It is obvious that the news reports cannot be taken as a
comprehensive picture, they are just merely snapshots.
Tourists of course will be more well-off.....they are middle or
upper-middle class people.
But not all foreigners in Singapore are like that. Foreigners in
Singapore consists of jet-set, upper-middle class, middle-class,
lower-middle class, and bottom poor people.
Majority of Singaporeans are poor and will continue to be poor.
Why do I say so? Because Singapore lacks land. Singapore also lacks
natural resources.
Because of that, most Singaporeans live in small chicken
coops.
But nothing can be done.
In Japan it is also like that.
I read a book written by a former Singaporean ambassador
stationed in Japan. He wrote some very good and insightful
observations. One thing he said is that, on the surface Japan is
rich, but actually, many Japanese actually live a poor life. They
work long hours, stressed, compete with everyone, live in small
chicken coops, have low sex, and low birth rate.
Guess what?
It is exactly matching the conditions in Singapore.
Singapore is even worse than Japan, because the land area is
smaller, population and critical mass, market size, talent pool,
everything is less.
HongKong is also similar, even worse. HongKong is an oligarchy
with very rich people but also has some very poor people around.
Housing is even worse. You can just move your buttocks from your
bed and walk one-two steps and fill the entire room already.
This situation is different if you see a country such as
Australia.
Australia has abundant land and natural resources.
But I dont believe that we can say, that foreign capital,
trades, and incoming foreigners have made life more difficult for
Singaporeans. This is not true economically speaking. (except
housing). Because in economy theory they should benefit the
Singaporeans through ripple effect and trickle down effect.
So in conclusion, the hard life is not caused by external
factors, but by a limiting internal factor.
