Smuggling in the Pop. White Paper

A valid way to look at this set of exciting plans is as a component of the now no-name population white paper. See how carefully the government has planned and implemented its communication. You always know from the way it is done, tightly controlled and top down.

I don't think people have a problem with a much enlarged population as long as it is properly managed. Had there been no issue with housing, hospital beds and crowded public transport, the PWP would never have attracted so much vitriol and opposition.

Remembering Old Holland Village

This was the Holland Village that we liked best and frequented every week. The Holland Village today is lost to others and the only time we go there is our appointment with the hair dresser.

I remember Times and the Word shop. Bought many books from them. Milano Pizza was a favorite especially apple strudel topped with a big scoop of chocolate ice cream.

When ST made this pic available I just had to snitch it.

Angelina Jolie: I was just lucky

Until now, the most honest persons about luck I have heard were Warren Buffett and Michael Bloomberg. And because of that recognition they use their money very differently from may wealthy people. This morning I get the opportunity to recognize another: Angelina Jolie. Far too many successful people think they made it through merit but Jolie recounted meeting another woman more gifted than her. She didn't get the chance to bloom. She lives in a refugee camp and is probably still there.

If you think you made it solely on merit, you will become arrogant and carried with you an ugly sense of entitlement. We have lots of them, often over stated in our town these days. I fear that unless they repent even if they thought they lived well they will die badly.

Here is Jolie speech accepting her honorary Academy Award

Online Harassment: Not caring to look good

Article from Today.

I have always felt that much of the good behavior we see in public are not from the heart but only to look good. So cocooned away from each other in bodies of steel we are terribly rude to each on the roads. But if we bump into each other accidentally in a crowd we are quick to say sorry. However nothing show our true and ugly side than our online personalities.

Now to be practical, we are going to strengthen the laws against harassment, especially online.

I am glad that my children do not have a wide circle of superficial friends. I have noticed that many such friends are worse than enemies. The painful dawn comes when they betray you online. To the folks at MOE, this is evidence that years of moral education has gotten us nowhere but I think Heng Swee Keat is taking this more seriously than ministers before and I hope he succeeds.

Developed Economies in Secular Stagnation?

Larry Summers made waves with his short speech suggesting we may be stuck in secular stagnation.


As he was speaking to members of the priesthood of economists, perhaps FT's Gavyn Davies is useful for making it more digestible.

You need only one radar to look for incoming missiles but with the economy you would need several and still be unsure what is coming.

One glaring omission which was already in the works since I started working: the erosion of the middle class. They were the great consumers but as they lose their jobs, the gradual disappearance of demand must surely show up. For too long debt had substituted for income.

I just wrote to my friend the following.

To me what they fail to mention and this is because it will open a can of worms is the destruction of demand arising from the widening income gap. The economy even if left on its own will always return as long as people do not give up. However the path it takes will leave many casualties behind and that is why we need economic leadership. And tapering is part of that leadership, so is the decision to delay doing that. Whatever it is, we will run out of time because QE cannot go on forever. Note the remarks by Mervyn King before he retired from the BoE.

And what did King say:

Sir Mervyn King pointed this out shortly before he retired from the BoE, but few people paid much attention. Sooner or later, central bankers are bound to become concerned about asset bubbles (rightly), or the risk of losses on their bond holdings, and give up this path. The consequences for asset prices could be very painful when this happens, not because the asset purchases themselves are crucial, but because the markets might decide that there is no other means of keeping growth going.

The day of reckoning is not tomorrow but it will come. The same three legs and only one is needed to create a conundrum: market direction, timing and money management. Timing is that leg. Direction is easy and money management is for decisive risk management.

The blip on the radar screen? Whither growth and confidence. Whatever there will be no tapering if it takes us back to where we came from. We don't even need to go all the way back, just heading the wrong way is enough to give central bankers cold feet.

Update: 10:30am

It was noticeable because like cosmetics, debt had plastered over the true situation. Now that you can't pile on debt like before, the truer picture emerge. Demand is eroding an in a consumption based economy this is a slow cancer. Ageing demographics is also making recovery difficult....but I am still optimistic about the USA when you look at the many other silver linings.

YouTube 500 error

I was about to embed the code for of the YouTube video of Larry Summers suggesting that we might be stuck in secular stagnation when I got this error message. This is the first time.

Now waiting for the highly trained monkeys to work their magic. How long will it take? Will it be quicker than the elevator guys? Whatever I am quite sure it isn't a fire like in Singtel Bukit Panjang installation.

Filippinos useless prayers

I wished Filipinos were less fatalistic. What's the use of such prayers? The Chinese didn't pray when a worse tragedy in the form of the Sichuan earthquake struck them. And the main difference I can see between China and the Philippines is the quality of their government.

If they must pray, they ought to ask God for better government and then they need to show their leaders that laziness and incompetence are not tolerated.

Martin Luther King prayed all the time but there was massive action too. That's what is missing in the Philippines. The way they are going about it, they will become the battle ground for big powers in the days to come and they only have themselves to blame. They are setting the high benchmarks for crying for help.

Update: 3:45pm

I had been following this story in the NYT before it appeared in our papers yesterday. I couldn't bring myself to blog about it then. This was a needless death. Totally unnecessary and I am sure there are too many similar but untold examples. Do you solve such problems with the sort of prayers I am reading? Of course not. With such fatalistic and self defeating attitude their problems will never go away.

Update: 9:05pm

I read about this a few days ago but here is CNN Anderson Cooper in his own words. Feckless Filipino government.