For a while, I was surprised that
you would have dared to bring this up to criticize Singaporeans in
general; and wondered if you have lost complete senses in being
away too long from Singapore.
Or perhaps you are all the while living in Singapore but pretending
to be in UK to give your image some polish of authority (??) - is
it necessary ?
You must still be living with the Colonial Yoke thinking that
Singaporeans will kowtow to image of the Great White
Man.
Originally posted by oxford mushroom:
Nicolas Sarkozy wins the elections. After years of economic
stagnation, the French have decided to give up the expensive
welfare state in which you work a maximum of 35 hours a week with
generous social benefits. The price is high taxes, high
unemployment and stagnant economic growth.
Here are some of Sarkozy's views on reforming the economy:
"We're the country in Europe with the highest taxes. The problem of
France is that we're paying too much tax, that the charges are too
high ... If employment is taxed too highly, employment will go. If
capital is taxed too highly, capital will go. If there is no more
capital, no more work, there is no growth."
"There isn't a single country, Madame, not a single one, Socialist
or not, that has followed the logic of sharing work time, which is
a monumental mistake. The 35-hours [working week] have not created
jobs and the 35 hours were responsible for something even more
serious which is wage restraint,
which means our wages are too low. That hurts French people's purchasing power, and lower purchasing power
means less growth."
This should be thrown into the
face of the Singapore Government for attempting to suppress the
wages of First World Singaporean Workers to compete with the wage
levels of Third World competitors.
The Singapore Government is lost for ideas in running Singapore,
and is still locked in its past experience of creating jobs for a
Third World economy, at Third World Wage Levels, competing with
other Third World Countries.
The 35-hour work week and heavy social welfare to prevent workers
from working do not exist in Singapore - is there any relevance in
comparison ?
The Welfarism that Singaporeans are looking from the Singapore
Government - with all the surplus funds - are the basic welfarism
to the Under Class in Singapore, the support structure for those
who are economically disenfranchised by the lack of education and
the speed in which the globalisation have left them behind, as well
as a support system for those who have lost their jobs in their old
age and unable to be gainfully employed again.
Frances moral crisis carries a name: it is the crisis of
work,
Why have we had an economic growth rate 1 per centage point below
that in the better-performing of the free countries over the past
15 years? Because salaries are too low,
social charges are too heavy, the fiscal pressure is too
high.
"earnings from labour must always exceed government
assistance."
While salaries for the Government
is at obscene levels and they cling to their positions through a
monopoly grip on Political Power, the Government Leadership has the
audacity to tell Singaporeans to keep their wages flexible, and to
accept Employment Contracts that allow the Employers to adjust
their work force according to the season requirments.
They give themselves an iron rice bowl, while expecting us to live
with a cheap chipped chinaware.
Salaries of Singaporean workers have been frozen, while a slew of
price increases has been approved for all kinds of essential
services provided by Government Owned Companies; and this has
resulted in the shrinking of real wages for all Singaporeans except
the very rich.
With increases in the wages of the Government Cabinet Ministers and
the Civil Services - these increases will add to the fiscal
pressures that will require further increases to all kinds of
social charges.
Yes, OM, thanks for this post - for once you have done something
unwittingly correct - can we expect more of such examplary effort
by you ?
This piece from you has shown Singaporeans to follow the French in
throwing out a Government that has caused all the hardship to
Singaporeans, and have the courage to test a relatively unknown
Political Candidate.
Singaporeans need to be more courageous in taking Political Risks
too - after being chastised by this Government for so long that
Singaporeans lack the ability to accept
risks.
