Why People Leave SG
-
Hi Laddie,Originally posted by CannotTahan:we are most likely second or third generation. our forefathers first. imagine the first generation of chinese migrating out of china, ours settled in singapore and some in australia. ours sell curry puffs and their descendants like us are able to hold many different types of professional positions in singapore, like soul_rage, some even become ministers. what about the descendants of those who migrated to australia, dare you say the same, where are the chinese ministers in australia? what are most of them doing? washing dishes in chinese restaurants?
it is not yours means it is not yours.
you have to be a bit more tactful when coming to discussions about Australia. In all fairness, you and I have not lived in Australia before, so I think you are positioning yourself for some flak by stereotyping Chinese to be washing dishes in Chinese restaurants (well, I may open my own restaurant and be the boss, but may be washing dishes as well coz I just ate dinner. Ok, lousy joke
).
Just as the world over now stereotypes us as freaking rich citizens coz our ministers are earning ridiculous salaries
Back to the topic, I feel the govt has always been myopic and short-sighted (thus it breeds myopic people like Gazelle). Some of the very short-sighted policies:
"Stop at 2". (now in trouble liao)
"Engineering is good, everyone should go engineering" (now so many engineers, not enough good jobs)
"IT is good, everyone should go IT" (now so many IT grads, not enough good jobs)
"Biomedical is good, everyone should go biomedical" (it remains to be seen what is going to happen)
"Outsourcing is good, everyone should outsource" (the head of IT in my prev job said "We should outsource, coz its now a trend. Its not we should outsource coz we need to, but it became we should outsource coz everyone else is doing it)
"FT is good, let's bring in FT" (Tom, Dick and Harry (no pun intended on LKY) all come in, what a mess, no control of the 'talent' they bring in.)
This is the problem with our Govt. It has shown repeatedly it has NO foresight. All decisions are made based on the current trends in the world, and not enough analysis is being made on HOW TO adopt a certain trend, instead just jumping in and causing damage to locals (This is what I am telling the silly Gazelle, about a certain level of protectionism to ensure our locals get some advantage. He instead agree with the govt to open the door and windows so wide, that these people come in, rob us, and leave without even a sense of gratitude)
The hub fiasco
"We want to be IT hub" (did we become an IT hub?)
"We want to be a biomedical hub" (did we become that?)
"We want to be a gaming hub" (?)
"We want to be a medical hub" (?)
"We want to be an educational hub" (look what happened recently)
"We want to be a business hub"
The list goes on...
Ended up, we become a CONFUSED hub.
As a corporation it also failed, in that its so greedy it wants to eat every trend in the world, that our hub idealogy is now falling flat on its face.
Every capable corporation knows that you have to focus, and usually each corporation will pick 3 directions to focus (to ensure that the company is resilent enough in times of crisis). We, on the other hand, hantum everything that comes our way.
Look at Korea, everyone knows its technology is strong becoz it is focused there. HK is focused on being a business centre. What is Singapore? A mess... -
Originally posted by soul_rage:
you just mentioned that your salary got doubled. where? in singapore.
Hi Laddie,
you have to be a bit more tactful when coming to discussions about Australia. In all fairness, you and I have not lived in Australia before, so I think you are positioning yourself for some flak by stereotyping Chinese to be washing dishes in Chinese restaurants (well, I may open my own restaurant and be the boss, but may be washing dishes as well coz I just ate dinner. Ok, lousy joke).
Just as the world over now stereotypes us as freaking rich citizens coz our ministers are earning ridiculous salaries
Back to the topic, I feel the govt has always been myopic and short-sighted (thus it breeds myopic people like Gazelle). Some of the very short-sighted policies:
"Stop at 2". (now in trouble liao)
"Engineering is good, everyone should go engineering" (now so many engineers, not enough good jobs)
"IT is good, everyone should go IT" (now so many IT grads, not enough good jobs)
"Biomedical is good, everyone should go biomedical" (it remains to be seen what is going to happen)
"Outsourcing is good, everyone should outsource" (the head of IT in my prev job said "We should outsource, coz its now a trend. Its not we should outsource coz we need to, but it became we should outsource coz everyone else is doing it)
"FT is good, let's bring in FT" (Tom, Dick and Harry (no pun intended on LKY) all come in, what a mess, no control of the 'talent' they bring in.)
[b]This is the problem with our Govt. It has shown repeatedly it has NO foresight. All decisions are made based on the current trends in the world, and not enough analysis is being made on HOW TO adopt a certain trend, instead just jumping in and causing damage to locals (This is what I am telling the silly Gazelle, about a certain level of protectionism to ensure our locals get some advantage. He instead agree with the govt to open the door and windows so wide, that these people come in, rob us, and leave without even a sense of gratitude)
The hub fiasco
"We want to be IT hub" (did we become an IT hub?)
"We want to be a biomedical hub" (did we become that?)
"We want to be a gaming hub" (?)
"We want to be a medical hub" (?)
"We want to be an educational hub" (look what happened recently)
"We want to be a business hub"
The list goes on...
Ended up, we become a CONFUSED hub.
As a corporation it also failed, in that its so greedy it wants to eat every trend in the world, that our hub idealogy is now falling flat on its face.
Every capable corporation knows that you have to focus, and usually each corporation will pick 3 directions to focus (to ensure that the company is resilent enough in times of crisis). We, on the other hand, hantum everything that comes our way.
Look at Korea, everyone knows its technology is strong becoz it is focused there. HK is focused on being a business centre. What is Singapore? A mess...[/b]
then you start to think, Hey, I can earn a lot more here and there.
then you start to look at everything in details to decide whether you should go here and there to earn the higher salaries.
sadly to say, ONLY on negative ones. your heart already has "anger". This "anger" i guess accumulates overtime when you grow up here.
let me tell you a real story. I know a young lady. she grows up feeling that her mom does not love her. she begins to hate where she lives, i mean her home. she begins to have the thought of wanting to marry off ASAP so that she can leave her family ASAP. That she did. 10 years later, one will expect her to be better, happier. Unfortunately, she now said, in the last 10 years, she was crying because she thinks BOTH her mom and her husband dont love her.
the moral of the story is, Singapore is your home, where you grow up, no matter how shitty you think it is. It is your home. Accept it with an open heart, then go with an open heart. you will be a happier and better person than the lady mentioned above. -
Not cheap, a Singapore stint
Singapore more expensive to live in than New York; fifth most costly in Asia: Survey
Christie Loh
[email protected]
THE by-product of a long-running economic boom has inevitably materialised.
.
For the fourth straight year, a comprehensive survey shows Singapore scaling the ladder of expensive cities, raising concerns about whether rising costs will start to put off businesses and foreign talent.
.
On a global scale, the Republic has overtaken New York to become the 14th most expensive city, up from 17th last year. Asia-wide, Singapore moved up a notch to fifth place behind Osaka, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul.
.
Pushing the island up the rungs were housing rental hikes, higher transport costs and costlier groceries, said Mercer Human Resource Consulting, which yesterday released the annual Worldwide Cost of Living Survey of 143 cities.
.
The results are of interest to multinational companies and governments, which buy the reports to determine compensation allowances for their expatriate staff.
.
Already, some foreign investors here are having second thoughts.
.
"We have heard of at least one case where the company plans to staff a particular Asia-wide role in Hong Kong instead of in Singapore, given the difference in costs under new rents," Mr Fermin Diez, Mercer's worldwide partner and market development director for Asia-Pacific, told Today.
.
Several of his multinational corporation (MNC) clients have also started worrying about the burden on current expatriate staff here and the impact on profitability.
.
As leases run out, "everyone balks at the rapid rise in rental", said Mr Diez.
.
Overall private home rents surged 14.1 per cent last year from 2005, official figures showed, but landlords in prime areas have reportedly asked for as much as 50 per cent more.
.
Some MNCs are now providing their expatriate employees with extra funds to cover their rental differentials, he said.
.
Meanwhile, other Asian capitals may look more alluring.
.
Mercer's survey shows that all cities in this region slid down the table, except Singapore and Indian cities. This trend was part of a major reshuffle in the 2007 rankings, due mainly to the weakening US dollar and the stronger Euro, explained Mercer.
.
While Moscow remained the most expensive city for the second consecutive year, several European capitals — such as London, Paris, and Copenhagen — have moved closer to the top.
.
Mercer compared the cost of some 200 items including transport, food, clothing and entertainment.
.
Expats paid in US dollars – whose value slumped to the lowest since 1997 last year – would have less spending power in, say, Singapore, where the currency has strengthened.
.
And even though cities — say in China — may be cheaper, some are often viewed by expats as "hardship postings", said Credit Suisse First Boston economist Sailesh Jha, an American citizen living here for the past five years. Pollution, for instance, is causing some expats to move out of Hong Kong.
.
Since 2004, Singapore has gone from 46th place on the Mercer survey to 34th, then 17th, and this year 14th. The ascent mirrors the economy's steady recovery from the 2003 Sars crisis to the present good times of perkier wages and bigger profits.
.
But although the horizon looks clear for Singapore over the next 12 to 24 months, it remains to be seen if the rosy picture would stay intact three to five years down the road.
.
"For any company wishing to expand in Asia, it'll need to measure costs of relocation versus strategic value in nurturing growth of the company," said Mr Diez.
Singapore more expensive to live in than New York; fifth most costly in Asia: Survey -
laddie, don't get offended over the posting of the other forum members here. Its impt to maintain a calm thought.Originally posted by CannotTahan:you just mentioned that your salary got doubled. where? in singapore.
then you start to look at everything in details. sadly to say, ONLY on negative ones. your heart already has "anger". This "anger" i guess accumulates overtime when you grow up here.
let me tell you a real story. I know a young lady. she grows up feeling that her mom does not love her. she begins to hate where she lives, i mean her home. she begins to have the thought of wanting to marry off ASAP so that she can leave her family ASAP. That she did. 10 years later, one will expect her to be better, happier. Unfortunately, she now said, in the last 10 years, she was crying because she thinks BOTH her mom and her husband dont love her.
the moral of the story is, Singapore is your home, where you grow up, no matter how shitty you think it is. It is your home. Accept it with an open heart, then go with an open heart. you will be a happier and better person than the lady mentioned above.
I am not angry. I am just saddened, like I said, that so many Singaporeans, whom can live better lives, still continue to live in a breathless environment, becoz it is beneficial to the govt.
And as I have stated before, the doubling of my pay is my credit, and no one else. I fought hard and proved that I am worth of such a pay.
If the govt can have it, they would want ALL companies to adopt their low pay, 'high' bonuses approach. Its extremely beneficial to the businesses (esp the 'high' bonus part, a good excuse to save money), and detrimental to the Singaporean, given rising costs of living
Its ok to love Singapore, and yes I do, but I don't practise turning a blind eye to wrongs of the govt, just becoz I love my country and my fellow countrymen. -
Originally posted by ShutterBug:
Thanks Shutterbug, was waiting for someone to post this, to tell Mr Gazelle his favored PROOF approach. Its now proven we are getting more and more expensive
[b]Not cheap, a Singapore stint
Singapore more expensive to live in than New York; fifth most costly in Asia: Survey
[/b] -
Don't mention, I felt this article answers quite a few topics in here...Originally posted by soul_rage:Thanks Shutterbug, was waiting for someone to post this, to tell Mr Gazelle his favored PROOF approach. Its now proven we are getting more and more expensive
How much longer will these people hide their heads in the sand...? -
deleted
-
Pictures speak a thousand words.Originally posted by ShutterBug:Who is the Happy one?
I think u shd add worked till we died, we can't even save that much for their one day work!!!! -
Originally posted by CannotTahan:we are most likely second or third generation. our forefathers first. imagine the first generation of chinese migrating out of china, ours settled in singapore and some in australia. ours sell curry puffs and their descendants like us are able to hold many different types of professional positions in singapore, like soul_rage, some even become ministers. what about the descendants of those who migrated to australia, dare you say the same, where are the chinese ministers in australia? what are most of them doing? washing dishes in chinese restaurants?
it is not yours means it is not yours.
-
Soul_rage,
if you read through this thread, you should be able to detect that these people are bent on han tam singapore. When i praised singapore's handling of asian financial crisis, i got ridiculed.
when property prices rise in singapore, it is presented in the worst light possible.
if property prices drop, these guys will have another story to tell.
what does this tell of their attitude?
tell you the truth. there are many many smarter and more capable ex-singaporeans or singaporeans working at highly intellectual positions around the world. these same singaporeans dont talk like these people here.
in fact, the more articles these people write, the more i read about it, the more i am convinced that i should stay put. -
Is this the reason why such welfare system will never work in Asia?Originally posted by fymk:You will be second class in Australia with this type of thinking.
I don't care what class I am in Australia as long as I have my home, some social security and a good quality of life. Have you not heard? Money makes everyone colorblind.
And I notice someone went to paste up taxes of Australia and Singapore ( most will know who). Well want to talk taxes?
Singapore income tax alot of things you cannot claim. Have to pay road tax, property tax .
Australian income tax- I claim everything in the name of work and study- my phone bill, my internet bill , price I paid for my laptop , my stationary my electrical bill ( for running a home office) , my laundry allowance, my insurance, my education allowance ( that is why I am perpetually studying) , my textbooks, ....hrm what else...oh ya even my leather bag which acts as a brief case - can claim with receipt - CLAIM!
Oh ya Australia don't impose property tax on your principal residence. -
Originally posted by soul_rage:
Very well said ..totally echos my thoughts.....
Hi Laddie,
you have to be a bit more tactful when coming to discussions about Australia. In all fairness, you and I have not lived in Australia before, so I think you are positioning yourself for some flak by stereotyping Chinese to be washing dishes in Chinese restaurants (well, I may open my own restaurant and be the boss, but may be washing dishes as well coz I just ate dinner. Ok, lousy joke).
Just as the world over now stereotypes us as freaking rich citizens coz our ministers are earning ridiculous salaries
Back to the topic, I feel the govt has always been myopic and short-sighted (thus it breeds myopic people like Gazelle). Some of the very short-sighted policies:
"Stop at 2". (now in trouble liao)
"Engineering is good, everyone should go engineering" (now so many engineers, not enough good jobs)
"IT is good, everyone should go IT" (now so many IT grads, not enough good jobs)
"Biomedical is good, everyone should go biomedical" (it remains to be seen what is going to happen)
"Outsourcing is good, everyone should outsource" (the head of IT in my prev job said "We should outsource, coz its now a trend. Its not we should outsource coz we need to, but it became we should outsource coz everyone else is doing it)
"FT is good, let's bring in FT" (Tom, Dick and Harry (no pun intended on LKY) all come in, what a mess, no control of the 'talent' they bring in.)
[b]This is the problem with our Govt. It has shown repeatedly it has NO foresight. All decisions are made based on the current trends in the world, and not enough analysis is being made on HOW TO adopt a certain trend, instead just jumping in and causing damage to locals (This is what I am telling the silly Gazelle, about a certain level of protectionism to ensure our locals get some advantage. He instead agree with the govt to open the door and windows so wide, that these people come in, rob us, and leave without even a sense of gratitude)
The hub fiasco
"We want to be IT hub" (did we become an IT hub?)
"We want to be a biomedical hub" (did we become that?)
"We want to be a gaming hub" (?)
"We want to be a medical hub" (?)
"We want to be an educational hub" (look what happened recently)
"We want to be a business hub"
The list goes on...
Ended up, we become a CONFUSED hub.
As a corporation it also failed, in that its so greedy it wants to eat every trend in the world, that our hub idealogy is now falling flat on its face.
Every capable corporation knows that you have to focus, and usually each corporation will pick 3 directions to focus (to ensure that the company is resilent enough in times of crisis). We, on the other hand, hantum everything that comes our way.
Look at Korea, everyone knows its technology is strong becoz it is focused there. HK is focused on being a business centre. What is Singapore? A mess...[/b] -
Originally posted by soul_rage:
I fully agree with what you said.
Hi Laddie,
you have to be a bit more tactful when coming to discussions about Australia. In all fairness, you and I have not lived in Australia before, so I think you are positioning yourself for some flak by stereotyping Chinese to be washing dishes in Chinese restaurants (well, I may open my own restaurant and be the boss, but may be washing dishes as well coz I just ate dinner. Ok, lousy joke).
Just as the world over now stereotypes us as freaking rich citizens coz our ministers are earning ridiculous salaries
Back to the topic, I feel the govt has always been myopic and short-sighted (thus it breeds myopic people like Gazelle). Some of the very short-sighted policies:
"Stop at 2". (now in trouble liao)
"Engineering is good, everyone should go engineering" (now so many engineers, not enough good jobs)
"IT is good, everyone should go IT" (now so many IT grads, not enough good jobs)
"Biomedical is good, everyone should go biomedical" (it remains to be seen what is going to happen)
"Outsourcing is good, everyone should outsource" (the head of IT in my prev job said "We should outsource, coz its now a trend. Its not we should outsource coz we need to, but it became we should outsource coz everyone else is doing it)
"FT is good, let's bring in FT" (Tom, Dick and Harry (no pun intended on LKY) all come in, what a mess, no control of the 'talent' they bring in.)
[b]This is the problem with our Govt. It has shown repeatedly it has NO foresight. All decisions are made based on the current trends in the world, and not enough analysis is being made on HOW TO adopt a certain trend, instead just jumping in and causing damage to locals (This is what I am telling the silly Gazelle, about a certain level of protectionism to ensure our locals get some advantage. He instead agree with the govt to open the door and windows so wide, that these people come in, rob us, and leave without even a sense of gratitude)
The hub fiasco
"We want to be IT hub" (did we become an IT hub?)
"We want to be a biomedical hub" (did we become that?)
"We want to be a gaming hub" (?)
"We want to be a medical hub" (?)
"We want to be an educational hub" (look what happened recently)
"We want to be a business hub"
The list goes on...
Ended up, we become a CONFUSED hub.
As a corporation it also failed, in that its so greedy it wants to eat every trend in the world, that our hub idealogy is now falling flat on its face.
Every capable corporation knows that you have to focus, and usually each corporation will pick 3 directions to focus (to ensure that the company is resilent enough in times of crisis). We, on the other hand, hantum everything that comes our way.
Look at Korea, everyone knows its technology is strong becoz it is focused there. HK is focused on being a business centre. What is Singapore? A mess...[/b]
The government really has NO firesight.
All they ever do is watch and follow, Bandwagon Jumping. And yet they have the farking cheek to whimsically increased their own salaries!
-
foresight of Australia government
-
Hi lad,Originally posted by CannotTahan:Soul_rage,
if you read through this thread, you should be able to detect that these people are bent on han tam singapore. When i praised singapore's handling of asian financial crisis, i got ridiculed.
when property prices rise in singapore, it is presented in the worst light possible.
if property prices drop, these guys will have another story to tell.
what does this tell of their attitude?
tell you the truth. there are many many smarter and more capable ex-singaporeans or singaporeans working at highly intellectual positions around the world. these same singaporeans dont talk like these people here.
in fact, the more articles these people write, the more i read about it, the more i am convinced that i should stay put.
Well you have to look at what they are hantum-ing. Are they hantuming Singapore itself, or the Govt? And then, you take an objective look at all the issues reflected here, and determine if its valid.
Really, most people cannot accept criticism, and refuse to accept responsibility (Have you ever seen the Govt apologize for lousy decisions that resulted in U-turns (which they market U-turns as re-thinks)?)
Take a look at what are valid points, and make a note of it. And if you are able to do something that can help to make Singapore a better place, then go ahead. But do not turn your back against those problems, becoz Singapore as a whole cannot improve if its people choose to behave like the Govt.
Sometimes, its understandable why many of us (myself included probably) are so negative about the govt. Its that you see them ignoring the citizens over and over again, that after some time, you lose all respect for them.
Again the points of contention (at least for me) are as below:
- Unjustifiable pay hike due to the following reasons:
a. Taypayers' money used for pay hike. Better used for the poor
b. No achievements that can justify THIS pay hike (I don't take away past credits, just NOW)
c. The market pay is lower than this pay by at least 3 - 4 times. Its too ridiculous to pay 3 to 4 times above the market. Simple economics can tell you that
- Unjustifiable GST hike due to the following reasons:
a. Where is the need to hike when govt revenues are still good and well?
b. The cost of living goes up up up, and this hike will cause more anguish
- Lack of foresight
Always rushes into global trends, without sufficient analysis on the Adoption Plan. Instead, just rush, go in, get burnt, and get more money from the citizens
- Lack of acceptance of responsibility during failure
Shin Corp, Suzhou, Singtel's $200million honest mistake. Again no apologies from their screw-ups
- Lack of sincerity in listening to the people
Made a decision, then take the issue out to debate for the sake of debating, when the decision has been made. IR, GST, Pay hike, all decided beforehand.
- Lack of a true leader's spirit "LEAD BY EXAMPLE"
Enough said, our ministers are too well-paid to understand the plight of the ordinary singaporean -
Hmmm...interesting posts...
Sillypore certainly will not get far I should say.....
Let us all strive to leave Sillypore.....of course there will be those that will be left behind due to emotional ties or otherwise.....let us not begrudge the,,,...for those of use who can, let us all leave this place and make a better life for ourselves...... -
Didn't the govrt say something like, we will enter the World Cup by 2002 or something? Don't really remember the year but I think we either pass the target year liao or close to passing it. In any case, we aren't any closer to that target anyway.Originally posted by soul_rage:The hub fiasco
"We want to be IT hub" (did we become an IT hub?)
"We want to be a biomedical hub" (did we become that?)
"We want to be a gaming hub" (?)
"We want to be a medical hub" (?)
"We want to be an educational hub" (look what happened recently)
"We want to be a business hub"
The list goes on...
Ended up, we become a CONFUSED hub. -
I kinda like the term Singabloodypore myself
Just from personal experience, and to contribute to the topic, people I know who left Singapore quoted the same few reasons :
Doing the same job in Australia, working just as hard over there as you do over here, has a higher probability of yielding a higher quality of life.
Not wanting their children to be brought up in the local education system.
A working culture that has more emphasis on a work life balance, people(inclding employers) value time outside working hours more than over here.
(I think MCYS is attempting to change that tho).
This is what I can think of at the top of my head.
Anyone one based in Aust care to verify? -
what is the % of total tax revenue that the govt collect from citizens?Originally posted by soul_rage:Hi lad,
Well you have to look at what they are hantum-ing. Are they hantuming Singapore itself, or the Govt? And then, you take an objective look at all the issues reflected here, and determine if its valid.
Really, most people cannot accept criticism, and refuse to accept responsibility (Have you ever seen the Govt apologize for lousy decisions that resulted in U-turns (which they market U-turns as re-thinks)?)
Take a look at what are valid points, and make a note of it. And if you are able to do something that can help to make Singapore a better place, then go ahead. But do not turn your back against those problems, becoz Singapore as a whole cannot improve if its people choose to behave like the Govt.
Sometimes, its understandable why many of us (myself included probably) are so negative about the govt. Its that you see them ignoring the citizens over and over again, that after some time, you lose all respect for them.
Again the points of contention (at least for me) are as below:
- Unjustifiable pay hike due to the following reasons:
a. Taypayers' money used for pay hike. Better used for the poor
b. No achievements that can justify THIS pay hike (I don't take away past credits, just NOW)
c. The market pay is lower than this pay by at least 3 - 4 times. Its too ridiculous to pay 3 to 4 times above the market. Simple economics can tell you that
- Unjustifiable GST hike due to the following reasons:
a. Where is the need to hike when govt revenues are still good and well?
b. The cost of living goes up up up, and this hike will cause more anguish
- Lack of foresight
Always rushes into global trends, without sufficient analysis on the Adoption Plan. Instead, just rush, go in, get burnt, and get more money from the citizens
- Lack of acceptance of responsibility during failure
Shin Corp, Suzhou, Singtel's $200million honest mistake. Again no apologies from their screw-ups
- Lack of sincerity in listening to the people
Made a decision, then take the issue out to debate for the sake of debating, when the decision has been made. IR, GST, Pay hike, all decided beforehand.
- Lack of a true leader's spirit "LEAD BY EXAMPLE"
Enough said, our ministers are too well-paid to understand the plight of the ordinary singaporean
remember sometime ago, i mentioned that the general salary level would continue to increase over the next few years? haven't you notice it now?
singapore govt continues to build up financial reserves. so our govt's treasury is packed with gold. that is security. the basic question, and you know what i am driving at, do you trust your government ?
be smart. own vacation homes. choose them from around the world. in fact, from vacation homes point of view, australia is no big deal. -
wrong and silly. use your brains.Originally posted by Coquitlam:Sillypore certainly will not get far I should say..... -
Originally posted by Jontst78:I kinda like the term Singabloodypore myself
Just from personal experience, and to contribute to the topic, people I know who left Singapore quoted the same few reasons :
Doing the same job in Australia, working just as hard over there as you do over here, has a higher probability of yielding a higher quality of life.
Not wanting their children to be brought up in the local education system.
A working culture that has more emphasis on a work life balance, people(inclding employers) value time outside working hours more than over here.
(I think MCYS is attempting to change that tho).
This is what I can think of at the top of my head.
Anyone one based in Aust care to verify?
More bankrupt despite top job market
June 19, 2007
MORE Sydney families are being pushed to the wall by financial pressures despite a three-decade low in unemployment.
There were 6940 bankruptcies, debt agreements and personal insolvency agreements in Sydney last financial year, an increase of 16.4 per cent on the previous year. Another 5250 were registered between last June and February, suggesting the total this financial year could push towards 8000. That compares with just 4544 in 1999-2000.
Labor has used the figures from the Insolvency and Trustee Service Australia to highlight a rising trend in personal insolvency over the past six years.
The number of personal bankruptcies and debt agreements across Sydney rose by more than half between 1999-2000 and 2005-06. Parts of western Sydney have been hardest hit with a rise of 99 per cent in Blacktown and 70 per cent in the outer west. A slump in property prices since 2004 and relatively high rates of unemployment in some parts of west and south-west Sydney may have contributed to the surge in bankruptcies and debt agreements.
The jobless rate in both Fairfield and south-west Blacktown was above 10 per cent - more than double the national rate - in the December quarter, figures published by the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations show.
However, some of Sydney's wealthiest areas have also registered big increases in insolvency. Sydney's inner west had an increase of 83 per cent between 1999-2000 and 2005-06 while there was a 74 per cent on the northern beaches and 60 per cent in the eastern suburbs.
The shadow treasurer, Wayne Swan, said the figures showed many families are under significant financial pressure.
"Household budgets are being hit by rising petrol prices, high child-care costs and spiralling mortgage repayments caused by eight consecutive interest rate rises, despite John Howard's promise to keep rates at record lows," he said.
Roger Mendelson, the chief executive of debt collection company Prushka, said easy access to credit was contributing to the rise in bankruptcies and debt agreements.
"These people are not normally the high-flyers and the total amount owing to creditors is often not all that large, it's just beyond their capacity to repay," he said.
The total debt burden on Australian households has reached almost $1 trillion and the ratio of household debt to income has reached 160 per cent, one of the highest in the world.
Interest payments now soak up more than 11 per cent of all household income, about 2 percentage points more than in 1989 when mortgage interest rates were 17 per cent.
Labor has also highlighted Government figures showing a record amount of superannuation savings has been released to individuals early to assist with financial hardship.
Those in financial difficulty can apply to withdraw cash from their super account if they are in acute financial need.
The amount released for this purpose jumped from $70 million in 2005 to $135 million last year, Government answers to Labor questions on notice show. -
you should be old enough to know that life's events do not always go in the direction you expected, no matter how much you plan or researched. thats what i meant. yet you started laughing at it. are you mentally ???Originally posted by SingaporeTyrannosaur:
If you want to post one-liners, at the very least make the effort to make them plausible lah.
What are you implying with this statement? That our government embarked on these policies because they expected it to "turn out beyond rational expectations"?
In other words wishful thinking?
Would your response to Global Warming and Chain Smoking be "there are many things and events which turn out beyond rational expectations"?
"MORE Sydney families are being pushed to the wall by financial pressures despite a three-decade low in unemployment. " This is one example of actual events happening against rational expectations. -
so what is the %?Originally posted by CannotTahan:what is the % of total tax revenue that the govt collect from citizens?
remember sometime ago, i mentioned that the general salary level would continue to increase over the next few years? haven't you notice it now?
singapore govt continues to build up financial reserves. so our govt's treasury is packed with gold. that is security. the basic question, and you know what i am driving at, do you trust your government ?
be smart. own vacation homes. choose them from around the world. in fact, from vacation homes point of view, australia is no big deal.
Yes, you mentioned that the general salary level will continue to increase over the next few years, but there was an article by prominent researchers that the wages for the middle-income group in Singapore has stagnated for the past 5 years, and will continue to stagnate.
I am not in the middle-income group, so you cannot quote me as an example of the increment in pay. (As I mentioned, I had to fight for my valuation)
My question back to you is, do you think our govt serves the people, or are they serving themselves?
If so much money is hoarded, and not enough is done to alleviate the pains of the ever-increasing costs of living (read Today's article on us becoming more and more expensive a city), then what's the use of telling the people that we have loads of money, but its only for the govt? -
i swear the truth to the story below. an old age citizen with not much money led a decent life (not like those photos shown above) died in a singapore govt hospital due to cancer with a big bill. if govt is so vicious as you said, you will expect the person's wife to pay up, correct? because the govt does not care for the poor people, thats what you think, correct ? the truth is that the bill is cut down to 10 dollars.Originally posted by soul_rage:so what is the %?
Yes, you mentioned that the general salary level will continue to increase over the next few years, but there was an article by prominent researchers that the wages for the middle-income group in Singapore has stagnated for the past 5 years, and will continue to stagnate.
I am not in the middle-income group, so you cannot quote me as an example of the increment in pay. (As I mentioned, I had to fight for my valuation)
My question back to you is, do you think our govt serves the people, or are they serving themselves?
If so much money is hoarded, and not enough is done to alleviate the pains of the ever-increasing costs of living (read Today's article on us becoming more and more expensive a city), then what's the use of telling the people that we have loads of money, but its only for the govt?
