PM Lee flags two worries

This was on the front page today.

Why have we landed ourselves in such a situation? Simple: Politics have become a zero sum game here.

The call on resources, which is best expressed in their prices is greater than the increased population is producing. Aggravating it is also the lopsided distribution of the wealth or more commonly touted as the wealth gap.

NIMBY is just another symptom of the the zero sum game too. My loss is someone's gain; better you than me suffering the loss.

Of course the pie has grown or we would be in a much tighter spot, but definitely not by enough.

The PM and his Cabinet colleagues must realize that there is not likely to be a solution unless the resource pie grows MUCH FASTER than immigration. This has always been a latent risk; not just for us but everywhere else. Latent because previously the pie grew faster than population and the vast majority saw their lives got better.

Not that I like it, but look around the world, the solution to all social and political problem is economic growth. Politicians do not know of anything else, and cannot handle any other alternatives. What Gross National Happiness? That's is still born here. And any in Europe foolhardy to try it will eventually discover it the hard way. The Americans know at stake is their superpower status and so will never countenance this.

When we have the courage to close off easy sources of growth, then we might find the solutions to our problems. We are at our best, the most innovative when we have no choice. We have to keep recreating ourselves or we will just simply grow old and wither. And we do not know of any other way than the one that brought us here.