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have much $$ to spare for R&D, upgrades thus eventually losing out to foreign competition - marvel at what happened to outdated japanese planes in Marianas Turkey Shoot.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.
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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.