I will just have to focus in general on what you have said.
Firstly, you said that immigration policies need to be based on the economy and you said that you are no economist, yet you tried to spew as much BS as you can. The economy, in particular the labour market segment which we are talking about here, is not just determined by employment figures. Any self-respecting economist would take a deeper look at what the figures are composed of and take them into consideration with other factors like whether the real income level is rising or falling. High unemployment is just one aspect of a screwed-up economy. You can screw up an economy as well if real wages are falling drastically even though there may be full employment, as what happens when there is hyper-inflation.
If I was an economist I would be dealing it in dollars and cents. I'm discussing this base on common sense
Simple math, 3 - 1 = 2
The numbers are as follows
Singapore Total population: 4.9m
Singapore Resident Population: 3.7m
We have 1.2m pple on work permit here
4.9m - 3.7m = 1.2m
Singapore Unemployment rate 3.2%
Assuming the unemployment are all locals, unemployment numbers is 3.2% * 3.7m = 118,400
Even if we have 0% unemployment rate, we are still short of 1.08m workers in SG!!!!
1.2m - 118,400 = 1,081,600
Care to explain how U intend to make up for the shortfall after we chase out all the FTs
I have never said anything about depressing wages. You were the first one to bring this up.
It was a passing comment referring to the state of my pay to SIFU then anything else. U were implying that I wanted wages to be depressed which is why we should import more FTs.
According to your logic, we need to import more foreigners to depress his pay further since there is no unemployment.
I never put it across that way
I was pointing out that low unemployment does not mean that people's lives are improving or at least maintained at the same standard. And it certainly doesn't mean that there is a lack of workers. It may just mean that people are resigned to lowering their expectations and accepting lower salaries. This is an especially crucial consideration since SG is not exactly your generous welfare state.
Are we really worse off then we are then 10 yrs ago?
Median Household income
1999 - 3800
2008 - 5480
http://www.singstat.gov.sg/pubn/papers/people/op-s15.pdf
At the same time, mobile and broadband levels have gone up and the demand for larger apartments have also gone up, meaning the general quality of life, as far as material assets are concern, is actually on the rise. The problem for depressed wages doesn't so much affect the majority, its the poorest who suffers. I agree, something needs to be done, but the situation is nowhere near as bad as U put it
Why do we need to compare infrastructure issues with other cities? What matters is what the citizens feel with regards to their comfort. If they feel it is inadequate, it is inadequate, period. No need to tell them to compare with elsewhere. It is the people of SG who vote the SG government in, not the people in other countries. So if they are unhappy, they certainly do not need to compare with other countries before questioning the government.
OK so lets not compare to another country. Lets look at basic infrastructure.
Power Supply: We usually have constant power supplied to our homes do not have frequent blackouts so power grid is sufficient
Water Supply: Same as above, although told to save water, we are nowhere near the point where we actually need to ration water
Mobile/Phone/broadband Services: The country is more then 99% mobile accessible and except for high mobile traffic taking place at the same time(e.g. everyone in the country sending New Year greeting to each other at the same place at the same time which no country in the world can avoid) we do not usually have any problems
Transportation: Yes Buses and MRTs are more crowd then they used to be, but U can generally still get from point A to B without any issues. We have slow traffic during peak hours but 99% of the time cars still move only at a slower pace.
In that sense the local infrastructure is more then adequate inspite of how U may feel.
Lastly, the pertinent question I am putting to you is how does your grandfather migrating to SG have any bearing on how we should draft our immigration policies? You are certainly very evasive, trying to hide the lack of an answer in your verbose reply.
Any sane Sinkie will tell you that he couldn't care less whatever your grandfather did in those days. Doesn't matter what is the topic we are discussing except maybe why you are so dense.
No and I never mention it does. I only used the example of Grandpa to state why we should treat new citizens like one of us. I have never said my Grandpa had any bearings on immigration issues, U must have misinterpreted my meaning. My surname isn't Lee BTW.
I brought up the example of Grandpa to defend the example of a new citizen in another thread and drawing similarities to when the conditions when he came here. I have never stated in any capacity that my grandfather have any bearings to immigration policies.
As I've pointed out to SIFU, not many of us, in fact the majority of us, the likely hood that our ancestors came to SG was after WWII to just before independence. I have to admit I was partially wrong after reading more into it last night. It should be after WWII and before the 80s. So whether U realize it or not, about 1/3 of our population came into SG,
AFTER independence(I'm taking the figures between!!!
SG population 1965 - 1.8million
SG population 2000 - 3.2 million
Reason why I took 2000 is because its around that time that the immigration rules were liberalized and the population sky rocketed between 2000-2005
Bearing in mind that the population growth in SG came to a virtual standstill in the 70s, "thanks" to PAP's stop at 2 program, the population growth was almost 100% based on migration. So hating the "new citizens" is pretty stupid since 40-50% of the pple in post independent SG are basically "new citizens". It's even dumber to be condemning kids of new citizens WHO WERE ACTUALLY BORN HERE since probably close to 80-90% of our dads or the population are 2nd gen Singaporeans
I do not agree with the general view of New Citizens in here. I feel we should treat them like one of us. I have no issue whatsoever if U want to take it out on PRs(especially those who die die dun want to turn citizens) or Foreign workers. However I want to point out the fact that not liking them and not needing them are 2 different matters.
