TR EMERITUS

Remember when they introduced COE for cars they said it was to control the car population and that market forces would determine the price of a COE? Then they began to tweak the system and the more they tweaked, the higher the COEs rose, until today a COE can be many times the price of a car. Health Minister Gan Kim Yong They also started the ERP system, claiming by controlling usage of cars, more people would be able to own cars without jamming up the highways. Today the highways are still jammed and it has become very costly to travel on our roads with the many ERP toll gantries. Then some bright spark in the Govt said Singapore companies should switch to and rely on automation so we need not increase our manpower because Singaporeans are not procreating enough. And then they opened the floodgates to low-cost foreigners to come in and force our own workers to work for lower wages. Employers were more than happy to take in these lowly-paid foreigners and not have to invest in automation. In the meantime, Singaporeans were displaced, out of jobs, or driving taxis and cleaning table tops. Now they have introduced a spanking new healthcare scheme which will see Singaporean residents covered for their lifetime. But they were quick to say coverage is for "subsidised bills" and "...premiums can be better spread over one's lifetime, to help moderate premium increases after retirement." So does that mean we have to Pay-And-Pay the premiums even after we retire? And will we have to kiss our CPF goodbye? Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said MediShield Life premiums will remain the same for the first five years. Is that supposed to make us happy? Nevermind that many will be paying more for the scheme, adding to the already heavy burden of taxes, COE, ERP, GST, etc. And after contributions to CPF, just how much change is left in the pockets of an ordinary Singaporean to realise his or her dream of a Swiss-standard of living? The MediShield Life Review Committee Report states: "All pre-existing conditions will be covered." That means premiums paid by the healthy will subsidise premiums paid for the not-so-healthy. Didn't we hear previously our Govt's call for Singaporeans to stay healthy to keep healthcare costs low? Be honest now, how many of you actually fell for this? Following Minister Gan's announcement that he would hold MediShield Life premiums for 5 years, the Govt may have a tough time trying to convince the populace about the values and effectiveness of MediShield Life, judging from the unflattering comments from disbelieving readers in response to this report: Worries over Medishield Life: As can be seen from private Medical Insurance, the premiums are only projected. There is nothing to stop the insurance companies from revising the premiums. This looks to be the same for Medishield Life. Inflation: Basic premium + 5 years’ inflation + cost escalation = Medishield Life Premium payable now. So, no need to raise premium for next 5 years as we would have paid for all the projected increases now. Halfecho: At the end of 5 years, insurance premiums will definitely rise. This 5 years' subsidy, and hence low premiums, is to make the changes acceptable to the population. The government still thinks that we can be easily fooled. silenceisgolden: First they give you assurance of no increase for a few years thereafter you die your business. It starts with the minister salaries. Then the ERP, the telecom... every time is no increase as a bait to con you into it. Can these guys come up with fresher gimmicks? PAP's same Tricky Plan: When the CPF schemes started to evolve from its original retirement purpose to the current crappy state of totally denying S’poreans from withdrawing their CPF monies at age 55... Now with the Medishield Life, PAP is going to force this through parliament again... down our throats. After 5 years when S’poreans start to pay higher & higher premiums and more expensive medical costs... If PAPigs are not voted out at the next GE, we S’poreans will face up to more hardships than we do today. wayang for 5 years: Keep for 5 years. Papshit. Cornered our minimum sum now eyeing how to empty our medisave. The people of Singapore please wakeup. Bebe: With more “forced” participants in medishield life – premiums should be lower instead of higher! Another thing is whenever the gov subsidized anything, they already taken from you much earlier. This gky is milking from our Medisave account even before we are old! Gan KY a typical PAP Sucker: Gan KY, you should tell the people what are you doing with the about 40% Medishield premiums surplus collected from all Singaporeans and unused last year... If I don’t remember wrongly, the amount of Medishield premiums collected and not claimed last year is close to 1 Billion dollars! Keith: We have seen it all too often. After 5 yrs, there would likely be a huge increase in premium and the govt would say it is due to increase in cost blar blar blar and that the increase is long overdue. It’s just a matter of time before they take back what they gave out (with interests!). Holding Premium For 5 Years?: If after 5 years the govt stop holding the premium, then what happens ? Does it mean the every body CPF gonna be sucked completely dry like Dracula sucking blood of the people? Remember the GE2011 Promises?: Fellow Singaporeans, remember what PAP promised in GE2011. Can they be trusted again? PAPists still think their supreme master is correct about Singaporeans are nothing but daft, their rp thinks Singaporeans voices are just noises, their meesiam mai hum nfi of what a nation when he told the ICE that the nation does not belong to the nationals. What do you think?    Read More →

65 year old desperately needs a job “After moving in to my Studio Apartment last Dec, I have not been able to secure stable income jobs may be due to my age (65), (I need $1,500 a month to pull through). I could only find part time jobs like Invigilator for 2 private educational institutions and ad hoc Traffic Surveyor which give me about $500 monthly. My CPF monthly income is reduced to $500 hence, I could not keep up with the loan repayment scheme. Besides I also have other payments to make, like outstanding rental from previous flat, SP service, telephone bills and living expenses for my wife and myself. With all these stress to shoulder alone, I don’t know when I will breakdown. If things still don’t improved, I may consider sell back my SA to HDB and rent a room to stay with my wife and be homeless again. It is so embarrassed for my age (pioneer generation) to still fending for my livelihood and chase by creditors. I hope you can help me look for someone or some company that could offer me a permanent job so I can pay off my loan in time” “I completed my Sec 4 and HSC, then got my Diploma in EEE from Ngee Ann and later a Life Insurance Diploma from SII. Truly bi-lingual. My work experience: 1st six years as Technical Instructor in SAF after ROD; spent 8 years in IT industries as computer hardware engineer and some logistic function; then joined an insurance company for 17 years (2 years as agency supervisor); 2 years with NTUC Income as Insurance consultant; 4 years in administration; 2 years in retails; 2 years in research field survey; others include sub-con for StarHub IT sales”   Recap on his housing problems last year: “Jan 31, 2014 https://www.tremeritus.net/2014/01/31/cpf-approves-appeal-to-use-ra-for-hdb-studio-flat/ [This letter was forwarded to TRE by Leong Sze Hian, who had given financial counselling to the writer. The writer wants to share his experience.] My wife and I have finally bought our HDB Studio Apartment (SA) and already moved in last December. Thinking back one year ago when we were faced with so many problems to purchase this flat and have been so fortunate to receive the help of so many people after my story was shared on theonlinecitizen (“64 years old couple’s housing woes?“, Jul 19, 2013), until the completion of the sale. In particular, I am very grateful to the stranger who came forward to lend me $25,000 without interest, which I shall be repaying by instalments over 2 years.”   Leong Sze Hian    Read More →

Why is Dubai's stock market crashing? (24 June 2014)        The Dubai Financial Market has been taking a beating for weeks, and news of firings at Arabtec (ARTC:UH), the United Arab Emirates’ largest listed builder, caused a new round of panic yesterday. Shares in the stock exchange fell 6.7 percent, to 4,009.01, leaving them down 25 percent from their May peak. It was the end of a long bull market: Since June 2012, shares in the emirate had climbed 250 percent. Dubai has been looking like a property bubble for a little while now. The emirate has led consulting firm Knight Frank’s Global House Price Index for 12 months, and while growth has slowed in the past quarter, it still was up 27.7 percent for the year ended in March. Reuters reported that real estate deals in Dubai “jumped 38 percent in the first quarter to some 61 billion dirhams ($16.6 billion).”   Read more:  http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-06-24/why-did-the-dubai-stock-market-crash    Read More →