Re: Employers Should Shut The Fuck Up. Cannot Pay n Exploit, Don't Say We Dont Want J
for a start, the govt can reduce the costs associated / stemming from it.
1. e.g. lower the pay of the civil service.
the stat boards are still giving more than 1 months' bonus when the private sector is slashing wages, doing more drastic stuff.
ministers drawing salaries comparable to Obama - to govern a little red dot not even half the size of the US.
and we have so many mayors, my goodness me.
we don't even have to get started on the case of the alleged 8month bonus for a certain CDC staff.
gst is 7% - why cannot lower this? because the govt needs the $?
Civil servants have already taken a wage cut and so have the PAP MPs and ministers. I don't think there are any outlandish bonuses being paid out by stat boards. I'll be surprised if they were paid more than 1 month.
2. hdb prices
in a span of 3-5 years, i have seen the prices of hdb units being sold first-hand by the hdb gone up by at least 20%.
this works out to annualised increase of at least 6% p.a. .
did inflation in S'pore hit 6% p.a. ?
i dont think the CPI ever hit that.
so does it mean that the hdb is attempting to increase its profit margin?
i don't know what else to call it.
i guess the HDB can lower or slash their prices by 20% and lower valuation accordingly. How happy do you reckon Sinkees who bought their units at the peak would be with this move?
3. min. wage
biggest loser are not just the middleclass.
biggest losers = those who refuse to do or learn DIY skills.
if anyone refuse to learn or do the simplest of things, the alternative would be to pay someone else to do it, simple logic.
if u cannot or do not want to pay, then just learn and do it yourself.
who knows, maybe this might just solve some of our overdependency on the maids.
I fully agree with you on the DIY skills. But again I don't see how this is related to min wage. If you have DIY skills like servicing of air-con or an electrician you wouldn't worry about min wage.
4. back to your "hawker fare" example
hint: to whom do the hawkers (at wet markets, in particular) pay their rental + misc other charges to ?
If we privatise the ownership of the hdb shop houses there is no guarantee the costs will be lower and it might in fact be a lot higher.
But my point was if you keep rent and utilities the same and increase labour cost by way of minimum wage.. the overhead to the hawker goes up (same effect as gst increase). The hawker can then do 2 things about it :- 1. Absorb the costs and take in lower revenue OR 2. Pass the added cost to the customer. What do you think the hawker would do??
your examples, i think, treat singapore as a closed economy.
i see singapore as an open economy - with artificial inflation - caused by extra cost layers (some of which are imposed by and can be adjusted by, the government / administration).
On the contrary, if you legislate minimum wage Singapore WILL become a closed economy. Most SME will fold or relocate elsewhere along with the MNCs. They you would have a minimum wage policy with ZERO wages as most Sinkees would then be out of a job.
