Who Moved My Singapore Cheese

Check out the audacity of PAP in their latest fantasy play with GDP desires.
I think there comes a point when the Singaporeans need to stand up and say "enough is enough!". And if putting a nuclear plant on our little island is not that time, then I say to those of you who share my sentiments, let's get the hell out of here because this is no longer the Singapore you and I knew. Nuclear power on a 30 by 40km island?!?! How much dumber does it have to get?

The stupid REALLY just got dumber. They want to put nuclear on Singapore...little red dot gonna become little yellow radioactive dot...things are truly getting out of hand. And if the past effectiveness of this incumbent group of politicians are anything to go by, a nuclear plant will be built before you can even pack up your luggages.

I will be the first to start a public protest if Lee Hsien Loong and S R Nathan decides to pursue this dumbass plan of Tharman and co.

The blindless pursuit of GDP number will now literally kill us all.



Singapore Mulls Nuclear Power, Fewer Foreigners, Minister Says
2010-02-01 06:00:00.8 GMT


By Shamim Adam
Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Singapore should consider using
nuclear power and depend less on foreign workers in its efforts
to transform the economy in the next decade, a government-
appointed panel said.
The city state must aim to double its productivity rate in
the next decade and encourage companies to expand abroad to spur
growth after emerging from a recession last year, Finance
Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who heads the Economic
Strategies Committee, said in Singapore today. The
recommendations have been accepted by the government and will be
addressed in the budget to be unveiled on Feb. 22, he said.
Singapore is seeking ways to ensure its economy expands in
a more sustained manner after three recessions in the past
decade, with its most recent slump the deepest since
independence in 1965. The government has said it wants to boost
productivity to make up for an anticipated slowdown in growth as
the nation becomes more developed.
The panel today announced seven proposals to restructure
the economy. They include making the city state a hub for global
companies seeking to expand in Asia, improving energy security
and being more flexible in land usage.
The committee urged the government to study using nuclear
energy as a future source of power and the import of coal and
electricity. It also recommended the creation of a “waterfront
city” on existing port facilities run by the Port Authority of
Singapore in the southern part of the island when the lease
expires in 2027.

Foreign Workers

The government plans to reduce the Southeast Asian island’s
dependence on foreign workers by raising levies imposed on
employers hiring overseas labor in a “gradual and phased
manner,” Shanmugaratnam said. Policy makers will seek to
maintain the foreign labor force at the current level of about
one-third of the total workforce, he said.
Singapore has been looking at ways to restructure its
economy since 2001, with the government-appointed Economic
Review Committee that preceded the current panel urging changes
to policies relating to taxation, wages and new industries to
draw more investments.
That led to the promotion of industries such as
pharmaceutical manufacturing, biotechnology research and wealth
management to offset slowing electronics exports. Singapore’s
efforts to be a more competitive place to do business has also
seen it shave 9 percentage points off the corporate tax rate
since 2000.
Singapore may grow at a slower annual pace compared with
the average 5 percent expansion of the past decade because the
$182 billion economy is more developed now, Prime Minister Lee
Hsien Loong said last week. Gross domestic product may grow 3
percent to 5 percent in 2010, after a 2.1 percent contraction
last year, the government forecasts.

Boosting Income

“We have to do it so that progressively and inexorably,
our economy will be transformed,” Lee said Jan. 25. “Then,
provided we can raise our productivity, even if our total GDP
grows more slowly, our workers can become more productive and
our income per capita can continue to rise.”
Singapore’s productivity rate lags behind that of the U.S.,
Japan and other countries, the panel said today. Productivity in
manufacturing and services are about 55 percent to 65 percent of
the levels in the U.S. and Japan, it said.
Productivity growth of between 2 percent and 3 percent
annually will help GDP increase by 3 percent and 5 percent per
annum in the next 10 years, the panel said. The rate averaged 1
percent in the last decade.

Global-Asia Hub

“We have significant room to increase productivity in
every sector of our economy,” the panel said in a report.
“This shift to productivity-driven growth will require major
new investments in the skills, expertise and innovative
capabilities of our people and businesses over the next
decade.”
The country is targeting as much as S$12 billion in fixed-
asset investments this year, after attracting S$11.8 billion in
2009.
Singapore should aim to be a “key Global-Asia hub for
global players seeking to tap opportunities offered by a rising
Asia, and for Asian enterprises looking to expand beyond their
home markets,” the panel said.
Singapore’s manufacturing industry makes up about a quarter
of the economy and its dependence on electronics and
pharmaceutical exports has made it vulnerable to fluctuations in
global demand and business cycles. That pushed it into a deeper
recession than many neighbors in last year’s global slump.
The government aims to keep its manufacturing industry an
“integral” part of the economy even as it seeks new strategies
to help it grow faster than other advanced countries, Trade
Minister Lim Hng Kiang said in November.

Complex Manufacturing

“High value and complex manufacturing generates good jobs
with diverse skill requirements, provide opportunities for
constant upgrading and stimulated demand for sophisticated
services,” the panel said, recommending that the industry
continue to contribute as much as 25 percent of GDP. “We should
continue the shift into complex manufacturing.”
The panel recommended fostering the growth of local
companies. There were about 530 Singapore companies that had
revenue of more than S$100 million as of 2007, and the target is
to create 1,000 such enterprises by 2020, the panel said.
The government should help companies expand abroad by
forming institutions such as an export-import bank and export
credit agencies, the panel said.
The panel recommends that the government develop an
“underground master plan” to create more space as there may be
limits to how much land it can reclaim, it said.