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Hello world!
9 months ago
Another jounalist to add to my "Don't-believe-list"
Posted: by fievel in Labels: Musing, politics, SingaporeInterestingly, Straits Times' choice of headlines in this article once again makes me wonder if they think we are collectively a stupid or dumb country. Why is the content of this article, "Former Reform Party member..." but the header "Reform Party man..." ??? It's slightly amusing actually.
Reform Party man wanted by US
By Elena Chong
FORMER Reform Party committee member Balraj Naidu made a brief court appearance on Tuesday for an extradition hearing which was adjourned until next Monday.
The businessman was arrested at his home last week and brought to court on a warrant of arrest.
He is wanted by the US Government on two terrorism-related charges and brokering an arms deal with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ellam (LTTE) .
No charge has been laid against him.
The request for his extradition was made around the middle of the year.
Family members of Mr Naidu were in court with his lawyer, who declined comment.
Australian House Prices May Rise Too Fast, RBA Says
2009-09-29 04:18:26.445 GMT
By Jacob Greber
Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Australian house prices may surge too fast, hurting low-income families seeking to buy or rent homes, said Anthony Richards, head of economic analysis at the Reserve Bank of Australia.
"Looking forward, the risk is that we might move toward undesirably strong growth in Australian housing prices," Richards said today at a housing conference in Sydney. "This raises a number of concerns, which seem to be widely shared in the community."
Australian house prices rose 4.2 percent in the second quarter from the previous three months, the first increase in five quarters, helped by the lowest borrowing costs in half a century and government grants to first-time buyers. Richards said it's "increasingly clear" Australia has avoided the large drops in property prices seen in other countries."This is a good thing, because of the macroeconomic difficulties that have accompanied those price falls in some countries," Richards said. Still, "when the price of housing rises, higher-income households tend to benefit at the expense of lower-income households," he said. "As a nation, we are not really any richer when the price of housing rises, but the more vulnerable tend to be hurt.
"We are in a situation where we would not want to see very strong growth in housing prices -- that would be unhelpful from a social perspective."
Interest Rates
Investors have an 84 percent expectation Governor Glenn Stevens will boost the overnight cash rate target in November by a quarter point to 3.25 percent, according to interbank futures on the Sydney Futures Exchange at 10:39 a.m. While the affordability of housing has improved this year, it will deteriorate when the central bank begins raising the overnight cash rate target from its 49-year low of 3 percent.
"As the bank has noted on a number of occasions, it is not reasonable to expect that interest rates will stay at the current low levels indefinitely," Richards said. "When they do rise toward more normal levels, discussions
on housing affordability will again focus more on the level of housing prices relative to income."
One way of ensuring affordability doesn't climb too fast is to boost supply of new homes.
"It is becoming well understood that supply side factors, in addition to the well-known demand side ones, have contributed to the relatively high level of housing prices in Australia," Richards said.
The challenge facing governments is to ensure more houses are built alongside slower growth in prices, "rather than vice versa," he said. Labor shortages may also emerge in the building industry as the economic recovery improves.
--Editors: John McCluskey, Michael Heath
To contact the reporter for this story:
Jacob Greber in Sydney at +61-2-9777-8635 or
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Dwyer at +65-6212-1130 or
HOPE, for A LIFE LESS ORDINARY
Posted: September 25, 2009 by fievel in Labels: A life less ordinary, Singapore
I realized that bad social circumstances can never be truly or genuinely empathized with by people outside of a situation, and so I decided it was useless going on and on about issues as our Ministers will probably be unable to even begin to apprehend, even if they tried.
In any case, I've decided to shift my blog more towards the theme of HOPE. I have had the good fortune of seeing what life can be like outside of Singapore first hand. Although the world is smaller now and many of us have been around the globe on holidays and stuff, I believe that it takes a person to actually experience working and living abroad to know the good and bad and decide for themselves if this Singapore lifestyle of slogging your whole life away for a bare-minimum set of house, car and retirement savings is truly all the potential life has in store for him or herself.
As cliched as it may sound, I find many Singaporeans' stories to truly be the case of a frog dying, slowly but surely and unknowingly, in a pot of water slowly brought to boil.
I do not know if my intention will be achievable, or whether the stories will be inspiring or if it will be to the opposite, but I intend to document the stories of some ordinary Singaporeans who have managed to, as Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong once said, "quit" Singapore.
This series of interviews and stories will be under the label, "A Life Less Ordinary". So look out for it!
As you can see, after nearly a month, the online petition has succeeded in getting the targeted 1000 signatures. I highly doubt that this will change the tune within MND, HDB or that of Mr Mah Bow Tan; but let it be known to them and him, that out there in our tiny island country, while these decision and policy makers are sleeping soundly in their multi-million bungalows, there is an arising discontent with their irresponsible actions.
Aerosmith - Living on the Edge (dedicated to Singapore's leaders)
Posted: September 16, 2009 by fievel in Labels: Music, politics, SingaporeThere's somethin' wrong with the world today
I don't know what it is
I don't know what it is
Something's wrong with our eyes
We're seeing things in a different way
And God knows it ain't His
It sure ain't no surprise
We're livin' on the edge
We're livin' on the edge
We're livin' on the edge
We're livin' on the edge
We're livin' on the edge
There's somethin' wrong with the world today
The light bulb's gettin' dim
There's meltdown in the sky
If you can judge a wise man
By the color of his skin
Then mister you're a better man that I
We're livin' on the edge
You can't help yourself from fallin'
Livin' on the edge
You can't help yourself at all
Livin' on the edge
You can't stop yourself from fallin'
Livin' on the edge
Tell me what you think about your sit-u-a-tion
Complication - aggravation
Is getting to you
If chicken little tells you that the sky is fallin'
Even if it wasn't would you still come crawlin'
Back again?
I bet you would my friend
Again & again & again & again & again
Tell me what you think about your sit-u-a-tion
Complication - aggravation
Is getting to you
If chicken little tells you that the sky is fallin'
Even if it was would would you still come crawlin'
Back again?
I bet you would my friend
Again & again & again & again
There's something right with the world today
And everybody knows it's wrong
But we can tell 'em no or we could let it go
But I would rather be a hanging on
Livin' On the Edge
You can't help yourself from fallin'
Livin' On the Edge
You can't help yourself at all
Livin' On the Edge
You can't stop yourself from fallin'
Livin' On the Edge
Livin' On the Edge
Livin' On the Edge
Livin' On the Edge
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
A rather meaningful comment that says it all...
Posted: by fievel in Labels: Housing, politics, SingaporeJust saw a latest signature number 605 on the Online Petition for affordable housing for Singapore...here it is...
8:57 pm PDT, Sep 15, Singaporean Citizen, Singapore
The two biggest expenditure items for any Singaporean will always be housing and transportation. Most are working a lifetime to pay off debts and just making by each day. By putting citizens into debt, it makes them easier to "control". There are a few papers and books discussing this issue of debt as a new form of slavery. I also do not subscribe to the notion of "willing buyer - willing seller". There are cultural norms that are more or less imposed on us by parents and peers. Taking a middle class example of a male university graduate who graduated at the age of 25. He and his significant other have at or about 5 to 8 years to save up for housing and marriage. Upon commiting to marriage, cash and cpf sums are wiped out. They will stay wiped out for the next 10 years at least. With kids, it will take a much longer period to even see your savings account grow. Many buyers in the current HDB resale and new DBSS market are paying such prices because the only other alternative is to stay with parents. Staying with parents just opens a whole new can of worms. I want to put off buying a house for now. But we are not that young any more. Buying a BTO project and waiting 4/5 years is a option as a last resort. Buying resale requires large sums of cash for COV, which is something I do not have. This property appreciation business does not benefit the vast majority. How many people are able to sell their homes and realise the gains? I do not know what is the best course of action now, except to wait. My relationship is strained as me and my girlfriend are left in limbo and unable to properly start a new family nucleus. There are many counter arguments to the above points. But taking a step back, it can be acknowledged that the situation is far from acceptable. What steps is the government going to take? What actions are we, the citizens, going to take?