<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>And no mention of the thousands of Sporns who lost money in DBAss Hi-Notes and Lieman Consters' Minibonds, due to the ex-Finance Minister CHOR BOH LAN!
With financial chaos all around, Singapore may be the safest place
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->THE world has become quite an intriguing place recently.
Banks and financial institutions are falling like flies and dominoes around the world. Most stock markets around the world have lost 5 per cent or more in the past few days. The 30-plus years of Malaysia's ruling party may soon come to an end and democracy is almost as good as gone in Thailand. While the world is still trying to recover from the recent spike in energy and food prices, another financial tsunami seems set to sweep across the globe.
What has the world become if its leading banks and insurance companies, with their best analysts and actuaries, are unable to assess their own risk profile correctly? As an insurance giant, AIG's systemic risk is often mistaken for idiosyncratic risk. Systemic risk is a moving target, never constant, just like the entire market value and its indices. The scale, magnitude and complexity of the problem will never be easily quantified.
Ten years have passed since the Asian financial crisis and the tables have turned as the United States government tries to cover pothole after pothole in its financial system. With more than US$3 trillion (S$4.2 trillion) spent on the two wars, almost US$1 trillion spent on the housing bubble and financial crisis, a trade deficit just below US$1 trillion and uncontrolled consumerism, the once great American economy and American people will soon find their American Dream turning into the American Nightmare.
May be it is just chaos theory, which simply states that, given time, the only certainty in life is inevitable change or evolution.
How the world has changed, when discussion of babies now is about taking out a calculator and punching in the amount of savings and cash we get in the Singapore government's procreation package. While some Singaporeans often complain that their lives are controlled by the authorities here, no one complains when cash incentives are involved.
One of my friends commented: 'As the world goes terribly wrong around us, Singaporeans are worried only about where the next foreign workers' dormitory will be.'
We can all sleep well because there is a giant invisible protective cover hovering over this tiny island. With a diversified economy and a huge war chest to fend off most problems, the real dream paradise in the world may be right on our door step. Syu Ying Kwok
With financial chaos all around, Singapore may be the safest place
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><!-- show image if available --></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->THE world has become quite an intriguing place recently.
Banks and financial institutions are falling like flies and dominoes around the world. Most stock markets around the world have lost 5 per cent or more in the past few days. The 30-plus years of Malaysia's ruling party may soon come to an end and democracy is almost as good as gone in Thailand. While the world is still trying to recover from the recent spike in energy and food prices, another financial tsunami seems set to sweep across the globe.
What has the world become if its leading banks and insurance companies, with their best analysts and actuaries, are unable to assess their own risk profile correctly? As an insurance giant, AIG's systemic risk is often mistaken for idiosyncratic risk. Systemic risk is a moving target, never constant, just like the entire market value and its indices. The scale, magnitude and complexity of the problem will never be easily quantified.
Ten years have passed since the Asian financial crisis and the tables have turned as the United States government tries to cover pothole after pothole in its financial system. With more than US$3 trillion (S$4.2 trillion) spent on the two wars, almost US$1 trillion spent on the housing bubble and financial crisis, a trade deficit just below US$1 trillion and uncontrolled consumerism, the once great American economy and American people will soon find their American Dream turning into the American Nightmare.
May be it is just chaos theory, which simply states that, given time, the only certainty in life is inevitable change or evolution.
How the world has changed, when discussion of babies now is about taking out a calculator and punching in the amount of savings and cash we get in the Singapore government's procreation package. While some Singaporeans often complain that their lives are controlled by the authorities here, no one complains when cash incentives are involved.
One of my friends commented: 'As the world goes terribly wrong around us, Singaporeans are worried only about where the next foreign workers' dormitory will be.'
We can all sleep well because there is a giant invisible protective cover hovering over this tiny island. With a diversified economy and a huge war chest to fend off most problems, the real dream paradise in the world may be right on our door step. Syu Ying Kwok
