in healthcare. The people are paying their own medical bills. Now the MediShield Life Scheme will make sure that the people would foot their own bills without burdening the Govt. The end result is that the Govt would have a lot of money for other pursuits from the savings in healthcare. We are so comfortable that we could use the money to party and party like there is no tomorrow. Next year we could see the country partying the whole year round, with big budgets for celebrations within the country and with countries around the world. We can invite foreign dignitaries here to party and they will invite us over to party in their countries. We are very rich. We have so much money to spend on happy things. We could spend billions and billions on mega projects that would require hundreds of millions of dollars for annual maintenance. We bought top universities almost lock, stock and barrel. We owned think tank schools with scholars from the world, paid by us handsomely of course, to come here to think. Notice that I use the word, ‘We’? Yes, we the people are paying for it. See how comfortable we are? We could have such a good healthcare scheme and with so much money to spend in other good to have glorious and fun stuff. Wait for the next National Day when we parade the F35s and our aircraft carriers. By being prudent in healthcare spending, we can afford not to be prudent in other areas. Don’t worry, be happy. Money is not an issue. Prudence? When we have so much money to spend, there is no need to be prudent. We only have to be prudent in healthcare.   Chua Chin Leng aka redbean * The writer blogs at http://mysingaporenew.blogspot.com    Read More →