Singapore to split apart? Who to blame?

This blog was held in storage for many days because I was wondering if I should publish it. 

I haven't published anything like this in a while.

It is bordering on being political and it is something which many people probably have very strong opinions about.

Anyway, I decided to take the plunge.

In The Straits Times on 4 March, Chua Mui Hoong wrote that Singapore was “at a juncture when the internal contradictions of its hyper-competitive system are becoming apparent, causing much angst, from the low to middle to high-income residents.” 

“They worry if they can attain the essentials of modern life, a home, job, school for their children and caregiving for frail family members. 

“Those who are wealthy, still worry about access to good schools and whether their children can do as well in a game they themselves excelled in.” 

This, plus what Pritam Singh said in Parliament about how "two Singapores" could possibly emerge, got me blogging.

There was a big discussion regarding Singapore's income inequality and the suggestion was that Singapore's income inequality issue was worsening.

However, that is probably more a popular and erroneous perception than reality.

Singapore’s income inequality has been declining. 

The Gini coefficient decreased from 0.478 in 2012 to 0.437 in 2022.

Lawrence Wong shared the results of ongoing efforts to uplift lower-wage workers. 

Lower-wage workers had seen higher income growth than those earning more than the median income in the last five years. 

What is my opinion?

There will always be income inequality.

Hard truth.

It is hard for me to accept that a cleaner should be paid as much as a doctor or even a high school teacher in a capitalist society, for example.

Of course, in a communist country, equal "pay" should be expected.

So, do we want to live in a communist country?

I know I don't.

Then, there is this concept of "essentials of modern life" which Chua Mui Hoong mentioned in the newspaper article.

I have blogged about needs and wants before many times.

We only need so much money in life.

The rest is for showing off.

If we keep our needs simple and our wants few, our life will "basically" be better, no matter how much money we make.

The problem starts when many things which are not essential get classified as "essentials of modern life."

Need a home?

What about a HDB flat or even an Executive Condominium?

Need a school?

What about a neighborhood school?

Need healthcare?

What about a government polyclinic or hospital?

In my last visit to the doctor in the polyclinic a 20 minutes walk from my home, I paid $20 when the actual cost was about $80. 

Yes, my medical bill was about 75% subsidized and I am not even a senior citizen (yet.)

There is an over-emphasis on income when it comes to measuring financial well being.

Seriously.

Must people earn a lot more money to be rich?

I have a blog that says average income workers can be rich too.

I have a blog that shares a reader's experience on how to have more passive income than "richer" friends.

If we spend as much as we make, it doesn't matter if we are high income individuals because we will always be "poor."

It isn't how much money we make that determines if we are rich or poor.

It is how much money we keep.

There was a study done in an advanced country that showed how 40% of upper middle income families were living paycheck to paycheck in that country.

Why?

They habitually spent as much money as they made or more than what they made.

How to be financially better off like that?

Then, there is the issue of assigning blame.

Really, there should be a greater emphasis on taking ownership when it comes to our financial well being or the lack of it.

 

As you can tell from the video, I am proud to be Singaporean and proud of our CPF system. 

If you haven't watched it yet, you might want to give it a chance as it shares the view of a foreigner.

I like the CPF system because it is a system where the government helps those who help themselves.

I don't like as much the way the government has been giving out free money in recent years.

However, I am very much aware that there are low income families which genuinely do need some financial relief.

Still, if the government keeps doing it, then, it might foster feelings of entitlement amongst Singaporeans who, I feel, can be pretty ungrateful at times.

Honestly, I do not think Singapore is such a terrible place when it comes to economic issues.

Don't talk about Pakistan or Sri Lanka.

I think we are even better off in Singapore than in the U.S.A. when it comes to economic issues.

Of course, Singapore is not perfect but waving a banner that suggests Singapore could split apart because of growing income inequality is just malicious.

The P.A.P. government probably would not say many of the things I have said in this blog because they must think about winning the next election.

It could cost them some swing voters, I suspect.

I don't expect this blog to do well and it could even get me flamed.

However, long time regular readers know that this is a topic that I feel strongly about and I just need to get it off my chest.

Related posts:
1. Average income workers can be rich too.
2. More passive income than richer friends.
3. Don't make difficult times more difficult.
4. Survivability and opportunity.