Saturday, September 21, 2013

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.

Saturday, September 14, 2013

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:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

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.

Thursday, September 5, 2013

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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