Malaysia & Singapore Preparing for High Oil Prices

Triple digit oil prices are with us for coming close to 3 months since early july compared to the shorter duration of tripe-digit price peaks floating above US$100 in 2011 & 2012. Already within this period of US$100+/barrel oil, we have:

• 3 Sept    Malaysia cuts subsidies on fuel
• 11 Sept  Malaysia set to spend US$50b to develop rail network with spiralling fuel costs
• 23 Sept  Sheng Siong's distribution centre to house largest single solar panel installation
• 25 Sept  HDB plans to go big on solar energy, calls largest solar-leasing tender

With these developments in reaction to high oil prices, the future for S'pore's hybrid regime is grim. No matter how many solar panels to harness free sunlight are installed in this tiny island, there's no stopping higher food prices in the future. Ships, trucks & planes transporting food don't run on solar panels(lacks energy density of fossil fuels).

Peasants are already getting squeezed in their paychecks with depressed salaries & displaced by cheaper foreign workers.  Their building of 10 more hawker centres won't be able to save their ass. Higher food prices = bye bye to hybrid regime via the polls.

The hybrid regime talk of Terminals 4 & 5 for the airport. I see terminal 5 as too far-fetched. High fuel prices & higher food prices = less $$ to travel = collapse in medium-to-long distance tourism worldwide.

Shale Boom in America Can't Stop Global Rising Appetite
Although America now has a boom in shale gas & oil, expect prices to be in uptrend with voracious users like India, China & other developing countries. I consider the price of oil to be more important than the S&P500 index as high oil prices have always triggered recessions.

China's String of Pearls
Oil is the lifeblood of economies. Without oil, the ships & planes won't be moving. Economies will collapse. It is so vital that China has setup backup facilities known as China's String of Pearls in case of a supply route blockade at the narrow Straits of Malacca chokepoint & S'pore.

Foreigners Working Easily In SG is Guaranteed Ticket to Poorhouse for Masses of Natives

Economist Chang Ha Joon said that practically all rich countries in the world started off being protectionist of their industries. His analogy is that of a child (industry) who needs protection & nurturing (govt subsidies, tariffs & quotas). Once that kid has matured into an adult who can compete, will then free trade is the talk of the day.

Chang Ha Joon said that if developing countries engage in free trade with the rich developed countries, their infant industries will be wiped out by the more efficient, more technologically advanced, more capitalized companies of the developed world. Can a kid compete with an adult at the workplace?

Hence economist Chang propose that developing countries engage in fair trade (govt subsidies, tarrifs, import quotas) for their infant industries that are important to the nation. Developing countries engaging in free trade with the developed world from the start will cripple much of their development efforts.

S'pore Taxis Would be Wiped Out with Free Trade
Taxi drivers in Johor, Malaysia can drive taxis just as good. Tiny S'pore is no problem for them. With cheaper cars & cheaper fuel costs, they can charge 25% lower fares in S$ & wipe out the taxi industry in Sillypore.

Hence it can be said that it is political boundaries that hinder free trade. Free trade in the taxi industry is a guaranteed ticket to the poorhouse for S'pore 's hybrid regime as its profitable govt-linked taxi companies will go bust.

No free trade in taxi industry with Malaysia.

Free trade in jobs wiping out Sillypore peasants
I'm sure there are cheaper foreign workers who can do a better job than sinkie peasants. However the hybrid regime who operates S'pore Inc safeguards its taxi companies & maximizes its profits elsewhere to the detriment of the local populace.

Local peasants are burdened with:

• family & children   -- can't slave long hours unlike single foreigner
• reservist obligations -- away from work compared to foreigner
• 30 year mortgages -- need decent pay compared to foreigners lower pay & squeezing in rental premises

Unfair competition for masses of sillyporeans with those burdens have resulting in increasing crime & desperation into being illegal hawkers just to make ends meet. Hence free trade (foreigners can work easily in SG) is a guaranteed ticket to the poorhouse for Sillyporeans.

What the peasants need is fair trade but not when the hybrid regime continues to monopolize power.


Double standards:
No free trade to protect its taxi companies profits
but free trade in jobs to destroy the livelihood of the citizens.

Unfair if taxis from johor ply freely in SG to bankrupt its taxi fleet
but fair for foreigners with no/little burdens to bankrupt citizens (family, NS, 30year mortgage payment) in the job market.


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Related:
- Services Heavy Economy Is Hard for Productivity Gains Compared to Manufacturing

Illegal Hawkers - Peasants are Tenacious & Entrepreneurial

In Malaysia & many other countries, if no rule = can do
In Sillypore, if no rule = cannot do

That's why sillyporeans are often disadvantaged in overseas ventures as the folks in other countries don't wait for official blessing in order to do a thing. By the time approval comes = opportunity is gone.

As the old man published a humongous 9 volume book series, it is as usual more declines & rot in this tiny island nation for each publication.

“If native Singaporeans are falling behind because the 'spurs are not stuck into the hide', that is their problem” -Old man

Myth dispelled that peasants are not hungry compared to cheaper foreigners.. Peasants are more than up to the task compared to immigrants. Look at how tenacious & entrepreneurial:

[ 2013 Jan- May ]
3300 tickets issued to 528 offenders.

Continue to operate business even after receiving 6.25 tickets on average!

Being an illegal hawker is better than resorting to crime like shoplifting or a loan shark runner.





[ 2012 ]
~9800 tickets to more than 1000 offenders.

Continue to operate business even after receiving 9.8 tickets on average!

The heck with paying killer rent to the hybrid regime.







As the number of peasants displaced from their jobs from the mass influx of cheaper foreign workers resort to being illegal hawkers to make a living, the state controlled newspaper reported that crime rate is at 29 year low.

Common sense would tell us that is utter bullshit. Crime rate cannot be low when peasants are struggling.

Crime rate cannot be low also with mass influx of foreigners.

More Peasants Avoiding Killer Rent Premises

Same thoughts echoed by another published by the state propaganda holdings. I also

1. Avoid shopping at malls as much as possible
2. Avoid eating at malls
3. Shop online (items in need)
4. Avoid infested malls as much as possible
5. Cut hair in JB, Malaysia
6. Buy badminton shoes in JB, Malaysia
7. Buy badminton racquet in JB, Malaysia
8. Restring badminton racquet in JB, Malaysia (borrow from another player in meantime)

The below malls opened less than 3 years ago & till now i have not spent a single ¢ in those killer rent premises.

• Clementi Mall
• JCube
• JEM
• Star Vista

The hybrid regime(biggest landlord) is sucking the life out of the masses by:

1. Jacking up land price & thus rental to insane levels.
2. In the process, killing off legitimate businesses & flooding in hordes of foreign cheap labour to keep surviving ones alive. That's how we have 2 casinos instead of 1. 
3. Foreign cheap labor to prevent collapse of businesses depresses salaries of peasants for those lucky not to be laid off.
4. Expect local & foreign peons to slave long hours just to pay the killer rent.

I'm glad that more peasants are waking up & boycotting those killer rent landlord leeches.

The country's economic competitiveness despite rated as 2nd most competitive in the world is shamefully held up by hordes of cheaper foreign labor & slaving long hours by the peons to prevent collapse.

Next time when in those killer rent malls, ask yourself: 'How many hours do i have to slave my ass off at work to pay for that killer rent?'

Think of the time not being with your family, friends, hobbies, leisure etc while you are slaving your ass off & you'll think 2x, 3x, 4x about spending your $$ & sending it to those landlord leeches.

Increased Corruption. Insecurity After Massive Privatization of Govt Services

According to economist Chang Ha Joon in his book 'Bad Samaritans', i find a refreshing view of how he explains the rise of corruption with increased privatization. He didn't mention Sillypore but as peasants living here know, much of the services previously under state control are privatized with the masses enduring worse services with higher price.

Sillypore has witness a surge in corruption cases as the govt ministers paid themselves the highest salaries in the world. Peasants are told the need for highest salaries to avoid corruption & to ensure performance. However when performance are mediocre which doesn't justify the highest political salaries, the leadership rot spreads down the pyramid.

Denmark, Finland & Sweden are cleaner than this tiny island but their govt leaders don't pay themselves stratospheric salaries. These nordic countries have a well-designed welfare state.

Corruption Perceptions Index 2012 Results

The latest corruption is a deputy director of Tan Tock Seng public hospital soliciting a bribe from a company in return for a tender award for a construction project. As peasants know about increasing job insecurity due to trend of outsourcing (previously done inhouse) & trend of 2 year job contracts in govt jobs, what Chang Ha Joon wrote strikes me.

In essence, because there's a well-designed welfare state in those nordic countries

1. those nordic citizens are not desperate for $$$ due to job insecurity.
2. those nordic citizens are not resistant to retraining & automation as their national economies retool for higher value activities.

Hence Nordic countries economies are competitive as well as the latest Global Competitiveness Index 2013-2014 [8mb report in pdf format] shows:

I'm particularly intrigued by the 2nd point made by Chang Ha Joon. Hordes of Sillyporeans are resistant to changes be it retraining/automation as they are scared of losing their jobs. How to pay absurd 30 year mortgages, high cost of living with no social safety net? Reservist already led to citizens away from jobs, retraining = more time away making citizens more uncompetitive to risk of being fired.

Below is what economist Chang Ha Joon wrote which i've added in subtopic titles:
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New Public Management (NPM), tries to increase administrative efficiency & reduce corruption by introducing more market forces into the government itself through:

• more frequent contracting out.
• a more active use of performance-related pay & short-term contracts.
• a more active exchange of personnel between the public & private sectors.

Jobs previously done inhouse, outsourcing = new opportunities for bribes
Unfortunately, NPM-inspired reforms have often increased, rather than reduced, corruption. Increased contracting out has meant more contracts with the private sector, creating new opportunities for bribes.

Undetected favors
The increased flow of people between the public & private sectors has had an even more insidious effect. Once lucrative private sector employment becomes a possibility, public officials may be tempted to befriend future employers by bending, or even breaking, the rules for them. They may do this even without being paid for it right away.

With no money changing hands, no law has been broken (& therefore, no corruption has occurred) &, at most, the official can be accused of bad judgment. But the payoff is in the future. It may not even be made by the same corporations that benefited from the original decision. Having built up his reputation as a 'pro business' person or even more euphemistically, a 'reformer', he can later move to a plum job with a private law firm, a lobbying organization or even an international agency. He may even use his pro-business credentials to set up a private equity fund.

Job Insecurity. Short-term contract leads to more corruption
The incentive to do favours for the private sector becomes all the greater if the careers of the civil servants are made insecure through short-term contracting in the name of increasing market discipline. If they know that they are not going to stay in the civil service very long, they will have all the more incentive to cultivate their future employment prospects.

Glacier the Size of Lower Manhattan Calves Off

In the aftermath of the biggest flood so far this year which i blog about earlier, a concerned citizen wrote to the state controlled press that S'poreans must take climate change seriously. What follows are a flurry of comments from naysayers who don't believe in climate change - blame is solely on the hybrid regime for overbuilding on this tiny island leaving inadequate greenery to absorb the rainfall.

As much as i loathe the hybrid regime & i blog about its failings & inadequacies, i believe global warming is a contributory factor.

Even the 'old man' of the hybrid regime has chapter 9) Energy & climate change - preparing for the worst in his latest book. I won't buy his book (every book published = more declines & rot in SG) but i certainly would like to read his thoughts. Unfortunately, the libraries now has 238 reserves pending as i write this.

Current economic system dependent on fossil energy emitting greenhouse gases is hitting environmental limits as this footage of a glacier in Greenland, the size of lower Manhattan collapse & break away.

5 mins. Max your sound volume to feel the effects of the ice collapsing & breaking away.



If all icesheet in Greenland melt away, the resulting sea level rise would doom Sillypore given how low the east coast is which the sea will flood in most easily.

Biggest Flood So Far in 2013 & Environmental Limits

This morning's heavy downpour resulted in the biggest flood on this tiny island so far this year.

Nothing clears away the dreaded morning rush hour traffic than a torrent of floodwaters.

Look at the outside of a lecture theatre of science faulty at National University of S'pore - a baby swimming pool.

Just last month - Dozens Die in North Asia Heat Wave as Power Supply Strained

• Shanghai hit a record 40.8℃, hottest in 140 years.
• 41℃ at Shimanto in Japan

Current economic model relying on fossil fuels spewing out greenhouse gases is unsustainable. There are environmental limits which GDP can grow under the fossil fuel model.

The heat wave in north asia last month already stretched electricity supplies to breaking point with people turning on power guzzling air-conditioners. Even with electric vehicles in future, much of the vehicles will be grounded after their batteries run dry during the increasing heat wave period. Even on normal days, imagine the number of power plants required to generate the electricity needed for those electric vehicles.

• Coal fired power plant --> greenhouse gases +++
• Oil fired power planet --> greenhouse gases ++
• Natural gas fired power plant --> greenhouse gases
• Nuclear power plant --> take at least 5 years to build due to complexity & regulations
• Hydro power plant --> less water due to melting glaciers to power such future generators. Many major rivers have already have dams.
• Wind & Solar --> green but unreliable. Low in energy density thus requiring lots of them.

Automobiles aside, the airplanes spewing greenhouse gases won't be running on electricity powered batteries anytime soon. Current battery technology still have a long way to go considering the short battery life in sustaining smartphones & notebook computers, let alone 2 jet engines & a host of other electronics & inflight entertainment.


Meanwhile with climate change & Sillypore's hybrid regime pursuing a grow GDP at all costs like cancer approach, We can expect more of this:

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