
ScoobyDoes wrote:touchring wrote: In the medium term, as the economies in the West improve, interest rates will rise, the US$, Euro and Pound will appreciate significantly against Asian currencies, people will start leaving for better pay back home regardless of how "pro-foreigner" the government policies are in Singapore. This is something that is inevitable and the Singapore government recognizes that.
This isn't an inevitability.
It's cliché but there are things money can't buy and it will take a very good effort for Singapore to degenerate into an environment that makes everywhere in the 'West' look good again.
It has time to prevent that, but significant changes to the population size and car numbers are required to keep a lifestyle in place that people still want. If Singapore becomes 'just another city' it's finished.
ScoobyDoes wrote:If Singapore could up its efficiency it wouldn't need many of the import labour and could improve GDP with less than it has now.
The government is bringing in programs to boost efficiency but as long as labour is cheaper, without large capital expenditure, then cash flow and profit for local companies will remain. There is little in the way in incentive.
It is wrong to think the island 'needs' population growth - it needs to work smarter.
I always see all those programs for SMEs to improve efficiency with IT... but frankly, if your company is very small (less than 20), there is simply no way one would save significant manpower by implementing IT. If they actually worked more efficiently, who knows, maybe they could employ fewer people - for example, in F&B.ScoobyDoes wrote:If Singapore could up its efficiency it wouldn't need many of the import labour and could improve GDP with less than it has now.
The government is bringing in programs to boost efficiency but as long as labour is cheaper, without large capital expenditure, then cash flow and profit for local companies will remain. There is little in the way in incentive.
It is wrong to think the island 'needs' population growth - it needs to work smarter.
Now, the key problem with both productivity and the near-mythical 'innovation' here is the mindset of the workforce. I've been temporarily staying in quite a few countries and what strikes me the most about today's Singapore is that almost nobody seems to believe in what they do.touchring wrote:ScoobyDoes wrote:touchring wrote: In the medium term, as the economies in the West improve, interest rates will rise, the US$, Euro and Pound will appreciate significantly against Asian currencies, people will start leaving for better pay back home regardless of how "pro-foreigner" the government policies are in Singapore. This is something that is inevitable and the Singapore government recognizes that.
This isn't an inevitability.
It's cliché but there are things money can't buy and it will take a very good effort for Singapore to degenerate into an environment that makes everywhere in the 'West' look good again.
It has time to prevent that, but significant changes to the population size and car numbers are required to keep a lifestyle in place that people still want. If Singapore becomes 'just another city' it's finished.
Until now, Singapore has been following the China SimCity style of development by bringing as many people into the city as possible, the rich, blue collar workers, professionals. This is how the Beijing and Shanghai grew as population doubled in the last 20 years.
But unlike Shanghai and Beijing which can expand outwards, Singapore is only a small island. Singapore needs a population growth of 2% a year to avoid falling into recession.
At this rate, in 10 years, Singapore will have another 1.2 million people out of which probably 10%, 120,000 are high income earners or wealthy individuals all wanting to buy a car and a COE.
At 2% growth a year, by 2033, Singapore will have over 8 million people, and by then, only reasonably wealthy individuals can afford to own a car when the 10 year COE which will cost perhaps half a million dollars in today's money?
Even a primary school kid knows this is unsustainable.
A certain political party turned this society into one of the most risk adverse I've known.disenchanted wrote:Now, the key problem with both productivity and the near-mythical 'innovation' here is the mindset of the workforce. I've been temporarily staying in quite a few countries and what strikes me the most about today's Singapore is that almost nobody seems to believe in what they do.touchring wrote:ScoobyDoes wrote:
This isn't an inevitability.
It's cliché but there are things money can't buy and it will take a very good effort for Singapore to degenerate into an environment that makes everywhere in the 'West' look good again.
It has time to prevent that, but significant changes to the population size and car numbers are required to keep a lifestyle in place that people still want. If Singapore becomes 'just another city' it's finished.
Until now, Singapore has been following the China SimCity style of development by bringing as many people into the city as possible, the rich, blue collar workers, professionals. This is how the Beijing and Shanghai grew as population doubled in the last 20 years.
But unlike Shanghai and Beijing which can expand outwards, Singapore is only a small island. Singapore needs a population growth of 2% a year to avoid falling into recession.
At this rate, in 10 years, Singapore will have another 1.2 million people out of which probably 10%, 120,000 are high income earners or wealthy individuals all wanting to buy a car and a COE.
At 2% growth a year, by 2033, Singapore will have over 8 million people, and by then, only reasonably wealthy individuals can afford to own a car when the 10 year COE which will cost perhaps half a million dollars in today's money?
Even a primary school kid knows this is unsustainable.
I don't know if we can attribute it more to the commanding parents, the social over-engineering throughout education and NS or both, but the impression I'm getting is that most people only wants to drag it somehow till the end of the day, get the paycheck and screw off. Its like everybody ended up in professions and lives they didn't want on the first place and their passions and interests were suppressed sometime before they even developed. The general apathy Singaporeans demonstrate is pathological and this is the main bottleneck in Singapore reaching its full potential as a truly global, influential city. You really don't need 5 or 7 or 10 million people to do that, you need a workforce that's passionate.
Singaporeans CAN do it. Anthony Chen is a great example. But the bulk of the population still needs to swap their endurance for spirit, ego for pride and habits for a culture. Maybe if that happens, this place will flourish from the bottom upwards and not the other way around.
Well, I agree but prefer not to go into local politics. I'll leave it to the locals.PNGMK wrote:A certain political party turned this society into one of the most risk adverse I've known.disenchanted wrote:Now, the key problem with both productivity and the near-mythical 'innovation' here is the mindset of the workforce. I've been temporarily staying in quite a few countries and what strikes me the most about today's Singapore is that almost nobody seems to believe in what they do.touchring wrote:
Until now, Singapore has been following the China SimCity style of development by bringing as many people into the city as possible, the rich, blue collar workers, professionals. This is how the Beijing and Shanghai grew as population doubled in the last 20 years.
But unlike Shanghai and Beijing which can expand outwards, Singapore is only a small island. Singapore needs a population growth of 2% a year to avoid falling into recession.
At this rate, in 10 years, Singapore will have another 1.2 million people out of which probably 10%, 120,000 are high income earners or wealthy individuals all wanting to buy a car and a COE.
At 2% growth a year, by 2033, Singapore will have over 8 million people, and by then, only reasonably wealthy individuals can afford to own a car when the 10 year COE which will cost perhaps half a million dollars in today's money?
Even a primary school kid knows this is unsustainable.
I don't know if we can attribute it more to the commanding parents, the social over-engineering throughout education and NS or both, but the impression I'm getting is that most people only wants to drag it somehow till the end of the day, get the paycheck and screw off. Its like everybody ended up in professions and lives they didn't want on the first place and their passions and interests were suppressed sometime before they even developed. The general apathy Singaporeans demonstrate is pathological and this is the main bottleneck in Singapore reaching its full potential as a truly global, influential city. You really don't need 5 or 7 or 10 million people to do that, you need a workforce that's passionate.
Singaporeans CAN do it. Anthony Chen is a great example. But the bulk of the population still needs to swap their endurance for spirit, ego for pride and habits for a culture. Maybe if that happens, this place will flourish from the bottom upwards and not the other way around.
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