Please help Charmaine

Lately my life has been packed with personal activities, weekend after weekends. It has been tiring but somehow not very fulfilling except losing weight. Not sure if many of you out there feels the same. After reading an news article over the weekend about a Mr. Wong and his wife helping out foreign workers in Singapore who have been marginalized and they offer free food in Boon Lay to help these workers. These occasional articles by ST's journalists, I feel are good things mainstream media has done to a better effect then new media which quite often do not bring about as much help. Anyway I would like to help both financially and physically as it brings me back to 7-8 years ago when quite often with my girlfriend then, we would visit children's home with sweets and toys and help out. Then later on with my very busy work life, I would occasionally join church groups to visit old folks' home which has like the children's home brought a certain sadness to mind. But all have faltered as life just took on a different perspective and I get too often caught up with myself. And helping out in anyway we can, really puts fulfillment and a whole lot of soul back into your life. So I do hope you join me as helping out with these foreign workers will be a good start to my often words of engagement. I hope I finally do more than talking/writing about it. Would blog about it once Mr. Wong contacts me back on how to help and appreciate if more people can come forward to aid people in such crisis times. I believe Singaporeans being very charitable people, Mr. Wong's mobile has been ringing constantly with offers to help.


But this issue which I would like to bring up has caught my attention as it is far more serious and needs immediate attention. It just came into my attention from friends on my Facebook and Mr.Brown. I appreciate readers of my blog to head to this website - ourfeistyprincess.com for more information and how we can all help little Charmaine who has unfortunately caught a rare form of cancer and is currently undergoing Chemotheraphy and mom's friends are trying very hard to raise funds to increase her chance of survival from 10% to 40-50% with a new drug, but it's only approved in NY and needs a US$350,000 (S$500k) deposit to start treatment. Charmaine comes from a single parent family with Mom quitting her job to take care of her full time. None of the money raised so far has been used but purely for the NY treatment.



Charmaine has a blog with updates and quite often we have scams floating around us, but I have vetted this to be true, with numerous newspaper articles as well. Do help out in anyway you can from Charmaine's blog links on the right hand side titled "MEDIA AND FUNDRAISING".

Video by Oli Pettigrew to raise funds.

Brilliant Design

Living in Singapore, we are align to UK for power plugs. This brilliant design is the way to go for the future..I do hope they mass produce it soon!

It is just numbers

Singapore's population grew 5.5% last year to reach 4.84 million, due largely to the influx of foreigners. The number of residents (Singapore citizens and permanent residents (PR)), rose 1.7% to 3.64 million in June last year, said a report released by the National Population Secretariat (NPS) recently. There were 79,167 new PRs in 2008 - up 15,540 from 63,627 the previous year and 20,513 new citizens, an increase of 3,179 from 17,334 over the same period.

What worries me is that the governments pursuit for such numbers is perhaps meant to beef up our replacement numbers. Singapore's total feritility rate of 1.28 in 2008 remained below the replacement level of 2.1. Besides, China and India, I believe the bulk of the developed countries such as Korea and Japan are also facing such problems. But unlike Singapore, they do not lower their criteria to allow immigrant entries.

My first thoughts on this is, can our resources (prosperity) support the intended 6 million population target? Will the new citizens/PRs be here to stay? Let's call them CPRs.

Quite often I heard of friends and aquiantanaces making plans to leave Singapore. In search of the greener pastures. Even housing agents have bought bungalows in Johor in hope of a better lifestyle in Malaysia in time to come. Will the CPRs be also making plans to leave Singapore for greener pastures in the future? What the existing citizens observe now, is most likely to observe in time to come. The push factors causing people to leave, if left untouched, will still be the reason 10-20 years down the road. The CPRs left their motherland with ease, and came into Singapore with ease as well. What is to say they will stay 10-20 years down the road? A bond? We paid for their education, provided them with subsidies and jobs etc, is gratitude suppose to be the anchor? I hope the thought process of our HR retention scheme in our Singapore Inc company is thorough enough.

Too often I have heard of many foreign scholars using Singapore as launch pads to go to Australia, US, etc. What makes those places so attractive? Should we be looking into the pull factors instead? For one, I know the migrant policies in Australian and Canada make it hard for entry as compared to Singapore's.

I believe the focus is to listen to the people and stop the mass exodus of the true blue existing Singaporeans; and also raise their migrant entry policies and ensure the new CPRs become stayers. But we all know why the government choose to please the new CPRs more than the current whiny lot. Jet Li and Gong Li being Singaporeans does not mean anything but a number. Yes, they can afford 20 million bungalows here, just as easy as they can purchase one in Malibu or Hawaii.

I think the government should stop looking at figures and numbers and seriously listen with their heart. The disastrous outlook if the new immigrants like the existing whiny-fed-up citizens all choose to treat Singapore like a hotel, where there is only money to be earned and nothing to belong to. What is to stop them from leaving? Certainly a third causeway will not.

And we pay you for?

Shared this link with my buddies.

One of the notable response to the article "PM Lee urges citizens to do their best to get through downturn together":

"i tot we paid him 3.5mio so that HE will do his f$%king best and we no need to do squat?"

PM Lee was speaking at a community event at Jalan Kayu on Sunday, where he launched a S$45,000 programme to help needy families.

For me I just thought, doesn't he feel embarrassed? He is paid almost 300k/mth and $45k is 1/77 of his pay..he just needs to speak for 45mins and he can launch another programme to aid another bunch of needy families.

Arty Farty People Normally NOT Cultured

I was out with my folks on Sunday aka Father's Day, brought my dad, mum and my lil' sis who just got back from New York, to taste some fine Chinese cuisine and dim sum brunch. We were brunching near Tanglin and decided to get replacement pots for our water feature at home. A friend who does pottery lessons suggested that we can head down to this pottery place at Tanglin Place, and perhaps get them replaced - little did I know it almost spoilt our wonderful day. Here is what took place as we stepped into Bxxx's Pottery:

Mom: Wondering if you do pottery? Do you have such pots?
Man: (Looking at our sample pot) We don't do custom pots. Our pots here are made like art.
Mom: So you cannot make such pots?
Man: Yes, I can but we don't do it. Anyway this is low temp, ours is high temp.
Mom: So you don't make such pots?
Man: Can do but we won't make custom pots?
Mom: But if we ask you to do, how much do you think it will cost.
Man: We don't make custom pots, anyway.. (picks up a small pot) anyway this here cost S$180, your pot size will cost at least double.
Mom: So about S$300 odd.
Man: Yes and we normally need to do 3 at one time. (Me thinking here - thought you don't do custom pots? So if I throw money at you, you will lar)
Man: Anyway ours is art, our clients are Ministers and celebrities. (Pointing to some Minister photo, and Wong Li Lin doing pottery photos) Yours is low temp mass produced pots.
Mom: Do you know where else I can go to get it replaced?
Man: Very few people will do it.

I was already walking out with bated breath, rushing out of the shop to curse with greater ease.

Pot is similar to this size, and ours is just about 4 times the height.


From what I experienced on Sunday, I realised arty farty people aren't cultured at all. No display of gracefullness observed but a air of "atas" (snobbish) attitude is whiffed instead. It is easily deduced how their "air" came about.


Let's take an example, where back in the 80s, the rich plays golf because they need it for business and it makes sense having corporate country club memberships. For some, doing well in golf is a matter of keeping up with appearances. And they often speak about golf with respect to the expensive equipment they purchased. Recent years of lowered barrier of entry to golf courses with advent of sprouted places in Johor Bahru, Bintan etc allowed many to enjoy the sport. Many friends of mine have managed to indulge in the sport with great passion and totally without "atas" air - they mostly speak about the distance they can hit and where is the best value for money golf range to practise.

Similarly, with new wealth coming into families quickly in the past decade from enbloc sales, to stock market, we start to see a new class arising where perhaps they think their new found status is much to be envied. They think that buying art makes them feel cultured (see my previous post on defining culture) akin to playing golf, makes them think they are of a higher plateau. And with that came the arts tradesmen who think they are of a higher status over the other trades. I remembered studying about local sculptor Ng Eng Teng to pioneer female artist Georgette Chen in my secondary school days. The struggles they go through, the road less travelled was a beaten and weary one.

So how could art which is suppose to infuse culture into oneself become so displaced? Such haughty behaviour is strange somewhat as I do not see any offence done from my aged Mom's point of view. Were we in any way being disrespectful or could we have been better redirected?

Anyway, I do hope its just one black sheep that we have met and this will not be a sweeping statement for all Arty Farty people. Like golf, it will be just a matter of time before art is available to the masses, and there will be more pottery places, galleries etc. For more information on Singapore artists. Go to Singapore Art.

Engagement

Sometimes I get obstinate and insist on my point of views. My hope is just to engage my friends. I may sometimes get anal about things because seriously I do not see a crime highlighting the fact that the poor and the unjustified do not have a voice in Sillypore or many other parts of the world.

Similarly to performing charity acts by donating to the poor begging on the roadside only to find out they are on social visit passes living in hotels, dressing well and perhaps wearing gold wrist watches. To turn sympathy into money-making schemes is not just wrong, it should be a crime. True that no one can stop a healthy man who decided to shave his head and don a robe, canvassing little strings or amulets for money. But in some sense it stopped me from donating after learning the truth.

I used to donate to flag days of all sorts, even performed quite a handful. I fervently donated to TT Durai's KNF golden taps, Rev. Monk-stunt-man wannabe of Ren Chi's assistant's shopping etc...
It's just sad knowing that we were all taken for fools. But in some sense there is no lives loss, or anyone hurt in that process of charity except stupid fund-raising stunt shows which only Mediacorp artistes were injured.



Turning back to the scenes of the movie "Slumdog Millionaire", not sure if you remembered the storyline, I hope that many did not just enjoy the cinematography and love story. The fact that many have thrown criticisms of the stark reality that the child stars are still living in the slums as the movie enjoys its resounding success. In the movie, we witness kids being taken off the streets and maimed or blinded in order to earn more from begging. I saw the reality of it when I was a kid traveling to Bangkok back in the 80s and my parents told me of what they do to those kids we see begging on the streets, my parents made me throw in some coins into their milk tins, perhaps in some ways to learn that I should give when I am able. But I swore never to donate ever again whenever I go to Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines etc. The need for knowledge in this sense is not just for your conscience's sake but for the little kid's sake. Yes, many have rebutted in my face saying it is just loose change, but the kidnappings, unjust deliberate mutilation is the result of the sympathy. In this context, when the giving stops, it stops. The kidnappers will realise it is no longer a lucrative act.

Thus I choose to continue pissing off my friends in order for engagement, if it is what it takes to get one to start thinking. What's most important is that the final goal is achieved.

All we need is magic

Caught a little bit of magic as a JC Sum invites us to an old Victorian special act. We had a special price entry but being on a Thurs and some busy folks have to fly last minute kites, only myself, and a couple of others with StaticVariable had a bit of magic from an old friend.

Gone are the days of practising cards and straight jacket escape acts in his room, JC has elevated to performing permanent 5 days a week evening acts at Arena over at Clark Quay. The act was entertaining with me being pulled up on stage to inspect Magicbabe Ning's biggest "Fan". Man..first the fan was a real huge fan and the babe was really quite hot! hahah..so that saying, when the fan was turned on, I got cooled off!



Anyway do try to catch their amazing free acts coming live at Singapore River, all part of STB's effort to promote the nightlife entertainment district with the Singapore River Festival with exciting lifestyle and entertainment events on and along the river.

Inversion: The Blindfolded Upside Down Escape
Fathers' Day - 21 June 2009
Time: 18:00 - 19:00
Location: Central Gallery (retail mall located at Clarke Quay MRT)

The other act will be on closing night with the “The Impossible Record” on June 27.
If you can't catch both free acts, you can always pop by weekday nights to the Arena.

For now, I have been watching this upcoming David Blaine-liked Japanese Cyril magician on youtube for hours now..can't wait for JC to reach that level of international stardom..then maybe perhaps he can make our 30-yr old whiskeys duplicate like one of his magic act last night!!

Reason why Sillyporeans Complain

A friend just made this statement:

Complaints happen when expectations and services do not match. we are often sold the idea that we need to pay top dollar for 1st class service; instead, it should be revised the other way, if you want to collect top dollar, give us the matching service first.

How true and quite often we allow the Gahmen to take advantage of the fact that there is no voice in the parliamentary seatings and rulings just push forward without much discussion or debates.

Maybe the Gahmen and local media should take this observation to shut the whining lesser-mortal-true-blue Sillyporeans who complain too much. People like me for instance...I would shut up, if they revise the way things work around here.

Anyway ShUTdaFarkup Charles Chong! I am totally pissed today...going to take it out on the court later...

Seriously shutdafarkup Charles Chong

I really am pissed after reading this from Mr. Brown.

Firstly I was called a lesser mortal by this Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC f$%ked up MP Charles Chong. And anyone would think he would have learnt and seriously be more cautious with his choice of words, but now he has come out to say this.

Mr Charles Chong, the ward's MP, said yesterday that he started noticing a growing number of new immigrants in the neighbourhood three years ago.

He estimated that about 10 per cent of the residents in some blocks could be permanent residents or new citizens, but was unable to pinpoint the precise number. Punggol Central has 48,000 residents in all.

Most of the new immigrants are from India, China, the Philippines and Myanmar.

'They are usually very happy to be here and have settled in well,' Mr Chong said.

With his trademark grin, he added: 'When you ask Singaporean residents for feedback, they will complain that they have to wait more than 15 minutes for the bus. But when you ask new immigrants, they are happy that the bus comes in under 30 minutes.'

Seriously, does he even take public transport? Does he get 1st world pay or 3rd world immigrant MP's pay? Asking me to be happy with 30mins wait time for a bus is like asking me to pay him peanuts. (Wait..our Singaporean TT Durai "peanuts" is worth over 600k per annum)
If we are paying peanuts to get monkeys who continuously think his ivory tower has a golden seat for him for all eternity, I rather get a monkey who can shutdafarkup. I dislike knowing the fact that I pay my taxes to support such an ass who continuously think that by comparing his standards with somewhat lowered ones, his job is done. This is not why and where millions of taxpayer's money go to - to be compromised. We were promised by PAPpies to be progressing, to pay more for better quality leaders. This is clearly a case of a used car salesman selling me a Toyota by comparing with a Geely.



Should he be comparing our standards with first world transportation? We cannot compare ourselves with Japan? Just as our local media love to pull a fast one (check my previous post) on making Sillypore a "perceived" wonderful place to live it.

Now I am an ungrateful lesser mortal..soon to be displaced by grateful, happily settled immigrants. No offence to the new immigrants, enjoy the ride of a "perceived" wonderful gahmen.

20 Great Quotes R(A)

Ok found these quotes online and found them to be hilarious - for those under 18..please leave.

20. "During sex I fantasize that I'm someone else."

-Richard Lewis


19. "Sex and golf are the two things you can enjoy even if you're not good at them."

-Kevin Costner


18. "I like my sex the way I play basketball, one on one with as little dribbling as possible."

-Leslie Nielsen


17. "Sex always has consequences. When Hitler's mother spread her legs that night, she effectively canceled out the spreading of fifteen to twenty million other pairs of legs."

-George Carlin


16. "It isn't premarital sex if you have no intention of getting married."

-Drew Carey


15. "If it wasn't for pick-pockets and frisking at airports I'd have no sex life at all."

-Rodney Dangerfield


14. "Sex is one of the most wholesome, beautiful and natural experiences that money can buy."

-Steve Martin


13. "Bisexuality doubles your chances of a date on a Saturday night."

-Woody Allen


12. "It's not true that I had nothing on. I had the radio on."

-Marilyn Monroe


11. "My love life is terrible. The last time I was inside a woman was when I visited the Statue of Liberty."

-Woody Allen


10. "It is impossible to obtain a conviction for sodomy from an English jury. Half of them don't believe that it can physically be done, and the other half are doing it."

-Winston Churchill


9. "When the authorities warn you of the dangers of having sex, there is an important lesson to be learned. Do not have sex with the authorities."

-Matt Groening


8. "The big difference between sex for money and sex for free is that sex for money costs less."

-Brendan Francis


7. "There we were in the middle of a sexual revolution wearing clothes that guaranteed we wouldn't get laid."

-Denis Leary


6. "An intellectual is someone who has found something more interesting than sex."

-Edgar Wallace


5. "I'm such a good lover because I practice a lot on my own."

-Woody Allen


4. "We had gay burglars the other night. They broke in and rearranged the furniture."

-Robin Williams


3. "Don't have sex man. It leads to kissing and pretty soon you have to start talking to them."

-Steve Martin


2. "My girlfriend said to me in bed last night 'You're a pervert' I said, 'That's a big word for a girl of nine'."

-Emo Philips


1. "If someone had told me years ago that sharing a sense of humour was so vital to partnerships, I could have avoided a lot of sex."

-Kate Beckinsale

Personally love the quotes by Drew Carey, Steve Martin and Woody Allen!

Prosperity and growth

Our government and Shitty State Times often claims that with economic growth, comes prosperity. How does one describe prosperity? I personally think if I have supply exceeding my wants, that is prosperity. If I have a million dollars, I should be regarded rich, but if I want to live in Nassim Hills in Singapore, that might just get me a garage. So your wealth is relative to your supply of wants. 1 million in Vancouver should get me a fancy house with spare cash for some investments and a fancy ride, maybe two?!! Which is perhaps why Vancouver is the most liveable city in the world and Singapore scores poorly as the 54th. But trust Shitty Propaganda Times to pull a fast one.




Money is often linked to prosperity, but let's not use money for this example, but a food item - I want more freshly shucked oysters at the Marriott hotel buffet, but with higher growth in their buffets, I have to compete with other customers. Basically the hotel should cater for the increase in growth and demand, and there should be no problem in fulfilling my wants. But these are freshly shucked oysters which quite often have to be freshly delivered and most restaurant do not risk overstocking them lest they become not fresh. And that might explain how 19 of my colleagues, including myself suffered from food poisoning the next day and we linked it to the old stock oysters being brought out for replenishment at the Marriott buffet.

Akin to wants, if I wanted more money to buy that apartment I like near town, but because of increasing expats coming to work in Sillypore, I now have to compete by paying more for that apartment. So effectively I need more money for my want. But with economic growth and uncontrolled foreign talent policy, I now also have to compete with cheaper labour options and therefore not able to ask for a pay rise in an increasingly expensive country. So how do I fare now with this economic growth? I do not get my fancy apartment, I do not get a pay rise, and I am in possible contention for lesser quality in food which can cause a bad tummy.

In some sense I am not prospering and quite possibly not live long with more health care catered to the rich foreigners and increasing stale food.

I am better off migrating to planet Vulcan where I can live long and prosper! Haha and thus goes the irony of prosperity with growth, you can't have both.
(In a distance, I hear the poor calling out - what about us? Do we have the ability to migrate to Vulcan? Can I ask for more pay cleaning tables? Wait, I see a long line of young foreigners waiting to take over my place...prosperity or growth has a price.)

Irony of global warming

Lately the weather has been very hot in sunny Sillypore - and it's not helping that our island is SUPER humid! Well, we can all attribute it to global warming. And it is a well known fact that carbon dioxide (CO2) is the primary contributor to global warming.

Well the irony of it, hot weather -> turn on air conditioning -> carbon dioxide emission -> globe gets hotter -> turn down the thermostat further -> more carbon dioxide emitted -> you get the picture

Turning up your thermostat by just two degrees saves 6 percent of heating-related CO2 emissions. That's a reduction of 190 kg of CO2 per year for a typical HDB!

As the world gets more growth, urbanised, we will have more carbon dioxide emission.
My next post will be on growth and prosperity - Another irony. Watch for it.

Petrol prices?

On my last post on profiteering on petrol prices, recently it seems to be creeping up again. But is there a reason why, besides the USD weakening, is there a need to increase the price? Since Singapore Dollar is strengthening, is there really a need to raise pump prices given that it should par off? Looks like they will use hedging as an excuse.

The amount of crude oil left in the ground was 1.258trn barrels last year and at today's rate of use however there is still enough oil to last the next 42 years. As we embrace more green technology, will we be able to extend it? Highly likely.

I remembered when I was studying back in the eighties, it was rumoured that oil will run out by 2000. Today we are in 2009 and there is still an estimated 42 years remaining supply. Reason is due to the more reserves exploration revealing new sites as well as newer drilling technologies which allows more deeper extractions.
I reckon we will have more good years to be petrol heads and lemme burn some rubber tomorrow!

5 more to go..

All thanks to KP, I am 6 down since March and 5 to go to my 2003 target. Hope the increased routines on Thurs and Saturdays and hopefully more weekday games and return to cycling will aid in speeding up the process.

Also got 3 weeks to improve my shooting to beat the Jammers and shoot over the other legendary 3pt shooter, Adrian. Back in BBAXN, we used to trade 3pt for 3pt as he so vividly recalls after last week's match.

Civilised Japanese soccer

Wonder why Japanese soccer leagues are always fight-free compared to the European ones?
I always thought because they are more cultured!
In case you didn't know what costume the fans are wearing and what Ultramen are.

Which comes first?

I am still clueless why some articles about Singapore, tend to come faster from international news as compared to our local ShittyState Times or CNA. And apparently the badly/poorly/shockingly newsworthy ones are always the slower ones. Often I have to catch them on Reuters, CNN, BBC or CNBC before it is available locally.



Perhaps our news media is taking cues from them or the international correspondents, journalist have better drivers around our island. Or maybe perhaps there is just too much bureaucracies...or too much hypothesis and they want to verify their sources like how it is in State of Play. This Russel Crowe thriller which I managed to get preview tickets to last Wednesday highlights the best in journalism and reminds me of another Russel Crowe thriller, The Insider.

Anyhow, I guess it's another reason not to subscribe to the local newspapers.

Passing of a fantasy great

From Gygax's passing on last year - co-creator of Dungeon and Dragons. Now comes the passing of my favorite fantasy author David Eddings. Introduced to me by a friend during my JC days, the Belgariad series was a great read. David Eddings captured the story characters so well, when I read it, it brought imagination to another level. He left us with a legacy of wonderful fantasy books which I have yet to complete all of them. I seriously need to get back to reading.

The loss of 2 great men, who have sparked the fantasy in my childhood, it is my hope that they find a magical place to dwell for eternity. Farewell and thanks for leaving a legacy - I do hope someday, someone will make movies from his books.

A thank you is sufficient

Friends on Facebook have often asked for outlook on the market since earlier this year. And with a pessimistic nature of mine, it is clear that the market has not recovered. Why not? I guess many indications show that economic recovery is not there, yet the stock market has rallied from the bottom in Mar till now, most shares are almost 30-40% up in the local bourse. Alot of scepticism was found amongst my friends and many have thought they have missed the boat.

Close friends have seen and know there was going to be a bear rally in Apr, and indeed it has. Dutch analyst Charles Nenner has predicted S&P hitting 1000 before a new bottom. We all knew it but we know not to bet on greed.

So I have missed the boat, so the stocks I was monitoring have easily doubled, and regrettably my funds did not arrive in time to buy in those shares to take advantage of it. But I know that greed and not purely investment strategies are what kills off savings; because fundamentally it is all greed and just senseless betting.

Nobody could catch the right moment to buy or sell and recent revelations showed losses in Barclays and BoA by our "elite" investment local arms. The figures are just horrendous and I am speechless on why no heads are rolling for this. Perhaps it was just a few individuals who made those decisions and those individuals are not mere mortals who are accountable to nobody.

Anyway, I have recently lambasted friends who have asked me where is the doomsday scenario as we previously thought and discussed about; is it coming? It is obviously sheer anger that the fear created resulted in less money making opportunities. Quite often when the opposite happen, I do not get thanks. Well let's just see how things go about, but for now the right thing to move on from here is just observations from an inexperienced engineer, your judgment calls and courage should be purely your decision.

Observations
1)Billions if not trillions have been wiped out from the financial markets, where have they gone to?
2)Millions globally have lost their jobs, is there employment rising or just a slower rate of unemployment?
3)Many are still stuck with their high stock prices which many are still holding on to, for eg. Google back at > $700 vs now $400+, so have they even out or make back those losses?
4)Who is playing the market now? - it is perhaps those who have survived the previous onslaught to pour forth their well guarded savings, or perhaps take on additional loans or mortgages to take a chance on the recent unpredicted run in the stock markets? We all know that institutional firms have already taken flight with retail taking up 80% right now, so when will the retail run out of funds to fuel this run?
5)Companies are cashing in on their stocks; or raising cash by selling rights, etc to merge or buy up competitors, invest in new equipments etc. Is there real demand to sustain this buying, investments?
6)Is there real growth? Countries all over the world were giving out cash incentives to spend, adopting monetary policies, creating demand - is it all sustainable?
7)Technically speaking, if this was a recession, it probably would be sustainable. But before this "bear" rally, we were all comparing this mess to be the same or bigger magnitude than the Great Depression and now openly known to be only the Great Recession. What has changed? Is there more employment now? Does every household in USA, UK fully paid up their overpriced homes? Or are they still stuck with huge mortgage payments? Is the number of companies filing for bankruptcies stopped? What are the retrenched workers doing to sustain living?
8)Most companies have been squeezed off their profit margins to help with their clients to sustain their businesses - same logic as us seeing huge massive sales 30-70% off their usual prices. Housing as well 20-40% off, everywhere in the world. But hasn't jobs been lost and many expats all over going back home? Is there rental to sustain the buying? Do we need more that 5 pairs of shoes for this year? Would then companies' earnings drop further? The spiraling effect is still there. To maintain profit margins, staff has to be cut, pay has to be cut and that indirectly cuts demand.
9)In October last year, almost every company cut production to a near halt in the manufacturing line, prompting huge job cuts and eventually inventories were reduced, thereby making business financial reports looks better. Right now from March onwards, there was a inventory correction as orders came in, but sustainable? Most manufacturing companies have no forecast beyond Q3/4.

Should people then take opportunity now to cut losses or to allow normal market corrections? Perhaps this is all sustainable, that people make money from stocks can fuel the growth. Ask yourself if it is possible to have real growth now? How many people actually made money from equities? How about the retrenched manufacturing worker who now barely can make ends meet; will she be indulging in playing the market? Will she benefit from the recent run up? Are companies starting to hire? The unemployment numbers have slowed - not recovered. Yet people seem to analyze it as a recovery. The recent run up has most certainly slowed down the inevitable if there is no real value created soon.

Like an Abu Dhabi SWF who recently reaped a $2.5 billion profit from selling Barclays, they are taking on a different stance of our local "elite" boys' favorite business strategy "to buy high sell low"? Where will these billions go to? And how about those billions lost, where have they gone to?

Real value like Obama's great vision to invest in education, green programmes will lead to job creation and in turn lead to real value being create, that is the way to go, but it will take time. Not from the mere past 6 months...the worst is definitely not here yet. But I do recognize greed when I see one...and I still believe in saving what we have for a rainy day. Perhaps Singapore with the enbloc-millionaires and high savings citizens, we might avoid such happenings, with sufficient funds moving around and the absence of Shitty Times warning but more often publishing news of recovery in the horizon, giving the false pretext that our largely exposed economy is now on track to recovery. But do note that right now, besides jobs credit, there is no real creation of value and jobs besides offering Filipinos thousands of jobs in our upcoming casino. We might actually live in this delusion and spend our way out of this mess! Let's just see if our billions wiped out from our investment funds, might actually be channeled to save the crisis! The world should perhaps say a thank you to us Sillyporeans instead of mocking us as idiots throwing away 30-50 billion dollars to Australia, US, UK and now we are buying into Asia, China stocks when the local bourses have already risen 40% since Jan?

Buy high, sell low - new slogan for Temasek and GIC?!!!!!!!!!!

Free or cheap stuff

2 rules of thumb to surviving scams and obtaining free/cheap stuff.

1) Never believe when someone calls you or tells you that it is free or complimentary or you had just won a million bucks. Simple sense - there is no free lunch in the world.

2) Never believe in Indian salesmen - check out this scam in Bangkok. The shop I believe is fronted by a Chinese businessmen hiring lots and lots of Indian salesmen to try to sell you tailored suits and shirts, etc and promising you the heavens only to increase the price later or not delivering etc... I was more concern about the quality which sucks big time. And they tell you look at how many salesmen we have..we have even more tailors who can deliver you 3 top quality shirts in 2 hours to your hotel step before you fly off from Bangkok.

Was involved in a Sim Lim Square scam once 5 years ago - the shop name was Hoon Cheong situated on the ground corner floor and was sold an overprice Canon Video camera for almost 40% above the other shops. Same smooth talking by Indian salesmen.

From then on, my dad told me as an experience this commonly known racist joke but I find it came with some truth. Spam me if you want for being racist but personal experience is an honest opinion and this is just a crap joke.

If you have a gun with only 2 bullets and a snake and an Indian salesman is running towards you - who do you shoot first?
I thought trick question that snakes don't run so replied, : "Shoot the Indian!"
Then my dad ask then what about the 2nd bullet?
"Shoot the snake?"...
Answer to that question is "Shoot the Indian salesman again, just in case he is faking it!"