Programme: 'Golden Horizons Expansion' Proposal.
Background Information:-
As our nation goes into a 'technical recession', we realized how deep our economy is linked to economic conditions of US. Thus, we have to lessen our dependency and decouple ourselves from US, as much as we can.
The solutions are:-
1. Investments in R&D for improvements and innovation for better products that can be appreciated and purchased by the international masses, for tech and health products. This is already done and pursued.
2. Language education refinement:- To access markets, native languages is the best penetration point for success, which China and US now realized and is making up for lost grounds to Singapore by educating their young.
Thus, we too must move a few steps ahead - by learning emerging markets' native tongues, such as Russia, the Slavic states, African dialects, Myanmar, Vietnamese, etc.
Out of an est 35,000 school leavers each year, they must learn at least 3 languages - English, Chinese, and a foreign tongue. Rather than to learn every international language, they could be divided into language streams and be market ready to tap emerging markets that had been identified at national level, regardless of they are to be NUS grads or ITE supervisors, technicians.
Our malays will fit comfortably with Arabic states. Our other ethnic groups will swiftly fill in the gaps with Russian, African and other Asian states.
This will ensure our society will have ready members to exploit the opportunities other countries have rather than to just rely on US or China for growth. With their remittances and taxes, our GDP will grow, not to mention the benefit they can bring to their host country as well as the experiences they will gain to help our country grow socially.
3. Jobs for Older Workers.
As much as our society can cajole employers to take on older workers, the Singapore market is too small and competitive for them to be employed, but nevertheless, we will never give up.
One other solution would be for our society - the State- to create jobs for them.
NTUC tried to set up shop in Myanmar. It doesnt make sense for a national corporation, selling cheap goods and using public funds to operate in another country to benefit workers there.
Instead, we can set a string of 'mom and pop' shops in the foreign country, using $1.99 shop biz model.
$1.99 biz model is a very good model but failed in Spore because of 2 critical reasons - overextended credit and an affluent population who wouldnt want to be seen inside. But it will work in countries that has strong desires for cheap accessible essential goods - Myanmar and African states.
While capitalist democrats strongly encourage entreprenuership and disdain govt intervention, nothing can match the sheer economy of scale a govt can provide, as well as the business connections to protect the biz.
Thus, using society funds and NTUC purchasing expertise, we can send responsible mom and pops, after a few months of language and accounting courses, to manage state own cottage industry biz- either co funded using their CPF or outright grants. They will only pay taxes and any profits they make are their own for retirement and medical fees.
Such remittances will in return boost our GDP and national treasuries to provide for future generations in social spending and healthcare.
They will lead meaningful and better potential lives there rather than to be dishwashers or cleaners.
They would be our ambassadors, as well as help the citizens there with concepts of our way of life here. When they retire, our growing elders will go take over their operations.
Possible cottage industry biz:-
Russia and Slavic cold states - spicy asian food
US, Japan and Europe - nursing care and language centres
Asia and African states - cheap international essential goods, provide 'macro loans'
This programme will need more bureacrats, but they will be revenue earners and not social funding dispensers. We will need more of them as senior managers overseaing our operations overseas. It is not one shop per country we are looking at, but hundreds of thousands string across the world - as each country is divided into states, provinces, districts and towns. One shop per 50,000 people.