Singapore a Great Nation....

[night86mare]

...

alamak, i had to run to class because i typed, and retyped that post, finally wanted to delete it but had no time.

check your pm, thanks. and you are wayyyy awake at an ungodly hour.

 

[mattlock]

I tot we all the while have "pension" scheme called CPF... our salary gets docked now... and we pray hard that the interest paid overcomes inflation when we actually see the $$$.

And doesn't need to get stuck in a single company to enjoy it benefits.

actually I never understood the CPF system
Chances are inflation will overtake any interest on your CPF.
However, there are many people who have no sense of financial control and will spend whatever money they make.
So it's not an ideal situation for everyone but in view of the bigger picture, it seems a smart move.
There are always ways to deal with the CPF issue. Start your own business. then CPF becomes a choice.

 

[Silence Sky]

I also agreed with you. We have many bests!

I also respect individual act of appreciation and concern.

But please correct me if I am wrong, we are generally shy. We feel unconfortable when we say it out.

It is not about trumpet and choirs. It is about being proud. Say it out!

Make your stand clear!

Are you shy telling your mother, gf or bf, son and daughter "I love you?"

This is our mindset. It not about blowing trumpet. If you proud, say it out. Why shy about it.

Let other make noise. Make your stand clear to them.

Expressing ones love or affection for another person or country is perfectly fine.
But if you check with our neigbours, they will tell you Singapo lang is the most arrogant.
Why is it so??
We are indoctrinated from young through education and public media that we are the “Best” and we are number one. So effective that we become blind to the merits that others have over us.

You feel very proud of what you have and want to echo to the whole world.
But the reality is that other people have other preference or priority.
What is best to you may not necessary be their dreams or must have.
“we have the best road system, look at our ERP, so advance,, so high tech…, you Bangkok don’t,, so lousy”..This is what I hear during a trip.

“We have the best education” but where are our rocket scientists? Many of us can’t express our ideas properly, let alone others things.
Yes, we are good at set pieces only.

 

[Silence Sky]

actually I never understood the CPF system
Chances are inflation will overtake any interest on your CPF.
However, there are many people who have no sense of financial control and will spend whatever money they make.
So it's not an ideal situation for everyone but in view of the bigger picture, it seems a smart move.
There are always ways to deal with the CPF issue. Start your own business. then CPF becomes a choice.

What chances??? it is confirmed...
20 years ago, 30k can buy a four rm flat.
if you keep it for 20 years in CPF can you buy the flat now?:think:

 

[clrfarm]

Back in 1982 to 85 I lived and worked in Sg, and travelled to China a lot. I could easily see the size difference in Sg people and Cn people. That is because the Government brought in diet, nutrition, and health matters to school children. Schools encouraged sports, which supports health growth. Singapore did a lot of things right, which should have been copied by the western world, but were not. I wound up marrying a Sg Girl, and we have lived happily everafter.

Singapore is a Great Nation, and so should it stay forevermore!

 

[sORe-EyEz]

do you think it is even humanly possible to allocate resources efficiently such that the ones who need help get what they need? i already envision a scenario where everyone is fighting to be the ones who need help, you already see it happening.. people in mercedes going for free textbooks.. the list of examples about how ugly human nature is can go on - the point is that to filter the real "poor" from the fake "poor" or the nonsensical "self perceived poor" is literally impossible, unless you turn every single human into a saint.

if you insist that it is possible, just a matter of mindset, then pardon me while i call you overly idealistic; that or just playing devil's advocate for the sake of doing so.

thats where oni those with a certain level of caliber can pull it of. i am not refering to the extremes here, so i have to correct ur perception u hold. what has saints got to do with the point i raised? should i point out the devil too? :bsmilie:

wads impossible today may not be so tomorrow. for some things in life, its oni a matter of time.

 

[CYRN]

actually I never understood the CPF system
Chances are inflation will overtake any interest on your CPF.
However, there are many people who have no sense of financial control and will spend whatever money they make.
So it's not an ideal situation for everyone but in view of the bigger picture, it seems a smart move.
There are always ways to deal with the CPF issue. Start your own business. then CPF becomes a choice.

The CPF system just simply means that you'll have some $$$ post retirement, it's really a function of how much you put in against how much you require when you retire. Ideally is should get you by with basic day-to-day expenses. Personally, I feel that it's based on the belief of compounding interest where your nest will grow significantly the longer you "save".

However, due to the way that the economy changes (more significantly the singapore property market, medical fees and the few economic crisis that Sg faced), I think that the CPF system isn't catching up with the world. To most of Singaporean, it's just resigned to be fated to be CPF-ed while doubts lingers if the CPF can even meet our basic needs when we retire.

No one can see into the future to determine the best policy for everyone, but at least Sg have started something. I'm advocating for CPF but with much more flexibility rather than what's currently in place.

For a start, why don't peg CPF interest with the same formula as those used by our public transport company... interest to be pegged to CPI+(X). So at least we know that the what we are forced to save does not depreciate to nothing should we face a stagflation which seem likely since we are totally import dependent for supplies and export orientated for income or if the CPF board makes a wrong investment. Where does the $$$ comes from? From the country's budget lah! Every year (even so called recession) also got surplus mah.

 

[CYRN]

Expressing ones love or affection for another person or country is perfectly fine.
But if you check with our neigbours, they will tell you Singapo lang is the most arrogant.
Why is it so??
We are indoctrinated from young through education and public media that we are the “Best” and we are number one. So effective that we become blind to the merits that others have over us.

You feel very proud of what you have and want to echo to the whole world.
But the reality is that other people have other preference or priority.
What is best to you may not necessary be their dreams or must have.
“we have the best road system, look at our ERP, so advance,, so high tech…, you Bangkok don’t,, so lousy”..This is what I hear during a trip.

“We have the best education” but where are our rocket scientists? Many of us can’t express our ideas properly, let alone others things.
Yes, we are good at set pieces only.

Heeheehee... we are a Great Nation... with a GREATER Ego. :bigeyes::bigeyes:

Dun worry about rocket scientist.. they will come when (if) we get our spaceport. Now we need people at those Casinos. :angel:

 

[LittleWolf]

Dun worry about rocket scientist.. they will come when (if) we get our spaceport. Now we need people at those Casinos. :angel:

Singapore can easily rent some more foreign talent if they want rocket scientists. As for local talent, there's already an abundance of space cadets being groomed by various scholarship schemes.

 

[night86mare]

But if you check with our neigbours, they will tell you Singapo lang is the most arrogant.
Why is it so??

really meh, i didn't know our neighbours so un-techsavvy. all the online forum members have a consistent habit of kaobehing and putting their own country down.

:sweat:

 

[Silence Sky]

Heeheehee... we are a Great Nation... with a GREATER Ego. :bigeyes::bigeyes:

Dun worry about rocket scientist.. they will come when (if) we get our spaceport. Now we need people at those Casinos. :angel:

Talking about casinos, it is stated very clearly from the being that it is not a place for singaporeans to enjoy, but for you to work in.:bsmilie:

 

[Silence Sky]

there is no utility country in the world that doesn't make profit..

maybe those in africa :devil:

as of today, i have been to many different countries, singapore is one of the few where i can walk around at 2 am and feel 100% safe.

if that isn't an achievement, i don't know what is.

you know, the same goes for america

europe

blah blah blah..

you go around the world a bit more, you start realising that everyone's the same.

Gentlemen:

It is what I called a heavily intoxicated mind.

When people strive for something better or ask for fairer treatments, you will be compared against the African nations. Why always the African nation and where is our promised Swiss's standard?

Walking around safely at 2am is a great achievement!:bigeyes:
But our Dear Mr Took can also walked freely across the causeway after his most wanted face was published in all media. Isn't it a greater achievement?
Next, is our Dear Selamat, the most wanted terrorist walking out of the highest security cell undetected. Wow.. Another great achievement.
But nothing beat this, the greatest achievement, they implemented the Bio-metric passport to improve or heighten the security level. So I suppose every Terrorist must carry a bio-metric and must enter through our custom when carrying out their missions, so that we can detect them.

I think we shall not talk about public services accumulating exorbitant profits, it is so disgusting to talk about.
Since every country utility power is making good money, so we might as well follow the trend lor.
My shallow thinking.

Ohhh. Look who is telling people to travel a bit more.
I wonder how many cities has that person been to and stayed more than ½ a year to experience the local fare beside that boring London.

 

[azul123]

Gentlemen:

It is what I called a heavily intoxicated mind.

When people strive for something better or ask for fairer treatments, you will be compared against the African nations. Why always the African nation and where is our promised Swiss's standard?

Walking around safely at 2am is a great achievement!:bigeyes:
But our Dear Mr Took can also walked freely across the causeway after his most wanted face was published in all media. Isn't it a greater achievement?
Next, is our Dear Selamat, the most wanted terrorist walking out of the highest security cell undetected. Wow.. Another great achievement.
But nothing beat this, the greatest achievement, they implemented the Bio-metric passport to improve or heighten the security level. So I suppose every Terrorist must carry a bio-metric and must enter through our custom when carrying out their missions, so we can detect them.

I think we shall not talk about public services accumulating exorbitant profits, it is so disgusting to talk about.
Since every country utility power is making good money, so we might as well follow the trend lor.
My shallow thinking.

Ohhh. Look who is telling people to travel a bit more.
I wonder how many cities has that person been to and stayed more than ½ a year to experience the local fare beside that boring London.

For a Nation to be called "Great", at least must produce several Nobel Price winners.. Olympic Gold medalists and other great achievements.

This thread is but useless to post as the term "Great" was not defined.

../azul123

 

[Silence Sky]

i don't consider israel a great nation in any sense of the word.

Isreal is not a great nation!!!
Wikipedia and Google must have broken down.
I don't know Singaporeans can survive that kind of hostile enviroment or not and yet achieve a GDP per Capital of USD$32,000. :think:

My Google is working:

"The country's GDP (Purchasing power parity) in 2006 reached $195 billion according to the International Monetary Fund or $179 billion according to the World Bank (see List of countries by GDP (PPP)). GDP per capita has been $31,767 according to the International Monetary Fund in 2007 or $26,200 in 2006 according to the CIA World Factbook. $31,767 is on par with most Western European countries like France or Italy, while $26,200 is lower than most Western European countries, except Portugal but higher than all Eastern European countries and close to the average for the European Union (see List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita). The economy grew by 8% in the last quarter of 2006, the fastest growth of any Western nation.[4]

The major industrial sectors include metal products, electronic and biomedical equipment, processed foods, chemicals, and transport equipment. Israel possesses a substantial service sector and the Israel diamond industry is one of the world's centers for diamond cutting and polishing. It is also a world leader in software development and is a major tourist destination. In 1998, Tel Aviv was named by Newsweek as one of the ten most technologically influential cities in the world.[5] American billionaires and business tycoons including Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and Donald Trump have each praised Israel’s economic environment,[6] and the country was the destination for Berkshire Hathaway's first investment outside of the USA when it purchased ISCAR Metalworking, and the first R&D Centers outside the USA for companies including Intel and Microsoft. The country has now become known as Silicon Wadi."

Another good example of being blind by our own successes.

 

[Silence Sky]

For a Nation to be called "Great", at least must produce several Nobel Price winners.. Olympic Gold medalists and other great achievements.

This thread is but useless to post as the term "Great" was not defined.

../azul123

No need for those.. too artificial.

Singapore in the 60's ~ 80's was a great nation and was filled with great people great leaders.
You know what I mean if you have been through that period.

 

[Silence Sky]

i'm not exactly sure if you're being very fair here; there is no doubt much more liberalism in the press here in europe; and definitely in the us - but i have to disagree with your view that the press here unconditionally supports the government. it is a sweeping statement that can be easily debunked by the quotation of many articles which disprove your point.

What is fair in Singapore?
The only fair thing is Poor or Rich you pay 7% GST.

Give me some quotation, let us see how superifcial or shollow those atrticles are.
Do you know how many articles from those formiable critics did not made it to the press?
When I got time, I post some for you to read ok.

 

[ortega]

play nice people

or great colours will descend

 

[mattlock]

Isreal is not a great nation!!!
Wikipedia and Google must have broken down.
I don't know Singaporeans can survive that kind of hostile enviroment or not and yet achieve a GDP per Capital of USD$32,000. :think:

My Google is working:

"The country's GDP (Purchasing power parity) in 2006 reached $195 billion according to the International Monetary Fund or $179 billion according to the World Bank (see List of countries by GDP (PPP)). GDP per capita has been $31,767 according to the International Monetary Fund in 2007 or $26,200 in 2006 according to the CIA World Factbook. $31,767 is on par with most Western European countries like France or Italy, while $26,200 is lower than most Western European countries, except Portugal but higher than all Eastern European countries and close to the average for the European Union (see List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita). The economy grew by 8% in the last quarter of 2006, the fastest growth of any Western nation.[4]

The major industrial sectors include metal products, electronic and biomedical equipment, processed foods, chemicals, and transport equipment. Israel possesses a substantial service sector and the Israel diamond industry is one of the world's centers for diamond cutting and polishing. It is also a world leader in software development and is a major tourist destination. In 1998, Tel Aviv was named by Newsweek as one of the ten most technologically influential cities in the world.[5] American billionaires and business tycoons including Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and Donald Trump have each praised Israel’s economic environment,[6] and the country was the destination for Berkshire Hathaway's first investment outside of the USA when it purchased ISCAR Metalworking, and the first R&D Centers outside the USA for companies including Intel and Microsoft. The country has now become known as Silicon Wadi."

Another good example of being blind by our own successes.

With regards to Israel, I really have huge respect for Jewish people (and for many Jews the identity of Jewish people is closely linked to Israel...)
I lived with an Israeli in NY and he was just a different breed of person...dedicated, warm and kind,well educated, and he also actually volunteered to spend one more year doing national service.

I'm not sure how people want to define a country as "great" but Jewish people have a culture of greatness, producing great talents in many business and cultural fields.

 

[Silence Sky]

With regards to Israel, I really have huge respect for Jewish people (and for many Jews the identity of Jewish people is closely linked to Israel...)
I lived with an Israeli in NY and he was just a different breed of person...dedicated, warm and kind,well educated, and he also actually volunteered to spend one more year doing national service.

I'm not sure how people want to define a country as "great" but Jewish people have a culture of greatness, producing great talents in many business and cultural fields.

This is why I value true life experiences rather than reading from books and try to interpolate everythings from there.
I too stayed with an Isreali, they are very determined and perseverance people.
I asked him, ain't you afriad of the situation and do you really want to go back after your study?
He told me, Yes, he is going back to the great land and he is not afraid becasue he is surrounded by many brave Isreali. That is when I know Isreal will not fall.

 

[Silence Sky]

play nice people

or great colours will descend

Huhh, the Kitten must have squeal and you drop in to do a check.
Don't worry, we will be gentle with him.