[quote]JJ wrote:
The widening income gap is a problem because of 2 things:-
1. costs have risen faster than wages for the folks at the bottom
rungs.
If price increases didn't outstrip wage growth, this would mean the
quality of life for lower income earners would not deteriorate.
Which means that while upgrading of lower income folks is
important, it is also equally important that cost of living in
general is managed to prevent it from outstripping wage growth. If
prices outstrip wage growth again in the next few years, all this
upgrading would still leave the lower income folks worse off.
2. even if costs did not rise so much, this widening income gap
would fuel envy in the masses as they see high earners flaunt,
travel, live it up and not give back to the lesser fortunate.
Hypothetically, if prices did not increase so much, would lower
income folks feel resentment and envy at the higher income folks?
And would we have to manage this resentment and envy? I would
certainly say we have to manage the mindsets of some higher income
group folks who tend to rub their success in others' noses, flaunt
endlessly and not give back to society.[quote]
JJ,
You have generalized the costs of living as being caused by the
market forces.
However, the rising costs affecting people's necessities and
causing job losses in Singapore have been substantially contributed
by the government by devious and deliberate policies to tax and
recover all costs to build government's surpluses and claim success
of government.
The costs went up in Singapore largely because the government
incurred higher costs in paying continuously increasing salaries to
its ministers, and civil servants under the Goh Keng Swee doctrine
of restructuring the wages to phase out lower labor intensive
manufacturing.
Under that policy, government could not lower costs in providing
essential services. It had to jack up costs as what we have been
paying for our tansportation, utilities, medicare and public
housing over the past 20 years or so.
HDB which was originally set up and given the power to acquire
lands cheap to provide for people's low cost housing began to think
of making more monies like the private developers.
Mah Boh Tan changed the past policy of Lim Kim San of charging for
HDB flats by the construction costs and began charging the HDB flat
prices at market prices less a little discount to look good to the
people.
From S$7,800 for a 3-room improved flat, (priced at construction
costs) people are now made to pay the full market value of the flat
up to S$160,000.00 for a 3-room flat.
Although lands were owned by citizens Minister Mah has ignored that
fact and double-charged on lands in selling the HDB flats from the
late 1970s.
In the name of avoiding welfarism, all government farmed out or
sold all such services e.g. medicare, utilities, tv and radio, etc.
to FLCs and given power to GLCs to charge full market prices for
all these services.
In the name of solving traffic congestion, LTA started vehicle
excise duty up to 170% of import value or OMV.
It was announced that excise duty would be replaced by COE, but LTA
kept the excise duty after COE was introduced and went further to
charge the ERP.
Through corporatisations of essential government services into
GLCs, government raised all the costs of living making tons of
profits in selling its infrastructures and lands to the GLCs and
making GLCs to charge the fullest costs like medicare, utilities,
public transportation etc. against the people.
This has been a most uncaring and money-making government who is
only interested in taxing and recovering all costs from the people
and we as citizens must know it is wrong and ask for change.
People have to earn S$1,000.00 per month in order to pay for the
necessities and struggle against the rising costs jacked up by the
government.
If only our government has learned to leave well alone and
refrained from tinkering too much with the private market economy,
and charged reasonably at construction costs for HDB flats and
taxed the vehicle ownership at COE today we would not have reached
our present state of high costs and our factories and businesses in
HDB shops would not be closing in large number and we would have
been prospering.
