Government to blame for rising cost of living?
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The rising cost of living is fast becoming the second biggest concern — next to jobs and earnings — among Singaporeans, who will go to the polls this year.
Last week they received more bad news. Electricity costs will rise by 6.5 percent this month and a major oil firm will put up petrol prices at the pump.
These are the latest of a string of price increases that have been ploughing through the city heartland, often uncontrollably, and a few of them by substantial margins.
The whole thing is now like dominos going down, with one price hike leading to another.
For example, more cafes and restaurants are charging diners up to S$1 for a glass of water, and one bicycle shop in Tampines is reportedly charging cyclists 50 cents for pumping air into tyres.
In the heartland, it sometimes takes on laughable proportions, with some hawkers imposing an additional charge on customers who want a bit more sauce, ketchup or chilli.
The most damaging are big-ticket items like healthcare and homes, public transport, cars, petrol and, of course, foodstuff.
Few things — big or small — are spared for long. Sooner or later rentals will go up and vendors will charge more to make up for that.
A random look at the press showed a wide range of products and services being affected — from school bus fees to baby food, from car insurance to curry puffs.
In the past, the government had managed inflation well, keeping costs very low despite the island's dependency on the outside world for oil, commodities and food.
But in the past five years (except for the recession), inflation has made life tough for the average wage earner.
A big factor was the sharp rises in energy, commodity and food price worldwide.
Some Singaporeans attribute the rising prices to the government's "grow at all costs" strategy and its mass intake of foreigners within a short period, which strained resources.
"I think a large part of the inflation in Singapore is induced by government policy," said Leong Wai Ho, senior regional economist, Barclays Capital.
He was referring to the COE system, in which a person has to bid for a Certificate of Entitlement (with a 10-year life span) before he can buy a new car in Singapore.
Currently, the COE for a car ranges from S$40,000 to S$60,000 depending on capacity, after rising to incredible levels.
"If you take that away, inflation will be Singapore (sic) is much more manageable," Leong added.
A writer said: "The cost of living is growing, fuelled by demand from an enlarged populace for scarce resources, as well as higher government taxes and fees."
During Singapore's brief post-independence history, residents of this small island, which has few natural resources, have been conditioned to deal with the occasional price spasm.
When times were good, these could be shrugged away. This year, it appears harder to limit the damage than before.
The current crisis appears more fundamental and lasting.
In fact, it may become a structured feature in cosmopolitan Singapore.
I believe that many aspects may have been due to our ambition to become a metropolis for the rich and talented.
This means prices are no longer determined only by supply and demand.
With the world's highest increase in the proportion of millionaires, and massive foreign funds coming in, Singapore has been transformed for good.
People can forget about prices falling back to pre-inflation levels, barring a calamity.
The plague of 5 percent-5.5 percent inflation is eating into people's salaries and savings.
"I'm worried because my bank savings, which fetch only interest of 0.15%, are losing out," a housewife lamented. "When you save, you lose; don't invest, even worse."
Those who have mandatory retirement savings will be similarly affected.
Their CPF (Central Provident Fund) ordinary account pays them only 2.5 percent a year.
"With this inflation, all citizens' CPF will depreciate in value before we can even use it.
"The payout (on retirement) will probably be enough only for daily coffee expenses," a surfer said.
A chief investment officer commented: "We are likely to see increasing inflationary pressures in the quarters and years to come."
Singaporeans are particularly concerned about the possible decline of their CPF money which must follow any prolonged inflation.
The fear is very real and strong in many families.
Will the public's concern affect the election results? I believe it will, to some extent.
TODAY newspaper, which recently surveyed heartland voters on this subject, reported:
"From basic necessities to hawker meals, from holidays to that new car, from healthcare bills to expenses related to starting and raising a family, it seems that Singaporeans are certainly feeling the pinch of higher prices."
It found 40 percent of poorer Singaporeans (income from nil to S$2,000 a month) replied that the rising living costs would affect how they would vote.
Among those earning S$2,001-S$6,000, six in 10 said the issue would influence how they cast their ballot, TODAY reported.
Some older citizens, who are not benefiting from Singapore's dazzling plan to become a world-class city, are unhappy. "Give us back our older days" is their common cry.
The idea is less attractive to the younger set, which has adapted well to new technologies, although still trying hard to cope with the high prices.
By Seah Chiang Nee
- Yahoo! News Sg
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HEADS-UP
next on d price raise list is ............ TAXI FARES .......... after d election IF PAP WINS !!
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Originally posted by Leomanz:
HEADS-UP
next on d price raise list is ............ TAXI FARES .......... after d election IF PAP WINS !!
PAP will say a big thankyou to you for reminding them. -
If we didnt mass import foreigners.... between 2006 to 2010... inflation could have been able to be tackled....
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Originally posted by Junyang700:
If we didnt mass import foreigners.... between 2006 to 2010... inflation could have been able to be tackled....
Govt will tell us "we need foreigners to boost up our economy"Nothing new and always the same old story.
Sigh!
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expect more of the same after GE.
there is nothing new from same lines if they are vote in.
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We need them to set up companies here in Spore,
Definately they will want to have some of their top pple in the company.
That cannot be help.
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Originally posted by likeyou:
We need them to set up companies here in Spore,
Definately they will want to have some of their top pple in the company.
That cannot be help.
excuses are easy options.
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Originally posted by likeyou:
We need them to set up companies here in Spore,
Definately they will want to have some of their top pple in the company.
That cannot be help.
excuses are easy options.
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Originally posted by Clivebenss:
excuses are easy options.
Govt should not take in low skill foreigners in easily.
Recently I saw pinoys doing survey outside the mrt station. Last time, it is use to be locals, but now, pinoys takin over....
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Originally posted by likeyou:
Govt should not take in low skill foreigners in easily.
Recently I saw pinoys doing survey outside the mrt station. Last time, it is use to be locals, but now, pinoys takin over....
Don't bring in low skill foreigners, who gonna build your flats? Our ship and rig building industry also can shut down already.
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Originally posted by ditzy:
Don't bring in low skill foreigners, who gonna build your flats? Our ship and rig building industry also can shut down already.
We need them, no choice, no one want to work in such a condition.But we can minimised those in middle level such as cashiers, clearners, factories workers.
Even the skill foreigners, we can control the influx....spore has its own pple that is also highly skilled. The only problem is salary.
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It's not their problem.
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The problem lies with rising oil prices.
Oil rise everything rise.
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think loong term.
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Notice everything that goes wrong, its so easy to blame the govt?
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Originally posted by Meltdown:
The problem lies with rising oil prices.
Oil rise everything rise.
Everybody already get use to this news.
Everything increases all related to oil/fuel prices increase.
When old/fuel decreases, govt keep quiet, treating the people stupid fool.
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there are some things which are beyond the control of the MIW.. the idiots think that the MIW can control everything... hell, there was one asshole who went to complain to the MP about the hot weather!
that being said, shit like oil prices, food prices, commodity prices cannot be blamed on the MIW...
however, the problems with prices like housing and wages lie squarely on the lousy policies of the MIW...
some things like rent, can be partially blamed on the MIW... but mostly, it is the landlords who are gouging the tenants... you can't blame the greed of the landlords on the MIW (granted, they are also landlords and VERY VERY greedy)
give blame where it is due.. else all arguments will be pointless due to lack of credibility
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If the price of food skyrockets in the not-too-distant future, the blame will likely be laid squarely at cotton’s proverbial feet.
Money manager Shawn Hackett, president and CEO of Hackett Financial Advisors, a Boynton Beach, Florida, firm with a specific focus on commodities, is quick to point out that cotton, which was recently selling for $0.35/lb, is now hovering close to $2/lb.
“When the markets crashed in 2008, the resulting move down in all commodities was especially hard on cotton,” Hackett tells Minyanville. “Farmers didn’t plant enough acreage in the US last year because prices were so low. That, combined with record low acreage in China, India, and Pakistan along with bad weather and increased demand, pushed prices way up. Because of this, we’re planting record cotton crops in the US, as have China, India, and Pakistan. As long as we have normal weather, it looks like the next crop cycle will usher in a classic supply-demand reversal, which will drive prices right back down.”
Research firm Cotlook Ltd. estimates global cotton output “will exceed demand by 1.1 million metric tons in the year that begins Aug. 1,” and a Bloomberg News survey conducted last week has determined that domestic cotton farmers will be planting 20% more this year, to try and capture the highest prices possible.
“There’s a lot more money to be made in cotton right now,” Ramon Vela, a Texas farmer who plowed under his wheat fields to grow cotton, told the New York Times. According to the paper, Vela will plant 1,100 acres of cotton, compared with 210 acres last year.
With a cotton glut in the making and Hackett predicting a large drop-off in demand, those prices farmers are chasing will, obviously, begin to decline. While he can't say for sure exactly when it will occur, Hackett has his eye on an eventual “generational shorting opportunity” for commodity investors.
Hackett also sees upside potential in stocks like Hanesbrands Inc. (HBI) and Gildan Activewear (GIL) if cotton takes a dive, which will cause “their input costs for 2012 to drop substantially.”
In the nearer-term, Morningstar believes ag stocks poised to benefit this year from the cotton-planting frenzy include fertilizer producers Potash (POT), Agrium (AGU), and Mosaic (MOS), as well as “makers of crop chemicals and genetically modified seeds -- including Monsanto (MON), DuPont (DD), and Syngenta (SYT).”
This abundance of cotton could also present a generational quandary for the hungry, as food is replaced by wearable fibers and cotton gins expand capacity in advance of the expected boom in supply.
“[F]rom a humanitarian perspective it’s kind of scary,” Webb Wallace, executive director of the Cotton and Grain Producers of the Lower Rio Grande Valley, told the Times. “Those people in poor countries that have a hard time affording food, they’re going to be even less able to afford it now.”
But farmers cannot resist the short-term lure of cotton, as agriculture's unpredictability requires getting in while the getting's good.
“It’s going to be cotton stalks everywhere,” says farmer Travis Patterson, who will plant 1,500 acres of cotton this year, compared with last year’s 600. “The landscape’s going to change.” -
Who create stress and problems? Govt.
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The govt can't micro-manage the economy. But, certainly, it has the ability and power macro-manage the economy. This is what they are elected for - to implement these policies.
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Originally posted by the Bear:
there are some things which are beyond the control of the MIW.. the idiots think that the MIW can control everything... hell, there was one asshole who went to complain to the MP about the hot weather!
that being said, shit like oil prices, food prices, commodity prices cannot be blamed on the MIW...
however, the problems with prices like housing and wages lie squarely on the lousy policies of the MIW...
some things like rent, can be partially blamed on the MIW... but mostly, it is the landlords who are gouging the tenants... you can't blame the greed of the landlords on the MIW (granted, they are also landlords and VERY VERY greedy)
give blame where it is due.. else all arguments will be pointless due to lack of credibility
I agree. Inflation for the whole world is up. Food shortage due to flood, drought, unforseen seasonal change and chaos have caused everything to go up. What we didn't need is for the government to add the burden to the people; such as tariff, rents, medical cost and housing price escalation.
On the whole, the people's wages have not increased due to competition from "foreign talent" where they are prepared to take on the jobs at a lower wages. This may benefit the employers but overall it benefited the government when the levy was increased.
What is worst is the hap-hazard ways in which policies were churned out to appease the citizens when they wantonly increased the minimum wages of the S-Pass and E-Pass holders thinking that by doing so, the jobs would go to the citizen.
How wrong can they be? Did they not realised that these is going to cost the businesses more? Did they realise that our locals are calling for the wage increase too? Did they realised that such unplanned increased are going to eat into the companies profits. If the SME cannot sustained the increase, the SME is going to closed shop. Utilmately, the citizens will suffer.
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Foreign Workers and Talents are essential and a must, but must control....... the main word is ' CONTROL '....... don bring in any seow ah pee......the island is not even half the size of Johore, how to contain so many ppl......???
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I think PAP will increase GST to 10% after the elections.
Now they give a bit of money to bribe people to vote for them, after elections, increase GST, increase everything to take back everything.
This is the old trick of PAP, done to the death already.
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Originally posted by Vote PAP OUT to Save SG:
I think PAP will increase GST to 10% after the elections.
Now they give a bit of money to bribe people to vote for them, after elections, increase GST, increase everything to take back everything.
This is the old trick of PAP, done to the death already.
I'll be very happy if its 10%....... sekali go up to 12% then all the ppl HO SAY LIAO.....................