Found this at Marc Faber's blog. I suppose he agrees with the viewpoint here. The good Faber himself was quoted in this video.
Sounds like the Austrian school trying to disparage the Keynesians. Real life is both and also neither. Never take these two main school of Economics to be religion. Never be an ideologue. Real life is far richer and much more complex. It helps if you have the "Blink" ability or leverage someone who has.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Monday, February 7, 2011
Noir Bloomberg disappears
The whole day I had problem getting to noir.bloomberg.com. Mostly I get a bad request message that I finally gave up. I just tried again and it looks like noir is in the coffin one more time or perhaps for good. Will try again in the morning.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Maiden visit to Clementi Mall
Sunday Times on the Gillman Heights En Bloc sale
The comments of three former owners of the HUDC estate at Gillman heights caught my attention. They are all at least somewhat worse off because they sold their apartment in a rising market. They would be patting themselves in the back if it had been a falling market. The committee that led them were ignorant and Capital Land behaved astutely in a commercial fashion. Indeed what you do not know can hurt you. People are so lazy. Just because they have no more exams to take, diplomas to collect they stop educating themselves. The world moves on and their ignorance is somebody's profit opportunity. This is how the market works. It is disciplinary.
Quote:
Sure, the en bloc created economic value, but at what cost? It destroyed perfectly good buildings. My family would have been happy to continue living at Gillman. Maybe we could have done some upgrading work to the estate.
Mrs Saw Yock Kee, 57
Insurance agency leader, married with one son, 30, and one daughter, 21
Insurance agency leader, married with one son, 30, and one daughter, 21
Former home: Gillman Heights, 2,000 sq ft ground-floor unit bought for about $650,000 in 2000
En bloc sale price: $870,000
Now living in: 1,600 sq ft high- floor unit at Lakeholmz condo in Jurong, bought for about $900,000
Quote:
I'm not against the idea of an en bloc (sale), since I understand Singapore is a small country. But I wish that more protection was given to minority owners to ensure they don't suffer a (reduced) quality of life when they are forced to move.
I wish I had the foresight to invest in another place early. By the time we received the funds from the sale, the money was not enough for us to buy a new home in the same location.
Mr Alan Chow, 67
Retiree, married with two children
Retiree, married with two children
Former home: Gillman Heights, 1,700 sq ft unit bought for about $300,000 in 1985 when it was first launched for sale.
En bloc sale price: $870,000
Now living in: 1,100 sq ft five-room HDB flat in Tiong Bahru bought for more than $600,000
Quote:
Is our life better now?
I'd say we did not feel like we got a fair deal, as most of us have had to downgrade our homes. For those who are younger, they are better equipped to buy new homes with similar attributes. For people like us who have already retired, it's not really an option.
There's a group of 20 to 30 of us, old neighbours, who have dispersed all over the island in our new homes.
We do regularly meet, about once a month, for coffee. We no longer hang out at the coffee shops in the vicinity of Gillman Heights. Sometimes we meet at the McDonald's at West Coast to chat about everything, just like in the old days.'
Sale created economic value, but at what cost?
Mr Harish Pillay, 51
IT consultant, married with two sons, 11 and 13
IT consultant, married with two sons, 11 and 13
Former home: Gillman Heights, 1,800 sq ft mid-floor unit bought for about $430,000 in 1992
En bloc sale price: $870,000
Now living in: 2,200 sq ft penthouse at Carabelle condo in West Coast, bought for more than $1 million
Quote:
Sure, the en bloc created economic value, but at what cost? It destroyed perfectly good buildings. My family would have been happy to continue living at Gillman. Maybe we could have done some upgrading work to the estate.
My boys were excited to move into a new place, but they often mention that they want to return to Gillman. After all, it's a place that holds fond memories for us.'
Shoes from Nex
Friday, February 4, 2011
The workings of the CCP
It took more than two months for my reserved copy to arrive. It is turning out to be a fascinating even if unsurprising read for me. I am about one third through it. This book is offering a useful education to westerners. For Chinese locals, many of them I suspect are already more of less familiar with it. At least Wang Ping who took us around Beijing and to the Great Wall at Mutianyi was completely aware of such going ons.
A stable Singapore? Borrowing from Nassim Taleb
Here is something to carefully ponder regarding very stable Singapore.
I posted the following to my FB page.
He is right and also wrong. No contradiction here as in the man's own words, "I don’t focus on political stability, nor do I specialise in olive groves. My specialty is risk and fragility."
What he mostly offers you is insight. Shallow thinkers mistake them to be prescriptions to their own grief. He helps us see better but also warns us there is much that isn't visible.
I posted the following to my FB page.
He is right and also wrong. No contradiction here as in the man's own words, "I don’t focus on political stability, nor do I specialise in olive groves. My specialty is risk and fragility."
What he mostly offers you is insight. Shallow thinkers mistake them to be prescriptions to their own grief. He helps us see better but also warns us there is much that isn't visible.
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