Failure To Lead
For all the criticisms leveled against LKY, the one thing you couldn’t say about him is the lack of leadership ability. For good or for bad, whenever shit happens, you know LKY was going to start kicking ass and taking names. Yet in particularly troubling times, like this, we’ve yet to see anything resembling even one iota of his decisive leadership from the current government. The only thing we’ve witness so far is u-turns and flip flops like a fish out of water from the MAS. So is this the caliber of leadership and ability that we should be accepting and expecting from the so-called world class first division government?
From the Mas Salamat escape to the current minibonds fiasco, the only thing we’ve witness from the government thus far is their propensity to try and trivialize the problem at first, then scramble to cover their ass when it becomes increasingly obvious to everyone that they are both clueless and incompetent, with the final coup de grace being a shrug of the shoulders and the exhortation to forget and move on.
“That’s life, if you want good rewards, you have to take risks. Otherwise, leave your money with the CPF.” Goh Chok Tong, Senior Minister/ Chairman of MAS.
I don’t know what was going through his head, maybe he’s just pissed voters told him to take a hike during the last election when he failed in his task to help take back one of the opposition wards, but during a time when 10,000 investors lost half a billion dollars investing in dodgy financial products, the only thing, the only fucking thing our dear Goh could say was this?Something that has all the soothing effect of rubbing salt and chilli onto a freshly opened wound while pouring concentrated sulfuric acid over it.
How’s that for leadership?
I guessed it was too much to ask for something more reassuring. Kind of reminds me of the infamous peanut statement from Mrs. Goh. I think I speak for everyone when I say if you’ve got nothing constructive to say, please SHUT THE FUCK UP and count your peanuts. You can say your piece the next time round when you need to make your case about how the Singaporean taxpayer needs to pay you another 2-3 million for your fucking brilliant leadership.
Bitch.
Leave your money with the CPF…
Look, if the CPF were doing what it was supposed to be doing, than a lot of the people wouldn’t have been caught up in this whole sorry episode. For a huge chunk of the people, the only reason they invested their money in the minibonds was because of the negligible interest their money was earning while being locked up in their CPF accounts.
“So our rules allow them, if they are putting out a programme of notes like in the case of the Lehman Mini-bond series…these are all similar products, so they put out a general disclosure through a prospectus.” Lim Hng Khiang, Deputy Chairman of MAS, former Minister of Health during TT Durai gold run through NKF.
Have anyone seen one of these prospectus? These things are not written for our benefit. These prospectus are written in complicated legalese that even Einstein might have trouble understanding. Its written so that in the event of shit hitting the fan, Lim Hng Khiang, the banks and all the greedy fuckers that sold dodgy financial products can come and tell us, we should have read the fine print.
Coming from a design background, I can honestly tell you, in my professional opinion that these prospectus are designed to be obtuse, intimidating and as unreadable as possible. Page after page of small tightly spaced font written in a language that barely resembles English. I doubt even someone with a degree in finance and law could understand them in their entirety.
I’ve read a couple of blogs defending the practices of the banks and how its caveat emptor. Even the ST felt compelled to publish another one of their poorly written lapdog op-ed pieces comparing the buying of minibonds to buying an LCD TV. Gee, if buying complex structured financial products was as simple as buying a TV, than maybe we ought to get one of these TV salesman to be the Chairman of MAS. Who knows, we might even see more leadership out of a TV salesman than what we’re seeing from the current government.
Caveat emptor my ass.
I hold the MAS and banks responsible for this sorry mess and I’ll tell you why. MAS should be held responsible because there structured products should have never been allowed to be sold to the general public. Most people simple have no understanding of it. You can write all the prospectus you want, but end of the day, regular folks and especially retirees should have never been exposed to the risks they were carrying.
The banks should be held responsible solely for the reason they were pushing these products on us. I can understand if people went to banks looking to buy them, than maybe they should be held responsible for their own actions, but in this case, the banks was actively pushing them on us.
The banks were actively promoting the minibonds. So how could they not be held responsible?
In the first place, most people would’ve been quite happy for the government to at least send someone to talk to the aggrieved investors and figured out a plan of action. Instead what they first did was to push the responsibility aside and let the people sort out their own problems.
Then they told us the financial industry was strong enough and that deposits need not be guaranteed. Then HK went out and declared all deposits to be guaranteed. So not wanting to be upstaged, our MAS decides to do a u-turn and came out declared our deposits are guaranteed too.
Throughout this entire debacle, at no time was there ever a clear indication on what the government plans to do as they twist and turn, flip and flop while trying not to dirty their hands. And while we’re at it, just where the fuck is our Prime Minister? It took almost 2 weeks after Mas Salamat made his escape before we had an official statement from him- if you can call a shrug of the shoulders and a “what to do?” an official statement. Now we see the same thing happening again with the minibonds issue. I guess after spending all his time looking for places that sells mee siam without hums, he has little time for other “less” important matters.
If only he could be this inconspicuous the next time he feels compelled to make his case for another round of million dollar pay hike.
Condescension.
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Sometimes I am utterly amazed by the level of condescension and arrogance displayed by our politicians. The only thing I can say to our million dollar ministers is that treating other people like morons only shows what a moron you are.
To rebutt the statements of our highly paid minister-
1. Nobody gets their CPF statements on a monthly basis. Goes to show just how disconnected and out of touch these rich fuckers are. Here’s a newsflash, just because you speak like a heartlander doesn’t make you one of us. The intent behind your words still shows what an arrogant and condescending jerk you are.
2. The CPF money is NOT SUPPOSED to run away, you fuck. And here’s why- unlike other kind of investments that I may make on my own, CPF is something the government force down my throat. Its money forcibly taken away from me in which I have no say other how much should be taken, how its being invested and when I can withdraw it. If you take my money away from me against my wishes, uses it to bail out failing western banks and make stupid investment decisions, then you better bloody guarantee it.
3. My CPF money IS NOT earning good interest. The interest that I am getting from the amount and time period over which it is locked up is paltry. It does even cover the rate of inflation.
4. To sum it up, you take my money away from me, you better protect and guarantee it motherfucker.
The Age of Greed
It seems like ages since the last time I wrote something in this blog. It’s not that there’s nothing to write about, but the times we are living in seems so depressing that I guess I’d rather play Warhammer than write something that will only make me angry.
This is the age of greed that we’re living in. Everything that is wrong with the world is the result of greed. Money is not the root of evil, rather it is the love of money that is the root of all evil. Environment devastation, melamine in dairy products, the collapse of gigantic financial institutions and the relentless hikes that we Singaporeans have to bear with on a seemingly monthly basis- it’s all the result of greed.
I think the age of greed was officially inaugurated the moment Gordon Gekko uttered the immortal phrase- “Greed is good” in the movie Wall Street. Whereas greed used to be part of the seven deadly sins, these days it seems more like the defining characteristic of the business and political elites. Everywhere you see, it seems like only the greediest motherfuckers will make it to the top. Bank CEOs, Presidents, Prime Ministers and hell, even CEOs of charity organizations. You couldn’t swing a dead cat without it hitting some greedy fucker these days.
I am tired of it.
I am tired because my country seems to be governed by the principle of greed. How else do you explain the rounds and rounds of pay increment for our millionaire politicians while the income of the middle and lower classes stagnate. How else do you explain the rounds and rounds of price hikes we have to endure- in good times or bad times by our GLCs while they post yearly record profits.
In our parliamentary sessions, the only one who seemed to care about the poor is Lily Neo- who has to shout just get the rest of her compatriots to hear her out. Contrast their disinterest with that of their passionate arguments for more ministerial fair hikes.
Greed is inherent in all men in varying degree. Nobody starts a business without wanting to make a handsome profit. I can accept that. But sometimes the profit motive can get out of control and that is the time when we need the government to step in to regulate businesses so that it don’t get out of control. But here in Singapore, where we have the same small group of people incharge of both politics and big businesses, when push comes to shove, how certain are we, that the politicians will stand on the side of the people.
Thus far, I’ve yet to see one person stand up in parliament and speak against these prices hikes and fair hikes. Instead what we have is them speaking in favour of and justifying those hikes. Forgive me for naively thinking these politicians are supposed to be working for my welfare.
Here we have so-called union “leaders” telling us pay increases is not the answer to inflation and their increasing the pay of the lower classes will only lead to more inflationary pressures. Meanwhile state owned and controlled power companies with billion dollar profits are allowed to increase their electricity tariffs by a whopping 21%. Not content, the public transportation companies and telecommunication companies are also following suit.
So pardon me, while I take one minute to process this- so all these hikes are not going to lead to even more inflationary pressures?
F.U.C.K. Y.O.U
So we are expected to cope with this by cutting back on our expenses? And what are those who already have nothing to cut back on? Instead of eating, so we should be just drinking water from off the tap for our daily nutritional needs?
Double F.U.C.K. Y.O.U
The “leaders” of this country have but one goal- that is to increase the national reserves and if we the people have to pay through the nose, with our blood and sweat, so be it. Nobody fucking knows, what the fuck the reserves is for, who is for or even how much we have. Instead, the mythical answer is given- it’s for the day when Singapore needs it.
How bailing out failing foreign banks can be equated to Singapore needing it is never fully or adequately explained. Instead we are suppose to trust in their fucking wisdom.
F.U.C.K. T.H.EM.
Nothing they have done have convinces me they work for the welfare and interest of this country.
No.
The are just greedy fuckers. And in the age of greed, it will be the greediest of the greedy that will rule. And so rule they will- much to the detriment of all.
It’s a Beautiful Day.
It’s a Beautiful Day
The weather was perfect this morning. Perfect running conditions. The sun in my face, cool breeze blowing through my hair (ok, figure of speech since I don’t really have any hair for the wind to blow through), it was a nice just to enjoy the morning while running beside the canal. Sky was ice blue dotted with little mushmallow clouds just across the horizon.
It is a beautiful day.
Today I shall neither rant nor complain but just enjoy the day as it is. Too much bullshit going on with the world right now, so one just have to take what one can and not think too much about anything else. You take whatever small blessings you can and be thankful for them.
It’s a beautiful day.
8 mile playing on my MP3 player, it’s beat in perfect rhythm with my stride, there was little to care about but to just enjoy the leisurely run. What a perfect way to start the week.
It’s a beautiful day. Enjoy.
Warhammer Time
As I am writing this, in a little over an hour the servers will open for Warhammer Online for those kiasus who pre-ordered the collector’s edition like me. Its a little privilege that comes with paying extra, the so called headstart programme. So pardon me if there won’t be any new postings in the coming week. I’ll be busy trying to capitalise on my 4 days headstart. Rest assured though that there is already a couple of topics near and dear to my heart which I want to talk about. Its just a matter of putting my thoughts to words.
Cheers.