Are you ready for 7 million people on tiny Singapore?
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3Boys:
Isn't it obvious that you are indeed arguing for the sake of arguing. You argued so much and now you agree with me that GST is not necessary for the majority to benefit!!!! This is exactly why people are NOT happy with GST as it does incur high cost of living for majority and most majority didn't get the benefit of having good growth of GDP. Now, you know why people are NOT happy! In fact, GST/low income tax implementation only benefits the very rich and the very rich obtained all the benefits of good GDP growth as well as low income tax!Janette, you clearly do not read my posts, your last question on GST
, my viewpoint is there already, it's not necessary for the majority to benefit, if by benefit you mean that they should be getting back more in rebates than they pay in taxes. That completely defeats the purpose of raising taxes. One of the objectives in introducing/raising GST was to rebalance the proportion of taxes drawn from income and consumption, this is clearly stated, and in many countries the top income tax rate sand GST rate are fairly comparable, whereas in Singapore it's still tilted in favor of income tax by the ratio of nearly 3:1.
You might want to consider who you are calling argumentative or blinkered. It's worth taking a look in the mirror(s).
I do not agree with your statement \"many countries the top income tax rate sand GST rate are fairly comparable, whereas in Singapore it's still tilted in favor of income tax by the ratio of nearly 3:1\". Why? This is because the VAT/GST are exempted for basic food, basic necessities and health care and medicine and their GST/VAT in reality is much lower. So, you can't compare by just using their face value of VAT/GST. -
Just relax:
In 2010 Brunei with a population of 405,000 had 3.2% of GDP, Singapore with a population 10x Brunei had 3.7% in 2010. That is why % of GDP is inaccurate. A small country like Brunei living in the same part of the world spends proportionately more than Singapore. There must be a reason. Deterrence.
I gave you 2012 data and you die die still want to use 2010 data! LOL
OK, it's ok since the number does not change much.
Isn't Taiwan's population about 5X Singapore's, 0.015% China's and yet they are in the war threat zone all the time but they had only 2.1% GDP which is same as China's % of GDP. Singapore is not even close to any of the same situation as Taiwan but spend 3.6% in 2012. Why le? Our so called neighbors (by 3Boys's definition) spend lesser than Singapore and even little amount as compared to their population! -
So the escape of Mas Selamat is the fault of the Gurkhas and not a problem of national security? Mindef is Mindef and the terrorist escape is not its problem?!? Wow.
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Mdm Koh:
So the escape of Mas Selamat is the fault of the Gurkhas and not a problem of national security? Mindef is Mindef and the terrorist escape is not its problem?!? Wow.
not even want to mention another embarassing incident when one of our warship, with its expensive radar system, collided with a cargo ship on South China sea costing the lives of a few crew members. This all happened during peace time...and with a cargo ship only, is not even a hostile opponents.
The conlcusion: whatever lapses manifesting in the ground level reflects very much on the incompetence at the upper level. As the chinese saying goes, \"as the upper pillars aren't straight, so the lower pillars become bend.\". -
JannettLee:
Say, if you got $100 cash.. you buy a $5 piggy bank and keep it.
By looking at these figures, I know we are not spending the minimum.\t
Now you tell me, is it necessary to spend so much when all our neighbors are spending so much lesser?
Please don't forget that our neighbors have much much much bigger coaster areas to defense versus a tiny red dot!
If, you got $10,000 cash, will you keep in the same $5 piggy bank or invest in $500 safe?
The more to safe guard, the more to invest in safeguarding it.. nothing wrong mah.
Next, they got much bigger land.. whereas this tiny dot is ALL we have.. all the more we must safe guard it. There is no where to run to unlike those bigger countries can still fight on their land.
Hence, SG must invest in a lot of advanced early warning systems such that any battle will be fought far away as much as possible once a threat is detected. -
limlim:
I had given Taiwan versus China scenario (as a reference for Singapore verus its neigbors) and also given the analysis of Motorola HP versus i-phone 4. Why need to spend money on new version of iphone/Samsung when all our neighbors are having Motorola HP (some even have old version of big da ge da HP, looked at what they are spending and buying)? Isn't adequate and sufficient advanced system for your to deter any battle?
Say, if you got $100 cash.. you buy a $5 piggy bank and keep it.JannettLee:
By looking at these figures, I know we are not spending the minimum.\t
Now you tell me, is it necessary to spend so much when all our neighbors are spending so much lesser?
Please don't forget that our neighbors have much much much bigger coaster areas to defense versus a tiny red dot!
If, you got $10,000 cash, will you keep in the same $5 piggy bank or invest in $500 safe?
The more to safe guard, the more to invest in safeguarding it.. nothing wrong mah.
Next, they got much bigger land.. whereas this tiny dot is ALL we have.. all the more we must safe guard it. There is no where to run to unlike those bigger countries can still fight on their land.
Hence, SG must invest in a lot of advanced early warning systems such that any battle will be fought far away as much as possible once a threat is detected.
If you want to flight with those BIG brothers, then you can forget about it. No amount of defence budget (not even 100% GDP) is sufficient for you because they can really destroy everything that you have without even need to send out any soldier if you really piss them off ! That's why Taiwan/South Korea are smart to spend minimum and work with strong alliance/diplomacy. Work on the diplomacy part la rather than spend those unnecessary money.
Reserve those money for our health cares in view of the aging population that is going to hit us hard. -
Are you saying Taiwan and South korea spend less than Singapore in absolute terms?
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limlim:
Are you saying Taiwan and South korea spend less than Singapore in absolute terms?
No, I say their GDP spending is lesser. By 3Boys' definition of our purpose of defence, We already spend more than our neighbors in absolute dollar term and yet our size is peanut compared to theirs!!! -
With regards to defence, let’s just say that we do not wish to be in a situation like Kuwait, where Iraq could just march in and take over within 2 days. Even the allies were unable to respond in time. People in Kuwait had to suffer for months before US forces were able to render help to deliver them.
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r2learn:
This article by Adam Khoo ... is a nice read that states about
eventually 'Expats will rule Singapore \" if we as Singaporeans don't change our ways!
...
Unfortunately, I have found that more and more young Singaporeans lack this hunger for success. Instead, they like to complain, blame circumstances and wait for others to push them. Some hold on to the attitude that the world owes them a living. I shake my head when I see local kids nowadays complain that they don’t have the latest handphones, branded clothes and games. While I acknowledge that the kids of today are much smarter and well informed than I was at their age (my 4 year old daughter can use my Macbook computer and my iphone), I find that they lack the resilience and tenacity they need to survive in the new economy. Some kids nowadays tend to give up easily once they find that things get tough and demand instant gratification. When they have to work first to get rewards later, many tend to lack the patience to follow through.
So, how did this happen? Why is our nation of hardworking, hungry fighters slowly becoming a nation of complaining softies? I think the problem is that life in Singapore has been too good and comfortable. ...Laura02:
Many young Singaporeans, I feel, have been served from head to toes by maids since young, that many have become self-centred, pampered and too reliant on other people, thus making them unable or unwilling to “self-serve”....
We Singaporeans really have to start with the small stuff, like returning our trays at foodcourts, not littering, helping to keep our common corridors and public toilets clean ...
Then, if we were in an utopian society, everyone should volunteer at least 2 hr of their time every week to help out at old folks homes, childcare centres, after school care centres, ...
And the government can give incentives and research grants to innovations that help improve the lives of the aged and handicapped and not just to green projects ...
Just an example, I’m quite intrigued by our recycling initiatives. In other countries, people have to separate the items properly and wash the bottles/containers before placing them into the respective collection bins. Some bottles cannot be recycled and people need to read the instructions on the bottles first before deciding where to throw them. This does not apply only to “western” countries, but in Asian countries like Taiwan and Korea, where people are “trained” to do that too!
For us, we just need to dump everything into one big recycling bin at the foot of each HDB block, and I presume, cheap labours (foreign?) at the recycling factories had to clean? and sort the items out!
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