Tuesday, November 14, 2006

An unexpected announcement

I can't believe my ears when Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced that there would be a 2% increase in GST. The Goods and Services Tax will go up from 5 to 7 per cent. The lame excuse for this increase, to finance more government spending to help the lower income.

It's like, "You all want to complain about inadequate support for the needy and I'm sick of all this whining from you ungratefuls, so this is my solution."

I will forever not speak up for the less fortunate and needy from now on. I will mind my own business and concentrate on making money to spend on myself. Sorry to the rest of the Singaporeans that I opened my big mouth to ask for more help for the needy.

Did PM Lee seek the advice of our many Economists in Singapore? Did he discuss this with his Cabinet? Is raising tax revenue the only choice? And creating another package to offset the impact of the GST hike? jeez...

Why don't cut the Ministers' and MPs' pay and allowances?

Why can't we entirely scrapped the Asean Scholarships to save costs? The countries where the scholars come from are actually richer than us now. The so-called scholars came from well-to-do families who could easily pay for their education. They are not only taking free rides from Singapore but laughing at our Government for being so stupid to offer them scholarships.

The Singapore Government is reluctant to take care of its own citizens and yet is helping other countries take care of their citizens.

It's time to raise the school fees for foreign students. The government spends more than S$23,000 on a student yearly. Why should we subsidise heavily on these foreigners? Some are not even here to study and offer no economic value.

PM Lee is born with 'a golden spoon' in his mouth. He would never understand the hardships of the poor. He has never had to drink porridge mixed with soy sauce. And he definitely would never have known how being starved of food feels. He has never experienced not having electricity and water for days and weeks. He doesn't eat hawker food or he would know what is Mee Siam and it doesn't have hums (cockles) in it.

PM Lee expects his people to know the history of Singapore and yet he doesn't know the local food of Singapore well. He is more than half a century old, man.

He tells people to eat more fish and less pork to keep healthy. He has no idea fish costs a lot more than pork. And for the manual workers, there's no way they are going to eat porridge and still be able to have energy to do work!

I think his idea of the merger of the local banks is such a silly idea. Who benefits? I am at the mercy of my bank. The young talents at the bank are cold and uncaring and kiasu. Take it or leave it. What choices do I have?

Some of the former Bank Managers who were laid off after the banks merger are still unemployed or working in jobs paying much more less than their previous jobs. These are people with years of experience and have done much for our country.

2% to a high income earner is chicken-feed but to the lower income earner, that's quite a lot. And it brings on a chain reaction. We can expect the hawkers to increase their food prices. We have to pay more for our purchases. People would not be willing to spend and our economy would be affected again.

Tough times ahead.

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