Overpriced Stuff in S'pore

Not an exhaustive list. Yahoo Finance SG published 7 Overpriced Products in S'pore as follows:

1. Brand Name HDMI Cables
2. iPhone Cases / Covers
3. Branded Bottled Water
4. Pre-Cut Vegetables & Fruits
5. Printer Ink
6. Wine in Restaurants
7. Designer Furniture

Additions by netizens:

• Housing (emptying one's retirement $)
• Public Transport (paying to stand)
• Cars
• COEs (even more congestion)
• Food at Food Courts
• Medical
• Spectacles
• Tertiary Tuition Fees
• Overpriced Govt (Fat paychecks delivering lousy performance)

"From a biz owner's point of view, there's a limit how low costs can go, a limit how much people will pay for stuff, but there's no limit to rising rentals."

I still consider SG REITS to be a risky investment. Evidence of cracks in dam is mounting.

Killer rent which is related to land/property costs is a killer to S'pore businesses & ultimately S'pore competitiveness. It was announced 2 weeks ago that industrial land tenure would be cut to 30years to help lower cost. It is just a tempoary measure to plug the cracks in the dam by the greedy govt landlord. Already disadvantaged with burden of killer rent, businesses don't have much $$ to spare for R&D, upgrades thus eventually losing out to foreign competition - marvel at what happened to outdated japanese planes in Marianas Turkey Shoot.

Desperate measure by flooding in cheaper foreign workers(also serve as consumers) to contain cost caused by govt's bloodsucking rents has led to a plethora of social & livelihood problems for much of the populace.

Money-wise folks would get better value by buying online. Why throw away one's life in working hours paying for killer rent? Even the expensive Brompton bicycles have money-wise folks fly to HK to buy even with budget air tickets, accomodation & eat in short getaway - better value.

S'pore once hailed as shoppers paradise is going down the pits in terms of retail with much thanks to killer rent & online stores.

Citizens in other countries can relocate to elsewhere in their country for lower-cost of living. In tiny S'pore the solution of relocation within the tiny island for lower cost living is not an option.

Many Sinkies Top in Stressful Pace of Life

Do you:

• walk fast
• eat fast
• drink fast
• speak fast
• spend fast (cancer of wallet)
• shower fast (probably not for girls)
• drive fast
• rush for seats fast
• be cheaper fast
• be better fast

A walking speed survey done in 2007 has sinkies as champions in walking speed. Now with treadmill even faster i'm sure plenty of sinkies have maintained or walk even faster. With floodgates open with huge influx of generally cheaper foreign workers, many sinkies are like the trapped passengers in 'Speed' movie - bus must speed above 80km/h or else bomb will blow & all will die.

"We used to talk of having 'time to smell the flowers' Now we barely find time to smell the coffee. Pace of life has accelerated to the point where everyone is breathless." - Richard Swenson

Gardens by the Bay is opening today. However how many sinkies got time to leisurely smell the flowers when the climate in S'pore is speed speed & more speed? Not to mention the crowds......

Appreciate Golden Age of S'pore from Train in 1991

Miss the good old days of quality life & better condusive environment as filmed by a tourist in earlier blogpost which i reminisce?

Appreciate the golden age of S'pore from the train in 1991 before 1994 which i consider the start of S'pore's decline.

Look at roads below. There's not many vehicles unlike the congested roads we now face.



0:13 - 0:36
Flats near Redhill station demolished. A big chunk is still empty today. Why empty? Not impatient to suck $$? Of course will suck after manipulate land/property prices to high enough... Ascentia Sky condos due for completion in 2014 after peasants have been moved off the land.

2:28
Row of shophouses by the road torn down. Rebuilt with higher density development.

2:37 - 2:43
Low rise flats demolished. Replaced with condominiums.

2:47 - 3:01
Empty field & low rise flats demolished. Replaced with high rise flats.

3:47
Gosh i really miss the days when the inside of the trains where you can run from 1st carriage to last carriage! At much lower fares too! Now the space & seats & fares.........

4:10 - 4:22
Ho, ho ,ho. Arrived at Clementi-my home town. Bus interchange has been "somewhat demolished" The big fountain & bus interchange has been demolished & a shopping mall integrated with bus interchange with flats above now occupy the land.

Look at streets with few people near mrt exit & pathway along road & to bus interchange. Now is practically impossible->locusts swarms of 'consumers'.

4:25 - 4:36
Flats near main road demolished to serve as tempoary bus interchange for construction of mall. Now that mall is done, the temp bus interchange together with the flats inside will all be demolish. What's next? Is likely another condominium given the mindset of the ruling party to suck suck & suck as much $$$ through manipulated land/property prices.

4:44 - 4:54
Look at the huge field! I used to play there with my classmates. Back then we used to enjoy perhaps the largest field belonging to a school in whole of S'pore. Now the open field is taken away from the school... No prize for guessing right answer after the ruling party has mutated into $$$$ obsessed party.

5:04
Institute of Technical Education (Clementi) now empty after consolidation with other campus to free up more land for you guess it --> $$$$$. No signs of demolition yet.

Wow! Look at the roads below! Now is impossible to see such traffic free unless the sun rise from the west- i'm not kidding with pro alien party dominance.
-----------------------------------

Is sad how S'pore has degenerated over the years. Sure much of the populace has more & more & more toys/gadgets cluttering up their homes. So cluttered with stuff that some consumers rent extra storage to store their excesses.

But do people have:
- better quality travel?
- More leisure time?
- Less stress?
- More space in public?
- More trust?
- More home-cooked dinners by family with family?
- Hawkers who know you instead of 'zombies' manning overpriced & lousy food courts?

26 Bromptons Bought by NParks At $2200/Bike

News of NParks purchasing 26 Brompton folding bikes at $2200 each has sparked an online furor. I'm shocked at the price of the folding bike when i first came across it. Besides the price the other controversy is only 1 bid submitted which as we know govt bids require at least 3 bids.

When i was young i see postmen delivering mail via their scooters. After the postal service is privatised & to max profits for govt coffers & shareholders, the scooters are pretty much gone & replaced with bicycles. NParks being still part of the govt has the since got budget to spend better spend now mentality else next year budget is gone. That is the answer given to me in my previous job when i question my superior the need to look for things to buy to spend the $$.

Netizens question NParks if is prudent to use taxpayers $ to buy such an expensive bicycle to patrol the park connector network. I'm worried about bike thefts since my previous road bike was stolen. Now that news of NParks bought expensive bicycles, more non-bikers know the price of those bikes making them even more vulnerable to thefts.

In HK the Brompton retails for around S$600 cheaper from comments that i read. Savvy buyers would travel to HK via budget airline, budget accomodation & eat for a short holiday. Sure beats paying for the killer rent of the bike price component in S'pore. Who cares much about warranty? Nowadays products are much well made compared to 70s, 80s & 90s.

Personally i find it hard to stomach spending savings of $2200 for this Brompton folding bike. I'll be missing 5% dividends/year & an easily achieveable 15% in capital gains should the $2200 be invested during recessions. When buying stuff using profits from investment it is not as heartaching.

With much of S'pore workforce having their wages stagnant & depressed by foreign labor in a high-cost of living country like S'pore, buying this $2200 folding bike is out reach of many. It is also a reason for the furor online.

What Price of Cheap Products from China/Elsewhere

Extinction of the Galapagos tortise prompt me to write this. More of economist Graeme Maxton's wisdom:

"Modern economics has allowed almost all of us to ignore the costs of our damage to the planet. Yet we all have a responsibility for our world as well as to other species, in whatever form they live. This is partly our moral responsibility as the most intelligent form of life to have evolved. There are also scientific reasons for us to behave more responsibly. We are killing off hundreds of species of plants & animals without understanding the value of their ecosystems. Potential cures for diseases are literally going up in smoke for the sake of a one-time gain, to allow some logger or corrupt official to acquire a Rolex"- Graeme Maxton

China being known as the workshop/factory of the world is known for its abundance of cheap labor. We love low prices & few people are even aware of the consequences of low prices. As with the craze over mobile phones such as iphones, do people need to change their cellphones every so often when old one is still working? How many chargers & batteries gonna end up in landfills or incinerated giving off toxic fumes?

======================

Graeme Maxton:

When a factory making plastics in China releases its toxic waste into a river, it does not include the cost of its actions in the price it charges the consumer. So the plastic is cheaper than it should be. People who buy the plastic are being subsidized by those living downstream, who pay part of the cost for it with their ill health. Dead fish & poisoned acquatic life pay part of the cost too, as do the oceans into which the river flows.

In classical economics, the plastics manufacturer is said to receive 'unearned' profits as a result of its action. A gain is made when it should not. Theory says that this is inefficient & therefore wrong. Moreover, the consumer of the plastic benefits unfairly too. A lower price is paid than it should be. This gives the consumer an unearned gain & because the product is cheaper than it should be, an incentive to use more.

======================

Maxton sums up why i loathe the over-consumerism culture infesting this tiny island. Is also why i loathe the current ruling regime mentality of grow gdp at all costs like cancer approach.

"We measure progress in terms of growth, which depends on consumption, which needs us to use up more of the world's resources, which is dependent on externalizing costs to cut prices. Yet most of us feel no sense of shame for having allowed this, nor do we accept that we have a responsibility for creating the injustices that have ensued. We need to realize that every bar of soap we buy made from palm oil is adding to the problem"-Graeme Maxton

Pro Alien Party's Grow GDP At All Costs Like Cancer Mentality

I love what economist Graeme Maxton whose book 'The End of Progress' enlightened me a lot. His book presented a rude awakening to many of the conventional thinking about economics that i've come to accept into my 'operating system' without question. Maxton is not against capitalism. Is just that the current form/concepts are twisted & unsustainable.

Maxton's views on charity/philanthrophy gave me a rude shock as well as i've written in an earlier blogpost.
Words in bold is the doctrine of S'pore's current ruling regime.

   More & more malls sprouting up like mushrooms
+ Flood in locusts swarms of foreign workers
  -----------------------------------------------
= Mania in consumption

Consumption, consumption, consumption. It is consumerism run amok on steriods. Poor Mother Earth.

More & more greenery are being cut down for development. Trees are considered to be of little use to the gdp obsessed regime. Trees cut down & building a car park for parking fees to suck $$ is what they like.

It was reported by WWF that if the rest of the world consumes resources at the rate like sinkies do, we would need 3.5 Earths.


"No amount of innovativeness or human ingenuity can replace many of the world's resources when they are gone. Optimistic modern-day economists need to have a chat with their colleagues who study the hard sciences if they are in any doubt. There are laws in the world of physics & chemistry, & unlike those of economics, they do not change. We cannot simply manufacture new supplies of copper, zinc or oil when the existing ones are gone." - Graeme Maxton

=======================================

"Modern economic thinking has given us false goals, demanding growth for its own sake, encouraging a mania for consumption that requires the planet to be laid waste, exploited for our convenience."- Graeme Maxton

Is an unfortunate sight to see more & more people mutating from citizens into consumers over the years.

"Modern economic thinking has mispriced our world. It has failed to put a value on pollution, waste & disposal costs of many items we use. It has encouraged us to think about the short term, not the needs of future generations."- Graeme Maxton

When people buy the $2 stuff from Daiso, they know is made in China thus is cheap from china's abundance of cheap labor. People seldom think about the externalities associated with the cheap price if they are aware of such externalities in the first place.

"Price we pay for our resources has almost nothing to do with what they are worth. It is madness that a barrel of oil, which took millions of years of planetary activity to create, which comes from a declining reserve & which can could be of value to many generations to come, is worth US$150 or less. That price encourages us to waste it- as we do. More than 80% of it is squandered. Nor does the price reflect the pollution it causes, greenhouse gases it releases, or the environmental damage caused during its extraction."- Graeme Maxton

Though i dislike the current regime's gdp obsession, the selling of fuel without subsidies is the right way. S'pore is 1 of few countries in Asia selling fuel without subsidies.

Transformers Headmasters, Masterforce & Victory Series Openings & Credits

The 1980s is heralded as the golden age of cartoons. Transformers is just a part of it. When the US Transformers cartoons ended, the japanese continued with it. You can see that the japanese versions have dramatic transform scenes--> Watch Combiner Raiden onwards which are from the japanese series.

American version is serious minded while japanese version have humor in theirs. American culture with their cowboy culture, the robots fight with guns. Japanese with their samurai culture added swords, spears & axes into their fight scenes.

Japanese Transformers Cartoons have better Openings:

Transformers Headmasters Opening
It seems there's no japanese word for certain english words. Funny lyrics. Karaoke is hilarious.



Transformers Masterforce Opening
Masterforce series have the most human touch to it. Note that in japanese series Cybertons = Autobots, Destrons = Decepticons & Convoy = Optimus Prime.

 

Transformers Victory Opening
Japanese incorporated bladed weapon fights the most in this series.



DinoKing Vs Victory Saber
How the japanese do the fight scenes & their dialogue is what makes it so irresistible to watch. The japanese added comical & emotional scenes into what is supposed to be 'robotic' which is the way the americans do it.

 

As i write this blogpost & watching the fight scene, i wonder how many sinkies would go the extra mile given that increasingly S'pore "scholar leaders" consider themselves elites & look down on lesser mortals. "You have been blessed with good troops, Goryu". Can troops willingly self-sacrifice when citizens are increasingly marginalized in their own country?

Similarly at workplace, when subordinates are treated as mere expendables by their corporate leaders/managers, who would be inspired to go extra mile?

At Same Table/Sofa but Connected Elsewhere

"People living in house with 1 another but not connecting with 1 another. They're not interacting because quite simply, they all have their own toys to play with. Dad is video conferencing with colleagues. Mom is on internet. Kids are on their cellphones. Everybody is connected to something outside the home even though they are physically within the home." - Glen Stanton

Doesn't just apply to home settings. Is a common sight outside as well. People in view of each other but they are hooked to their devices.

Are you overreliant on devices? Back in old days when there's no cellphones, people remember phone numbers of close friends or at least keep a mini phonelist in their wallets. Suppose an acquaintance with cellphone is beside you. It happens that your cellphone battery is dead & you need to call a close friend. Do you remember your close friend's number to call using the acquaintance's cellphone?

How Come GDP UP UP UP Yet More & More People Need Charity?

Was reported by state media that charity donations hit 10 year high. You may think is good news but is not. Charity donations just tempoary 'cable tie' to a system that's cracking. Back in 80s & 90s there's no charity shows & irony is S'pore not as prosperous as now. Ask yourself how come gdp up up up yet more & more people need charity?

I used to think charity to help the less fortunate & needy as good without a second thought. It was upon reading Economist Graeme Maxton's thoughts about charity which startled me.

Grame Maxton on need to rethink charity:
---------------
At first glance, charity seems to be a good thing. Yet they are a reflection of a fundamental problem. Charity is an attempt to patch parts of the system that are not working. Mostly such attempts are well intended. But sometimes they are driven by less enlightened motives. And in almost every case they are a poor way to make up for some of the shortfalls of modern economics. They mop up the externalities - rather than leaving them, like a puddle, for us all to see. Charities actually support many of the warped ideas of social progress by masking them. They have become a substitute for social justice & proper economics.

Charity depends on desires & incomes of unaccountable donors. Their managers decide where & how $$ should be spent. This makes their activities undemocractic too. Govts are subject to regular democractic or political review, as well as public scrutiny & control. Charity business is not. Because of this, the way they spend their $$ can be subject to favoritism, waste & inefficiency. Just as when a zoo gets visitors to sponsor animals & everyone wants to donate to the tigers, leaving vast majority of animals unsupported, charity is a way of supporting society's tigers. Donors give more freely to causes that appeal to them, rather than to causes where there may be greater need. Moreover, charities' first loyalties lie with the givers not the receivers, because this ensures a better flow of funds.
---------------

Grame Maxton on need to rethink philanthrophy:
---------------
Philanthropists rarely fight for social justice. Their actions are founded on an acceptance of injustice. They see their role as trying to mitigate the effects. Today's billionaires do not fight to being change to the system that created their unequal wealth. Few appear to see any inconsistency or irony in their offering help to the poor. The Gates Foundation attempts to provide greater social inclusion, for example, without attempting to change the system that encourages wider social division.

Whether the ideas of philanthropists & charities are right or wrong is not the issue. It is that the decisions are being taken by a handful of wealthy people & some business managers, without them being answerable to society for what they do. Who said Mr Gates & his friends should decide what is best for the world?

Genuine need should not be dependent on handouts at whim of the rich.

Looking Down on Hawkers By Suspected Brainwashed 'Elite' Sinkie

"People become hawker because didn't study hard when young, and later in life, refuse to upgrade their skills. They reap what they sow. They should be grateful to earn $1000 a month, because if they work for others, they don't even deserve to be paid $700. In any case, no need to worry about any health effects of being a hawker as our Medisave, Medishield & Medifund will cover any problem without any out-of-pocket cost." -Ricky L

Above comment is in response to an yahoo article on Hard Life of Hawkers. There is very high probability that RickyL think he is an elite after receiving education from elite schools. After all his comment are much like his kind - Wee Shu Min elitism controversy.

I don't know whether to pity people like RickyL/Wee Shu Min. Totally brainwashed into thinking good grades = good pay, lousy grades = pathetic pay. Since these brainwashed 'elite' think they are the almighty kind, they are highly susceptible to extra service such as:

- waitress & cooks add extra ingredients - armpit sweat, saliva, 'gold' from nose
- mechanics rub saliva on their car seats, steering wheel

If those brainwashed 'elites' think they are almighty with their high education, how come don't know their lives have in a way benefited from these 'uneducated' folks?

---------------------------
PM Winston Churchill
"Independent & rebellious by nature, Churchill generally had a poor academic record in school...."

US President Harry Truman
"After graduating from Independence High School (now William Chrisman High School) in 1901, Truman worked as a timekeeper on the Santa Fe Railroad, sleeping in "hobo camps" near the rail lines."

Singer Jay Chou
"Chou graduated from high school with inadequate grades for university..."

Director Peter Jackson
"Jackson had no formal training in film-making, but learned about editing, special effects & make-up largely through his own trial & error."

Local 'Queen' Actress Zoe Tay
"... Yuan Ching Secondary School for her secondary education. She also studied at VITB (Baharrudin)"
---------------------------

People are born with different innate abilities & talents. Even in Olympics, there are many games. Michael Jordan excels at basketball but sucks at baseball. It is a tragedy for Singaporeans should such 'scholars' are elected into high positions of government service.

If This Is USA, Imagine S'pore Even Worse Income Inequality

If you think the income inequality in USA is atrocious, what about S'pore which has gini coefficient worse than USA?

I'm shocked when i first knew of S'pore dismal gini coefficient. Is like i'm living in a toilet & used to the stench & thought the smell is normal. I have not visited america before but i do know of tent cities & their homeless. S'pore with even worse gini has few homeless though i can see the govt is desperate trying to cover/wrap fire with paper.

Singapore Back in Late 80s

Watching this 9min video sure brings back fond memories.

The 80s is also the golden age of cartoons though i don't fully understand english at that time. Growing up in a low income family i had very few toys. My fun is going to my classmate's house to play boardgames like Risk, PayDay, Monopoly, Carrom. I had a great childhood compared to the kids of today subjected to tuition & loads of homework. Kids of today have lots of toys & gadgets but what childhood do many of them have?

More stuff is not necessarily better/happier.



The 80s & early 90s are the golden age of S'pore. I consider the downhill started from the introduction of GST at 3%(regressive tax) in 1994. The tax though at 3% had a huge impact on me as i'm a student back then with little pocket $$. Though the general population don't have as much material posessions as of today, people are more happier & with lesser stress.

Climate
Back then i don't recall there's any public air-con buses. Neither do i come across any grouses by others about the hot temperatures back then. With global warming fueled by overconsumerism, travelling on packed buses now without air-con is like a sauna.

Public Buses
Is an absolute joke that the public buses left with full seats are the buses of route 160 & 170 that i take to leave S'pore & goto JB, Malaysia. Now the rest of the buses are littered with standing space after seats are removed to squeeze more standing passengers to milk more profits in this overcrowded tiny island. Same goes for the trains.

More Self-Employed Hawkers with Pride in 80s
There's no food court back in 80s. Beauty World Shopping Centre is a classic mall with hawker center at the top. Hawkers cook & serve their food with pride. Nowadays the staff manning the food courts selling overpriced lousy food are literally 'zombies'.

Charity Shows
I don't remember having charity shows on tv in 80s. Now income inequality getting from bad to worse. Society is more equal back then. Now need charity shows raise funds. Charity shows are a tempoary patch to a system that's increasingly growing unstable.

Decline of Community Spirit & Rise of Materialism
Shopping malls began sprouting up like mushrooms from mid 90s onwards. Shopping malls & Orchard Road in 80s have a lot less crowds compared to the locusts swarms of consumers descenting on the malls nowadays.

People back then are more citizens than consumers. Now is people are more consumers than citizens.

Public Service to Overpriced Ministers
Govt ministers back then did good job on lesser paychecks. Now $M paycheck ministers running the country into decline. Same with other services in sg, pay more for lesser service quality.

More Leisure Time in 80s
Leisure time is a form of wealth. People enjoy more leisure time unlike the frenzied hurried lives that many 'hamsters' now live. Once passed the self-sufficient stage of material possessions, more stuff ain't gonna make one more happier if there's little/no time to enjoy.

-----------------
Is sad to watch what the grow gdp at all costs like cancer approach by the ruling regime has done over the years.

How Things Work in S'pore by FamiLee

I love such charts simplifying stuff. Best chart is still PAP Policies Vicious Cycle Flowchart which i came across last year. For foreign readers who stumble upon this blog, S'pore is classified as a hybrid regime run by the Lee family thus 'Familee'.

Here's a recent one i came across in a forum:

I have ejected a huge chunk of the corporate media part(state propaganda) out of my life. No longer buy/read the 'State Times' nor watch Mediacorpse programs.

State capitalism in S'pore is a perverse form as in it doesn't matter if citizens are replaced with cheaper foreign workers so that the state controlled companies profit more. In China, their state capitalism is used to strengthen their nation such that their population build up the skills & expertise instead of relying on foreigners. Citizens employed & satisfied = less social problems for PRC govt = Continued governance by their ruling CCP.

When foreign workers start leaving S'pore en masse one day, many sinkie workers are already at a disadvantage in terms of skill & experience against workers in other countries. I anticipate the result would be the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot S'pore style.

7 Missing Drain Grills Along Pasir Panjang Road

Was circulated among cycling community about missing drain grill covers along Pasir Panjang Road, near the Pasir Panjang Hawker Center towards the direction of West Coast Park.

7 grill covers are missing. How come missing? I reckon is being stolen to be sold as scrap metal as i've mentioned about rising commodity prices in my earlier bicycle stolen blogpost. Coupled with widening income inequality & growing underclass it would not be surprising if more metal stuff in public areas go missing.

Good Pay + Daily Punishing Commutes = Docile Workers

More punch in purchasing firepower is what propels johoreans to endure the punishing daily commute to work in S'pore. Going by food prices purchasing power is like earning just over double. No offense to them & other foreigners but when someone has

   so much to gain in purchasing power converted from S$
+ daily punishing commutes
  ----------------------------
= docile workers who would carry out stupid orders.

A glaring example with 1 of the factors of darn good pay to become Yesmen/Yeswomen would be s'pore's member of parliament of the ruling regime. Yes yes yes to stupid policies that is not good long term without question.

Docile workers are easy to manage but they come with a dark side - if bosses make a mistake & docile workers do not question for fear of being seen as rocking the boat, the company/boss will suffer the big hit/losses.

Follow Procedures & Rules To the Every Word Is Begging to be Guillotined

Came across a remark which i like in a reply on a forum thread regarding being bored with one's job:

"I see zombies everyday. Follow procedures & rules to the every word. Culture is based on fear & resignation to fate. People simply just die there."- accela

Living dead - going to a job they loathe, day after day, week after week, month after month for like 40 years......

Easiest place to see zombies is none other than on public transport every morning. Those folks think they are safe by being an obedient worker carrying out procedures & rules to the every word. Little do they realise that they face an even bigger risk cause they are begging for their heads to be guillotined/axed since such follow procedures/rules stuff can be automated with machines.

If can't automate then is think of ways to replace those zombies with cheaper foreign zombies who follow procedures & rules to every word like a zombie.
============================
PS. Safety procedures/rules need to be followed to the letter for safety sake is 1 of such exception. My point is if no judgement is exercised then the job is a target for automation.

Knocking Off Work On Time

Always Leave Office On Time
1) Work is never ending process. You can never finish the works.

2) Interest of a client is not more important than your family.

3) If you fail in life your boss or client will not be the person to offer a helping hand but your family & friends will do.

4) Life does not mean coming to office, going home & sleeping. There is more to a life. You need time to socialize, entertainment, exercise & relaxation. Don't make your life meaningless.

5) A person who sits works late is not a hardworking person. He/She is a fool who does not know how to manage work within the stipulated time. Besides, he/she is a loser in life who does not have personal or social life.

6) You did not study hard & struggle in life to be a cog in a machine & live a meaningless life.

7) If your boss forces you to work late, just forward him/her this message. He/she will try to make his/her life meaningful too.

Leaving ofice on time

more productivity

good social life

good family relationship

Leaving office late

less productivity

no social life

no family life

Long working hours is chronic in S'pore. With influx of many cheaper, younger & more obedient foreign workers, the locals are literally killing themselves in social & physical aspects(lack/no exercise) of their lives.

Competing against cheaper foreigners through long working hours is as good as smashing one's head against the wall. Vast bulk of foreign workers are single with no spouse/family. Neglecting one's family through long work hours is another form of suicide.

It came to my realization that i value my personal time after work during my first work attachment during 2nd year of polytechnic. I was attached to a site engineer at a construction site. In the morning he would drive me & 2 other foreign workers to the construction site in the small lorry. They always work beyond the stipulated knock off time 90% of the time. Me as a poly student & being paid a small allowance always look forward towards lunch time. After lunchtime look towards knock off. Why stay back work with them until dunno when they finish work?!

Does a deserted construction site stop me from leaving on time? I guess the site engineer underestimated me & thought i would need his lorry to get out of the place. Too bad, cause i ain't in desperate need of his small lorry. I got out of the site by asking the truck/cement truck drivers leaving the site to give me a lift out to the main road.

My lack of interest in the work being done at the construction site + hitch hiking of trucks to knock off on time doesn't garner a good grade from the site engineer - he gave me a 'C'. Another poly student who was attached to another engineer elsewhere told me i'm foolish. He advised me i ought to endure the 1.5-2mths by staying back with them as free labor to get a better grade. Nevertheless i find his advice hard to swallow.

For my 2nd job attachment i requested for a change to a fellow student's attachment to a factory where there is higher pay & on-time knock off.

I suspect a lot of sinkies work late to somewhat show their bosses they are hardworking for fear of getting 'C'/'D' & subsequently get fired. Not to mention when other colleagues also work late, it becomes a race to see which retard can sacrifice the most social/family time.

Fu*k Fu*k Fu*k From 3 Strong Career Women

 
This bribery cum sex scandal once again proves my grouses about the education system.

3 old hags offer their bodies in bid to secure an IT contract with a govt agency. They are worse than prostitutes. Uneducated prostitutes sell their naked bodies to feed themselves. These 3 old hags hold senior sales positions in their companies. So with their decent paychecks & decent education how come need to:

- suck+lick customer's 'lollipop'?
- open cheesepie hole (polite word for hokkien word chee bye) to get pumped by customer's 'lollipop'?

If school curriculum teaches people how to make $$ for themselves then these 3 old hags would not need to degrade themselves into whores. As i have mentioned:
- Teach Bunch of Useless Math Problems to Break Youngsters Down to Become Zombie Cog Workers

- S'pore Education is about Producing $-Minded Paycheck Slaves

If 3 old hags are providing sexual services to keep their jobs, i wonder if they are scared of being replaced by younger, cheaper & more obedient foreigners. If one knows how to make $$ through investing or other means apart from jobs, one need not be desperate to sell bodies.

I feel uncomfortable at times riding my $428 entry level flatbar roadie in group rides. Is the most cheapo bike among the group many whom are riding bikes easily 5-10 times the price of my bike. However i remind myself that my priority is to learn & build up my financial capital & investing skills. Is not wise to splurge on a expensive bike to impress others lest i end up desperate prostituting myself when i'm older. I can reward myself later on with a better bike using small part of the profits later on once my investing skills are leveled up.

As i wrote in earlier blogpost about 100% profits in stock market index during the rebound from the financial crisis, just merely having 33% profits is a good achievement. An investment of $30,000 would have yielded $10,000 profits. Is an invaluable lifeskill that has no age, gender & education discrimination.

For women, once investing skill is mastered they won't be growing more fearful as they age & need to sell their wrinkled bodies to be fucked.

Low-Cost Index Funds Are A Great Starter for Small Investors

I concur with Warren Buffett's view that for most small investors who don't have time to research individual companies, low-cost index funds are the best way to invest in the stock market.

It is the recommended approach for beginners. Index funds mimics the stock market index they are tracking. A stock market index comprises of the major companies of a particular country. Once profits are made from index funds, the investor can use part of the profits to progress on to invest in individual companies. Investing in a basket of big companies of a country is safer than investing in 1 or a few companies.

Bulk of profits made from the 2008 financial crisis are from the steep rise from Mar 09 to Apr 10. Thereafter the market is sideways till now. Looking back in hindsight, if i had invested in S'pore index instead of a defensive stock(profited less) i would have doubled my investment in about 1 year. Sideway movements in a channel thereafter is like holding on for dividends - getting paid for doing nothing.

The way forward for me is low-cost stock market index fund instead of a defensive stock counter. The more financial crisis ocurring the better - more opportunties.