How Much is enough for Reserve- Minister Ng Eng Hen kept mum
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MM Lee recently during his Vietnam trip continues to talk about his past 40 years' of success being based on taxing, recovering costs to the fullest including double-charges on lands and wherever there is an opportunity to squeeze more.
Minister Ng Eng Hen tonight was asked many questions on TV only to allow him to justify more taxes and more reserves in the name of our lacking natural resource?
Panelists again were shy in confronting hims with real issues facing our competitiveness today e.g. :-
(1) How much reserve is enough reserve for the government?
(2) How much corporatisation is enough ?
Previously many essential government services from utilities to medical and housing were funded by taxes paid by citizens and now many of these essential services were corporatized into private-company GLCs allowing them to charge higher fees e.g. Singapore Power, Power Grid, Mediacorp (from TCS funded by licence fees and taxes), HDB, JTC which are now making monies for making money sake.
When TCS was corporatized into a GLC-type entity, licence fees paid by the people should have been transferred back to the people and not absorbed into government consolidated funds or surpluses.
When lands were acquired for public use or public housing, government should use these lands for such purposes and not allowed HDB to make profits from these lands.
Government seems to be collecting taxes and corporatize many essential services to create surpluses which at the end only go toward paying themselves and public sector more salaries like the NKF. Is the government honest in saying that they corporatize these services to prevent abuse or welfarism.
(3) How much salary increases are enough ? ministers, MPs, Civil Servants - aren't their continous past increases already causing public sector salaries to be much too high and uncompetitive.
After NKF, it is as if Minister Ng does not know the real issues are not justification for workfare but the economy is losing competitiveness due to non-stop building of reserves and witholding of essential services to the people paid originally by taxes.
It is a great pity that such a distinguished panel like Dr. Amy Khor and Flying Dutchman cannot see the real issues facing the country today and still pretend to talk about the need to look after future when government could easily look after them by taxing them lesser or more moderately and try to tell us "what is enough" for reserves and witholding of essential transport an utility services.
Real issues which should be asked include: Is the HDB flats morally or legally entitled to sell its flats to citizens under low-cost or home-owners for the people scheme at market price with a little discount claimed to be a subsidy.
When lands were acquired using taxpayers' monies under low-cost housing, at dirt cheap prices, should HDB sell flats to the people under such housing schemes at market prices with pretentious discounts passed off as subsidy like the NKF.
Should HDB be compelled to buy lands for low-cost housing which were already acquired for this purpose from the SLA at market prices and then sell flats to the people who paid for the lands through taxes at market prices with such hoax subsidy which is actually a form of discount in the market place.
why government still needs so much reserve? After government has encouraged the problems of over-building of reserves in NKF, is it still confidently saying that Durai was right in using 30 years as yardstick for NKF reserves.
The real issues today is not nitty gritty about the need for workfare but whether government after NKF has learned a lesson - How many years of reserve must the government continue to build with GST and double-tax on HDB land costs and withold provision of essential services through corporatizations? -
never enough
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no amount is ever enough.
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wayang
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after the ship corp debacle, it's $2 billion less....
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A copy of the above-stated was sent to Straits Times and Today as well as PM Lee Hsien Loong and MM Lee Kuan Yew.
I do not think it will be published because it is a wayang panel and the government has now totally put Straits Times and Today under its thumb. -
U are directing the question to wrong direction.
The poodles are there to safe-guard their bone bowl, get the pension and migrate.
They cannot even perform their basic task of guarding the house and have to rely on FT to generate ideas that are actually copied from the sg peasants and re-packaged.
Marina Bay -> Marina Bay
Budget Terminal -> Budget Terminal
Just like a modern Emperor's new cloth, naked.
So, I guess no point asking the simple question to these poodles.
They simply dun get it and will never do so cos no one have prepared the model answer for them. -
actually, this mirrors the NKF so much it's scary...
the gabrament have forgotten what the money is for.. and all that is left a single-minded pathological drive to increase the reserves, much like TT Durai did with his single-minded pathological drive to increase the NKF coffers.. -
How many golden taps are in CPF buildings Islandwide?Originally posted by the Bear:actually, this mirrors the NKF so much it's scary...
the gabrament have forgotten what the money is for.. and all that is left a single-minded pathological drive to increase the reserves, much like TT Durai did with his single-minded pathological drive to increase the NKF coffers..
How many peanuts earners sits on top of our CPF waiting for the next meeting or raise in salary ?
What are they expected to do with their jobs ? Approving CPF loans ? -
With Greed, it is never enough.
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Well, everybody, start working yourselves OUT of Singapore...
NOTHING can or will change, in so long as they remain in power. -
"The poverty of the country is such that all the power and sway has got into the hands of the rich, who by extortious advantages, having the common people in their debt, have always curbed and oppressed them in all manner of ways." Nathaniel Bacon 1676
"Every age and generation must be as free to act for itself, in all cases, as the ages and generations which preceded it." Thomas Paine
"Where wealth is hereditary, power is hereditary; for wealth is power. Titles are of very little or no consequence. The rich are nobility, and poor plebeians in all countries. And on this distinction alone the true definition of aristocracy depends. An aristocracy is that influence or power which property may have in government; a democracy is the power or influence of the people or members, as contradistinguished from property. Between these two powers -the aristocracy and democracy -that is, the rich and the poor, there is constant warfare." A Farmer in the Maryland Gazette 1783
"I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country." Thomas Jefferson
"The strongest bond of human sympathy, outside of the family relation, should be one uniting all working people of all nations, tongues and kindreds." Abraham Lincoln
"If you and I must fight each other to exist, we will not love each other very hard." Eugene Debs
http://www.red-coral.net/WorkCoops.html -
My point is to advise our leaders to tackle real issues and problems, and not allow our expensive scholars to waste time tackling petty issues which will take care of themselves if the principal real issues are resolved.Originally posted by Medicated Oil:U are directing the question to wrong direction.
The poodles are there to safe-guard their bone bowl, get the pension and migrate.
They cannot even perform their basic task of guarding the house and have to rely on FT to generate ideas that are actually copied from the sg peasants and re-packaged.
Marina Bay -> Marina Bay
Budget Terminal -> Budget Terminal
Just like a modern Emperor's new cloth, naked.
So, I guess no point asking the simple question to these poodles.
They simply dun get it and will never do so cos no one have prepared the model answer for them.
Government should recognise that people have been patiently contributing to the surpluses and it is time for them to stop killing the goose that lays the golden egg by over-taxing them to the extent they cannot survive or compete globally.
Our leaders talk about the need for people to change their mindset. I think our past policies of over-taxing the people indirectly through HDB, LTA etc have got to change.
To make Singapore competitive, ministers must have the gut to dismantle MM Lee's frequent conceptual theory that more surpluses for the government means better government. Over-taxing and over-recovery of expenses through corporatizing essential housing, medical and utility services will kill the economy.
Foreign investment incentives will not work and will fail if government continues to fail to revise and change the past government policies to make them more pro-people and pro-competitiveness. -
Pvampires=pap=PvampiresOriginally posted by robertteh:MM Lee recently during his Vietnam trip continues to talk about his past 40 years' of success being based on taxing, recovering costs to the fullest including double-charges on lands and wherever there is an opportunity to squeeze more.
Minister Ng Eng Hen tonight was asked many questions on TV only to allow him to justify more taxes and more reserves in the name of our lacking natural resource?
Panelists again were shy in confronting hims with real issues facing our competitiveness today e.g. :-
(1) How much reserve is enough reserve for the government?
(2) How much corporatisation is enough ?
Previously many essential government services from utilities to medical and housing were funded by taxes paid by citizens and now many of these essential services were corporatized into private-company GLCs allowing them to charge higher fees e.g. Singapore Power, Power Grid, Mediacorp (from TCS funded by licence fees and taxes), HDB, JTC which are now making monies for making money sake.
When TCS was corporatized into a GLC-type entity, licence fees paid by the people should have been transferred back to the people and not absorbed into government consolidated funds or surpluses.
When lands were acquired for public use or public housing, government should use these lands for such purposes and not allowed HDB to make profits from these lands.
Government seems to be collecting taxes and corporatize many essential services to create surpluses which at the end only go toward paying themselves and public sector more salaries like the NKF. Is the government honest in saying that they corporatize these services to prevent abuse or welfarism.
(3) How much salary increases are enough ? ministers, MPs, Civil Servants - aren't their continous past increases already causing public sector salaries to be much too high and uncompetitive.
After NKF, it is as if Minister Ng does not know the real issues are not justification for workfare but the economy is losing competitiveness due to non-stop building of reserves and witholding of essential services to the people paid originally by taxes.
It is a great pity that such a distinguished panel like Dr. Amy Khor and Flying Dutchman cannot see the real issues facing the country today and still pretend to talk about the need to look after future when government could easily look after them by taxing them lesser or more moderately and try to tell us "what is enough" for reserves and witholding of essential transport an utility services.
Real issues which should be asked include: Is the HDB flats morally or legally entitled to sell its flats to citizens under low-cost or home-owners for the people scheme at market price with a little discount claimed to be a subsidy.
When lands were acquired using taxpayers' monies under low-cost housing, at dirt cheap prices, should HDB sell flats to the people under such housing schemes at market prices with pretentious discounts passed off as subsidy like the NKF.
Should HDB be compelled to buy lands for low-cost housing which were already acquired for this purpose from the SLA at market prices and then sell flats to the people who paid for the lands through taxes at market prices with such hoax subsidy which is actually a form of discount in the market place.
why government still needs so much reserve? After government has encouraged the problems of over-building of reserves in NKF, is it still confidently saying that Durai was right in using 30 years as yardstick for NKF reserves.
The real issues today is not nitty gritty about the need for workfare but whether government after NKF has learned a lesson - How many years of reserve must the government continue to build with GST and double-tax on HDB land costs and withold provision of essential services through corporatizations? -
HAPPY wrote:
Taking from middle class or lower-middle class to pay for the needs of the lower class may seem fine, but the real problem here is not whether middle class or any class is paying or not paying enough of their fair share of taxes but it is the government that has been taking too much and is still taking more and more from double-charging on lands citizens already own and corporatising essential government services to recover the fullest costs or market-level fees from all citizens.
More reserves also good lah.
Lets wait for more goodies and more rebates.
So it is the government which has to try to distract people from such real problem - one where government has been the culprit in over-charging the people in taxes, sale of HDB flats through clever creative accounting.
The problem which is now facing the country is high costs across the board and not just the under-class due to years of cumulative double-charging of services which should have been provided by the government as taxes were paid ny citizens for such services.
Why does'nt talented scholar like Mah Boh Tan understand the real problem such as the wrongful double-charging on lands for HDB flats and all the high costs due to corporatization of essential government services/
All double-charging on lands for HDB flats and LTA over-charging on vehicle ownership etc are immoral and wrongful and should be discontinued if people are to be spared from all the current problems.
There is no need to talk about GST or robbing of any rich to save the poor as it is the government which have been over-charging or taking away from the people which cause the current problem.
When this wrong practice stops, everything will look up again and there will be no need to tweak any more fees and charges or fear any deficit or loss of reserve as the economy will turn around and revive which will bring in greater taxes indirectly and save the country.
How much reserve is enough to serve the purpose of ensuring our stability and long-term prospect?
Is the current US$130 billions enough?. A government which takes more than it requires runs the risk of running down the economic competitiveness of the country - surely our scholar ministers and younger post-65 MPs know the real problem and not pretend to hip-hop to distract people from the real issues/ -
Originally posted by robertteh:
Absolutely. We need more ministers to be like our late president Mr. Ong Teng Cheong - focused on doing their job serving the country.. instead of serving a small group of people.
My point is to advise our leaders to tackle real issues and problems, and not allow our expensive scholars to waste time tackling petty issues which will take care of themselves if the principal real issues are resolved.
(.....)
To make Singapore competitive, ministers must have the gut to dismantle MM Lee's frequent conceptual theory that more surpluses for the government means better government. Over-taxing and over-recovery of expenses through corporatizing essential housing, medical and utility services will kill the economy.
Foreign investment incentives will not work and will fail if government continues to fail to revise and change the past government policies to make them more pro-people and pro-competitiveness. -
Originally posted by spinsugar:
Good will prevail and Ong Teng Cheong the name will live long in the hearts of the people.
Absolutely. We need more ministers to be like our late president [b]Mr. Ong Teng Cheong - focused on doing their job serving the country.. instead of serving a small group of people.[/b] -
NEVER...
Originally posted by robertteh:MM Lee recently during his Vietnam trip continues to talk about his past 40 years' of success being based on taxing, recovering costs to the fullest including double-charges on lands and wherever there is an opportunity to squeeze more.
Minister Ng Eng Hen tonight was asked many questions on TV only to allow him to justify more taxes and more reserves in the name of our lacking natural resource?
Panelists again were shy in confronting hims with real issues facing our competitiveness today e.g. :-
(1) How much reserve is enough reserve for the government?
(2) How much corporatisation is enough ?
Previously many essential government services from utilities to medical and housing were funded by taxes paid by citizens and now many of these essential services were corporatized into private-company GLCs allowing them to charge higher fees e.g. Singapore Power, Power Grid, Mediacorp (from TCS funded by licence fees and taxes), HDB, JTC which are now making monies for making money sake.
When TCS was corporatized into a GLC-type entity, licence fees paid by the people should have been transferred back to the people and not absorbed into government consolidated funds or surpluses.
When lands were acquired for public use or public housing, government should use these lands for such purposes and not allowed HDB to make profits from these lands.
Government seems to be collecting taxes and corporatize many essential services to create surpluses which at the end only go toward paying themselves and public sector more salaries like the NKF. Is the government honest in saying that they corporatize these services to prevent abuse or welfarism.
(3) How much salary increases are enough ? ministers, MPs, Civil Servants - aren't their continous past increases already causing public sector salaries to be much too high and uncompetitive.
After NKF, it is as if Minister Ng does not know the real issues are not justification for workfare but the economy is losing competitiveness due to non-stop building of reserves and witholding of essential services to the people paid originally by taxes.
It is a great pity that such a distinguished panel like Dr. Amy Khor and Flying Dutchman cannot see the real issues facing the country today and still pretend to talk about the need to look after future when government could easily look after them by taxing them lesser or more moderately and try to tell us "what is enough" for reserves and witholding of essential transport an utility services.
Real issues which should be asked include: Is the HDB flats morally or legally entitled to sell its flats to citizens under low-cost or home-owners for the people scheme at market price with a little discount claimed to be a subsidy.
When lands were acquired using taxpayers' monies under low-cost housing, at dirt cheap prices, should HDB sell flats to the people under such housing schemes at market prices with pretentious discounts passed off as subsidy like the NKF.
Should HDB be compelled to buy lands for low-cost housing which were already acquired for this purpose from the SLA at market prices and then sell flats to the people who paid for the lands through taxes at market prices with such hoax subsidy which is actually a form of discount in the market place.
why government still needs so much reserve? After government has encouraged the problems of over-building of reserves in NKF, is it still confidently saying that Durai was right in using 30 years as yardstick for NKF reserves.
The real issues today is not nitty gritty about the need for workfare but whether government after NKF has learned a lesson - How many years of reserve must the government continue to build with GST and double-tax on HDB land costs and withold provision of essential services through corporatizations? -
To: Editor, Straits Times, Today
c.c. PM Lee Hsien Loong
Dear Editors,
Arising from the malpractices disclosed in NKF and Youth Challenge, we will need to ask ourselves many questions.
Has the system of meritocracy worked for Singapore?
To me, it would seem that meritocracy or pseudo-meritocracy has produced the following:-
(1) Scholars engaged in Commissioners of Charity, Ministry of Youth and Community Development, Regulatory bodies in Ministry of Health and all the audit firms like Ernst and Young or KPMT for past twenty years have failed to detect wrong doings and malpractices of the kind as witnessed in NKF, Youth Challenge. (It will be indeed be a shame for scholars given their high calibre often painted to the citizens by leaders to give any excuse of the kind like the NKF patron Mrs. Goh Chok Tong or Ex-PM Goh were close to Durai who would be too powerful for them to exercise their respective professional duties and responsibilities; they should resign from their jobs if they are unable to make appropriate recommendations to correct mistakes or get their ministers and even MM or SM to correct wrong doings)
If our scholars do not have the gut to report wrong doings or change wrong policies they are not worth being employed to serve us the people or look after our country.
(2) Scholars at the upper echelon i.e. Ministers, MPs, and the whole government should have the ability to implement all policies once they are announced but many of them have failed to introduce proper efficient and effective system of government, processes for accountability and transparency.
During the last three recessions, scholars have conveniently failed to answer to their lack of implementation of past economic restructuring plans (to broad-based value-adding technology-start up model like the Koreans or Finnists have done) and were seen only to be good in giving excuses or blaming the problems on the people.
If our leaders want to talk so much about meritocracy as their secrets of success and distinguish themselves as world-class leaders they must prove by their actions and deed that all the meritocratic scholars given opportunities to sit on high positions as strongly recommended by them are people who could solve our structural unemployment problems and work towards lowering our high costs of living and avoid such malpractices as now reported.
So the whole system of meritocracy is too theoretical and conceptual giving rise to hidden malpractices of all kinds as seen in NKF where eminent directors put on various boards simply chickened out on their basic moral duties and legal duties to the people at large.
They were there only to compromise and cover up wrongs and malpractices committed against the people.
Our system of leadership and meritocracy so often bragged to the citizens and to the whole world should be overhauled to one where men and women working as ministers, ministers of state, MPs, Top civil servants are subjected to checking and supervision by the people through adoption of key processes which can be examined and not by audit or other close-door committees which are under the control of self-interested politicians.
Alternatively, an Ombudsman system incorporating self-checking processes can be introduced as without such processes, everything may end up controlled by back-door interested politicians who will be too afraid to check on their own party's wrong doers. -
Civil servants' pay rise based on merit and performance: Minister Teo
SINGAPORE : Increases in the pay of civil servants are based on merit, and depend on their performance and potential, Minister in Charge of the Civil Service Teo Chee Hean said on Monday.
He was responding to a question on the perception that civil servants' salaries are still based on seniority and they enjoy salary increments every year.
Mr Teo explained that pay was also tied to Singapore's economic climate.
He said, "The civil service pay package is adjusted in tandem with economic conditions, to the annual variable component or AVC. The AVC quantum is reduced during periods of slow economic growth and conversely the AVC quantum is increased during good economic growth to ensure civil servants' salaries remain competitive with the market." - CNA/ms
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Road_virus wrote:
The larger the reserve NKF was building, the more NKF is paying its CEO and the lesser is the patient subsidy ratio.
The larger the reserve, the more investment returns for our government and the less they have to tax us.
Why ? Because of greed caused by lack of accountability and use of political legalistic wrangling or power play as seen done by Durai in NKF.
Why is our government paying three times the civil servants that of outside salaries e.g. older teacher is getting S$8,000.00 pm as compared with S$2,000.00 + adjunct teacher is being paid for the same job?
Why ? It is for the same reason - greed and lack of accountability to the citizens. -
rinpoche wrote:
I think our govt promised us a Swiss standard of living. They didn't say that our system is modelled after the Swiss.
Anyway, it's one man one vote here. People deserve the govt they voted for. Who are we to say what's right and what's wrong to the people who have chosen what they want?Matilah_Singapura wrote:
Reply (By Robertteh)
(1) How much reserve is enough reserve for the government?
Anything more than $100 is too much. The "reserves" should be with the people, not the government.
If the state needs to "do something", they have to ASK (not FORCE) the people for the money. And if the people refuse, the state can't do anything and the matter is closed.
This is the way the Swiss operate — the state can't even spend for one single parking meter, unless the people agree to it.
Hang on a minute... I thought Singapore is modeled after the Swiss...
Oh yah, the state has to go to the people to get the people to approve of state salaries too. Not suka-suka pay yourself big bucks...as they do in Singapore.
Quote:
(2) How much corporatisation is enough ?
Zero - if it is not private — i.e. if it is not FULLY owned and controlled by private citizens (people not affiliated with the state)
100% if the corporations delivering "social services" are controlled by private citizens. That means our grandmothers will be shareholders, as well as hawkers, teachers, bus drivers etc... average folks owning thier country, thru the market. Absolutely wonderful!
The worst situation is the one now: the "mixed" political economy. So "privatisation" can mean that the state can form "companies" to play-play in the free market, sabotage private and individual enterprise... and HOARD all the dough in the name of "reserves".
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The idea of freedom is grounded by the idea of PRIVATE PROPERTY. To gauge the extent of the ideas of individual freedom and also of private property, the answer to one question speaks volumes:
Who OWNS the country? The People, or The State?
If people cannot vote freely to choose their best individual candidates as MPs as the best candidates are shut out or prevented from standing from election by the deviously designed GRC block-voting scheme, who is at fault?
Look at all the wrongs being committed by all the people in power by paying themselves any salaries they like etc through self-voting and self-canvassing for their own salaries and benefits in all kinds of power game which does not obey any laws or benefit the people.
So to do well and to compete globally the whole system of government will have to learn from NKF and change. -
with due respect Robert, why do you not form an alternative party and challenge these PAPers? You can count on my vote for sure.
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Assuming he has 10K to throw around at the minimum. Never mind advertisements and what not.Originally posted by claudetnt:with due respect Robert, why do you not form an alternative party and challenge these PAPers? You can count on my vote for sure. -
Thanks for suggestion but I do not think I make a good politician so I intend only to offer my views as I am entitled to point out where things have gone wrong.Originally posted by claudetnt:with due respect Robert, why do you not form an alternative party and challenge these PAPers? You can count on my vote for sure.
I would rather than citizens collectively exercise their role to check on shortcomings by offering views in all venues and forums.