COE: Money is everything

In ST yesterday.

Money is not everything but everything is money. Wise advice from an old friend when I got married.

We have ran this place on everything is money and never had the wisdom to understand that money is not everything.

Using price as the instrument of policy only make sense when it does not impugn money is not everything. This is clearly the case for transporting people and goods today. The message we are inculcating in the young is to be materially successful or life would surely be inconvenient may be painful. It is a bankrupt philosophy which can only bring us to an early demise. Government soaked in the praise for being an Inc. but duly forgot the lesson of history than commercial organizations have the shortest lives. Just look at how quickly membership of the Fortune 100 change.

The everything is money approach is guaranteed to eventually be a big vote bank loser. I am amazed at their stupidity. You will always behave stupidly when you caught religion. I see this happen over and over again in the history of Christianity. We will not be as fortunate as Christianity. We can't even better Venice by a long shot.

This government is even more out of touch than the GOP in America.

Update: Dec 28, 8am

Read Ben Ong's suggestion which is articulated by many too.

There is no perfect solution to this COE problem but balloting is certainly superior to auctions.

Want to play it safe which civil servants  love to do? Copy the playbook of the HDB. Balloting for new flats and a market driven resale flats, i.e., ballot for COEs but used car are market priced.

Many ideas superior to auctions are available. Just don't be stupid and stubbornly stay with the worst idea of all. Be flexible. There might be times where auctioning COEs make sense especially when public transport is as efficient as Hong Kong. This is not that time.