HDB: Myths & Truth I

[aurvandil]

I think the opposition should ditch their plans to attack shortie Mah in Tampines on the issue of housing affordability. Better to concentrate on Aljunied and Jurong since they gave the game away by indicating that they will increase conservancy fees. In fact the opposition should play the populist by promising not only are they not going to increase fees if elected but they will use the MP allowance to subsidized the town council.....at least it shows the people they have more heart then those money grubbers PAP dogs...

Aljunied is already covered by WP. LTK has been waiting patiently and the fruit looks ripe.

For Jurong, I understand that it will be contested as well.

 

[Zombie]

It has been more than 2 weeks since I sent in my email to MOF to obtain the data/methodology for Mr Tharman’s statement in Parliament which said that poor income families in Singapore would be helped to the sum of $460,000. In spite of sending reminder, I have yet to receive a response.

"can receive transfers" does not necessarily mean "would be helped"...



http://app.mfa.gov.sg/pr/read_content.asp?View,14623,

Straits Times (5 March 2010) - S$460,000 for a family

Mar 5, 2010

$460,000 for a family

A LOW-income family of four can receive transfers from the Government totalling about $460,000 over a lifetime, Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said yesterday.

This is based on the assumption that the husband and wife are currently in their mid-20s. The husband earns $1,000, while the wife earns $500 from part-time work.

The couple buy a three-room HDB flat for about $200,000 near their parents and have two children, one of whom will go to a polytechnic and the other to ITE.

Over their working lives, they experience several periods of unemployment and also undergo retraining. The family also occasionally seeks medical treatment.

The $460,000 consists of the following packages:

# Childcare: Childcare and student care subsidies, plus matched savings from the Government for the children's developmental needs.

# Education: Financial assistance for students at all levels in the form of primary, secondary, ITE and polytechnic bursaries. Also includes top-ups to the students' Edusave accounts.

# Training: Course fee subsidies for Workforce Development Agency-approved courses, and bonus payments received when training under the new Workfare Training Supplement scheme is completed.

# Housing: Housing grant provided to Singaporean households upon the purchase of resale flats, in particular the Additional Housing Grant for lower- and middle-income households. Also includes the interest subsidy on the concessionary loan from the Housing Board for the housing mortgage.

# Retirement: The CPF component of the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS), from which older low-wage workers can benefit, to boost their retirement funds.

# Cash benefits: Cash supplements from the WIS and financial assistance for families in financial distress.

# Health care: Means-tested subsidies in public hospitals and polyclinics, and step-down care institutions, such as nursing homes and community hospitals. Low-income families can also tap Medifund.

# Marriage and parenthood: Baby bonus cash incentives, as well as government-paid childcare and maternity leave.

 

[Frankiestine]

Aljunied is already covered by WP. LTK has been waiting patiently and the fruit looks ripe.

For Jurong, I understand that it will be contested as well.

I always felt that the opposition should just unite and join forces. Is Singapore so big that you need so many different parties?

 

[aurvandil]

"can receive transfers" does not necessarily mean "would be helped"...

That is very "chiem". What exactly are you trying to say?

On the listing of what goes into the $460k, you can get exactly what Mr Tharman said from Hansard. We would probably want to do this to avoid the "misquote" problem.

The question however remainis: how does it all add up to $460k?

For the $460k to be meaningful, we need to know

1) What are the assumptions/conditions made?
2) How much is being given out for each item?

It is of course understandable that Mr Tharman could not have gone through in such detail during the limited time in Parliament. What is not understandable is why, after saying it in Parliament, he would refuse to release these details.

 

[aurvandil]

I always felt that the opposition should just unite and join forces. Is Singapore so big that you need so many different parties?

Different opposition parties have different strategies on how to get elected. In the coming months, you will see something quite unexpected with regard to Opposition unity.