Poorer Singaporeans earned even less last year

[dkw]

This is called Globalization.

The world leaders praised and embrace it (let me see, who donated to their election funds, are they owner or board members of any companies, etc) , but the actual facts is the rich will become richer and the poor will be worse off with it...

Think about it.:think:

I make no judgement about globalisation. Man has been trading and seeking more trade since the beginning, only that its gotten a lot easier recently and has taken on a fancy new name like "globalisation". On the whole, free trade in goods and services raises most people's wealth. However, in high cost centres (like Singapore), we can expect that some of the less skilled will suffer as jobs move to cheaper locales. Our loss is somebody else's gain. So its not true that all the poor suffer as some poor in poorer countries will actually benefit from this flow.

However, humanity demands that we look after the less privileged within our own society. To this end, "globalisation" is often the enemy (though not always). There is no easy answer, but I suspect unplugging ourselves from the global trading system is not it.

 

[user111]

you dont need to be rich

you only need enough money to get by

life has more meaning than money

 

[reachme2003]

yes, however, he is leaving nol through 'mutual agreement'. hmm! what does that mean?

david lim = $3.2 Mill sing a year... :thumbsup:

 

[kcuf2]

Still got MRT, PUB, GST, rental, etc.

dun worry, all those will slowly come... one by one squeezzzzzzzzzzzee every penny out of us and make the L lens and Black devil lens further and further from our reach ;(

 

[reachme2003]

yes, well said. however, if one has not enough money to get by, then, life is no more than trying to survive daily. in other words, life has not much meaning. i believe that their numbers are not small too.

you dont need to be rich

you only need enough money to get by

life has more meaning than money

 

[reachme2003]

our pm hinted about these increases lately. true enough, taxi fares, electricity bills are going up.

dun worry, all those will slowly come... one by one squeezzzzzzzzzzzee every penny out of us and make the L lens and Black devil lens further and further from our reach ;(

 

[user111]

if one has not enough money to get by, then, life is no more than trying to survive daily. in other words, life has not much meaning.

i have been through that before

during then, the one thing that u will think of daily is the meaning of life.

 

[CYRN]

I still remember about people asking why must we pay following the oil prices when Singapore uses natural gas from Indonesia to run it's turbine generator.

And I remember the answer to be....

Regardless of oil or natural gas, it part of the inelastic energy market. An increase in price for 1 will lead to the increase in demand for the other, therfore the other (natural gas) price will mirror the movements in oil prices.

 

[CYRN]

you dont need to be rich

you only need enough money to get by

life has more meaning than money

I only need enuf $$$ for 1DsM2 + 600f4L + 300-800 Sigmonster + 1TB RAID NAS + Mac g5 Quad processor. ;p

Like that... life sure very meaningful :bsmilie: :bsmilie: :bigeyes:

 

[mattlock]

sorry but apart from the bottom percentage of the income bracket, most people are quite comfortable. The difference is that yes the cash or asset rich can afford to invest, and increase their income.
Most people who are earning less don't have that luxury and have to rely solely on their monthly income from their stable jobs.
But if they save more money they have the potential to

1)invest and potentially make more money
2)improve their skills by spending time and money on classes

Is it possible to put aside more savings? If you talk about rising costs of public transport and living expenses, really now how much does it actually work up to? Maybe an extra $100 a month?

But yet I see many people (not just those in higher income brackets) buying new cell phones, TVs, eating out, etc etc.
These work out to much more than the increase in living expenses I am sure

Ultimately as great as it would be to get help from other people you have to find ways to help yourself

 

[germ_boi]

Yes, I volunteer at the places where we try to seek appeals for people who need the money due to financial constraints.

When we analyse their household expenses for them, I find it appalling that their cellphone bills are higher than mine, their cellphone are newer than mine and constantly changing. When we brought up this problem to the housewife (her bills are >$60), she said talking to her neighbours on the phone is a neccesity.

At this point i sorta lost my patience and told her why talk to her neighbour on the phone when they are living a few steps away and she says she is lazy.

Thereafter, we told her to reorganise her family before coming again as we thought she was certainly "affluent" enough to consider these neccesities!

So my conclusion i that what these people lack is not money, but financial IQ, how to handle their money etc, maybe the parents reading this, oughta teach their kids yea? That is definitely more impt than any lesson in school.

 

[CYRN]

... So my conclusion i that what these people lack is not money, but financial IQ, how to handle their money etc,...

:thumbsup: True for most cases.

But the original article is refering to the poorer earning lesser. Nothing to do with spending more. Taking inflation into account..it's a double whammy. To add on to it, the increase in GST... triple whammy.

 

[CYRN]

Is it possible to put aside more savings? If you talk about rising costs of public transport and living expenses, really now how much does it actually work up to? Maybe an extra $100 a month?

at the lowest tier... you are talking of average of $1180 income for a whole household leh.

Furthermore, the article says that they are the ones affected by loss of jobs or retirees which pulled down the figures... how to save more if there's loss of job?

 

[scramblur11]

I agree totally with mattlock and germ_boi ...... ppl keep complaining abt high cost of living in spore....but wat do u mean by high cost of living? is it becoz u cant afford the next newest 3G phone, next fastest broadband, the next newest car, or the next newest L lens? ...I quite sad to say tat nowadays young kids actually uses better HP than mine and even have those handheld PSP (i didnt even haf the chance to play tat in my younger days)... :bsmilie:

everybody wan to have pay increases and bonus, except those working in electiricity and transport coys.... these workers also need to earn a living lor......u cant expect their employers to lose $ (which affect these workers) so tat ppl like us can enjoy cheap transport and electricity right?

maybe u can think of it another way, do u wan small increases in shorter periods, or 1 big increase in ten yrs time?

 

[AReality]

Ehhh..
So why are we still complaining about those who are complaining?



.

 

[mattlock]

This is the widening of the rich poor gap... those who are rich can easily afford to invest in stable and high earning stocks, and in the end make themselves richer. They can also use their spare money to build businesses and become richer.

But for those that are poor? They can only use every penny saved to eat and buy basic necessities, they cant even dream abt investing for retirement..

Everyday, i m hoping for the day i can make a breakthrough and be as dam rich as billgates, and i will make sure there is no poor s'pore citizens in singapore.
[yaya, vote for me in General Elections year 2988!]

I agree totally with mattlock and germ_boi ...... ppl keep complaining abt high cost of living in spore....but wat do u mean by high cost of living? is it becoz u cant afford the next newest 3G phone, next fastest broadband, the next newest car, or the next newest L lens? ...I quite sad to say tat nowadays young kids actually uses better HP than mine and even have those handheld PSP (i didnt even haf the chance to play tat in my younger days)... :bsmilie:

people I've met in new york, they're surviving off scraps and are still happy. they buy clothing from Salvation Army and make their own alterations, make it look funky.
My friend goes to school with 3 dollars. 2 dollars for transport and 1 dollar for a bagel with cream cheese for lunch.

I know we're not talking about "Nothing to do with spending more"
But you see the kind of replies you get in forums when you post up anything related to "increased cost of living" or "lower wages"
People start bitching about life being so difficult and all that. Which is crazy considering how well off we are compared to many other countries!

You talk about "loss of jobs"
You walk into macdonalds you can get a job, you can also become a cleaner if you want. There are jobs available it's just whether you want to pick them or not. The pay may not be great and it won't be glamourous but it's a job.
The last time I checked there were many foreign nationals from india and china and thailand selling their land just to get to Singapore to get a job.


Maybe rich people know something about managing money that poorer people don't.

 

[Astin]

Moral for the young, (age 7-18), pls study hard, you would need a decent degree (or diploma) to get out of the bottom income bracket, unless u think u are Bill Gates or Michael Dell.

 

[Benign]

Moral for the young, (age 7-18), pls study hard, you would need a decent degree (or diploma) to get out of the bottom income bracket, unless u think u are Bill Gates or Michael Dell.

Agreed. But every country will have its 'hardcore poors' lor.

Like me, poor in photography skills, brains power.......... Somehow I don't dare to complain when I thought of the homeless people in neighbouring countries :devil:

 

[swampthing]

Moral for the young, (age 7-18), pls study hard, you would need a decent degree (or diploma) to get out of the bottom income bracket, unless u think u are Bill Gates or Michael Dell.

Actually you don't have to be Gates or Dell to do it. WORKING hard is more important than studying hard. But if you study hard in singapore, you prob won't starve.

 

[scramblur11]

actually having a cert may nt always be enough...it also whether you wan to work hard anot...... heard from my gf's father that he has a frenz whose daughter came back from overseas from a degree and refuse to go find wk and stay hm play console....:bsmilie:

actually every country has poor ppl.....but spore is consider quite gd if u compare to our neighbouring countries....