Judge WH as a CEO of a Company Called America

I like the article purported by Bloomberg and would say it is the same benchmark I've always used to judged the WH. Technically, that's how I judge every system.

Trumpers argued that we should give him time to run the country like he should, the first time we elected a businessman to run the country, and hence, we should give him time.

Firstly, this is not the first time a businessman became a president, so why is this presidency any different from before? Because he had no prior experience? Why should that be different from anyone who are new to a job? CEOs are judged almost immediately for lesser blunders, so time is no excuse. Mindset, maturity and integrity is.

Now, I'll not hit him on things that are not wrong. I disagree on the travel ban, appointment of Sessions, rolling back of Obama-era laws to protect the environment, support of the poorly designed AHCA and immigration related policies.

However, I am not going to bash him for the Syrian strike, even if I don't view it as a positive, it is not a dire negative. Nor do I think the interactions with China to be negative. Happenings with NAFTA also did not look as dire as it was originally projected to be.

The problem is, when your accomplishments do not outweigh your perceived negatives, coupled with the constant self-inflicted PR problems, things clearly don't look good. Not to mention how reality is setting in with their non-WH business. No CEO in a legitimate corporate would have survived this long with so much conflict of interest, especially since his name is not Elon Musk.

The good thing is, unlike a corporate where the leader is the single point of failure, the president is one of many pieces of our democracy. He is a very big part of our democracy, but NOT THE point of failure that will collapse the system.

Of course, being highly invested in the market, I worry about every piece of news that is thrown out, every day there is a curve ball that can break the camel's back, every day seems to be a lower new low. Of course, the best thing that happened recently is the appointment of Mueller, of which, of course again, Trump doesn't understand the benefit.

All in all, if I have stock in a company where it's CEO keeps giving me news that causes selloffs, I would have either sold the stock or lobbied to fire the CEO. That is what is happening right now. I don't believe there is enough to prove Russian ties, nor clear-cut proof wrongdoing with Comey, but it is reasonable to be doubtful, especially with the massive amount of possible conflict of interest business wise and confusion operation and execution wise. There will be haters, but you are not helping yourself if you give them more reason to gather more hate.

Now, if only he can start exercising proper judgment now in terms of appointments and decision making, perhaps he can salvage it. I still stand by my prediction, he can be a good president, but that will be either because he abandons a lot of his campaign promises (becoming more centrists) or that he is so bad he will become a "good" precedent of a lot of future changes to prevent political extremism in the future. In my mind, if he can push for presidential election rule changes (or democratizing) and institute term limits on congress, it could really change my opinion.

p.s. I actually think that recent events have been good for the country, perhaps not Trump specifically. Not for our health exactly but if we survive this and learn from the mistakes, we can enhance the country's stability and success for the future.

Does Populism really mean what it is?

Tomorrow will be France's day to show the world how far the world has gone backwards or whether she will be another country to become a bastion of sanity. Things look OK going into tomorrow but like everything in life, never count the chickens until they hatch.

I am concerned by how this movement of violent attitudes towards other human beings is becoming more prevalent. Making things worse is the media's liberal use of the word "populism" on such trends. "Populism"...really?

From Google:

Yes, this is a simple meaning, "Support for the concerns of ordinary people". Or "the quality of appealing to or being aimed at ordinary people". Very simple explanations. So why am I baffled by the use of "populism" on candidates like Farage, Trump and Le Pen.

Now, it all goes down to math from here. What percentage of human beings in this world is considered ordinary? Or inversely, how many do you consider to be extraordinary?

We all like to think that we're extraordinary, but most of us aren't. We are more alike to one another than we think, but similarly, we are unique. OK, let's be less philosophical and more realistic. Let's use the 80-20 rule, just to be less populist and more realistic. Let's not use the 1% argument, because that is so cliche and make my arguments too easy.

Brexit vote, 73% turnout, 52% or 18m (both rounded up) out of 65m. Out of nearly 50m eligible to vote, only 18m wanted out. That's less than 40% of eligible voters and less than a third of UK's population. Why is the idea of UK leaving the EU a "populist" decision? What about the rest of the 15m that aren't eligible to vote?

While we're on topic, what does UK gain with the Brexit vote? Well, UKIP promised trillions, right? OK, I can't remember the exact number but I remembered it was all about money promised to them. Sure, the words used might be "jobs" but people who voted for it is just thinking about their wallets.

Sure, Cameron was ineffective but Brexit is pulling the rug from under the future citizens of UK because not only is it bad now and near future, the extra barriers it will create for itself and future citizens aren't going to be much better. All these for made up dollar amounts that probably will never be real? Seriously? Isn't removing Cameron easier? Or removing the major political parties and perhaps the age old bureaucracies that, at least to Brexit voters, think is "plaguing" the British Isles?

Next, closer to home, at least where I am right now, 2016 Presidential Elections. Trump got 63m votes (rounded up) to Clinton's 65m votes (rounded way down). Total turnout is 60%, 137m votes (both rounded up) out of 324m in USA. Less than a quarter of the country voted for the president we have now, whose rhetoric stirred up so much hateful speech during and after the elections, with concerted effort to introduce a new way of life called alternative facts.

The people who voted for him were promised jobs, tax cuts, improved economy and repeal of ObamaCare, otherwise known as Affordable Care Act, while we're in an improving economy no less. Sure, they will argue they aren't benefiting much, well, I've not benefited much, and that's not due to a lack of trying on my part, but that's no excuse to hate the system keeping 324m people alive.

He's not a scientist, he's not an industrialist, he is a media personality with riches handed to him from his ancestry. So why is he called a "populist"? For stirring up irrational fear and hatred for other human beings? In less than 25% of the country's population?

There are other reasons why Clinton lost, Democrat Party self imploding, irrational hatred for Obama, Clinton's arrogance and underestimation of her opponent, lack of traditional groundwork at key battlegrounds, James Comey and perhaps Russia. Whatever my beliefs are on the situation, she lost and 63m voters put Trump in the White House.

Then we have France. Well, we don't know what will happen since the underdog win by Trump emboldened every underdog and gave them hope against frontrunners. Personally, I like Macron, I have no comment on his skills and ability but I want to see how a young yet fairly experienced politician and professional will do for his country while hopefully listening to all of his people, not just his supporters. Of course, Macron could be bad but I can only fear the worst if Le Pen wins.

But I digress as usual.

France has a population of 65m in 2012, registered voters 46m, and assuming the crazy case of Le Pen winning by 51%, that would be at best 23m given France's current population of 66m using the same rate of participation. So Le Pen appealed to at best 23m of the population and is called a "populist"? Especially when she has no concrete plan for her promises to even those 23m? Much less any attempts to listen to the non-supporters. Are those citizens disavowed?

I mentioned how disappointed I was when I heard a French former soldier supporting Le Pen because he wanted to close the borders and spend more time "watching" citizens. Like martial law? And another supporter willing to give up 10% liberty to get more security? Seriously, why do they think math work on civil liberties?

Anyway, the numbers quoted above hopefully brings out my point. Why does less than 25% of the population make their politicians "populist"? Especially when they are just yelling their demands and trying to take away civil liberties of non-supporters? OK, the far left has not been kind either but their percentage is at best as similar to those on the far right.

That's what normal is supposed to be, where more than 50% of the people are agreeable to, not just about 25% of the people wants. Also, the 25% quoted above multiple times above is at best, because with the misinformation out there, some centrists are misguided into thinking "populists" work.

My view of populists need to (a) have support for more than 50% (b) listens to everybody and gets buy in from everybody, whether they support him/her or not and (c) no violent behavior tolerated. That might be my pacifist beliefs talking but we have to believe it can be done for it to be done. And the 50% threshold is really where I want to emphasize as being a "populist".

So journalists, real or not, please stop using the word "populist" and "populism" on people peddling fear, hatred and violence in order to get elected. They should be given a label suitable for their rhetoric. Like "hatredist" or "hatredism", because the people who peddle fear and hatred should be labeled for who they are, no matter how much they would deny it.

After all, we should not expect a lying, hate and fear peddling person to do any less hating and lying any time soon. So please France, do the right thing and not pick a fake populist, because their foreigner and minority hating tendencies can easily turn towards you when it suits her.

What will the sky look like in 2020?

While I have no say in the election, it is easy to be emotionally invested in this divisive.

Cooler heads in my office, though Democrats, are more focused on decisions made from now on rather than share the widespread fear shown on TV right now. Republicans, mostly, held the same "business as usual" attitude, opting to focus on the economic aspects that they voted for. Unfortunately, the appointments so far do not bode well. As one of my Democrat pals say, "Can you fault him for catering to his constituents?" Well, my answer was, "Not promising still."

But this normality is very different from what I read on internet and TV. Nobody who says anything on social media wants to listen, just yelling their point and assuming winning a yelling match is justice. That isn't just on social media. That happened during lunch at office one day this past week.

This person has always shown no respect for the civil rights of others even before the incident. The topic that tilted for the worst was on the security around the president-elect's proposed border wall. It is not unthinkable that it will not deter desperate people on trying to beat the system, trying to cross despite the way. What this extremist said was that border patrol should shoot them, even if they are women and children. To make matters worse, me particularly, this extremist tried to justify these comments by relating it to Singapore's use of caning for vandalism. I was so disturbed that other Republicans I know had to personally convey their denouncement to this insanity.

This is an extreme case of the current problem. The election result empowered people like this extremist to think they are right to ignore human rights. However, the left painting Republicans with the president-elect's rhetoric word for word is not leaving any room for reconciliation either. It is easy to say they are at least willing to overlook the hateful rhetoric, but rhetoric and action aren't the same thing. One causes fear and one causes actual hurt. Support can help ease fear but conviction is the only way to oppose bad intentions. And if they made good decisions, isn't that good? Isn't trying to smash our beliefs into others the same as bullying and propaganda? Funny how the SNL weekend update SNL said similar things (why not praise them to get them to do what you want?)

But I digress. The troubling part is not just the extreme nature, but knowledge that this person will not hear reason. Much like people drawing swastikas to show their unbridled hate. The same as those on the left swearing off people for exercising their right to vote and voting the president-elect into office. The same left blaming people voting third party candidates for the same right. The same attitude neutrals and right calling left leaning comedians smug and not admitting a single point they made. The willingness to ignore another's viewpoint completely, in my opinion, the first and defining step for them to ignore other people's lives. The hypocrisy not unnoticed by Jon Stewart and that is what is most disturbing to me. The world made better by science not having room for facts and ideas. And according to John Oliver, 38% of right leaning falsehoods and 19% of left leaning falsehoods. Just because one is lower doesn't mean it's better. Both sides are just as bad. Not that science is in good shape these days with corporate-funded scientific publications.

I see the current events as a testament of how the current democracy is working correctly, the checks and balances, though unfortunately all falling for the Republicans. An undesirable candidate voted in because he connected with an underserved constituency. A series of peaceful protests being allowed to voice their displeasure. Sure, the appointees do not look good social policy wise, but many are able to exercise their right to protest it. And when they get to work and try to pass laws we don't agree with, we need to continue to show our disapproval. If they do something good, we should praise them and if they are not, we should denounce them and voice our displeasure.

Solidarity and support for the underrepresented is far more important than trying to drill our egos and beliefs into another party. I feel the elected's remarks are obnoxious, but denying the result of the vote is undemocratic. Perhaps the worst we could do is to make for an unproductive four years because people are protesting so much, assuming for the right reasons and against bad legislation.

Interestingly, at this time, I am watching SNL, a few hours after watching Jon Stewart's interview. It seems that people are catching on, how this left against right is the true toxin and enabling the right to fight back more when the left complains, much like the robots in WestWorld resisting the humans' control. OK, perhaps that not like robots.

At this time, I feel better, though knowing the negatives happening outside, the appointments, the arguments to and fro, the alternatives, all are not well but we can do something, we still have our voice. Perhaps the president-elect will make bad decisions and will become the terrible leader we all predicted him to be. But if we break the rules that got him there in fear of him, we'll no better and we'll regret it. We should provide alternative ideas and advocate through identifying shortcomings.

It was wonderful to hear mayor de Blasio for keeping NYC a sanctuary city and hopefully others will follow suit. He's not doing well on the homeless problem but hopefully he can turn it around. And if anything I hope the president elect accomplishes, it would be term limits. The positives of term limits are there but so are the negatives, so hopefully a balance can be struck.

My biggest concern for his presidency, as big as the drastic negative effects he and his appointees can make and already pointed out by many others, would be his conflicts of interest. The reason behind this fear is that these conflicts of interest can and will be the undercurrents for all of his decision making, particularly the bad ones. The availability of a monetary incentive for a decision to be made other than it being the right thing is a mistake. That in itself is allowing a can of worms to exist. Having his daughter in the same meeting with Shinzo Abe is quite a preview to how these conflicts of interest can lead to, especially if they are discussing economic policies that can affect real estate.

Without severing his family from his business through a blind trust, major conflicts of interest is there. Not "there" as "valid points", but actual breaches of trust and office. None of his children and relatives should be in business while he is in office, Hopefully, we will not have to see massive protests to right the possibly many wrongs that can be made. That I'm just worried because I am over preparing. I can write a whole lot that could go wrong but I hope they will not come at all.

My Idea Of Talent Creation

Phew, finally calmed down. I slept the most of today and woke up just to do my chores. What a wonderful life!

Anyhow, without further ado, I will present my idea of Talent Creation formally. This is a full departure from my previous 2 posts that are more like a preview of this boring topic that I'm going to talk about. However, it is part and parcel of life that everyone has to go through. Yes, parenting, and a bit of politics.

Before I jump into the details, I wanted to differentiate between my ideas, parenting and politics. My idea is a very philosophical and generic view of life. Since it is generic, parenting is difficult because it requires a lot of trial and error. Politics, however, should not confuse my ideas. It is just a more fashionable way of setting up a factory to create intelligent humans that can do very complicated work but not rebellious enough to circumvent the owners, aka politicians. Now, not all people in politics are bad, but we all know, the truly good ones are rare.

Now, back to the 4 A's. Again, they are Aptitude, Ambition, Academy and Adversity.

Notice that in previous post, I singled out Adversity as the one hardest item to quantify. The reason is, while all 4 items are fairly ambiguous at times, Adversity is required as an input for the other 3 A's in order for someone to develop his talent enough to overcome Adversity. In fact, Adversity itself is its own input to inspire more Adversity.

Aptitude is often overqualified as the true variable of talent. However, just like we know that there are "many fake prophets", the same applies to talent scouting. In fact, I would like to draw the similarity of religion and politics as the masses following the directions of a leader, spiritual or physical. Hence, the truth I wanted to say is, be glad with the talent you have, seek the talent that can be found, but do not overdo your greed for power by seeking talent that might not be there. False gold is a common phenomenon.


Ambition is often under qualified actually, at least when it comes in contrast to talent. Ambition is often matched to talent without the knowledge of talent creation, and that often leads to dysfunctional talent sourcing. An example, one comment I always hear is that, how can a less capable person be promoted over a more capable people. The common conclusion is nepotism. It is mostly true, but another point that we should understand is, talent can be nurtured. There is a limit through each of our aptitude, but producing beyond expectations set upon us is not uncommon. If such is the case, the leadership is fairly well read into talent creation. Unfortunately, the reason why I'm writing this is because I feel it lacking abundance right now.


Academy is probably the easiest to qualify but often unrealized until after the fact. This is because Mother Nature is the true parents of us all. It provides all 4 A's without most of us knowing it, yet it is part of us as well. A less educated person can go through the same amount of academy through experience rather than literature. A less talented can compensate for its lack through industry with experience and literature. All in all, an academy should be as forgiving to everyone as Mother Nature. The problem with humanity is the shortage of such forgiveness. It is such that causes academies to become dysfunctional and decline in status.


Adversity, as before mentioned, is the hardest to qualify. It is in everything we do. It is life. Life is difficult. I feel that Life is the toughest lesson among all my lessons, yet it is the one I enjoy most and I think I have a decent handle of it. Not an A+ student, but maybe enough to pass. I can provide many examples of failure due to a lack in adversity, much more than the other 3 A's. As such, I think saturation is when recessions happen, factually of metaphorically. We know monopolies are bad, we know dictatorships don't last. Why? Lack of adversity.

Adversity is the key element of evolution. There is a problem, we need to solve it. If it is one off, we will forget it. If it keeps occurring, we will find a way to solve it completely. That shows you how difficult it is to contribute adversity into talent creation. How can you tell 2 talented individuals not to kill each other? It is almost impossible in a push and shove situation, yet, it is necessary and doable. 


This is where tolerance for mistakes comes in. If we recognize that we are mere humans and cannot exist alone, accepting compromise and yet trying to outsmart one another without trying to destroy one another. The lifetime opponent as you might have heard. That is the ultimate adversity that is most conducive to talent creation. However, as all good things in life are, it is limited and it cannot be faked. One view I want to present is that propaganda is often aimed at achieving domination through suggestion and implied and fake adversity is one of politics' most common tactic. What is more satisfying to a greedy man if he can get other men to steal from people other than himself and enrich himself in the process? What is more important than keeping your society sufficiently educated and curious if you know telling the truth will make everyone lazybones like me.


Finally, I want to conclude this post with the 5th A, an item which is actually not really relevant to talent creation but one that I realized to be very crucial as well during the drafting of this post.

Acceptance. Yes, acceptance in both oneself and others. While commenting on tolerance, I noticed that I was able to come up with this post because I accepted my flaws. I accepted the flaws of people around me. In being honest to whatever I can think of, I was able to learn as much as I can from every scenario. I cannot learn everything, which I accepted, but I did manage to learn what I would have thought I couldn't. I remember I was told to give up subjects for good grades, which first, I do not accept and secondly, since it made me unhappy, the teachers did not get good grades out of me either. Deny others too much and you will be defeated.


For those in Singapore, that is the one thing I want you all to know. Tolerance for mistakes. If there is one thing we want our politicians to know is that their lack of tolerance for mistakes is unacceptable. Especially when they make so many mistakes as well. Until we can tolerate another person's mistake as long as it doesn't hurt us too much, we will never be able to find the person that can truly lead Singapore. Fortunately for me, I grew up in a family that is tolerant and have lots of love to share.


As such, feel free to share my love for the world and the world full of talents. We all can learn from one another, and I want everyone to know that.

The 4 A's

I'm not a scholar. I'm not a jock. I'm not a genius. I'm not intellectually challenged. Wait, maybe I am, cause I can't remember too many things and loves to sleep.

Well, whatever. I wanted to deviate from my cynical tone and switch to a more serious, world loving one.

Yes, this is going to be philosophical. Well....only slightly.

To make things easy, I decided to write about the requirements of developing a talent. I worked real hard to find 4 words that start with the same letter, plus I don't really want to waste time and find a word from the 4 initials. Without further ado, I will list what I think is necessary to develop a talent.

It is....drum rolls...OK, waste of time here...The 4 A's. Are you expecting something else?

1. Aptitude
2. Ambition
3. Academy
4. Adversity

I think it is really easy to illustrate the first 3, with a bit of argument for the 4th later.

Aptitude. No, I'm not talking genes like LKY prefers to believe. I mean, isn't Singapore's system trying to show the opposite and say leaders can be made, hence Academy? Frankly, everyone has talent, not just one, a wide range of them, some people having a more acute range, others with a wide range that doesn't even add up to the sum. But everyone needs to be honest. I am honest with myself. I'm not very smart, not very hardworking but I need to use all my wits and labor to survive. That's what I mean by being honest. Play to my strengths, although I still like to play on my weaknesses to see how far I can go with a handicap. Anyway, like I said, you need 4 A's, not one, so read on.

Ambition. This is quite a no-brainer. Where is our great leaders if they do not have ambition? Of course, they need to have aptitude as well, along with the other 2 A's. Why else would you kill all your brain cells for something you will lose at the end of your life anyway? Really, I mean, I really just want to sleep on the beach all day or some meadow all my life. I like the idea of myself being a farm boy. But I guess, I felt compelled to do a lot of things and that drove the first part of my ambition until I met really smart and ambitious people who spurred me on. Really, how far can your car go on only one tank of gas? Oh, wrong analogy.

Academy. This one should be quite easy, but wait, how did Conan become king? Oh, he's fiction. But there are "less educated" leaders as well. They are not taught by school. They are taught by life. To survive, to become better just to survive. Yea, they went through the academy of life alright. Too bad the only things we can learn nowadays are all in school and all from books and only try to marginally apply the theory on work when we come of age.

Adversity. This one is a tough cookie, not just because it means having a challenge, but it is the invisible teacher that makes us grow. Why is it that success is hard to maintain? Is it because the sky is not the limit but the coconut tree is? Bad example. How about evolution? Right, that will do. You and I need to evolve to try to overcome difficulties to be successful.

So, do we really need to know what the missing link between us and apes are? No. I mean, the way you evolve will be different from the way you have evolved. That's the beauty of evolution. It cannot be defined. It cannot be quantified. It can only be felt. Like relativity. No, not the force, Jedi fan.

Now, with all these, does it mean that we can always groom talents? I think this is ambiguous. People come and go. Leaders come and go. You cannot look for them, but wait for them to appear. If you have all 4 A's, you can strive to be a leader, but only time can answer for you.

Also, don't mix political adversities up with adversity. The whole fake drama like the "Cold War" or "Alien Invasion" as Michael "I only have explosions and explosive sex scenes" Bay like you to believe. If there is someone out there to beat you, everyone is. No one wants to hurt you because it could be everyone, including yourself. The debt limit, the fat cats, the Greek Crisis, really, its all fake in the sense that it doesn't matter to you as much as you think it does.

Confused? Yes, we all are going to be jobless. Yes, ALL OF US. So, who's the enemy here? The ones the politicians want you to think is your enemy or yourself for letting the politician lead you by the nose? Yes, they lied and they will continue lying to keep their skin. That is politics. That is not life. If you cannot be honest with yourself, no one can. I will wake up tomorrow as I did today. So will you. Maybe you will do something different, which is natural because it is a different day! So let's forget what the politician likes us to believe in the definition of talent and really put a great show for ourselves. Yes, the one where we go do what is right for us.

And one last note. If anyone wants to debate on "Are Leaders Born or Made?", I have a picture to show you what I think of this debate.

Man, I love it when a cute girl does that with an (almost) smiley face. If only I have a naughty wife like that. OK, off topic.

Oh, even if its LKY, with all my respect of his contributions to Singapore, I do not agree on one ideal way to develop talent. Plus, you claimed that talent is born, not made, which reversed everything you did on forging talent. My 4 A's is only a generic make up of how talents come to age. It can be refined to enhance education and talent development but it cannot be perfected. Unless you want to claim you're God or God's messenger. I prefer you don't.

Also, to LKY personally, Tony Leung will make you look ugly, please veto the movie project before it mars the handsome image you have all on your adventure in 1965. I think that photo of you in the suit in 1965 looks cool and befitting of a political leader. Tony Leung is nothing compared to real kick ass hard work. Sorry for my American-glish. I tried very hard not to add words to the dictionary after inventing "chemicalize" in 4th grade.

Defining Talent - Epilogue

Ok, the trigger for me to write this post is really because everyone seems to be in a frenzy over some country's politics and two guys I know are selling their blogs to the whole world. I'm more bored than anything since there is nothing more crappy than knowing that I could lose my job if some blokes at Capitol Hill can't decide on the bare minimum of changes needed to make sure USA can continue to borrow money and pretend it doesn't need to repay them.

Anyhow, I decided to stroke on a topic I thought is interesting, ridiculous and fairly underestimated. Right, defining a skillset. Not, I don't mean defining one thing you can use to make money. I mean quite simply, defining your talent. Yes. The thing every kind soul would say that everyone has and the super big meanies at Capitol Hill, or anywhere where politicians are around the world, think they have the right to critique of people.

So, what is a talent?

According to what I understand and what I read from every Singaporean complaining about, it means everyone that is foreign. Yes, so I'm not a talent. Incidentally, the previous definition is people who can get 9 to 10 A1's at GCE O Levels and 6 to 7 A's at A Levels. That also disqualifies me as a talent. Well, given the rate they replace locals with foreigners...No wonder I can't help but feel like Oscar the Grouch when I was in Singapore.

Now, in USA, everyone has a talent, however uneconomical it is. From singing to singing badly, from writing to writing garbage, yes, if you can offer an opinion of something, you have a talent. So am I a talent in USA but not in Singapore?

Not really. I mean, I'm just another guy that is in a place where someone else is not. So, other than being OK at school and work, I'm really normal. Yes, in fact, that's what I like. Seriously, I can be as loyal as anyone you can think of when it comes to the well being of Singapore, but classification of talent really puts me in a bad spot.

The lack of the need to compare me to another dude who is trying to be the better dude really puts me at ease, although I'm still not going to call myself a talent like what everyone here wants to call everyone else. But I'm used to telling everyone that they have talent, so I guess that is fine.

But wait, even if I have a talent and do not need to worry about competition, I might still be out of a job come August? Hey, why do I need to wait for Congress to pass a bill to know that I still have work to do? Aren't these supposed to be talented people as well? Maybe they should import some of the talents Singapore is trying to export over just to replace the idling politicians? Oh, I forgot, the definition of talent is only qualified by location only.

I think I'm better off rolling a dice to decide if they are talented or not...Fret not, I'm going to write my second post soon...

Just a bored post

Ya, just a bored post.

Actually, now that I started, I'll keep writing.

First off, grave news. My mother has Stage 2 Breast Cancer. Before I go bonkers, which I don't think I am, I am only going to make "what if" plans. I want my mother to live her life as she wants so until I am certain I need to make something happen and be back in Singapore to ensure things go well, I'm only to sit back and let life go its natural cause. The best part is that my new boss mentioned that he will try to find ways to make things work in case I need to be in Singapore. The worst part is, well, like any parent would, she told me not to worry about it. So, being the smart alec I am, I'll plan ahead.

Now, the worst part is over, time for something "exciting". I was at Ben's family July 4th celebration before I got back into reality. The day at Ben's place was great. Food, chat and just relaxing to how his cheerful family is like. The reality is, Singapore is not going to have fun during NDP next month.

When someone forgets that ripping a commercialized song is illegal and uses it for NDP, its folly at its peak. Now, to use Lady Ga Ga's song of all possible songs out there, that's quite beyond what we just said about stupidity. Well, I'm laughing now because I can always say I knew they were not that good but no one believed me, but I also worry about my friends and family living under such de-oxygenated environment.

The air is as filthy as can be for a developed country and the politics, getting from bad to worse. From obnoxious to obtuse to obsolete, PAP has done it all. To be honest, I am very forgiving as long as I can see results and I understand that the OOO pack will always stand out more than great work, so I would say my acceptance level for PAP is still rather high, but definitely less than 50% right now.

Ok, the obnoxious. Before tearing anyone, I want to say that LKY can be forgiven for saying things like "We decide what is right". He's been there and done that in times of much less stability. It worked last time because a lot of people do not know what is right for building a nation. Now, a silly dude called Vikram Nair followed suit and says "We decide what is right". Well, since he has not done anything, I wonder what he knew that is right. I love to see the aftermath where he says he's misquoted. LKY would never say that. That is the difference. Oh and tell me I do not know any better when I worked with the best and the diverse in USA. No, really, I don't know any better. I'm just a simple guy writing what he knows would work well. Unlike some big shot lawyer taking fat paychecks for running his mouth like he built Singapore.

Next, the obtuse. Well, if the NDP organizers are already not obtuse enough, police in Singapore arrested young boys for working summer jobs handing out pamplets for loansharks. Yes, not the loansharks themselves but their runners who knew no better. Later, police cited it is for their safety and not for the case. I beg to differ. If I am the police chief, I would say it is safer to do so and it is for the case. What if a boy runs onto the wild roads fearing arrests? Now, rather than taking just the heat for this silly act, I would also work on the mysterious rotting bodies that is showing up in various parts of Singapore. Yes, I'm expecting my police to work hard. I mean, if I knew they cannot arrest TPL for the "Cooling Off" offence, work on the next most important thing like actually arresting the loansharks and murderers. Quit giving excuses and apologize.

Finally, the obsolete. Instead of really working his ass off for the $15k per month times 30 months in a year pay, some military dude dared the rest of Singapore to give ideas and not throw stones. Dude, why should my entire family be paying taxes when I need to think of what works for my family instead of civil servants working to make life better for everyone? I work to make my work better, so must the civil servant. Is it just a paycheck job to you, Chan Chun Sing? If so, please quit your job because you do not deserve it. Being a scholar in school does not represent wisdom in life. Oh, and don't get me started on the silly "lunatic fringe" comment. If someone is a lunatic for being against you, you should not be working in the government. Heck, you should be in an asylum. One who works for the betterment of his country should not refuse to listen to people of his country, even if they are not saying the right things. It is YOUR job to figure out how to fix the problem. I am good at fixing things, but I am not paid the gigantic amount of YOUR salary, and my family pay YOUR pay through our taxes, so quit talking and start working.

Well, all in all, that summarizes Singapore politics. Gone are the days when paying well prevents corruption. Now, from "loanshark" DBSS to irresponsible politicians who go around loafing off while we all slog hard at work. Really, MPs in Singapore are a joke nowadays. To check the drains in McPherson when we all know Orchard is a flood risk is a silly way to tell people you are working. Why do we pay for PAPER TIGERS?

Anyway, let me propose my ideas like CCS wanted to show I still love Singapore so much:

1. Revise foreign worker laws to reflect all the same benefits and penalties locals have, and use levies to control inflow. This nullifies the entire argument of foreign workers having an advantage by employers paying less for them than a local. In USA, after I have the necessary paperwork, I can work for any company I want as long as they are willing to sponsor my work visa and my pay. Is it protective of locals? Maybe, but companies willing to pay for my talent are not paying a dime less for what I can do, so I do not feel protectionism here.
2. Increase import channels of groceries and other commodities, thereby reducing Cost of Living. This is the growing problem isn't it and it is a wonder how it is not being looked at already.
3. Reduce GST. Taxes is an important way of controlling cost of living. Apparently, Singapore is rich but the people not so rich, so why bother about a cut in tax revenue when we can afford it and make people happier.
4. Build more HDB. Although I can't believe I am saying this, I also cannot believe that Singapore reduced building HDBs to the point it is today. DBSS is a joke. HDB has no business helping developers make more money. Neither does it need to make more money for itself. The country is rich already.
5. Cut the Parliament by half. Who is doing the work? The PM? The DPMs? The Cabinet? We do not need a big committees in everything. Ultimately, the decision is down to the Cabinet and their Deputies. Its like a merry-go-round now where everyone who knows someone in PAP can try to get fat paychecks by sitting there. That way, people have less targets to throw stones at also.
6. Stop hiring paper tigers. At some point, everyone realizes that the paper tells only so much. The work tells everything so why should my resume be treated poorer than a Bachelor Honors graduate when I completed my Masters, have a few years of experience and the Honors graduates do a "hantakaki" in learning? This paper talk is one of many roots to Singapore's current problems. We need a mix, not an entire segment.
7. Reduce COE. Actually, this might or might not help my father, but its a reflection of many things in Singapore where we pay more for a paper value than the value of the item itself. When you have tarriffs that affect small businesses and the small businesses fail to compete, everyone loses. We need a constant flow of small businesses booms and busts to replace failing big business models.
8. Stop media BS. If you don't want media to publish bad things about PAP, do not go after your opponents either because as an educated country like Singapore, people will figure out the ins and outs of a story.
9. Cut NDP programming to fireworks if you cannot think of anything better. It saves a lot of time and money and avoids ridicule from people, worst of all, Hitler. Ok, that's a joke on a bigger joke of the NDP organizers.
10. Open up documentation and transparency of sovereign funds and companies. Secrecy begets secrecy. The more you hide, the more people think you have something to hide. Why should I not know what you are doing with my tax money?
11. I am not writing the 10 commandments so I am writing an eleventh idea of no idea just to wind things down.
12. Ok, I lied. I have 2 more ideas and I like 13 as a number. Allow multi-citizenships. If it is not stupid enough to have people whose education is paid for in Singapore not to be enforced to be given citizenship and worked for their livelihood, it would be even stupid-er to make expatriates feel less at home when they are able to gain another citizenship. Residency decides how well founded someone is to another country and allowing multiple citizens in Singapore allows smart people who have left for opportunities to come back and contribute.
13. My last idea was drawn from my dislike of GCT and his many shortsighted comments and policies. But my last idea would be more damaging for him than just dislike. We should not create higher positions than a PM or a President. LKY and GCT can act as consultants to the Parliament and Cabinet but not as any part of government. They definitely should not be titled higher than a PM because it causes confusion to the authority of the PM. We see no shortage of such confusion in history and no shortage of it becoming a power struggle. We simply do not need it. Solidifying the true power of a leader is important in any nation because he is the one who is ultimately accountable for everything, even if he has no part of some of the things.

Ok, another bad news. My aunt also has Breast Cancer. Apparently, it is benign and she goes through routine checkups. I happen to work in a Non Profit segment of Marketing Analytics, so it definitely is a way for me to pay forward to make sure people around me is safe and sound. So what's your idea to help your country? Oh, let me guess, how to increase your pay?

Why so serious?

Ok, this is a ripoff from a few things:

1. Heath Ledger's famous Joker
2. Steve Johnson's infamous post TD celebration

Yet, I found myself over reacting to my friends' over reaction to many over rated things that I decided, you know what, I'll write about something I care about for the betterment of many kids in future.

Yep, you guessed it wrong, it's not education. Yes, it is related to education but really, it is more about life than just education. It is about bullying.

I noticed an up tick in the concern over bullying. Like really, when did we know that bullying is a problem? Oh now? What? Are you serious that poor kids are not suffering at the hands of bullies since the beginning of time? Why now? Because some celebrities' kids are bullied? Or some media moguls'? Or is it really a problem? Wait...Bullying existed since the first worm existed on Earth, and people are only worried about it now? Give me a break.

What people needs to really focus on is: Have they done enough good in life to not be worried about being scorched forever in Hell because if Armageddon comes tomorrow like some nut has it, a lot of "nice" people who are worried about things like bullying and corruption, and many problems that are not problems to them until it affected them, will definitely be burn in Hell when Death comes to shuffle us all in line to meet Michael and Lucifer to see who deserves to go into the Kingdom. Me? I don't really care. I think I have done enough to be able to sit around and have a cup of tea with all the big shots up there and chat what the world really needs other than apocalyptic nuts.

Ok, so back on track for the topic of bullying. Wait, wait. I need to state a few things first.

Truths about Humanity, or Life, or everything about the world we are able to understand due to our fantastic evolution with science:

1. Survival of the fittest is a fact, not a myth, because if you cannot win by brute strength, you will try to win by sheer intelligence
2. Power corrupts, another fact because of the above rule, because if you can get everything you want without having to work for them, why not?
3. Evolution is a fact, at least from a theological standpoint, and leads to (1) and (2)
4. Extinction happens when other species outgrow a current "master" race by a lot to the point where regeneration of the "master" race is no longer enough to keep their existence obsolete (I thought of this as I went along, not a fact but theologically sound)

Ok, now I can start.

So, why am I annoyed that bullying is now a public enemy?

First, it happened after so many kids have had their childhood messed up by societal mismanagement. Yes, societal, not just a kid, not just the teacher, not just the parent but society. If a kid is a bully, why aren't others stopping him? Kids don't know any boundaries to begin with, so they need to be put on the right track, which actually happens some times, or perhaps they should be jailed, which should not happen. Right now, bring the whole "bullying is bad" case is poor parenting and education to both sides of the bullying because no one learns from it.

Two, I mentioned learning, how? If you read the 3 points I mentioned above, you should have figured it out by now. Yes, thats how creatures evolve. Defense mechanisms, counter measures, anything. If our DNA did not alter for the past few aeons, how did we have better technology than we did a few centuries ago. But lets keep our fingers crossed as I hope the end of the 4th solar cycle and the birth of our 5th human recorded solar cycle will not render any of our current technologies obsolete.

To add a bit more to what I meant, I'll admit first. I was bullied in school when I was a kid. My teachers did not know, nor did my friends, nor did my parents. But that did not harm me. I later grew up with some of the more "bullying" type of people to be friends, not great buddies but ok friends that will help each other. Yes, I still hate some of the bullies I saw earlier in life but really, other than looking at where their life is now compared to mine, and bettering my life by actually growing older and better, I don't think there is much for me to do.

Dude, I had to be ostracized by the smartest boys in my class, made to look like a weirdo because despite my friends, I am not part of the "boys". I had the bully's mom call me at my home to reprimand me for picking my nose when I was twelve. Heck, seriously? You call the "fights" we see now on Youtube bad? Given the weapons we have on the streets, that's child's play. We as knowledgeable human beings can do better. By the way, my back was broken when I was twelve when one of the smart kid bullies did a judo slam on me for soccer. Yes, SOCCER.

My childhood was pretty much ruined by my last 2 years in elementary school, although I did have a relatively fun and crazy time when I was young. Now, how your kids will be like depends more on how you treat your kids, not just how you treat other people nor other "kids" treat your kids. Yes, the "kids" can be of any age, as long as humanity lives. Do I feel sorry for myself? Yep, maybe I should still be crying everyday now but frankly, no. I am having a good life and I'll do my part to help others have a good life too.

Three, if you stop people from bullying, aren't you acting like a bully yourself? Oh, you can't do this. No, my kids won't do this. Stop that nonsense, everyone makes mistakes. I got punished for my mistakes and I learn well from it. I listen and advise others on how to deal with their life and I learn well from them too. The minute you stop information from flowing because you believe you and your kids and do no wrong, you're obsolete, waiting for extinction. Maybe not in your lifetime but in one of your descendants.

Yes, and power corrupts. The minute you get to call the shots on how others should run their life, I don't expect anyone to be able to be themselves without you calling the shots. Yes, I'll fire my maid which I do not have yet if she keeps breaking my plates not because of money but because it is a household hazard. Oh, and where's the saying that no human should play God? Is that something the politicians, religious leaders, pop icons and media moguls say to others so that they themselves can Lord over people's lives?

And finally, four, the lack of innovation. I need to credit USA and Ryan for helping me understand this. I sort of know it when I was young and it is most probably why I left Singapore. Laws and bans are just pathetic excuses to stop someone from doing something without being legally called any names from prejudiced to racist. Yes, I'll fire someone if they smoke crack and mess up their work but if thats not the case, I'll just avoid crack myself. By stopping the whole idea that bullying exist, how are kids going to learn from adversity? Because they are competing against foreigners? That's nonsense. We are all neighbors and friends living in the same planet.

Fact, I am a foreigner in USA because I'm not really born there. I am half a foreigner in Singapore because I am away for so long. Where do I belong? I belong to Earth. I should have the right to decide my own life, learn my own life and not take crap from nonsensical people. Yep, that's my rule for myself. And I try to help people stand up for themselves. Give a beggar a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for life. We all need help from each other and we all learn, day by day.

Yep, the whole hype thing is crap. The media focus on "bullying" is crap. The "counter measures" are crap because as adults, we cannot fix our problems with our societies and resort to the same solutions that kept us alive to keep our pathetic lives longer. Yep, QE, bailouts and after votes are thrown into the hate, post GE complaining. Some good things will come out of it, but most of it is still hot air. I find the lack of creativity in media nowadays boring and obsolete. Really? I need more drama over the petty things in life?

What I did instead of all these and will continue to do is what I have done all my life, Listen and Feel. If you cannot even spend some time to listen to someone's problems, you will never be able to feel their pain. Yep, doctors, nurses, lawyers, accountants, bankers, managers, whoever. If you tell me that I cannot complain because my suffering is not worse than yours, then you need a brain scan. And yes, your suffering is worse than mine because you're too mentally damaged that you need a brain scan.

What I propose to solve for "bullying" is this: Social Responsibility. I never liked the whole "Green" movement, but heck, I have been conserving for the natural environment since I was young and I may not look like it, I'm quite a tree hugger, as long as the bugs don't get to me because I like to feel the cool breeze.

Frankly, the whole idea of the Social Responsibility thing is this, if you can't execute responsibility, I doubt you can manage anyone's behaviour. Also, your kids are not stupid. They are smart, just like you and me. They learn from you and me and they will adapt. We grow old and become obsolete, but are all people mass murdering old folks? No! Because we're smart enough to know that wisdom does come with age. Some get it faster than others. That's why Social Responsibility is more important than some rule or law that prevents bad people from being bad. Because there are bad people, like how apples will rot naturally and the whole "Power Corrupts" thing.

By stopping a bully or putting him or her on ice, we are allowing stopping our kids from evolving into smarter creatures. Also, who says bullying must be using fists? My bullies were sophisticated, smart and never really threw any punches. Where did they end up? Not doing society any good, that is one thing I know. If they are bad, they are bad. We punish them for what they did, no more, no less. What we need to do is to ensure that everyone gets the same amount of opportunity.

Ok, not completely equal, since we know from the earliest days of life that not all things are equal but you know what I mean metaphorically. It's not like I can control other people's life anyway so I cannot ensure that the brightest kids can grow out of being bullied or resist bullying others. But if I can put them on the right path as much as I can, I know they will grow up happy. I think that's what you want as a parent, right? Or no? Ok, I'll stop here regardless then.

Today, I successfully explained the idiosyncrasy of having fiat money. We need fiat money but we should not be a slave to any form of money, real or fiat. Yea, I felt like a good preacher today. And if you feel aligned to what I said about the whole nonsensical drama about bullying, I think I did even better. I'm definitely open to how we can be charitable to our community and help kids learn how to deal with bullies, defend themselves and not to become bullies themselves, and if you feel my blog might help people understand how to form a better community, feel free to pass this post on.

Ok, I might want money for it but that's not the biggest thing in my mind. We'll figure it out when people help one another more.

Time to finish the beer I have before I started this post.

Un-Hibernating in May

Well, I finally caught some time to spare to blog, especially after wasted time driving and waiting at a MVA to realise I need a million other things to register my car.

Anyway, I thought I wanted to blog because of all the nonsense going around all week in Singapore.

For starters, I'll have a legend key:

WP = Worker's Party, GE = General Election, SG = Singapore, OPM = Other People's Money (Taxes),

LKY = Lee Kwan Yew, LHL = Lee Hsien Loong, LTK = Low Thia Kiang,

MP = Member of Parliament, FT = Foreign Talent, CPI = Consumer Price Index,

FB = Facebook, MVA = Motor Vehicle Admin, QE = Quantitative Easing

One, as I now know that Hougang is again safely in WP's hands, I don't care much more than that. But knowing that SG still has a lot of selfish, incapable MPs sitting on insanely high wages on OPM does make me very sick.

Two, the (non) creativity induced nonsense spewed to get people to vote with their "mind", not their "heart". This makes me sicker, and justifies my thought that the current crop of ministers can't handle what's left of LKY's mantra.

Three, for all the science and tech stuff we're proud to be capable of in Singapore, really, explaining the "problems" in Singapore is that hard? Really?

I really want to get this off my chest but I thought it would be really be misunderstood if I put it in less than three paragraphs on FB.

GDP. Can a country's GDP grow like SG organically? Yes. It's only a numbers game anyway. Print as much money as you want and your GDP can "grow" from 1 trillion to 2 trillion. Of course, I left out details of how the financial system works but I'm sure you get the gist of it. But Singapore did not do QE. So why the explosive growth?

Well, for one, with USA and Europe struggling with debt and unemployment, where do people put their money? Japan? China? Taiwan? Hong Kong? South Korea? Singapore? Well, pick your poison. Either way, there is always a reason not to put all your eggs in one basket.

Still, being one of the tidiest places on Earth, Singapore does make the top of many banker's place to be in. Oh, did I mention that people are generally bilingual in English and one other language, like Mandarin, Malay/Bahasa or Tamil?

Ok, so why didn't my paycheck grow as fast? Well, not mine, since I'm in USA.

Let's stop for a second and look at Singapore's population growth. Why population growth? Well, if there is only one gold bar for one person, he is rich. What if there is a lot of people? Yea, duh, everyone will fight, so no one is rich.

Now, Singapore's population has grown at least one percent almost every year over the last two decades. There are only three years with less than one percent and only one with a negative, although it is quite a strangely large drop in 2003, maybe because a few immigration law changes.

So, is most of these growth organic? Well, maybe, but that means at least a family in a hundred has a new baby every year, not taking into account deaths and aging. So no. It's because of Singapore's FT program, from actually screening good candidates to blatantly giving away free citizenships.

I have no doubt the people we scouted are smart, but how many are loyal? Productive? Blended well into Singapore's kampong culture while many upstarts are trying to get out of it? Are we treating them as part of the family? All these affect how good the society is. As a foreigner myself in USA, I know what it feels when locals are pinning problems on you, and I have absolutely no illusion than SG's version is any different.

I know at least one example where we brought over the smartest man we can get from another country, only to have him leave us for greener pastures because NUS is not big enough for him. This is uncommon, I know, but this is not rare. And this is of no fault to the man in question, or the many immigrants who came to Singapore. It is the program's fault. You cannot blame people for taking free money when MPs offer it with OPM irresponsibly. Maybe you can blame PAP, but did anyone try to advise otherwise?

Ok, not to ramble too much over something which I condemned long ago anyway. Now, with steady, if not strong, inorganic population growth, CPI will go up faster than it does in general, with or without GDP growth.

Add the foreign investments that has come into Singapore, or perhaps simply Singaporean (people or funds) withdrawing funds from foreign investments, that explains the GDP and CPI increases. Let's not forget all the well publicized problems with other countries, hurting supply streams of oil, vegetables, fish and whatever you need in your life, yea, life is expensive.

Now, how does all this affect paychecks? Well, no connection really, if you believe what I read, but of course, I don't. I love to see connection in things even if its not there. Well, I am not throwing darts into the dark for this one though.

SG have a large supply of work, turning into a huge demand for skilled workers, but wait, we're also growing our supply of workers through FT. We're also importing people to do the harsh labor work we no longer want to do, so, am I getting the best job I can get in the market?

Let's see. In 2003, I came out with just a BSc in Stats. I can't get into Department of Stats because I do not have do honors for playing around too much taking courses that I think will help me create the craziest math theory in the world, well, so I did temp work there.

So, while I was there, I found out that I am equally trained as my supervisors and I think now, I code far better than them. Oh, I also do analyses, although RCI did not give me any modeling opportunities other than simple ones, so maybe they win in that one. Still, I'm good at automating reports. I like to look at things outside the box. But wait, I'm not good enough for the Statistician position in 2003. Do I believe that has changed now? Maybe, but I have a MSc now, so it's a different scenario we're talking about.

So, can I get a high paying job in Singapore now? Probably, with my current qualifications and work experience. Would I get the same opportunities if I had stayed in Singapore? Based on my personality, probably no. I'm too much of a wild sheep. Unsynchronized with the other sheep because I like to be myself. But I am also too in tune with the herd, preparing for the worst like most Singaporeans. Not preparing for Doomsday like the funny stories but similar.

Ok, so does my experience explain why a typical Singaporean's paycheck cannot grow? No?

How about some logic now?

Good GDP growth, good.

Good population growth, good? Yea, it's good. I like more friends anyway. Ok, back to the point.

Good growing demand for work, good.

Good growing supply of workers. You decide. Need I mention that the need for MSc isn't really there in Singapore anyway? So maybe I won't really get paid as well as I am over here, even with the low tax rate. Simply, I'm not the only smart human around. And I'm not even near being smart enough in the world.

Oh and yea, SG need more PhDs to push us higher in the tech world, but we don't have that many PhDs, so we import them. Yet, we don't aggressively get them to train Singaporeans.

Maybe, it is ineffective to get them to train our citizens because they are too smart.

Maybe, we don't give enough opportunities to talented Singaporeans to learn from them.

Maybe, we brainwashed Singaporeans with Capitalism so much that learning from the smartest isn't efficient enough for most people to make a living?

Anyway, does that explain the disconnect between GDP growth and salary increases?

One thing I like here in USA is that I can fight for what I want. I can challenge myself, fail and given an opportunity to try again. If I feel I can get paid better, the only thing stopping me is myself. If I am really not as capable as I think I am, all I have to do is to challenge myself to accept the truth. Either way, I am myself.

So, am I sympathetic to the "problems" in Singapore?

Yes, because I have friends and family there. Did I also tell you how much I think it is still a good place to be in?

I always try to advise them what to do even if times are tough. Coming to USA is another big challenge and not everyone wants to take that up, and I understand that. I don't advise it for everyone but I definitely support any courageous effort.

So what do I dislike about all the "drama" I'm hearing from the internet and friends to make me complain this much?

Everything. Really. Everything. Frankly, if I learnt something in my life that I didn't know before over the past year, it would be that I am myself and I always have to do what I think is right. That is where the mind and the heart is the same thing.

Singaporeans can argue for or against PAP, from the dirty tricks LKY used to gain power, to the great work he did with Singapore, to the excess fat the Parliament has gathered over the past few years with their insanely high pay to the many smart people we still have in PAP. People should just decide on one thing. What do you want?

You can argue that you don't know it when you're a teen. You can explain you are misguided by propaganda over the past decade. But really, in GE, you only have one thing. Decide on what you want now. Regretting past mistakes is normal, but how is your past mistake affecting your current decision?

I know what I'll do.

I will whine like I have been since young about things I don't like.

I will complain like I have since young about things I don't understand.

I will listen to your problems and care for others like I have since young.

But I certainly am not stopping to think about all these nonsense more than that one minute that I need for this. I have far more responsibilities to far more people in my life since young.

If you want PAP like you have since 1965, then go ahead, vote for them. If you dislike certain overpaid politician, voice it out and make a stand. If you want a change in Parliament, vote for the opposition. Either way, its your choice. Party lines do not affect how I vote.

LTK did a good job for Hougang and I think he left a good lieutenant to succeed him so he can take on Aljunied. If he ages enough like CST and becomes incapable or simply that I worry for his health out of goodwill, I'll not vote for him. WP will decide on how my town should be run.

But I don't think LHL has done anything bad to Singaporeans, so I will continue to respect his leadership, especially with LKY mentoring him. I do agree to the fact I cannot vote against him, but there isn't enough proof of incompetence to make me do that either. If he makes a big mistake or a bad policy, I'll adjust my assessment accordingly. And I will be watching, for myself, my family and my friends.

Most importantly, I decided to work in a country where I think I can develop myself well, even if it is not where I was born. All animals move from time to time, including humans. So I did move and do I regret it? Maybe, but why think?

I have to surmise that I cannot see how PAP will remove their excess fat if they don't restructure, but if LHL tries to reinvent himself, maybe. But most importantly, no matter how much you complained, it is just words if you don't put your money where your mouth is. Unlike the many foul words a bully can throw to ruin another person's life by perception, complaining is like looking at yourself in the mirror. It is natural and it is just what it is.

As much as I don't like this line, or how it pertains to the person who told me this, or the many things I can complain about the person who told me this, it does work. "If the kitchen is too hot for you, get out of it."

As of this time, GE counts are all out, with all forms of media tormenting people I know over LTK's exploits in taking over Aljunied by delaying the inevitable announcement. That is probably why I really wanted to write about this. Really? The results is out at midnight and you can only announce it at 2am on TV?

I'm definitely glad Hougang will continue to have taller grass than other towns and I think LHL will rethink how SG looks at PAP now. Either way, I cannot predict what will happen until life comes around.

Also, luckily, I did more productive things like work, eating ice cream and blogging since midnight. And thinking how to actually not waste another trip to MVA for my license and title. And wishing all of Singapore a Happy Mother's Day because I am sure my mom will be happy.

Either way, I win, not because I won anything or outdid someone, but because I am happy. Do I really need to really do something to think I won?

Respect the elderly

My trip from Singapore made me think a lot about the concept of filial piety. Well, to say the least, my grandpa was hospitalized 3 days after I reached Singapore. Of course, the main thing is that we want him to be alright but the fact that he was unwilling to listen to our advice for 5 weeks before that made things difficult for us. Not to mention the fact that he demanded my grandma to stay with him in hospital almost 24/7 while he's there. The good thing, he was healthy within a day, but the bad, he was capable of his usual mischief right after that.

Well, that's not the worst of it, with his whole life littered with issues that I always find his character questionable. Of course, at the end of the day, all his children and descendants want for him is that he is happy and healthy. He is healthy, but he holds onto many little grudges that not only makes him unhappy, but also the lives of my grandma's children and grandchildren difficult. I must make a distinction though, he tortures my grandma's branch of descendants, not so for his other "family".

Well, anyway, I checked up Wikipedia for Confucianism and its definitions of filial piety and relationships and I was pleasantly surprised that what Confucius said is similar to what I think is the right balance of family and parenthood relationship. While the children have duties to fulfil, the parents have an equal amount of burden to share. Give and take a few years of aging and it relates well to how my family is. I must say that I am thankful that my parents share the Confucian philosophy of life and tries to be worry free both for their loved ones and themselves.

Well, Mike was telling me about Strauss and Howe's theory of generational changes and I think what I see is a global thing, rather than their theory of within USA. There are times where progress lead to internal strife, especially when everyone only thinks about themselves which occasionally leads to massive conflict. That will change how people treat one another and their loved ones, but the vastness of the world means different countries experience these changes at different phases. Well, I'm just postulating, although I did have a similar idea before I even read about Strauss and Howe. Well, they're rich and famous and I'm still simple me. Where's the similarity though?

I was quite unimpressed by my visit in Singapore. Kids getting rowdier without the benefit of intellectual growth. Rules getting set when the offenders are still at large and proudly offending. General themes of competitiveness yet with a glass ceiling planted into everyone since birth. Its everywhere in the world, so why am I complaining? Well, everyone is complaining in Singapore about everything with the inert sense of self entitlement. The docile Singaporean is gone in my opinion, all now trained to run first from a fire rather than save whoever is still stuck in the fire, ready to push whoever in the way down to feed the tiger that chases them.

Ryan always complained to me that he gets bumped left and right in Singapore even as a hulky American. Right, that is because everyone dash without concern for others towards their destination, looking blankly into space either onto the ground or deep into the wall. Running for trains on the way home really got me laughing sadly at the situation. Is five minutes of train waiting worth all the hassle of squeezing with other people and running people down? Is it worth risking getting injured falling over? I wonder who these people live with, their loved ones or their creditors?

Am I right? I don't know, but perhaps if I speak my mind, it will provoke people to start looking and act properly. People usually stand up well against a common enemy. Well, not that it is not already too late. My answer to the Singapore Budget is as such, If the monetary value of Singaporeans goes up by a third, doesn't that mean that the cost of living goes up by a similar margin at least? The key to a happy life is to have a simple life. Keep cost of living down and even paupers are happy.

Economists gone mad

For the second time (and perhaps there was more than twice already), some inept, insane, inane, irresponsible, incorrigible, incorrect and immoral (I wanted to use the word inhumane, considering that he is obviously desperate trying to protect his wealth, but still, yeah, he is inhumane to not consider for other human lives) economist suggested that interest rates should be negative.

First, that will be uberinflation, since everyone needs to dump currency. Second, he pointedly said that people should put money into other instruments, which is...? (This creates an uber asset bubble which is the precursor of uberinflation. Third, he actually recommends to have an expiring legal tender exchangeable at the central bank. (I like having only 3 points of attack, not that I can't find more...But this g?y actually suggested such an )

The first two points are directly self defeating. Uberinflation kills all sorts of productivity and renders trade to only barter trade. Now, since he offers no useful skill other than talk, he has not value in the society he proposes.

The third is tricky. Banks can exchange the tender for you, but what about people who use cash? What about people who counterfeit money? There is a lot of administrative issues, but technically, there is a finite supply of money, and it will then be held by "elites". Yes, he is suggesting protectionism and elitism (indirectly of course). By forcing people to spend, ahem...the correct word is "invest" in useful assets, the point shoots back straight to the idea of creating an asset bubble. Basically, he is targeting savers, which defies logic to begin with.

This former central banker fail to understand economies in general. It's like a human being, it grows, it matures in whatever teachings it had from past experiences. It falls sick and gets well throughout the business cycles. And last but not least, it is indirectly dependent on its population. He should take geography 101 to know that we only have so much land space, so much useful land, resources. Oh, moral education 101 is probably needed just for him and Mankiw too.

That is why developed nations should view their socio-economic policies carefully and regularly so that the economy does not overheat badly while staying in the front end of science. It is tough, but it does not take a PhD to realise the problems. Rather than "fix" the problem to his (and many bankers') favor, why not just let the problem fix itself, like the news-less now? Is he so afraid that he will become poorer because he is wrong?

I'm not a rocket scientist, but my heart goes to people who suffer through this while myself and many of my friends are not badly affected. Printing more money is NOT a solution. It is THE destruction.

If I can survive the cold in Antarctica, I would raise my own farm there and show him what the right way of life is. Money, at the end of the day, is just paper. It has no value pre and after life. Money is the means to an end, not the end itself, and substituting it with land, gold, silver or any asset as an item for hoarding is not the correct way to live life.

Alpha to Omega 1

I remember the Alpha to Omega that I once heard, the start to the end. I have been wondering for a while whether a truly stable society can exist. What system should it be? What structure will it take up? The fact that humans have lived through so many dark ages probably mean that life in itself is perfect, since the ones that will struggle to live will continue to create opportunities for evolution to continue. Then again, when all the animals and fish die out due to consumption from overpopulation, perhaps humans will then have a survival issue, to which the solution is cannibalism. Not a good train of though there. But anyway, I'm thinking of our worst enemy of this time of the year, bankers.

Based off what I read, though lightly, human societies started from hunter-gathering while some settled onto agriculture. Logically, if humans started from scratch, hunter-gathering plausible, with crops coming in as knowledge of survival improves. Now then, we will start to have villages, towns and cities, but lets not head too fast into the 21st century.

So based on each person's skill, people will need to band together like other mammals do to gather a variety of "nutrients", from construction materials to plain simple food. People will have to trade, bar the ruthless head pounding and rock throwing fights to decide who gets more or less. So they traded, presumably using the science of their time. This science improved over time and now we almost forget the beginning of time where our ancestors are running around bare chested, waving them off as cavemen. Hey, these guys created we guys and gals.

Anyway, back to the building blocks. People settle down, grow crops, create machinery, provided services and started trading, through barter or money as a proxy for value. And since money is needed in substantial amounts to substantiate a frictionless trade, we need someone to do accounting, and hence the banking industry. As population grew, the need to create more money for lubricating trade increases. After all, if we started with ten men and ten dollars, now, what happens if we have a hundred men? And as the facilitator of the accounting of money, banks grow, seemingly more powerful.

Over time, people forget that the real meaning of money is to lubricate the frictional transactions of trade and view them as the source of power, hence making bankers the most powerful people of all, giving them huge says over everything from politics to mere living. Living as in the economy, not just staying alive. I believe that the worst of the recession might be more cruel than any mass murdering that we have seen, since the recession is destroying livelihoods.

Let me use an arbitrary example, totally out of whack on purpose. The recession have brought a rise to pregnancy prevention awareness. I can't remember where I read this, but I know it for a fact, being one of those careful planners myself. Now, I have cruelly decided that I should not bring my baby to Earth (at least not now) because I am not confident he/she will have a good life. Since I'm sure many people made the same decision, that means many lives are "lost". Can I blame the loss of my baby's life (time) on the government? Since I am no political authority, I'm pretty sure my letters goes straight to the politician's shredder anyway.

It's a bit radical, but imagine this...With population growth dwindling, what will the future generation decide on if they think they cannot survive under the current system? Is it that the system is wrong? Did we have the wrong people with the wrong visions that led us down this path? Are we in a vicious cycle that will end humanity? Of course, not in my mind totally, since humans will seek a radical change to find a system that works for them. Haven't our ancestors survived the dark ages?

Well, its a bit of my thoughts, but I feel that given the massive technology advantage that we have over our forefathers, we should use it in important things like food and energy production and conservation. Not through laws, but through government backed research and directions. We don't need the whole world to be filled with solar panels and end up like Spain, nor be restricted like Europe in carbon taxes, but we still need a careful and calculated push into renewable energy.

Most common man do not want to fiddle with politics, but they do not want to go hungry or cold or every other inconvenience brought by the lack of food and energy either. Just like how our cavemen fathers and mothers. They progressed into what we are today driven by the need to survive. With today's crisis at hand, is that drive enough?

Hence, to conclude the essay I wrote. The Economy CREATED the banking system, not the other way round. Banking is NOT the economy. The banks should have failed with mark to market. Not all, but some at least, to create a good political foundation to redefine how they should work, and everyone HAVE VERY RESPONSIBILITY to ensure that that happens.

Also, as a bonus, the government is the same as the banks, a creation of the evolution of man and its economy, NOT the entirety of man itself. If the government are pillaging what's left of the constitution, they should be removed. Every game can be gamed, even politics and the constitution. I may not be smart enough to do it, but no one should be allowed to abuse other human beings, even with the constitution behind them.

By the way, at the time of this post, I read that the government is hiring hackers to solidify their IT defense. Pretty neat if you ask me, but what happens if a corrupt system uses such a powerful tool?