PAP gives 69 yr old jobless Ah Pek $150 a mth to survive
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Originally posted by teraexa:
As for the paternalism which our government displays so often, I am hoping, and foreseeing, that it will change over time as the citizenry gets more educated and more skeptical (provided that most of them won't leave by their adulthood)..
I doubt it will get better. Pick up a Social Studies book and you see that this regime is doing its best to justify its policies, going as far as doing comparisons between the British IHS and the Singapore health system. Of all the welfare systems they picked, they picked one of the most inefficient to do the comparison. How can this be justified? Clearly, education is getting politicised and the regime is resorting to something nigh brainwashing just to sustain itself.
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They have no popular support, so have to rely on repression and mass propaganda to stay in power.
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Originally posted by walesa:
Let's consider an example on minimum wage. If you had a liberal democracy, instead of a self-serving fascist dictatorship that utilises the parliament as a theatre, it would not be too hard to enact minimum wage legislations, would it?
Very clearly, the policies adopted by the regime are self-serving in nature (by easing immigration requirements on unskilled labour and having no minimum wage, you hardly need a rocket scientist to figure the outcome would actually be an influx of cheap foreign labour that actually helps to artificially induce an exponential increase in labour supply thereby reducing the efficiency wage, would you?) and serve to exacerbate the problem instead of actually redressing it. If you need any further insights on the desperate measures this regime is resorting to pursue artificially-induced expansionist economic policies, check out http://www.singapore-window.org/sw01/011101bo.htm (someone posted this link on another thread which clearly makes for an interesting read).
More pertinently, with a reasonable minimum wage model in place, how is it reasonable anyone could actually be offered a $300/month job which, in essence, is below subsistence level in the context of any developed country? Perhaps, applying a minimum wage in the context of this thread, it would actually go some way towards reconciling the differences between the two camps on the state of affairs concerning this chap as a reasonable level of income that commensurates with the living standards of the developed world would clearly result in fewer "bums" around (this is basic labour economics).
Yes, you have raised a valid point on the minimum wage. $300 per month is crazy to survive in Singapore.
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Originally posted by Hwaimeng:
well like i say
feed well eat well and live well that Y u have such though.
didnt ask u to sympathize him but no need to pin-point or look down on him also
u never know how he try to live his past 40 years. how u know he never think of his future. some ppl have to struggle till they die. not all 100% that try to live better get wat they wan. every 1 successful man there 1000 that failure. so are u going to look down on those 1000 that fail ????
well said :) You are a rare one in this money dominated society.
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Why does he not qualify for the Public Assistance scheme? Very often it's because he has a family who can afford to support him. There is no reason the government should use my tax dollars to help others support their dependants. If you do not plan for your old age, you deserve to suffer the consequences. This ah pek is not destitute. He has access to family members who can support him or else he will be able to access the PA scheme. If he is really destitute, he can be housed (and detained) under the Vagrant Act.
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Originally posted by 333225520:
Yes, you have raised a valid point on the minimum wage. $300 per month is crazy to survive in Singapore.
Minimum wage policies must be applied to both local and foreign workers. All it does is to raise business and living costs, makes Singapore less competitive without changing anything. The unemployment rates in western nations with minimum wages are just as high, if not higher.
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Originally posted by oxford mushroom:
Why does he not qualify for the Public Assistance scheme? Very often it's because he has a family who can afford to support him. There is no reason the government should use my tax dollars to help others support their dependants. If you do not plan for your old age, you deserve to suffer the consequences. This ah pek is not destitute. He has access to family members who can support him or else he will be able to access the PA scheme. If he is really destitute, he can be housed (and detained) under the Vagrant Act.
I guess either you don't understand Hokkien or don't even bother to watch the video. The ah pek said he has no children and borrow money from his friend to make end meet.
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Originally posted by oxford mushroom:
Minimum wage policies must be applied to both local and foreign workers. All it does is to raise business and living costs, makes Singapore less competitive without changing anything. The unemployment rates in western nations with minimum wages are just as high, if not higher.
The minimum wage is to ensure that it is enough at least for a person to survive. If not, with the influx of foreign worker, the wage will keep falling whereas the standard of living will keep rising.
So you think it is possible to survive in Singapore with a salary of $300 without any aid?
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Originally posted by 333225520:
The minimum wage is to ensure that it is enough at least for a person to survive. If not, with the influx of foreign worker, the wage will keep falling whereas the standard of living will keep rising.
So you think it is possible to survive in Singapore with a salary of $300 without any aid?
Well, when minimum wage is implemented, how much should be the minimum wage? Who is to decide?
Then, if anything goes wrong when it's implemented, we start to see another round of finger-pointing.
And the cycle continues.
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Originally posted by teraexa:
Well, when minimum wage is implemented, how much should be the minimum wage? Who is to decide?
Then, if anything goes wrong when it's implemented, we start to see another round of finger-pointing.
And the cycle continues.
See our means testing lor
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Originally posted by teraexa:
Well, when minimum wage is implemented, how much should be the minimum wage? Who is to decide?
Then, if anything goes wrong when it's implemented, we start to see another round of finger-pointing.
And the cycle continues.
You ask the PM why there is a National Wage Council then.
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Originally posted by eagle:
See our means testing lor
You know the state reserves have taken a bad hit when they ask people to put more money into CPF and they cut back on social / health spending etc.
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Originally posted by 333225520:
I guess either you don't understand Hokkien or don't even bother to watch the video. The ah pek said he has no children and borrow money from his friend to make end meet.
He is probably lying. If he has no children and no visible means of subsistence, he can simply turn up at a police post and he will be placed in an institution for the rest of his life under the Destitute Persons Act.
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Originally posted by 333225520:
The minimum wage is to ensure that it is enough at least for a person to survive. If not, with the influx of foreign worker, the wage will keep falling whereas the standard of living will keep rising.
So you think it is possible to survive in Singapore with a salary of $300 without any aid?
It's survival of the fittest. If foreign workers and maids can survive with such low salaries, you have to be able to do more to deserve a higher pay. If the salary is too low even for foreign workers (and remember employers have to pay a levy for them), then employers will be forced to raise salaries to retain their workers. Market forces will decide what should be the minimum wage.
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Originally posted by charlize:
You ask the PM why there is a National Wage Council then.
We know that the National Wage Council long ceased to serve its purpose effectively quite some time ago.
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Originally posted by oxford mushroom:
He is probably lying. If he has no children and no visible means of subsistence, he can simply turn up at a police post and he will be placed in an institution for the rest of his life under the Destitute Persons Act.
that's so cooleither he has children that can support him, or he must be lying. Wow... Either way he must be wrong. It must be his fault
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Originally posted by oxford mushroom:
He is probably lying. If he has no children and no visible means of subsistence, he can simply turn up at a police post and he will be placed in an institution for the rest of his life under the Destitute Persons Act.
Cool, just march into the police station and declare to be a destitute and be placed in an institution for rest of his life like a criminal being place in prison for the crime of being poor.
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Originally posted by oxford mushroom:
It's survival of the fittest. If foreign workers and maids can survive with such low salaries, you have to be able to do more to deserve a higher pay. If the salary is too low even for foreign workers (and remember employers have to pay a levy for them), then employers will be forced to raise salaries to retain their workers. Market forces will decide what should be the minimum wage.
Cool, that's why Singaporean vote for the PAP to pay them millions to do nothing.
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Originally posted by eagle:
that's so cooleither he has children that can support him, or he must be lying. Wow... Either way he must be wrong. It must be his fault
Cause to oxford mushroom, everyone is a liar except PAP. That's why GST is increased to help the poor.
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think my friends @ sg forum, if to day you loss you job how long can you life without worry in singapore.... many of us can't pull through 3 years even we have a house(full pay) please note that he might have been this condition before this is interview.