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By Benjamin
Chiang
“World’s Most Expensive City” says the internet… and with that the
Facebook explodes to life.
You know, I have read two of BBC’s opinions on Singapore this year
already. The first one aboutSingapore’s hidden poor and the second
one showing how poor families “survive” in this
country.
I felt both articles were opportunistic at best. Take the same
headline and you can plaster it on any country, making a
sensational story. Tell me which country on this planet doesn’t
have a problem with poverty?
However I took offence at today’s commentary on Singapore being
most expensive city in the world.
In traditional economics, you take a basket of goods for global
comparison. Guess what? Singapore is land scarce. We will surely
lose out on such a comparison. We hear it again and again, we are
small. Some dismiss it as Government propaganda. It is not, it is
reality. We ARE small.
Now when you don’t have land, you don’t have a lot of space for
cars. We do not have a lot of space to build houses. We do not have
enough land to share between farms, cemeteries, historical
preservation, parks and industry. We do not even have enough land
for water catchment.
Cars and investment property are not, cannot and should not be
cheap. We have to manage the prices of food which we almost wholly
import. Our politicians fought tooth and nail over our supply of
water, without which our military will almost be certainly be
deployed into war to defend this basic sustenance (and thank
goodness for investment into water technology, this is not going to
happen).
To make up for the lack of land, we pay money to build
infrastructure. We pay money to develop or import technology. We
have to use pricing to control the distribution of goods such as
cars and property.
If you read a headline that goes “Singapore named the world’s most
expensive city”, you would almost go “…awww, the poor
Singaporeans…” But I assure you, it is not like that.
This country needs a lot of work to maintain a constant state of
balance. Too much wealth and the economy could overheat, the
bottom-middle strata of citizens may not be able to catch up. Yet
poor economic performance could set a downward spiral, a downtrend
that could take decades to recover from.
It is not that bad.
Basic education is virtually free. The destitute are taken off the
streets, housed and helped back on their feet. The handicapped have
social assistance. The poor also have similar assistance and help
with job placement. A strong tripartite alliance is lifting both
wages and productivity. Government handouts that neutralise the
effects of Goods and Services tax. Very low income taxes. A forced
savings plan known as the CPF, to guarantee a most minimum of
savings to use for medical care and old age.
In some ways, it is expensive – and it is important we know why.
See beyond the high price and you will see an oasis of
opportunities. Opportunities for one to capitalise off the wealth
in this country and to build a niche of success for oneself.
We may not have done as well as them, but surely the British should
be proud of this little ex-colony called Singapore, no?
