More citizens means there is
a critical mass of passengers to justify more better national
transportation services.
LOL! Public transport will improve even if there is no critical
mass of passengers. Their aim is to give quick and reliable
transportation to the people.There is no concern for numbers.
Having more passengers may pressure them into increasing the
efficiency of the transport system in a shorter duration, but i
think the numbers would most likely hinder our transport system and
create an uncomfortable environment for all of us.
More citizens means we do not need
to relay on questionable machines or mercenaries for
defence.
Not really. Most Singaporean don't
aim to have a military career. This can be seen by our small number
of regulars despite aggressive advertising. There will be more NS
folks, but i don't think that they could match up with the regulars
when it comes to combat. Also, even if we hit a population of 6m,
our military force, regular and NS, will still be quite
small.
Only when we reach the critical
stage of 6 million, then do we need to do a rethink on family
policies,by assessing our passed on citizens rate.
You don't wait till a problem
happens before taking action. Don't your school teach you
that?
More citizens means we can expand
our workforce into newer economic horizons.
More citizens also equates to more
competition and manpower and this may result in a lower average pay
for everyone, making our live more miserable.
More new citizens means our
elderly, whom had sacrifice much in nation building, could be taken
care of, without taxing the current citizens more.
And we will face a more serious
aging problem when the "new citizen" become elders. And you can
count on it that the money will come from our pockets.
Many in the govt circles had their
doubts. PM Lee called for 'more babies'. This is the only way
out that we can survive as a nation. With more citizens, we will
have enough for social spending through creative taxation such as
GST.
With more citizens, we will need
more social spending.
MRT lines was a tough fight from
the start because MM LKY did not believe it could be sustainable
with a declining population.
The MRT was built to provide a faster mode of transportation to
the people. It is also build to show that SG is capable enough to
have reliable transport infrastructure. Population count have
nothing to do with it.
By the late 90s, we could easily
maintain a population of 6 million, with enough money for social
spending.
Proofs?
Unfortunately, or fortunately, our
previous generation astounded him with their drive and
zeal.
Sorry to disappoint you but i
think they get their most of their motivation from trying to get
out of the poverty cycle and give their family and children a
better life rather than from someone who cried on national
television.
HK that had no future
I think its you who are the one
with no future.
Your comment sure spooks me
I understand what you are saying in your reply.
The summary of your post, the crux of the matter, the point of
your contention is simply boiled to your personal greviance of
'social spending', or the lack of understanding on it, of which i
accept blame for not being clearer, as i presume you are a matured
thinking adult.
Theoratically, govts have no money. They can be the best people
and formulate the best plans, but without money, they are nothing,
and unable to lead. Thus, they need money - to build parliament
buildings, offices, hire people for the civil service -
administrators, teachers, social workers, doctors, army personnel,
etc - people whom are crucial for nationhood.
In theory, much of these costs can be offset if the country has
natural resources, such as oil or minerals. Australia can jolly
well afford to pay the beaurocracy with through
such resources, without even taxing its citizens. They have a few
billion dollars just from royalties and mining concessions
alone.
But we in Singapore have no such natural resources. We need to
pay for our govt in order that it can run social spending, and save
enough with investments for the next generation, such as upkeep of
parks, build better schools, provide better transportation
services, improve our infrastructure to facillitate business,
etc,
Unlike Hong Kong, a province of China, where it would be stupid
to save for 'future generations', for each dollar saved would go to
the national treasury of China, for China to dole out accordingly.
Hong Kong don't even need to pay for a standing army - its military
and defenses needs are met by China. HK run surpluses each year,
and can jollywell afford better social spending than us.
Thus, we have only ourselves to contribute. It was through our
previous generation's sweat and toil that made Spore great -
schools, buses, roads, buildings, homes, etc. We alone can never
hope to have such facillities. Such monies come from our taxes -
small little contributions that when combined, prudently spent,
created an economic miracle called Singapore. Our previous
generations cared enough for each other and the next to come.
However, the current generation may not be caring enough. We had
been cold and calculative, and forgotten the sacrifices of toil and
sweat of the previous generation. We have a declining birth rate,
pampered womenfolk who make demands on taxpayers, and selfish
perhaps ignorant kids blustering for better transportation
services. All such insistance and solutions will only come from
money of us singaporean tax payers.
There can be more buses at peak hours. But what happens at
non-peak hours? Public Buses and transport organisations have fix
costs, whether they run or don't run, and need to pay off their
employees. So to provide more buses or trains at peak periods,
there will more mouths to feed even during non-peak hours, and such
monies comes from us citizens. Is it justifiable, or white
elephants, a waste of our hardearned money?
As much as some hate MM LKY, he didn't want to have more
citizens in the past, for he feels that we may end up being taxed
more for social spending, on white elephants. But we had shown
ourselves resourceful, and could earn money to support each other.
PM Lee is one of those who believe we can achieve a better first
world infrastructure, without us paying more taxes, but having more
citizens, PRs and FTs, so that we singaporeans can have a better
and comfortable future for ourselves and our future, so long as we
are hardworking.
I don't mind paying more, with the little i have and earn. But
if we have more citizens, it would help defray such costs. With
just a few us, we will only end up having to pay more, espacially
for our elderly for we cannot as a society leave them to die by the
roadside, as they sacrificed much for us in our past. It is not
just our minister salaries we pay more, which is only a small
fraction of what we taxpayers have to pay for a 300,000 strong
civil service.
Comfort and whines/complains comes at a price. No matter which
political party we vote in - PAP, WP, SDA, SFP, SDP, etc. We
taxpayers will have to still pay.
