Overreliant on Technology Led to Aircrash - Asiana Flight 214

I've blogged that Singaporeans Reign as Mindless Slaves of Smartphones in SE Asia. Rampant sightings of people glued to their smartphones while walking, on trains/buses, eateries etc. A modern form of opium addiction on a tech device.

2 weeks ago, news reported that the seasoned pilot of South Korean Asiana Flight 214 felt stressful about making a visual approach as the instrument landing system is out of service at San Francisco airport.

This is a result of being too reliant/addicted on technology even though conditions are excellent for a visual approach by looking out the window & taking cues from an array of approach lights at the runway's edge.

Weather very good:

• Daytime
• Light wind
• Excellent visibility 
• No rain
• No wind shear

Yet pilot feel stressful to land visually when technology is not there to help. It reminds me of the movie Pacific Rim when the invading alien battling the digital Striker Eureka disabled Eureka with an EMP blast. Old analog Gipsy Danger arrive in nick of time to turn the tide. There's a reason why old analog instruments are still present in cockpits.

During the Vietnam war, american strategists thought that missiles are the way to go. So they ditched guns on some of their fighters. However missiles are not dependable. They are called missiles for a reason & not called hitiles. Some dogfights end up with the american pilots helpless as sitting ducks with no guns to use when missiles are no more. Which is why guns are still mounted on modern fighters till this very day.

1 min

Very stressful without technology to help. The pilot flying the Boeing 777 on approach is on too steep an angle of attack till the tail touch the ground first.

Likewise i'm seeing increasing number of people reliant on garmin devices providing GPS guided directions. The skill of reading maps/street directory & making note of landmarks along the way seem lost. Not surprising if these overly tech reliant folks are screwed & stressed like the pilot who crashed when the tech device is not there, spoilt or out of battery.


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See also:
Besides excessively reliant on digital devices, there are others -Things In Excess Become Their Opposite.

Kopitiam at Kranji MRT - Fools eat there

I haven't blogged since early this month. Was engrossed (or hooked) on XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Is an addictive highly acclaimed game that was released last year- i even think about how to defeat the alien invasion in my sleep. The reason i play it now is a lady programmer has provided a solution easily implemented by a laymen to make it work on WinXP.

This month is also an exciting month for SG with the riot by around 400 foreign workers in Little India. Upon reading about the riot on a message board i'm amused it occured. Is good it happened so that the sleeping supporters of the hybrid regime can 'wake up' to the unsustainable economic policies. Following the riot, authorities banned alcohol sales in the affected area. Watching the rioting videos on youtube, it's obvious alcohol has little to do with it. Drunk people are not in a physical state to overturn vehicles, set fire.

Record shattering of the pristine image espoused by the hybrid regime:

2012 year end - PRC bus drivers strike

2013 year end - Around 400 foreign workers riot

2014 - ????

2015 - ????

Looks like the massive foreign labor is making a contributory effort to the downfall of hybrid regime which has mutated the country's economic institutions to be highly extractive be it local or foreign within its borders.

Extractive Landlord(Govt) Now Has a Sucker Paying Killer Rent
The retail space below Kranji train station has been vacant for quite a long time of at least 2 years since the closure of retail outlet This Fashion (if i remember correctly). Now the vacant premises is now taken by Kopitiam which has spam another branch there. How come no business dare to set up shop there for so long despite the population explosion to eat, drink & shit?

Kranji MRT station is famous for 2 things:

• Horsebetting gamblers alight to get their fix at Turf club at weekend
• Johoreans & Sinkies heading to Johor, Malaysia by bus everyday

While i don't know about the racehorse gamblers since i'm not one. I do know that only fools would buy or eat at Kranji MRT since is only a couple of minutes bus ride to cross the border to Malaysia for cheaper clothes or food.

Side facing the main road. Picture taken at around 7:30pm on a working weekday from the overhead bridge. Poor business. Even if hungry, also must endure like 15-30 minutes more so can enjoy the enlarged purchasing power at Malaysia. Or eat something light like bread before knocking off to starve off the hunger.

Other side facing turf club. Also few people dumb enough to pay for overpriced food & drinks for dinner despite long queue for the working crowd to return back to Johor via bus.


Clearly the demographic of customers at Kranji MRT are mostly to escape the high costs of SG.

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See also:
Johoreans reluctant to spend on Msian side Starbucks on way home after customs after earning S$. They ain't no fools to spend it in SG - No Starbucks Addiction For Johoreans Unlike Sinkies

More Singaporeans Avoiding Killer Rental Stores at Malls

Since i started blogging in 2010, i've mentioned about the killer rentals. I've never been to Nex mall at Serangoon. Well there is a discussion thread on hardwarezone forum started by lankileong that stretched 15 pages as of this writing:

This is certainly good news that reputable stores are biting the dust. When locals are hit with depressed wages or displaced by cheaper foreign workers, the buying power isn't there. The hordes of foreigners working in this high cost of living tiny island are just here to make & save as much $$$ to bring back home. This foreigner group of consumers don't add much to the retail businesses except for bare necessities.

With online stores offering cheaper stuff for a squeezed native populace, there's hardly a chance brick & mortar stores can compete. Why pay for the killer rent portion of a product

• which one exchanged for wages using his/her life?
• exchanged with fear at workplace of being replaced with people from 3rd world countries with dubious qualifications?
• exchanged with time being packed like sardines on commutes?

More & more natives are waking up to the startling fact.

Malls nowadays consist of the usual bunch of spam businesses. We usually find the same chain outlets in other malls. There isn't much uniqueness. Hence i don't consider missing out anything by not haven't been to Nex mall which is a popular suburban mall since it opened 3 years ago.

Back to Clementi Mall
Nex mall aside, i've blogged about High Rental - Even Starbucks Feeling the Heat in Clementi mall. Now the 2 shops diagonally opposite Popular Bookstore have closed. The Post Office took over the space of the 2 stores. And you know what's amazing about this? It's because the post office is previously just behind the mall! Literally a stone throw distance.

It seems no private businesses dare to take over & pay the exorbitant rent except for the Post Office which is a government linked company(GLC). A GLC paying killer rent to another GLC landlord - left pocket paying to right pocket.

I've walked past the Post Office at the mall 2x. I don't see the long serving employees. Being human, it's comfy to see familiar faces but what i see are never seen before workers. Looks like the new working hours 11am - 9pm at the mall is toxic to families.

Renovation works of Post Office after 2 shops went out of business.

Some people go to the mall not to buy. But to collect the stuff in parcel that they buy via online!

I don't see a need for the Post Office to relocate just a couple of metres to be at the mall. They can just adjust the working hours a bit for parcel collection by the regular working crowd. Incidentally i see people with parcels (online purchases) the way up/down the escalator.

Regular mail has trickle down to pathetic levels as i see the postman collecting the mail. Since when have we receive a handwritten addressed letter?

Till now, i have not spent a single cent at Clementi mall. More sinkies ought to join the trend & avoid throwing away $$ on paying for the killer rent.

Dangerous Cog Labor Mentality - Inflexibility

An example of cog labor mentality thinking he is safe in job security by following instructions blindly. It's very likely a sinkie in charge as Changi Ferry Terminal got an immigration/customs section to Pengarang in Johor, Malaysia.

I've removed the top paragraphs as the complaint letter is longer than a screen & not the main essence. Full letter is at Ferry terminal staff need more flexible attitude.

Robotics & artificial intelligence have advanced to the point that self-drive cars are available. I consider it a major leap considering the multitude of factors that might pop out while on the road. What's left is ironing out the insurance & regulation issues. Which brings us to the point of what's the point of hiring a dumbass cog who is only good at following instructions?

That dumbass supervisor seem oblivious that his employer which is the hybrid regime likes to replace expensive mindless cogs like him with cheaper mindless foreign cogs who are even better at following instructions. Again i'm stressing that the hybrid regime likes to:

• replace expensive mindless cogs following instructions blindly with cheaper foreign cogs
• automate it & avoid the hassles of MC, maternity/paternity leave, morale, bonuses etc.

When those foreign cogs are earning a few times more in S$ than in their native countries, you can bet that even stupid orders would be carried out in the workplace. We don't have to look far because in parliament, the members of parliament of the hybrid regime party being paid obscene salaries would Yes, Yes, Yes even to policies detrimental to masses such as the 7M population policy shoved down our throats.

How to deal with cogs following instructions blindly
When dealing with those mindless cogs who follow instructions blindly, the best approach to get them to be flexible is to present them with an even worse consequence as what the complainer has done.

Priority to be retrenched
If i'm the boss of that mindless cog, i would put him in priority to be fired in the next round of layoffs. Wasting 40mins for something that is done in 5mins. These type of cog labor belong to the hardworking (in wrong thing) but stupid category.

Queenstown library experience of cog supervisor
If you have clicked the link above to read the full letter, you're realise it's pretty long. In my experience such letters are usually written by the more well-off.

Queenstown library is pretty isolated as the old housing surrounding it are demolished & left vacant. As such, the quiet library is usually frequented by the more well-off. There's a letter a few years ago complaining about 1 of the supervisors there about her inflexiblity. Though the letter didn't mention which supervisor (there are 2), i can pretty much guess who.

That supervisor is even worse than the juniors. When i arrive to collect a reserved book, she ask for the reservation letter which i didn't bring. My previous dealings with the juniors is that scanning my identity card into the system will display my status & confirm the borrowing of the reserved book.

I didn't complain about her. Eventually her cog labor just follow instructions blindly mindset cause her to get fucked by a letter of complaint in the shit times in a matter similar to the ferry terminal cog.


Cog labor are called cog labor for a reason. They have no heart.

=======================
Related:
Hybrid regime loves cog labor. What matters is easily replaceable & cheap. No initiative needed.
- Bus Driver Punished for Using Initiative to Correct Mistake

Comparison Flood Pictures & Screwing the Peasants

Environment minister who is more famously known as Youth Olympics Overbudget Minister commented on his facebook in Sept that his fav jogging track is submerged. Netizens picked it up & spread it on forums as it was the worst flood so far this year - blogpost: Biggest Flood So Far in 2013.

"My regular jogging track under water. 

This morning's heavy storm brought more than 100 mm of rain to the Kent Ridge area with major flash floods especially at AYE and Commonwealth Avenue. Both the Sungai Ulu Pandan and Sungai Pandan Kechil overflowed their banks. 

Drainage improvement work at Commonwealth Avenue will be completed by June 2015. 

The flooding at AYE will require expansion of the Sungai Pandan Kechil which drains south to the sea and is subject to tidal influence. This is a major project that PUB has been considering. Will have to expedite this." -Youth Olympic Games Overbudget Minister

Now that i have a digital camera i can finally show the no flood & flood pictures. What intrigued me about the picture he posted is how near it is to where i live because i can recognize the vertical concrete cylinder. Below is the flood picture taken by him & subsequently spread online.

Above is my approximate picture - 4 trees to left of cylinder, 10 trees to right of cylinder. In terms of height you can obviously see from the railings that he is standing on higher ground to avoid getting his legs submerged in floodwaters. This type of storm drain is consider the biggest capacity on this tiny island. Look at how overwhelmed it is from the heavy downpour due to climate change.

Got taxpayers $$ to waste on this smaller underutilized track.

How does his fav jogging track look like & where is it? It is opposite the Ghim Moh jogging track at the Pine Grove estate(i seriously doubt he lives there but at the landed houses close by). Another shocking fact you might not know is that this smaller jogging track is built for elites like him. Why his favourite? One can easily guess to avoid the peasants like me cycling or jogging on the bigger track opposite.

I took the no flood comparison picture by traveling further up a bit on this 'elite' jogging track used by the Youth Olympic Games Overbudget Minister. Waste of taxpayers $$$ building this underutilized smaller & shorter track.

Look at how new the cement surface of the shelter is.

Though not very visible at the background but there is a bridge to the Ghim Moh track(right side of pic) used by peasants. Those staying in landed houses can cross the bridge over to jog & cycle so there isn't a real need to waste taxpayers $$ on the above 'elite' track.

But no taxpayers $$$ to build footpath for peasants like you & me.

While the hybrid regime got taxpayers $$$ to waste on building the smaller & shorter jogging track, they don't spend taxpayers $$$ to build a footpath & stairs for the peasants staying at Clementi Avenue 4 to access Ulu Pandan park connector. Look at the picture above which show blocks 301 & 305 up the stairs. Behind those 2 blocks are:

• blk 301 (in picture)
• blk 302
• blk 303
• blk 304
• blk 305 (in picture)
• blk 306
• blk 310

How many peasants live in those pigeon holes compared to private houses in same land space in tiny SG?

The footpath for peasants is sponsored by a supporter of the hybrid regime. In return his name is shown to joggers & cyclists at the park connector where i took the picture.

It bewilders me why 60% vote for the hybrid regime which screws them - temporary short footpath some more compared to the longer permanent 'elite' one.

Singapore Elites Can't Compete With Japanese Elites

Excellent! Another example to prove the point that it is the rich/elite in SG that can't compete with their overseas counterparts- test driving of self-drive vehicles on public roads in Japan on Sat, 9th Nov.

"Abe say he wants Japan to lead the world in technological innovation."

3min


It came as a shock to me when economist Chang Ha Joon state that it is the rich in poor countries who are unable to compete with the rich in rich countries which is why the poor country remain poor. He didn't cite any example but it open my eyes in detecting such examples.

Earlier examples i've blogged about:

• What Google's Homepage Can Teach S'pore's Overpaid Ministers
• Why Different Wages for Same Job in Rich & Poor Countries

Look at how the japanese business elite in the auto industry compete with the rich in other rich countries. Now look at how our overpaid scholar ministers in government & govt-linked companies compete by:

• 2 casinos.
• Flood in hordes of cheaper foreign workers.
• Sucking $$$ from local captive market.
• Suppress local wages.
• Low productivity.

Again, i want to stress the point that it is not our locals who can't compete with the natives in other countries. It is our bunch of useless overpaid scholars in govt & govt-linked companies who can't compete with their counterparts in Japan. The japanese elite/rich can compete & thus very productive & able to pull up the salaries of the japanese population hence a japanese bus driver is decently paid.

Can those in SG compete? Can they pull up the masses? If they can't then do they deserve obscene salaries?

Here is the comparison & similarities between the CEOs of S'pore Inc & American auto CEOs Vs Japanese Auto CEOs.

Obscene salaries = poor performance. The CEOs of american autos & S'pore Inc are grossly overpaid compared to their japanese counterparts. Monkey see monkey do. Our scholars CEOs saw that American CEOs are paid obscenely & thus followed suit to pay themselves the world's highest political salaries. Their breathen who didn't make it into political office are slotted into CEO positions of govt-linked companies to enjoy obscene salaries.

We have seen american banks(Merrill Lynch, Lehman Bros) & autos going bankrupt compared to none of the Japanese during the Great Recession. Being paid ridiculous salaries & leading their American companies to ruin. Here in SG, ridiculous salaries are leading the country towards ruin.

Not only both the USA autos & S'pore Inc CEOs overpaid now, they are also overpaid compared to their predecessors who helmed the company & SG(1st generation leaders) during the glorious period.


Taxi Drivers Would Be Out of Jobs in Future
Presently taxi drivers is a livelihood reserved for sinkies. With global trend in robotics, many if not all of the cab drivers would soon be replaced with self-drive taxis.

Any job that is repetitious is in danger of being automated. Any worker who think he/she has job security just because he/she is a dumb sheep following instructions without question would be replaced by a robot.

Or cheaper foreign cog labor as what the hybrid regime is now doing.

Severe Storms Will Result in Higher Oil Prices

Flood pictures surfacing early last week of Clementi jolted me, a few days later Super Typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines. Death toll as of now has breached 10,000. Though the storm is much stronger than Katrina which hit the US in 2005 & claimed more fatalities, Haiyan didn't do extensive damage compared to what Katrina did to the highly industrialized & urbanized gulf coast of USA.

Increasing intensity of storms which obtained their energies from the warming oceans are an indication of the unsustainability of economic growth dependent on fossil fuels.

Super Typhoon Haiyan reminded me of a point made by economist Jeff Rubin about offshore oil drilling which is the susceptibility of oil rigs due to storms & flushing $$$ down the toilet on repairs. When oil companies drill for oil in deepwaters (Deepwater Horizon accident), it's a sign the cheap & easy oil are gone.

Look at the large capacity refineries built along the Gulf Coast to process the offshore oil:

The achilles heel of America's oil refining capacity is along the gulf coast. As storms form & rampage across the Gulf of Mexico, the oil rigs are damaged & tossed loose from their moorings. Then the storm make landfall & the refineries get hit.

As a result of the storm:

• Oil rigs damaged & can't produce oil
• Repairs taking months for oil rigs need $$$
• Refineries damaged & can't process crude oil
• Repairs for refineries taking months need $$$

Do factories cut down on their production? Do people drive & consume less oil while repairs are being made? Henceforth is a fact pointed out by Jeff Rubin that oil prices rises due to low supply of oil arising from storm damage.

"Should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks."-Warren Buffett

$$$ flushed down the toilet on storm-damaged repairs is $$$ that could be spent on exploring/producing oil elsewhere. What happens to oil prices when global demand is ever rising? Meanwhile another severe storm is gonna arrive...

Super Typhoon Haiyan path lies across the South China Sea which China & the surrounding Southeast Asian nations are claiming a stake on the islands & vicinity due to oil/gas deposits. Producing oil with oil rigs in South China Sea in the future is beset with the same storm problems as the Gulf of Mexico.

If high oil prices don't put enough of a brake on economic growth, increasingly severe storms will help to do so by knocking out facilities & coastal cities(eg. New Orleans by Katrina, New York City by Sandy). Mankind has reached a point where fossil fuel driven type of economic growth is hitting its limits.

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Related:
Climate change is upon us. Reduce our carbon footprint. Repair instead of discard & buy new.
- Repairing Backrest of Chair & Punctured Bicycle Tubes

There's No Free Market to a Large Extent in Singapore

So ultra-capitalistic that this tiny island has turned into by the hybrid regime yet there is no free market to a large extent? Yes, there is no free market to a large extent. Many prices are politically determined.

There are choices available for example in choosing a telco for our cellphone plan & internet plan. However the freedom to choose is an illusion as all the 3 telcos are controlled by the hybrid regime.

Hybrid regime dictates:

- Salaries of Peasants
Open floodgates wide & flood in hordes of cheaper foreigners to suppress the locals salaries & replace them. Plenty of natives should have realized by now that their salaries are politically determined.

- Cost of housing
Manipulate public housing costs till absurd levels to bleed the peasants retirement savings dry. Private housing prices soar upwards as a consequence as well as rental for housing & business space.

- Driving Costs & Public Transportation Fares
Manipulate no. of permits required to buy vehicles. Public transportation companies are govt-linked which the hybrid regime will dictate fare prices.

- Food Costs
Never build hawker centres for 26 years to force peasants into paying more for food in high rental coffeeshops.

- Healthcare Costs
Don't build hospitals as the hybrid regime floods in foreigners. Supply stagnant while demand explodes.

- Communication Costs
The 3 telcos are govt-linked companies. Their prices are pretty much similar for their offerings.

By controlling those key prices affecting the lives of peasants & the costs of doing business, the hybrid regime (PAP = Pay & Pay) basically dictates the high costs of living by ensuring the peasants are bled dry through Pay And Pay policies & its associated companies.

There's no escape from politically determined prices for the above essentials for the peasants who live & do business in the tiny island. For major shipping companies like Maersk & Evergreen which are the 1st & 2nd largest shipping companies in the world, there's freedom of choice for them. Both ditched S'pore & moved over to the johorean port(Malaysia) of Tanjung Pelepas.

Pictures of Clementi Flood on 4th Nov 2013

Heavy downpour at late afternoon yesterday resulted in floods in my area. Seeing other parts of the tiny island flooded pales in comparison to flood pictures of your neighboorhood showing up on the internet. The last time flood pictures of my neighbourhood appeared was almost 2 years ago - Flooding in Clementi After Heavy Rain (blogpost).

The most recent flooding near Clementi was back in Sept when the Youth Olympics Overbudget Minister posted a pic of his jogging track flooded due to heavy rain. His pic is less than 500m away from:

junction of Clementi road & Ulu Pandan road flooded yesterday. The traffic light crossing on the lower right is where i always use to cycle across to reach Ghim Moh track park connector on my way to Queenstown library, Tanglin Halt etc.

The Public Utilities Board is doing dredging of the Sungei Ulu Pandan canal. However the drainage at Albert Winsemius Lane, off Sunset Way just literally a stone throw away from the canal couldn't cope. I will post the dredging pictures taken before yesterday's flood in a later blogpost.

Flooding at the cross junction beside Clementi Mall. I wonder if the floodwaters flow into the mall's McDonalds fast food restaurant at the ground level which is the mall's closest premises to the water. How do i know is beside Clementi Mall?

• Bus service no. 183
• Elevated train tracks wide apart leading into the train station platforms.

I always ride across this cross junction (right to left of pic) for badminton sessions at the sports hall or at Clementi Town school.

A field in S'pore Polytechnic flooded. It seems like Clementi was chosen yesterday by Mother Nature as the star attraction for rain clouds to unleash the torrent of water.

I grew up in Clementi - the weather is changing.

Carbon Taxes Will Be A Boost In Making the World Smaller

Environment is a limiting factor for economic growth dependent on fossil fuels. This type of economic growth is unsustainable as the planet warms up due to increasing greenhouse gases.

I've blogged earlier that S'pore Airlines will be ending its long haul commercial flight to New York via Newark airport due to high fuel prices later this month. As if high fuel prices are not enough, we will be seeing carbon taxes on air travel which will make air travel even more expensive.

Europe collecting $$ while helping to save the planet. More environmentally conscious than profit minded. Together as a bloc, it is an effective measure as Europe is an attractive destination for tourists. Many europeans are already using high speed rail to travel around as europe's rail network is significantly denser & better than america's car & aeroplane culture. Hence europeans have a good rail transportation as backup. It is non-europeans flying in who will bear the brunt of the airline carbon tax.

Even if we don't travel to Europe, food & merchandise flown out of Europe & onto our dinner plates & shelves/cabinets will be carbon taxed which we will be paying.

With europe spearheading the way, soon other countries may also start collecting carbon taxes on their airspace. Too bad for tiny SG with its tiny airspace. I seriously doubt the hybrid regime would impose higher airline carbon taxes to compensate for the tiny airspace as it would hurt tourism.

High Petrol Price in Europe & Japan = Good Public Transport

Americans will suffer for vacation in their country if their government impose an airline carbon tax since they got a lousy rail network compared to Japan, South Korea & China. Why does USA have a lousy rail & public transportation network? Because petrol prices are low, hence america is car-centric. The europeans have good rail & public transportation infrastructure because it costs more to drive.

Less $$$ to Travel Far Means A Smaller World
As high oil prices lead to higher food prices, there'll be less $$$ to travel. Fewer trips will be made & most people would travel to nearer places instead of faraway. In short, there'll be less ticket sales. S'pore Tourism Board chief said in an interview of doubling tourism's contribution to GDP from 4% in 2011 to 8% in the future. I'm afraid the doubling is going to be problematic.

Economist Jeff Rubin said that soaring operating costs & declining ticket sales will force many airlines into bankruptcy.

According to him, in order to offset mounting fuel costs:

• Flights of half empty planes traveling to more remote secondary locations will be canceled.
• Connecting to a regional hub will become much more difficult if you don't live in a major city.
• Cost conscious airlines refocus on fewer but more profitable routes with much greater load factors.
• Safety may be compromised as planes carry less emergency fuel. Lighter weight = less fuel consumption = costs savings. If passengers afraid to fly because of safety concerns---> less ticket sales = airline may go bankrupt

Impact on Sinkies & SG
Sinkies are especially hit hard with high fuel costs & airline carbon tax. Citizens in big countries have a big backyard for tourism whereas sinkies must take a flight out of this tiny island unless is via slow train up peninsular Malaysia.

However there is a bright side. With less $$ to spare with higher food prices resulting from higher oil prices, there'll be less visitors both local & foreign to the 2 casinos. If it is bad enough resulting in a few quarters of losses, the 2 casinos can shut down. Say goodbye to the hosts of gambling problems affecting society, crime & the growing infestation of pawnshops.

Soaring fuel prices --> World is becoming smaller.

Carbon taxes --> A boost in making the world smaller.

Why Different Wages for Same Job in Rich & Poor Countries

According to economist Chang Ha Joon, 80%-90% of the workers in rich countries can be & would be replaced by workers from poor countries if there is free migration. Increasing number of peasants in this tiny island have realized this brutal truth although some of the cheaper foreign workers able to slog long hours are less productive than the locals.

The citizens of the United Kingdom suffer as well though Sillypore is much worse due to overly liberal immigration policies. What UK, SG have shown is that the living standards of the citizenry in rich countries depend on the draconian control over their labor markets - immigration control. Hence foreigners working easily in SG is guaranteed ticket to poorhouse for masses of natives (blogpost).

Taking the example of bus drivers, there is no reason why bus drivers hired from China are paid lower than their colleagues from Malaysia which is 1 of the grouses that led to the strike last year by some of them. The bus drivers from China lose out in terms of ability to converse in english but their driving skills are certainly better than malaysian & sinkie bus drivers.

Driving skills is the main factor which those drivers from China have already hone on difficult roads back home. What they need is acclimatise to driving on the left on SG roads.

Drving in SG roads is much easier compared to experience gained by those drivers in China.

2mins.


Supporters of the hybrid regime with its overly liberal immigration policies are obssessed with maximising profits & cutting costs. Short-term thinking. They seldom consider about the social costs.

lobo_arisen has given a good reply to that ignorant hybrid regime supporter. Even Warren Buffett acknowledges that he is rich because of the system of institutions that America has provided him. Warren Buffett would be condemned if he lives in country with:

• lousy infrastructure
• inferior technologies
• poorly organized firms
• badly run institutions

Bus Drivers Salaries around the world comparison (open in new window) show that drivers in rich countries are paid a few times more than China bus drivers. After watching the bus video above, you'll agree that drivers in poor countries are poorly paid & yet drive in difficult conditions while those in rich countries are decently paid (except SG) in easy road conditions.

Workers in poor countries can defintely compete with their counterparts in rich countries be it bus drivers, secretary etc.

How come they are poorly paid? They are poorly paid because the rich in those poor countries can't compete with the rich in rich countries. The rich in poor countries can't 'pull' up the rest of society unlike their counterparts in rich countries.

Bus drivers in rich countries are overpaid compared to those in poor countries. They are overpaid because the rich in rich countries are a lot more productive in pulling the masses up. There's not to say the rich in rich countries can pat themselves. As lobo_arisen & Warren Buffett have pointed out that it is the collective actions taken over generations to build up good infrastructure, institutions etc that have created a better economic environment.

Lastly, going back to over liberal immigration, it shows the obscenely overpaid hybrid regime is not able to compete with other governments in developed economies. While foreign workers can complement the local workforce, it is not to the extent of replacing the locals to push the locals down to the poorhouse.

"If native Singaporeans are falling behind because the spurs are not stuck into the hide, that is their problem." - Old man with regard to hardworking immigrants hence the liberal influx

Problem is not with us. It is with the elites.

• Dismantle worker unions already still can't compete.
• Have the peasants work the longest hours in the developed world.
• Later open floodgates wide to cheaper foreign labor to compete.
• Open 2 casinos.

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Related:
Right now, the current elites in SG are like the rich in poor countries can't 'pull' the rest of society up.
- What Google's Homepage Can Teach S'pore's Overpaid Ministers

High Oil Prices Hit Transportation & Hawker Centre Food

High oil prices will spell the doom for S'pore's hybrid regime. I've blogged earlier that Terminal 5 is too far-fetched. If oil prices stay high & soar higher we won't need to waste taxpayers $$$ to build Terminal 4 as well.

All eyes on its Asia-Pacific market as

• Americas is too far
• Europe is too far
• South America is too far
• Middle East is too far
• South Africa is too far

Similarly for other airlines long haul flights around the world, they are hit hard with high oil prices. Eventually long distance travel will be a luxury. More distance costs more $$$. The world will be smaller until something replaces fossil fuel powered airplanes & ships.

Expect the quarterly reports (Jul-Sept) of listed transportation companies to take a hit from high fuel prices.

Now that i have a digital camera after a long hiatus of at least 1.5years without such device, i can show you the deteriorating ground situation. There is much to show & i shall start with the places the peasants go for meals outside - hawker centres & coffeeshops.

Practically all the food for this tiny island are trucked, shipped & flown in. Trucks, ships & aeroplanes run on fossil fuels. High oil prices = higher food prices.

Right now the peasants are having their meals outside at hawker centres where the rental is lower instead of coffeeshops. The coffeeshops now are suffering from poor businesses. A coffeeshop has closed down in Ave 2 & another one in Ave 5 despite the fact that the population density of this tiny island is getting heavier heavier. Apparently more mouths does not translate into businesses......

• Ave 2 coffeeshop ---> CK department store
• Ave 5 coffeeshop ---> Supermarket

The 5 pictures below are taken during lunch time today.

Clementi Central hawker centre. Crowded with queues.

Directly opposite the hawker centre is the coffeeshop at Blk 442. Pretty quiet. Business is worse than usual.

Coffeeshop at blk 449 which is a stone throw from the hawker centre. Business ain't good too.

I walked over from Clementi central via a bridge over the expressway to west coast hawker centre at Blk 503. A lively place compared to......

dead coffeeshop at Blk 501 diagonally opposite the West Coast Hawker centre.

Peasants are ditching higher priced coffeeshops & flocking to hawker centres.

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Related:
2.5 years ago, Sengkang residents already can't take it with the privatized operator.
- Sengkang Kopitiam Sq's Absurb Prices

Plentiful Maids & Measuring Standard of Living in SG

Supporters of the hybrid regime(paid world's highest salaries) likes to compare SG to less developed countries & urge sinkies to be grateful. What a warped logic. If you paid so much more for business class seat, do you expect an economy seat outcome?

Economist Chang Ha Joon raised an interesting point that a country's per capita income is less accurate as an indicator of standard of living if there is high income inequality.

Instead of comparing to lesser countries which the supporters of the hybrid regime likes to do, let's compare to other 1st world developed countries. We'll use the GDP (PPP) which is Purchasing Power Parity as the indicator measuring standard of living which economist Chang said is a better indicator than GDP per capita itself.

GDP (PPP) converts incomes of different countries into a common measure of living standards. All figures are in US$ extracted from wikipedia's GDP (PPP) 2012 by International Monetary Fund.

Comparing with Nordic countries
Gosh! Look at their (PPP) incomes dropping so much & yet Sillypore can go up. What's going on?

Reason for Sillypore going UP is because:

• Sillypore depends a lot on cheap foreign labor such as maids, waitress, bus drivers, technicians etc
• With those cheap services, citizens have more buying power.
• Yet Sinkies are most unhappiest in the world.

As economist Chang pointed out about high income inequality though he didn't cite S'pore, here in SG much of populace suffer depressed salaries which means only a small portion enjoy greater purchasing power at the misery/poverty of the masses. Hence it is a contributory factor as to why sinkies are unhappiest in the world according to an independent survey by Gallup.


Reasons for Nordic countries DOWN a lot is because:

• Expensive service workers such as waitress, bus drivers, technicians etc
• With expensive services, scandinavians have much reduced buying power.
• Yet scandinavians rank high up in happiness.

With no depressed salaries & tight limits on cheaper foreign labor, the GDP (PPP) is a lot more reliable for the general populace.


Comparing with Swiss standard of living & other countries sinkies would migrate to
Gosh! Again we see reduced purchasing power & the strange thing is these are the countries sinkies would migrate to.

Why down for the other countries? Same reason as nordic countries - expensive service workers & tight limits on cheaper foreign labor.

I've included Switzerland as the peasants were promised a Swiss standard of living by the hybrid regime. But according to GDP (PPP), we have already way exceeded the goal. However as i explained above - SG's dangerous income inequality screws the whole thing up.

USA's 2012 figures are a bit of an anormaly which i've included. Economist Chang cited an UP disparity for 2007 figures in his book resembling like SG & USA suffers from very high income inequality which he explains. His explanation is what i've learnt to explain SG's UP anomaly here.

Maids
Look at the comparisons with other rich developed economies again & you'll realise that the citizens living in those countries hardly if ever rely on maids. It is only Sillypore with abundant maids.

Service workers are expensive in those 1st world economies & they don't have a liberal policy of letting in cheap maids to let their middle class citizens live like kings & queens. Again the anomaly of sinkies migrating to countries where maids are expensive & hard to hire!

Middle class sinkies get to live like kings & queens with cheap maids/servants from 3rd world nations at their beck & call. Never did they realise that the hybrid regime would turn against them by flooding in cheaper foreign workers from 3rd world nations to replace the jobs of the middle class citizens. Karma.

Slogging Long Hours for High Standard of Living
The long working hours are omitted from the gdp figures that the hybrid regime loves to tout. By allowing in plentiful numbers of maids to do housework, the hybrid regime figured they can get the peasants to slave away longer at work. Less time for leisurely pursuits, exercise & family/friends is not something i would consider high standard of living.


High income inequality effectively shuts down GDP (PPP) of US$60,799 (S$75,336) as a measurement of standard of living in SG. There are other non-income factors to consider in measuring the well-being of a society.

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Related:
Another pathetic outcome when compared to Nordic countries -
Sinkies: 19% Thriving, 75% Struggling, 6% Suffering

Karma Strike an Elite's Son - Foreign Workers Stealing Business

Karma strike an elite's son.

From supporter & blind ignoramus of the foreign labor policy:

"...I was always a huge supported of foreign (white collar) labor here in Singapore. While I know these people are surely not indicative of a huge population of expatriates, it does make me rethink whether or not these new arrivals are really grateful for the opportunities they are being given here or are they all just so self-centered that they don’t care about things like professionalism, integrity or even right & wrong."

until he got badly bitten himself.

I have been completely disgusted by the unprofessional & possibly criminal actions by 3 former employees (coincidentally, all foreigners).

• under our employment, allegedly worked to divert business away from us & to their new agency.   

• Allegedly, they lied to my business partners, misrepresented our agency & even lied to clients. 

• Allegedly, they were, while still drawing salaries from us, selling their own services & poaching Ate’s clients.

Although it is not mentioned whether the 3 employees are workers from China, i've blogged about the dangers with regards to cheaper foreign labor with their unsavory habits/work culture compared to the largely docile sinkie workforce.

• May 2012: I wrote about economist Graeme Maxton's warning about perils of Cheap Chinese Workers? Got Hidden High Price.
• Nov 2012: Strike action in S'pore by some bus drivers hired from China.
• Oct 2013: Retribution strikes the son of an elite's business employing foreign workers.
• ????    : ?????
• ????    : ?????
• ????    : ?????

TRE published an article Tommy Koh’s son: FT employees poached my clients which i'm duplicating below as the article might be lost if TRE shuts down later. It is important as fellow sinkies are advised to print out the article on TRE to use as cover page for their resumes.

Don't bother sending online resumes or job applications. It is practically a futile approach as computerised sorting using keywords:

• Sinkie male with National Service obligations -- delete into recycle bin.
• Sinkie female just married or with newborn baby - delete into recycle bin.
• Sinkie with ill elderly parents to look after - delete into recycle bin.

The hiring person might go through the motions of calling a few sinkies for interview for 'consideration'. But so long as you are sinkie, we are disadvantaged not just with the above factors competing with cheaper foreign labor with no family, little friends & able to slog long hours.

The situation has deteriorated to the extent that the Ministry of Manpower has called for Fair Consideration Framework (FCF). Some netizens dubbed FCF as Foreigners Come First as it is just a cosmetic approach which doesn't solve the underlying issue.



Fair Consideration Framework - onus is on sinkies to print the article to use as cover page for resume. If the hirer wants to go ahead knowing the dangers of cheaper foreign labor, then so be it. Interview process is a 2 way street. Workers are screening their employers as well. Remind the employer if is it fair to him

• if foreign cheaper labor steal his business?
• if foreign cheaper labor falsify accounts?
• if he/she wants to suffer same fate as Tommy Koh's son?
• other savory habits pointed out by economist Graeme Maxton

Sinkies need to rise to the top of the pile. Not sink into the pile.

Heart Ware Not Needed, Cog Labor Will Do

People are our most important asset are an overused cliche especially among big corpserations. Instead of treating people as a resource that is hard to duplicate among its competitors, many big corpserations regard them as cogs. Mindless cogs are easy to copy/duplicate but a group of inspired/motivated humans created corporate culture is hard to duplicate.

Sillypore's government-linked companies which make up to 60% of the economy are a good example. As i blogged about cog labor punished for taking initiative on the 22nd, it was highlighted by The Real Singapore a day later on 23rd how come the bus drivers don't give a damn?

Where got heart ware? Cogs have no heart. Humanity is not rewarded.

Why give a damn if you're considered cog labor & punished if taking initiative? Other reasons further compounding the already downward spiraling situation are:

• Top management dole out cool sounding titles like bus captains instead of paying decent wages - cheapskate.
• Bus drivers may not be highly schooled but they're no fools as they know they are lowly paid (blogpost- Malaysia Bus Drivers Decent Wages. Sinkie Drivers 3rd World Wages). Even cheap labor drivers from China know they are unfairly treated else some would not have striked late last year.
• Pretty much deadend job as Sillypore government-linked companies emphasize paper qualifications for promotion.
• Management aka scholars knows best attitude. Hence feedback are often treated as 'noises'/complaints.
• Keep low profile & 'bochup' since feedback treated as 'noises' may get one 'marked' for early termination.

These type of rot is not just confined to the public transport companies. Government-linked companies make up 60% of the economy so these undesirable corporate practices/mindset are experienced by many peasants (including myself) working or having worked before in GLCs. While they can largely monopolize the local captive market, they often get trounced competing in overseas markets with their 'buggy' software.

It partly also helps to explain why the military generals & paper scholars infest the government-linked corpserations. They lack the heart ware to survive in the private sector as their policies would lead to a mass exodus of customers.. The omission of heart ware explains why the standard of living on this tiny island is deteriorating year after year.

Repairing Backrest of Chair & Punctured Bicycle Tubes

Long time visitors would have notice that i have not blogged with any personally taken pics for more than 1.5 years. That's because my digital camera is spoilt. And the 2 megapixel lens on mobile phone is too grainy to be of any use.

$8 for 16 megapixel camera
In blogpost Half Ass Approach in Salvaging Plunging Morale Among Sinkie Males, i suggested using the vouchers for groceries. Well, i found a better use for the $80 vouchers by using it to buy the Canon A2500 entry level digital camera on sale at $88 ($88-$80). Canon website list the retail price at $149.

Furthermore, it comes with free 8GB 30mb/s SD memory card & camera case.

Moving Up the Value Chain
Long time visitors may have realised also that the quality of blogposts have gotten better ever since the camera got spoilt.

When the easier way out is shut off, you'll just have to adapt to a higher level. It is also the case with Google as i've blogged in What Google's Homepage Can Teach S'pore's Overpaid Ministers.

• No digital camera --> Being forced to blog at higher level.
• Google Homepage Zero Ads --> Forcing itself to operate at higher level for profits.
• Close floodgates to cheap foreign labor --> Being forced to productivity gains through automation route.

Google has done it, i've have gone through it myself. The most expensive government in the world - Sillypore govt can't do it despite being paid millions. Being paid the highest in the world yet taking the easy route & inflicting hardship on the peasants compared to other 1st world governments.


Anyway, back to the reuse & repair topic. Now with a camera i can show with examples. Repair & reuse is not just about saving $$$. It is the amount of energy resource that went into producing, packaging, transporting the item as oil prices nowadays are around triple-digits.

We ought to reduce our carbon footprint besides saving $$$. Throwing away something that can be repaired without much difficulty is wasteful.

Chair Repaired With Badminton String
Backrest of the chair broke on one end due to its thinly welded metal plate. Luckily there's a hole. Thickness of broken badminton string can be just nice in threading through holes to secure things. Once done & knotted, pull both ends of string with pliers to tighten the string.

Clothes Hanger in Shower Room
The spare wall mount with its big mouth. To fix the 'big mouth' i stuff badminton grip patch in attempt to plug it.

Bicycle Tyre Tube Patching
I'm an idiot at repairing punctured holes at first. Why idiot? Because i didn't follow the rubber glue instructions & always apply the patch while the rubber glue is still wet as that is what we always do when sticking paper to paper. Apparently rubber glue doesn't work like paper glue.

In the end i have 3 spare tubes instead of 1 since i don't know how to fix the punctures. Is only when i throw out the paper glue mindset that i managed to fix them all.

1. Sand punctured area.
2. Apply rubber glue on sandpapered area.
3. Let it dry completely!
4. Apply patch & apply pressure for 1-2mins
5. After like 1hr, inflate tube & leave it overnight to check for leaks.

3 patches (orange rims) )for the 3 punctures suffered on the tube pictured above. All patched & quality checked with no leaks after inflating & hanging it on the door knob for 3-4 days.

Bus Driver Punished for Using Initiative to Correct Mistake

Another example demonstrating cog labor instead of human labor. In its drive to grow gdp at all costs like cancer, the 'humanity' to a large extent has been lost. An army of mindless cog labor to follow instructions - standard operating procedures. No need to exercise initiative -humanity.

When workers are treated as cogs instead of humans, surely the results(blogposts) are:

• 98% of S'pore Workers Are 'Bochup' aka Disengaged in 2010
• 'Zombie' Workers - Plenty of Them In S'pore
• S'pore 2nd Lowest Globally for Job Satisfaction

Standard operating procedures for safety are to be followed. The problem is those workers who lull themselves thinking by being obedient & follow instructions will ensure they would have a job. If mindless robots are cheaper you can expect that mindless robots would replace the mindless cog labor.

Sillypore's Hybrid Regime Profit Strategy:

• If cog labor gets expensive - open floodgates & flood in lots of cog labor.
• Can't afford to automate or don't want to - open floodgates & flood in lots of cog labor.

Just follow/blindly obey instructions = cheap salaries will suffice until automation makes it even cheaper.

Upper half of the reply is apologizing for the driver of bus 168 who has been driving the same route for 2 years went off route. The main gist is with the lower half (screenshot above).

Show initiative (humanity) without waiting for instructions = punished

What the public transport company just did is advertising to its entire staff that showing initiative to remedy the mistake will be punished. Henceforth the staff would just adopt a can't be bothered attitude(bochup). I wouldn't be surprised if this is the same 'corporate culture' infesting the ministry of home affairs thereby allowing a limping terrorist to escape & can't even catch him.

How to Strike Without Breaking the Law
The incident taught the workers how to strike without breaking the law - just wait for instructions. In a big corpseration, many things can go wrong & standard operating procedures can't possibly cover everything. If everyone wait for instructions from higher up......

The incident also shows the mindset of top management in control via standard operating procedures. Control freaks which i will illustrate using Adolf Hitler.

Control freak - Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler often had late night meetings with his staff generals & as such slept late & woke up late. D-Day on the western front happened in pre dawn when Hitler was sleeping. The generals in charge of the panzer armies (tanks) wanted to launch a counterattack before the allies could establish a beachhead. That's initiative but Hitler was asleep & only with his personal approval can the tanks be unleashed.

No generals dare to tell Hitler to wake up for fear of being punished('corporate culture'). When Hitler finally woke up in the late morning to give instructions, it is already too late.



The bus driver treated as cog is not just symptomatic of 1 company. It is symptomatic across vast swathes of the local economic landscape given that overwhelming number of workers are bochup, 'zombie' & low job satisfaction.

So much for promoting tourism.

Super Sizing Public Costs By Fast Food Industry

Previously i blogged about the pathetic wages of fast food workers in Ditched Fast Food. 6.5 years & counting.

Now, 2 days ago news came out that just McDonalds alone cost the american taxpayers US$1.2B per year in public assistance as those fast food workers have problems raising even 1 kid. Besides being unhealthy junk food, this gargantuan in super sizing public costs is another reason why we ought to boycott fast food restaurants that are spamming like weeds.

Spam, spam & spam. 6 McDonalds within 3km radius of where i'm staying:

• 2 in clementi central
• 1 in S'pore polytechnic
• 1 in west coast park
• 1 in king albert park complex
• 1 in National University of SG

What is good for the fast food companies is not necessarily good for the country be it USA or SG. Look at the obscene multi-million CEO salaries compared to its workers who can't even properly afford to raise 1 kid. Certainly those junk food companies can pay more to their poorly paid workers given the nice profits they earned.

Shareholders Vs Stakeholders
This is an extremely good example of maximizing shareholder value by squeezing workers dry while having the rest of the country (taxpayers) to pay the tab in terms of subsidizing the low wages through public assistance. Is no wonder that USA & SG compete with each other for the dubious honor of highest income inequality among developed economies.

With the flooding of cheap foreign workers from 3rd world nations in the last couple of years, the income inequality in SG is even worse than America. Just last month i've blogged about Illegal Hawkers - Peasants are Tenacious & Entrepreneurial that peasants (illegal hawkers) aren't giving a hoot about warning tickets & the lame state propaganda report that crime is at 29 year low.

CEOs paid outrageous salaries while having the rest of the peasants suffer the costs. Notice how creepily similar it is to SG's hybrid regime as they copy blindly...

Copying USA Blindly
Ronald Reagan started the ball rolling by dismantling worker unions. We can see from the chart that % Workforce in unions took a sharp dive & along with it the middle class incomes nosedived from 1981. This is exactly what Sillypore's hybrid regime copied blindly as we don't see other continental european developed economies like Germany, France, Netherlands doing it.

Today the co-called workers union in SG is an absolute joke as it is known for its supermarkets instead of protecting workers welfare. Trade union supermarkets that generally have higher prices than private sector Sheng Siong supermarkets - another joke.

Make good companies grow stronger, make bad companies go broke.

These fast food spamming like crazy outlets:

1. selling unhealthy junk food.
2. making the peasants suffer.

Are you gonna boycott these fast food restaurants?

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Related blogpost:
Ronald Reagan started the mess & stagnation in USA, which is why Jimmy Carter Is the Last Great Modern American President

Better Energy Efficiency Is Useless Without Overall Consumption Decline

Previously i blogged about Malaysia & Singapore Preparing for High Oil Prices.

Red Arrow -> Record no. of recipients for this year's energy efficiency awards

A common approach to high oil prices is better energy efficiency to reduce usage. According to economist Jeff Rubin, better efficiency has often led to increased energy usage thus making the situation worse. He cited the example of better materials, design of cars & aircraft bodies & engines bringing the cost of travel down.

As the cost of travel gpes down, it becomes more affordable to the masses which led to increased driving & flying. Hence Jeff Rubin stresses the point that we ought to focus on energy consumption for a car/plane over its lifetime.


To make it simpler we just need to look at our lives. Many of the electrical appliances in our homes have energy efficiency certifications/ratings. Those appliances now are more efficient compared to many years ago but we are actually consuming more power.

• Instead of analog camera with film, now a hell lot more pictures are taken with digital cameras as cost/picture have shrunk to negligible level.
• Instead of 1 computer, some families now have 1 computer & 1 laptop.
• Instead of 1 dumbphone, many people are now smartphones addicts & more are buying tablets.
• Instead of cable activated gear shifters for bicycles, electronic shifters have appeared on the market.
• Instead of simple watch, expect people wearing power hungry iwatch in the future.
• Instead of simple glasses, expect people wearing power hungry google glasses in future.

With those examples listed, we are going to be using more energy over our lives compared to our parents lifetime although we are using devices more energy efficient compared to our parent's lifetime.

The hybrid regime can enhance energy efficiency in whatever ways they want to make the country more energy efficient to deal with the threat of triple-digit oil prices which will hurt the regime's businesses greatly. However in the bigger picture, it is clear this tiny island nation is consuming more & more energy.

High energy prices will lead to the hybrid regime's demise, there's no escape.

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Related blogpost:
- Algae as Biofuel, Not Crops As We Ain't Enough to Eat

German Army Peak Oil Study - Doom for the PAP

I've written quite a few blogposts on oil & this is an important issue which i will continue to blog about. In November 2010, the German Military released a study on the effects of Peak Oil. This 10min video summarizes that study:



For the peasants living on this tiny island, we can look forward to the demise of the domination of the hybrid regime(PAP; People's Action Party). The latest news is that 30% of consumers in Singapore say that they will have to make significant spending cuts in other areas to cope with rising food prices. 30% of people struggling is a 'low' figure since we know the hybrid regime with its media control & propaganda would avoid publishing the higher figure.

The hybrid regime cannot control the global oil market & hence it can't manipulate supply & demand. To understand why the hybrid regime is doomed, try picturing oil depletion rates & rising consumption as 2 ends of a matchstick - both ends burning.

Chris Martenson's scary example isn't just a scenario, but a reality for many exporting countries
Suppose we have a hypothetical country that produces 3 million barrels of crude oil per day, consumes 1 million barrels per day & exports the balance of 2 million barrels a day. All things being equal, it can export those 2 million barrels year after year. But now let's suppose that its oil field is declining due to depletion issues at a modest 5% a year. After 10 years, instead of 2 million barrels a year, this country can now only export 0.89 million barrels of oil a day, or less than half the prior amount. The missing balance has depleted away & it cannot export what it doesn't have. Now comes the kicker: 

Let's further suppose, quite realistically, that this country increases their internal demand for oil at a rate of 2.5% a year. What happens to exports in this case, where internal demand is rising & production is falling?

1 end of a matchstick burning - 5% decline in global oil production
Consumption at steady rate is a fairy tale in the developing countries. Without rising energy consumption the developing nations economies cannot grow bigger.

2 ends of a matchstick burning - 5% decline + 2.5% increase in consumption
2013 to 2035 is 22 years.
Let's be conservative:

• More than double by 2035 --> double by 2035

To achieve doubling in 22 years would require 3.2% increase/year. In simpler terms, if your salary increases 3.2%/year, after 22 years in 2035 your salary would be doubled.

Instead of 3.2%, we'll use Chris Martenson's 2.5% as a conservative figure.

In year 10, exports have shrunk to 642,000 barrels which is just 31% of the original 2M barrels of oil. With dwindling supplies, i've blogged that Malaysia & Singapore Preparing for High Oil Prices .


Peasants have seen how high demand + limited supplies of public housing orchestrated by the hybrid regime have propel housing prices to absurd levels. Similarly when high oil prices lead to rising food prices, we can expect >50% of peasants to toss the hybrid regime out at the polls.

There's no escaping doom for the hybrid regime. A brighter future awaits the peasants thereafter.