ST Forum Letter: Slower growth will cause SG’s downfall

[makapaaa]

[h=2]ST Forum Letter: Slower growth will cause SG’s downfall[/h]

November 14th, 2012 |

Author: Contributions

I SIMPLY cannot understand why some Singaporeans are so myopic as to opt for slow growth, when the consequences are bound to haunt them in the long run (“Can Singapore adjust to a low-growth paradigm?”; yesterday).
To avoid the stressful pace of a competitive environment, Singaporeans are pressuring the Government to opt for slower growth and fewer foreign workers.
Up to now, there has been no sign of a mass exodus of multinational corporations and small and medium-sized enterprises out of the country.
So people fail to realise that although a slower pace of life may benefit them now, there are dire consequences in the long run when these companies leave Singapore.
Such a scenario will leave us with fewer jobs, lower income and a poorer standard of living.
Our future generations may, instead of being grateful to us for helping them to achieve a slower pace of life, accuse us of causing them to face unemployment and lower standards of living.
Slower growth means less government revenue, which in turn means lower subsidies for the needy. This leads to a self-reinforcing vicious circle, where fewer foreign investments come in because the country has become increasingly unattractive.
So when will Singaporeans stop being so narrow-minded and realise that their current demands may cause their downfall in the future?
.
Kee Soon Leong
* The letter was first published on ST Forum (14 Nov).

 

[Bigfuck]

I simply fail to understand how stupid myopic Leegime dogs. Fail maths fail simulation fail everything. By claiming that all other Singaporean are daft Leegime needs to be taken off the streets. In the long run we are all dead but for Leegime in the short to mid term, you will be par se. All future generation will accuse most Singaporeans why they did not remove the Leegime completely. This part of the textbook is written. I am afraid the Leegime's future generations will be marked for good.

 

[blackreplica]

Written by another PAP wannabe loser sycophant. a 20 something year old loser fresh grad and guess what he works in the civil disservice line

Probably masturbating to LKY as we speak

Facebook page here:

http://www.facebook.com/darryl.kee

Would you expect any less than this from a fucktard like him?

Wonder which cocksucker in SPH decided to do a little brown-nosing to further his career, and print the letter.

 

[Leongsam]

I agree that the Singapore economy needs to keep growing.

The problem thus far is that the PAP hasn't figured out a long term growth strategy that does not require growing the population at the same time.

This ponzi scheme cannot go on forever. To sustain the current rate, the population will end up well over the 10 million figure in 10 years time.

Singapore cannot overcome the laws of physics. There is only so much matter of a specific density that can be squeezed into a defined space. Something has to give.

 

[tualingong]

how is HITLER relevant to the article?

 

[mscitw]

Leong-zai, is a typical Cantonese vermin mated with some Commie PRC Central Party School crank.

Commie PRC style fast growth, you allow industrialists to pollute the environment, allow robber barons to cut corners in safety & quality, allow foreign merchants to exploit local peasants. Does Leong-zai wants the Commie PRC style 7% made believe growth?

If Leong-zai is retrenched and replaced with a cheaper Pinoy, PRC or Paki, he probably be less generous and will write another long arty farty letter to moans about foreign parasites. Such is East Asiatic human nature.

Persistent dependence on foreign investment is a sign that Ruler Loong is unable to solve the overreliance on foreign economic rent extraction.

A faster pace of life with initial material benefits is useless if one is plagued with all kinds of diseases, suffer bad environment or battle with foreign leeches just to get into trains. Only Familee gets the good life and gracious deaths, do Leong-zai think Ruler Loong will send 5 maids to wait on his mum?

Ho Jinx is a better excuse for lesser regime revenue. What Ho Jinx and Old Autocrat lost in 2008 is enough to build 25 IRs in 25 peasant neighbourhood.

So when will Leong-zai stop being so narrow-minded and exhort peasants to be serfs for Ruler Loong? Ruler Loong takes home 3 million dollars annually, he has to solve the problem of low growth and peasants' aspiration. Ruler Loong should not get ghost writers, especially callous Cantonese like Leong-zai, to contribute bad articles, he probably encourage Penang Laksa to build Hongki style birdcages to solve the rental pigeonhole problem.

 

[chonburifc]

Slower growth means less government revenue, which in turn means lower subsidies for the needy.

SMLJ logic is this?? :*:

Slower growth means less capital for Ho Jinx to play blind folded baccarat.

 

[Clone]

Man U supporters are all fair weather fans.

 

[myo539]

I agree that the Singapore economy needs to keep growing.

The problem thus far is that the PAP hasn't figured out a long term growth strategy that does not require growing the population at the same time.

This ponzi scheme cannot go on forever. To sustain the current rate, the population will end up well over the 10 million figure in 10 years time.

Singapore cannot overcome the laws of physics. There is only so much matter of a specific density that can be squeezed into a defined space. Something has to give.

Austrialians are so kind people - they are so sympathetic even to sheep that are destined to be beheaded even though they are no longer their owner. They demand that the sheep have to have proper housing, proper food and big enough space before being beheaded.

When the time comes, can the kind Australians give us Western Australia? We can help to turn the desert into rice fields.

 

[Leepotism]

One Francis Quek had written to rebut this porlampar Leong.

Stay on course, Singapore

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Having two foreign workers sweep up a tiny pile of leaves - one to wield the broom and the other, the dustpan - is gross inefficiency. -- PHOTO: FRANCIS QUEK



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MEASURES to tighten the inflow of foreign workers have predictably raised the hackles of businessmen accustomed to cheap labour ("NMP's plea: Help SMEs adapt to change"; Tuesday).
Some warn of a stark choice between growth and prosperity on the one hand, and stagnation and decline on the other. Others threaten to decamp to locales with more lax labour laws.
The real debate is not about the desirability of economic growth but its sources and quality.
Experience in recent years has shown us too clearly that the massive intake of foreign labour to boost headline gross domestic product (GDP) is unsustainable.
This path will come up against physical constraints and, in time, foreign labour will no longer be cheap.
Such a policy also imposes unacceptable social costs (overcrowding, income inequality, social disaffection) and, in the long run, is detrimental to economic development; businesses addicted to cheap labour have no incentive to invest in productivity.
Living in an apartment ringed by no fewer than five construction sites, I am a witness to the gross inefficiencies of the construction sector, perhaps the single largest employer of low-wage foreign labour.
For example, do we really need two foreign workers to sweep up a tiny pile of leaves - one to wield a broom and the other to stand by a dustpan?
If we were concerned simply with headline GDP per se, then we should take frequent MRT breakdowns in our stride since they generate demand for better-qualified and higher-paid engineers, more maintenance workers, and additional layers of oversight and regulation, all of which create "work" and hence boost GDP numbers.
This is no different from countries experiencing a GDP bounce as they rebuild after a nuclear meltdown or storm devastation.
But this cannot be the kind of growth we desire.
I would much prefer a reliable public transport system with minimal train disruptions.
Farmers welcome the winter frost to rid their fields of weeds and pests.
In the same vein, necessary economic restructuring, though wrenching to some in the short term, ultimately benefits us all.
It stops inefficient, unproductive companies from soaking up scarce resources and raising costs for more nimble and innovative firms that can put those same resources to better use.
Businesses, whether foreign or local, large or small, are not confronted with a choice between high or low growth but a chance to shape up or ship out.
Francis Quek

 

[Extremist]

I agree that the Singapore economy needs to keep growing.

The problem thus far is that the PAP hasn't figured out a long term growth strategy that does not require growing the population at the same time.

This ponzi scheme cannot go on forever. To sustain the current rate, the population will end up well over the 10 million figure in 10 years time.

Singapore cannot overcome the laws of physics. There is only so much matter of a specific density that can be squeezed into a defined space. Something has to give.

They have already figured it out by introducing the 2 casinos

 

[Leongsam]

They have already figured it out by introducing the 2 casinos

2 casinos is not growth. 2 new casinos a year is growth.

 

[Valdez]

Seemed like most prefer no growth at all. Can you imagine the consequence. ? Scary?