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the day there is a free market in Singapore is going to be some time after the PAP have sank into obscurity and dissolved. You know it; I know it; anybody who has lived in Singapore for more than a few days knows it. There is a persistent story among entrepreneurs, warning of becoming too successful. “If you become successful, say, above S$5 or S$10 million a year, without yourself having any ties to members of Parliament or other Government officials, you will quickly find that you have a new competitor. The new firm does exactly what you do, for half or a third the price you charge. Even if you cut your prices to cover just your bare costs, this new competitor will lower prices to keep the ratio constant. Walk away. After you either walk away or get run out of business, the company you were formerly competing with will raise its prices above your original prices and, through breathless stories in State-controlled media, lay on a story about how it has the full confidence of Important Members of the Government. You can’t win; your only hope is to stay small enough with each of several firms you run that you collectively fly under their radar.”
There’s a term for that in English, but it’s completely unrelated to the concept of a “free market.”
There’s a term for that in English, but it’s completely unrelated to the concept of a “free market.”