Forbes article on singapore

[PrimroseHill]

I wonder how easy it is for the UK govt to turn off the taps for Funding for Lending and Help to Buy.

Or for the SGn government to stop subsidising HDB housing, for those most likely to vote for them?

What's the difference between HDB and the UK council selling off subsidised houses/flats to voters that will vote for them?


Same same lah

[ScoobyDoes]

What's the difference between HDB and the UK council selling off subsidised houses/flats to voters that will vote for them?


Same same lah

It's a well know fact that Thatch was a huge fan of HDB and LKY's approach to selling government subsidized property. You don't think she thought that up herself?

[JR8]

I don't sense a correction looming.

Such events seem to be preceded by generational market highs. A sense of casual ultra-wellbeing (as if such is the natural state of being). Misjudged (in retrospect) discretionary spending, on the day to day (champagne, cigars, women etc) and the trophy (condo, Ferrari).

In retrospect it all was just too good to be true in '89, 92, 95, 98, 01. But little if anything I see these days fits that bill. On the contrary, times still feel quite austere to me.

[JR8]

What's the difference between HDB and the UK council selling off subsidised houses/flats to voters that will vote for them?
Same same lah

90% of this country live in state hand-outs. Think about that
HDB don’t ‘sell off’ properties on the cheap.

It's a well know fact that Thatch was a huge fan of HDB and LKY's approach to selling government subsidized property. You don't think she thought that up herself?

So well known, that fact has never reared it’s head before (and you can’t quote a source?)
It’s funny, all these years later to read the spittle daubed posts of those whose fathers ‘endured’ the hated Thatcher years. I think it should be termed Inherited Spleen. ‘Get on your bike’ – wasn’t that Tebbit’s by-word and mantra? And yet here are those who have done so, suggesting that a six figure salary is all very well, and in fact quite socialist really (brother). And that, er, those back home wanting to get on should be ashamed of themselves, er, for some reason...

[movingtospore]

I think the author's interesting point is about the potential impact of a serious Asian downturn on Singapore. That is worth watching. I think the government has also signalled their concerns over things in their own unique way the last year - eg the drastic changes to car loan rules. So we'll see. I'd say no party can last forever even in Singapore. That said the one thing this place has going for it is their relative stability compared to their neighbours.

[earthfriendly]

That's a rather simplistic (and incorrect) view of what is happening. The USA is very good at wealth creation, not so good at wealth distribution, and the past 4 decades have seen policies that are making the situation worse.

Well shades of grey. I see it via a Randian prism.

What is the implied responsibility to 'distribute' wealth. Do lions on the African plain distribute meat amongst themselves, and amongst neighbouring species so that all benefit. Or are men (i.e. white Americans, as the others surely aren't bothered) somehow treading a higher path.

hnnnn

Yes, I am sure that we humans will do much better if we live as the lions. I don't have an answer as a solution but history shows that what is happening in the USA cannot be sustained indefinitely.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPKKQni ... ata_player

And although this video has been criticized: http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall ... s-fallacy/

the inequality of income and wealth distribution has been increasing.

http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html


Is it because the high earners are now somehow more valuable? Or is it because the deck has been marked, the field has been tilted such that the mechanisms that gave us a robust middle class have been destroyed... everything from controls on Wall Street to unions to the minimum wage?

I say again that is trend is unsustainable, and yes, unjust.

Those in the best position to change this culture of skewed executive pay is caught in a bind. He needs their goodwill to protect his investment in their company.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/buffett-d ... nance.html

"Buffett also noted during the interview how difficult it can be to sit on company boards and oppose a pay plan. Buffett said that he has never heard anyone speak out against a compensation committee's plan in 55 years of serving on company boards.

"Taking them on is a little bit like belching at the dinner table. You can't do it too often," Buffett said."

[earthfriendly]

http://www.theglobalist.com/just-facts-ceos-rest-us/

Difference in pay between CEO and average worker. We are talking largest companies of their respective countries. Not your friendly neighborhood mom-and-pop CEOs.

USA = 354 times
Japan = 67 times

Yeah, yeah, yeah "we need to pay top dollar to retain top talent." How can we nicely ask these CEOs to relinquish part of their salary and help redistribute it amongst us ? Without demonizing them and their wealth. Spirituality, my friend, not of the religion type.

Warren Buffet is just as powerless as you and me when it comes to taking on the wealthy and powerful CEOs. See, you and me. We are not so different from some of the wealthiest people on earth. We face the same challenges except the dollar amount involved is different.

[JR8]

http://www.theglobalist.com/just-facts-ceos-rest-us/
Difference in pay between CEO and average worker. We are talking largest companies of their respective countries. Not your friendly neighborhood mom-and-pop CEOs.
USA = 354 times
Japan = 67 times
Yeah, yeah, yeah "we need to pay top dollar to retain top talent." How can we nicely ask these CEOs to relinquish part of their salary and help redistribute it amongst us ? Without demonizing them and their wealth. Spirituality, my friend, not of the religion type.
Warren Buffet is just as powerless as you and me when it comes to taking on the wealthy and powerful CEOs. See, you and me. We are not so different from some of the wealthiest people on earth. We face the same challenges except the dollar amount involved is different.

The US and JPNese psyche are so different, that the comparison does not stack up. It's like asking why the man in Alabama doesn't earn the same as the man in New York.

At it's simplest one could say that the Americans are culturally natural entrepreneurs, individuals, and go-getters. A lot of people are born feeling that they too have a chance to get to the very top.

Japanese are the opposite, they think collectively, seek consensus, and act collaboratively. Let's not forget a century ago 'the Japanese were all communal rice farmers, living within a country largely closed off to the world'. Give them a century more, and I'm sure they'll have shed much of their societal idiosyncrasy, and any pay disparity will more closely resemble that in the west.



p.s. Aka why is pay disparity relatively wide in the US? Because it's not a socialist country, and the opportunities are great.... oh, and it's culturally a meritocracy.