many ppl view that this government is too pro foreigner by dishing out so much benefit to them, giving citizenship without any need for national service, allowing to buy hdb housing etc ...Originally posted by tripwire:the ageing population...and the problems that comes with an ageing population couple with the serious economic, military and social effects of a depopulation due to low birth rate.
some of the problems include the following..
1.. slower economic growth.
2.. higher percentage of foreigners. (plus all the problems they bring)
3.. higher taxation rate (mostly by raising GST)
4.. lack of security.
few youngsters would want to be living in an island of old folks home.
maybe next time they no more young men... even 60year old ah peks also must continue ICT to beef up the numbers.![]()
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Well, there are push factors in Singapore and pull factors in other countriesOriginally posted by kY|e-_-o:what are the factors that is causing singaporeans to emigrate?
NO!!
is the government doin enough to keep singaporeans here?
Yes. But the issue is mainly to do with the government's definition of "foreign talent". Theres no issue with real "talent" who are brought in to make up for a shortfall in skills and knowledge in the locals. The problem is that the government is bringing in large numbers of foriegners to bring down costs of doing business here (which is high not due to labour but in a large part due to land, utilities and other costs) as they demand less (easy when cost of living in your home country is low and you don't have a 30-year HDB loan to pay off)
is it the problem of foreign talent?
In a way, yes. But NS is small beans compared to other reasons. Anyway, the young who have not served NS have no say in their family's decision to migrate.
is it our younger generation who do not have a sense of belonging to singapore and does not sees NS as a duty to the nation?
tell me why HDB cannot afford to write off part of the loans? Don't they have tons of money?Originally posted by Allendro:That requires money man, tons of it. That ultimately comes from taxpayers.
With the prices of homes today, I think by the time I decide to settle down, I might not be able to afford a door! But I guess it's the same in other countries - only that they can afford homes, but pay higher taxes. We always want to think that the grass is greener on the other side, but that only applies if you're the right kind of cow.
Yes they do - but you're not supposed to know that.Originally posted by paulho:tell me why HDB cannot afford to write off part of the loans? Don't they have tons of money?
Actually paul, if you were to do a survey of the average take-home pay of a Singaporean, its not overly high compared to other countries on a roughly similar level of development. As for the more developed countries, theres no comparison. The talk of overpaid Singaporean workers is absolute rubbish. The problem is when you have sky-high cost of living here, coupled with not sky-high wages and thats where the problems begin.Originally posted by paulho:I agree with you I never thought of it at that angle that foreigners were brought in to lower labour costs, I always knew that singaporean wages are higher because we have endless financial commitments to meet like housing, car loans and insurances to pay that's why we needed higher wages.
But tell me whats the point to retrain and get high tertiary education or skillset if not for the purpose of getting a better paid job which leads to better & higher lifestyle? Wasn't that what our prime minister when he came to office wanted in the first place? "More good years" remember?
I'm not a trained economist, nor do I (or anyone outside of the Ruling Elite) have the data on hand to comment on whether the plan is good. However, all I can say is to remember that we have a government who, when the choice is between hurting it's own bottomline to help Singaporeans, or to maintain its bottomline and screw Singaporeans over, it will choose the latter option. Almost every time.
I feel the government should have a scheme to do a writeoff of maybe 10% of all outstanding housing loans amounts to HDB every 4-8years. Those HDB units which already fully paid would get a equivalent percentage cash back of the value of their homes.
This scheme should only be for Singaporeans, not for foreigners or PR's who bought HDB houses. If foreigners want to be part of this scheme then they should do some form of meaningful volunteer national service for a certain period and become singaporeans before the cutoff date.
With this writeoff it will take a huge financial burden off people's shoulders, put real money back into their pockets, boosts savings and spending which in turn will stimulate the economy over time.
This scheme will occasionally also put money back into the pockets of those getting on in their later years, it will help them continue to meet costs of living and medical expenses.
With the people's "unit costs" gone down it is then more justifiable for companies to lower wages of singaporeans across the board and this will present a more level playing field against the so called foreign talent.
what do you guys think of this idea?
If you really want to get an A for your school assignment, you should email the ministry of home affairs and ask for an interview with their head of public communications head.Originally posted by kY|e-_-o:hi guys.. sorry to ask for ur help... its not very related to military stuff.. but den.. i juz hope i can get some ideas from u guys.. hee
its for my sch assign...
what are the factors that is causing singaporeans to emigrate?
is the government doin enough to keep singaporeans here?
is it the problem of foreign talent?
is it our younger generation who do not have a sense of belonging to singapore and does not sees NS as a duty to the nation?
thanks for the help guys !!
but in this case I'm not talking welfare, the welfare bit is just a byproduct of the whole scheme. the main purpose is to find a way to lower "cost of singaporean" other than government shying away from the real truth and always giving excuses to bite this or that bullet, ask them to bite this bullet lah.Originally posted by Allendro:Yes they do - but you're not supposed to know that.
Also, the S'pore govt will never change this whole policy on handouts, cos they're too afraid of Singapore becoming a welfare state. Social welfare bleeds the state, but when you don't help enough, that's deplorable too. And there are more poor people in Singapore than most of us realise.
The govt never does anything out of altruism, it can't - it is a corporation. So you can be sure that if they were to ever give money back to the people, they'd make up for it in some other way.
write off part of the loan but still maintain the value of the HDB unit or simply devalue the HDB unit and readjust the loan payment?Originally posted by paulho:tell me why HDB cannot afford to write off part of the loans? Don't they have tons of money?
Any economist in the forum can tell us what's the effect if HDB writing off loans?
If HDB writes off part of the housing loan, it need not be inflationary.Originally posted by dkhoo:I can tell there are very few economists on this forum. A lot of the ideas on this thread are, well, just plain wrong.
About the HDB writing off loans: The net effect would be inflation, which would reduce everyone's real wealth. If the HDB wrote off loans, it would be the same as taxing everyone. That is also why the government cannot simply create more money to pay for everything (which writing off loans is a form of).
Increasing the supply of labor will bring down the price of labor (wages) only if the demand for labor remains static. However, the point of bringing in foreign labor is to encourage the creation of new industries and promote the growth of companies, increasing the demand for labor. If the rate of increase in the demand of labor due to the entry of foreign labor is greater than the rate of increase in the supply of labor, then real wages should increase. Econometric data indicates that this is so. The foreigners eat some of the pie, but they also make the pie bigger than the amount they ate. This is a matter of fact, not conjecture.
The problem here is psychological. When someone loses a job to a foreigner, the damage is visible and painful. But if that foreigner's presence increases the efficiency of the company enough to create two or three jobs elsewhere in the economy, it is difficult to credit the foreigner with it. The benefits are hence invisible and insensible. Therefore the anger against foreign labor.
As for the cost of living -- the relevant statistic is purchasing power parity-adjusted per capita GNP. That is roughly the average wage in the country compared to the level of prices in the country. Adjusted for purchasing power parity, Singapore is one of the richest countries in the world -- approximately equal to the UK. Prices here are high, but people earn a lot too. You can criticize the way they calculate the "price level" here, but if you compare the lifestyle of Singaporeans to those in the West, we do not lose out. Life is not a bed of roses in other countries just because their houses are cheaper.
Again, the problem here is psychological. It is easy to get angry about the fact your car and house cost 5x as much as in the West, but hard to be happy about the fact that everything else costs 20% less, even if the overall effect is that you pay less, since you spend only a little bit of your money on cars and houses over your lifetime. The price of credit is also very low here, so homes and cars are actually affordable -- invest the money you save from food, clothes, etc into the interest payments and you come out ahead. But again, it's easy to be angry about being in debt, even if the debt is cheap.
As for the government hoarding wealth -- I thought they have been running a deficit for 4 years straight? Where does this idea come from? In fact, I do not approve of the budget deficit, since it draws down our reserves. What are foreign reserves for? They help to stabilize our currency, which ensures that prices remain stable, creating wealth for everyone. The government doesn't hold on to the money for fun -- it has an important economic purpose. The government is not like a private person or even a company -- the money it holds on to has a totally different function in the economy. Remember -- the government has the special power to create money at any time.
Maybe they should teach basic economics in school. It would help a lot of people to understand what is going on. A real pity.
Yes, and in my view all due to high global commodity prices, cost push but not demand pull. Will soon retreat as Chinese economy is set to cool by 2H 2004.Originally posted by tripwire:we already have a mild inflation...