Originally posted by anonymouscoward:
You are somewhat right that I'm don't see beyond our limitations
because these limitations are factual. Rather than building castles
in the air and demanding for a "fairer society", have you given
thoughts to the other factors such as cost of investments, land
limitations etc?
factual perhaps but the fact remains that these limitations imposed
on us are so different from those imposed in other countries. so
rather than building castles in the air, we are merely asking for a
reality that people living elsewhere experience which we don't. you
mean it's wrong for me to "demand" for a fairer society? based on
your suggestions like "widen the road? reclaim more land?", i
suppose your capacity for imagination is quite limited really and
because of your own limitations you can't see beyond land
limitations.
No it doesn't. In fact, it'll probably improve services and
offerings rather than lower them.
let me ask you, during peak periods when the MRT is jam packed and
people have to sometimes wait two trains before they can get on and
get squashed inside and the frequency is already super rapid, how
else can you accomodate more passengers within these busy periods?
by improving the seats? offer more services like Internet on the
train when we can't even breathe properly inside?
With the right critical mass, business can achieve their return on
investments faster and direct additional funds into improving
infrastructure, services and offerings.
your thinking is so simplistically governmental. there is a bottle
neck in how much you can transport in a given space at a given
time. you think you can squeeze in as many people as you like into
the trains and buses? or would you rather have them hang on
outside, Jackie Chan style? please think about practicality before
spewing rhetoric like critical mass.
Fortunately, I drive. I take a bus or MRT when it's more
convenient.
you have the cheek to ask people to squeeze themselves to death
when you yourself don't take public transportation as often as the
man on the street?
The cost of parking space for my car in HongKong already cost more
than the car itself.
anything to substantiate what you're saying?
How much do you think a BigMac meal cost in NewYork? San Francisco?
London? I've just return from San Jose and a BigMac meal there cost
me US$5.25 before tax. In London, it cost me almost 6 pounds. Shall
I mention prices in Hamburg? What happen to Malaysia's BigMac price
then?
Even McDonald's cost differently between those located in heartland
Singapore and in ShentonWay but they maintain around the $5-6
mark.
Just put up 2 links and you justify that price is
constant?
you challenged me by saying it is not US$4. i showed you it is
US$4, maybe not at all places but definitely at some of the places,
the price of big mac meals is US$4.
you don't seem to get what i'm saying, i'm not arguing about price
constancy. i'm not even concerned about big mac prices. i'm just
using the big mac to illustrate that on average with purchasing
power parity, things are going to cost the same in both places and
when you have that and yet salaries are lower here, it simply means
our purchasing power is not as strong as the other place and so we
can only afford less.
Anyway, these are irrelevant. As I've said, there's only
significant difference if you live in Malaysia and is paid in US
dollars.
yes i agwee, you're not exactly relevant here but its ok.
let's us assume for a moment that you are right. that things have
the same price tag (irregardless of their currencies) anywhere in
the world. so a mac in US costs US$6. a mac in UK costs 6 pounds. a
mac in SG costs SGD $6 and a mac in Malaysia costs RM6. going back
to where we left off.
in US,
salaries = US40K-65K (after deducting 40% tax)
big mac = US6
let's take away the K to simplify calculations.
price of big mac as a percentage of salary = 6 / 40 to 6 / 65 = 15%
to 9%
in SG,
salaries: SGD35K-50K (haven't deduct CPF and taxes yet)
big mac: SGD$6
similarly taking away the K,
price of big mac as percentage of salary = 6 / 35 to 6 / 50 = 17%
to 12%
so i'm still right after all! their higher salaries more than
compensates for their higher taxes so that even while they have to
buy a US$6 big mac whereas we can buy an SGD$6 big mac, given their
salaries, their big macs are actually more affordable than our big
macs.
so you're wrong in saying that because they are spending US$, their
situation is worse off.
on top of that, they don't have to "pay thru their noses" to own
cars remember?
