Comments, opinions and an occasional ramble
Scary inflation figures
Citigroup economist Chua Hak Bin predicts inflation might hit 4% next year. See this Straits Times article.
In the same article, another economist said 4% is unlikely and predicts slightly over 3% inflation next year.
No matter who is correct, the fact is that these are scary figures. Looks like the 1% increase in CPF rates might not even be enough to hedge against inflation. Scary figures indeed.
| Print article | This entry was posted by Aaron Ng on 06/11/2007 at 12:52 pm, and is filed under Ramblings. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |
about 4 years ago
The problem is not Singaporeans are not setting aside enough for retirement. Singaporeans already hold the world record for the highest savings rate in the world yet cannot afford to retire properly….why?
The PAP govt has locked up billions in CPF money to earn low returns. This they say is a guaranteed return. Guarantee is useless. The buying power of money is not guaranteed in such a scheme and eroded by inflation. The PAP puts everyone on a scheme that no qualified financial planner will ever recommend.
The result is insufficiency. A problem it tries to address by asking people to work longer, harder and never retire…buy annuities etc. Singapore is a land of 70 yr old trishaw riders, 70 yr old cleaners……this is what being a 1st world country means to Singaporeans.
about 4 years ago
Come on Aaron….you call that scary?….
In the 70s, my late grandmother put money in the bank and got back 10% in interest…they tried to kill off runaway inflation with extremely high interest rates. If the fixed deposit is paying 10%, what do you think inflation is in those days……..
This is only the BEGINNING. Inflation is like a disease that is beginning to infect…..once it spirals up, its like Godzilla ..inflation begets inflation…
about 4 years ago
Do you recommend hoarding gold?
about 4 years ago
thats the price we pay for not standing up. Gahmen is not always right one…and in this aspect, guaranteed returns aside, what do these returns guarantee us? Gahmen didn’t mention that…
And meanwhile they use our money in CPF to do their investments and pay themselves higher salaries, while they can, while we work til we are 85 and never get to see our CPF because by then it will be raised again. See where social eugenics take us? it’s perhaps a downside of Singapore, when the government is absolute and the people indoctrinated to think that it is wrong to go against the government.
I have a theory, which says that the focus on materialism is so important in Singapore because beyond the material there is actually a deep-lying dissatisfaction and disillusionment. Maybe i’ll blog about it soon…when i get a break from uni. haha.
about 4 years ago
One wonders how much of our CPF monies are going to padding up government officials’ pays. Remember, they still have pensions of something around 2/3 salaries after a certain age, but they normally continue working even then, so by logic they’d receive normal pay (or slightly reduced, but not that much a difference when it’s ministerial amounts), as well as a hefty pension, until they die.
Anyway, I realised that HDB flats can only be so expensive. Maintenance fees seem to require “adjustments” every now and then (in PAP wards) although the cleaners seem to visit even less often than before. One wonders how opposition wards retain monthly rates for district maintenance and parking that are at least $10 lower, without significant quality decrease.
about 4 years ago
Scary inflation figures is good for the government so that she can continue to pay herself obscene salary. Singaporeans are indeed fed up with progress.
about 4 years ago
I wonder how long Mr Chua will be around and whether he will be singing a different song soon!
Mind you, he was only stating what we feel when we venture out to get necessities.
It’s a case of the emperor and his new clothes. Those who live in mansions and earn millions are not in touch with reality – and even if they saw something, they’d probably ignore it.
about 4 years ago
you know, it would be interesting if all of us became politicians…hahaha people power!
about 3 months ago
You know Ellen I do admire your diligence (if I spelled that incorrectly please forgive me). I believe that we could go back and forth all day about our differences without gaining ground in either direction. The true question at hand is this: is this really about the definition of a marital civil union between two individuals as much as it is about recognition?
about 3 months ago
Ahhhhh! THE BUTTERFLIES ARE MOUNTING! Awesome post and so excited!