Weekly Roundup: Week 51
“..[investors] were misled into believing that they were investing in a basket of 5 to 8.. financially strong companies or sovereign governments. They were told that if one entity should fail, they would only lose their invested sum on a proportionate basis.. They were shocked to learn later that they were actually selling credit insurance against the failure of any of these entities. If any single entity failed, their entire principal would be lost. Instead of spreading the risk proportionately over 8 entities, they were taking 8 times of the risk of any single bond!”
Tan Kin Lian
“..How do we teach Confidence and Creativity?, might be the wrong question to ask. The question we need to ask is, How did we kill Confidence and Creativity?”
Mathia Lee
“There are 76,200 unemployed, 292,800 workers earning $1,200 or less, and 126,800 part-timers earning a median income of $600. This in total is 495,800, out of the total resident work force of 1,928,300.. 1 in 4 workers.. are earning $1,200 or less or unemployed?”
Leong Sze Hian
“..it is increasingly clear that Singapore is not the happy utopia where hard work will automatically usher in just rewards. Inflation may not be a solvable problem but the way we handle its social ramifications as a nation will tell us what kind of people we are.”
groundnotes
“..[the poor] have to be an aberrance so that they can be a reassurance. We affirm our happiness with the fact that we are not them.. There is a constant gaze on poverty.. watching an NKF sob story isn’t smply seeing sick people suffer. It’s seeing poor people suffer from sickness.”
mollymeek
This week’s roundup and recommended reads after the break.
High Notes and Minibombs
- Sgpolitics.net: Tan Kin Lian gives update on class action lawsuit and speaks about another flawed financial product
- Tan Kin Lian’s Blog: Speaker Corner, 13 Dec 2008 Speech by TKL
- Singapore Enquirer: Mr Tan Kin Lian’s speech at Hong Lim Park, 13 December 2008
- Singapore Enquirer: Mr Tan Kin Lian’s interview with Al-Jazeera on 13 December 2008
- Tan Kin Lian’s Blog: Reply to Ho Yew Kee
- Desparatebeep: It Wasn’t Me
- Tan Kin Lian’s Blog: Offer of compensation
- Tan Kin Lian’s Blog: Bank RM has courage and integrity
- Sgpolitics: Encourage bank relationship managers to do the right thing by confessing to mis-selling
- WayangParty Club: MAS: minibond investors should bear responsibility for their investment decisions
- Tan Kin Lian’s Blog: Volunteers to help get 100,000 signatures
Town Councils Lose $12M Public Funds
- TOC: The art of passing the buck [Recommended]
Hong Lim Park: 13 Dec 2008; Minimum Wage
- Singapore Alternatives: Human Rights – Minimum Wage & Modern Slavery
- Singapore Social Activist: Rights are not mere advisory!
- Singapore Alternatives: Minimum Wage & Democracy
- WayangParty Club: Summary of minibond rally on 13 December 2008
- TOC: No salary increase for part-time workers in 9 years?
- Mr Wang Says So: The Possibility of the Impossible Wage Increase in Singapore
- Wayang Party: Tan Kin Lian wants “minimum wage”, but National Wage Council wants to “revise” salaries
- Mathia Lee: Minimum wage should come from taxpayers, not businesses
We Don’t Need No Regulation
- The Void Deck: PAP Engagement in the Internet: Beyond Counter-Insurgency
- TOC: Youth Focus: Don’t govern the Internet with Old World methods
- TheSuffocate: The race to the online world: how PAP and the dissidents took flight in the course of the internet age
- A writer’s Blog: Debate on new media
Recession
- Diary of A Singaporean Mind: Reuters : Singapore to be Asia’s worst performing economy next year…
- My sketchbook: Magic pills for recession
- Blowin’ In The Wind: Jobs available in Singapore
- Diary of A Singaporean Mind: GDP as a performance barometer
- Singabloodypore: Singapore adjusting to sagging economy
- Blowin’ In The Wind: “Asia shares blame for economic crisis”
- a blog day’s work: A needless-to-say job
- The iStuff we get from Forwarded emails: Fwd: Global financial crisis and its impact
- Singapore Watch: Alt-A and Option ARM – the 2nd wave after Subprime?
Strangers in a Strange Land
- TOC: 179 foreign workers abandoned by employer
- Hard Hitting in the Lion City: A Suggestion for all Illegals in Singapore
- TOC: Bangladeshi workers stranded, Singaporeans step forth to help
- All the electric stars are shining: A few notes on Singapore
2008 Roundup
- groundnotes: 2008 Round Up [Recommended]
- TOC: A look back on things said in 2008 (Update: 1)
- The Secret Political Blog: The 5 Top Under-reported Stories of 2008
Re Education
- Mathia Lee: School killed Confidence and Creativity?
- Singapore Life and Times: Superkids
- The boy who knew too much: The myth of the brand name school
CPF
- Feed Me To The Fish: ‘Tis The Season To Top Up?
- Blowin’ In The Wind: Singapore mulling a pensions cut?
- My Singapore News: A cut in CPF?
Censorship and Pink Issues
- Illusio: The conservative case for: Rejecting Focus on the Family Singapore
- To Fix a Mocking Peasant: Can activists avoid being active? [Recommended]
Power to Cost the People
- Choosing my own adventure: “Extraordinary profits” (cackle cackle) [Editor's note: Blog has since been deleted]
- My Little Corner: Little Information on Singapore Electricity Tariffs
- Readings From A Political Duo-ble: The sale of Temasek’s power plants does matter
ERPains, Trains & Automobiles
- Agents Are Go!!: Guess the headline!
- Dee Kay Dot As Gee: Signs that the ERP just doesn’t work
- NO BUNS NO LIFE: (ALL-in-One) Singapore’s Public Transport Rebates and Discounts
PAP Ministars, Get Rich Or Die Tryin
- My Little Corner: What are the ministers’ salary benchmark to
- Everyday’s Life in a Snapshot: the reasons of high pay for good politicians do not hold
Housing
- My sketchbook: Price of HDB flats in Singapore
- TOC: Important for HDB to reveal building costs
- Mr Wang Says So: The Risk of Having a Roof Over Your Head
Healthcare
- TOC: “Don’t save face, go to C-class wards,” says Tan Kin Lian
Universal Declaration of Human Rights 60th Anniversary
- Random Thoughts Of A Freedom Thinker: A Universal Declaration of Human Responsibilities (proposed)
147th and falling
- Anonymous_X: To Straits Times online: There are a lot of differences between ‘percentage’ & ‘point’!!
Have you ever wandered why we must serve
- Udderiffic Indulgence: The Price of Being Male: Mato’s Enlistment (121208) [Thanks Laremy]
Lee vs Chee, Nair and Kangaroos
- Sgpolitics.net: An open letter to Shafi’ie’s Mom
- Jacob’s Weblog: Overnight vigil for 3 prisoners of conscience on Dec 17
- Feed Me To The Fish: The Kangaroos and The Shoes
- Singapore Enquirer: The unexpected cost of free speech
- UncleYap: Kaola Activists held vigil outside QRP for Kangaroo Activists
Daily Discourse
- Everyday’s Life in a Snapshot: the not-so-obvious motives of having more foreigners
- Readings From A Political Duo-ble: Reply from Singapore authorities on their Israeli delegation trip
- ed’sperience: on Multiracialism as a stepping stone: Singaporean Malays using more English than mother tongue
- Singapore Skeptic: Sometimes people deserve to remain poor
- The Itch To Write: Latest list of public places where smoking is banned
- The Hermit: The PAP’s Election Game
- To Fix a Mocking Peasant: Disciplined Graciously
- Notes From Serangoon Road: Permissible noise limits
- Moving Higher In Souped-up Heuristically Agon Moment: Press Releases to Look Forward to Tomorrow (17/12/2008)
- Singapore Enquirer: Singapore’s labour market shows signs of slowing
- A L V I N O L O G Y: Bomb Hoax in Popular Singapore Forum, EDMW
- i have succumbed to peer pressure: Disneyland with the Death Penalty
- To Fix a Mocking Peasant: The Return of the Singapore Spirit [Recommended]
- Mathia Lee: AWARE’s Comprehensive Sex Ed Programme
- The Enquirer: A collective stake in the university: i-gave president
- Sg_Ljers: Where am I? (Uniquely Singapore)
- TOC: Mother Machine [Recommended]
- WayangParty Club: Will the PAP allow Singaporeans to review its ‘welfare’ system?
- AngryAngMo: Why Private Space Is Worth Nothing In Singapore [Thanks Florian]
- The Lycan Times: Random Discourse
- The Itch To Write: A coin has 2 sides
Life, the universe and everything
- Endoh’s Dungeon: Do you represent me… really?
- Mindblogging Stuff: Spell-check please!
- NO BUNS NO LIFE: (NSFW) PICTURES of Nude Virgin Mary on Playboy Mexico causes UPROAR
- AngryAngMo: ZoukOut 2008 – The Best Picture And Video Collections (flickr, youtube…) [Thanks Florian]
- Highway of Life: Experiencing the arctic right here in Singapore [Thanks Nicholas]
- Delvinlee’s Weblog: Marina Barrage
- Singapore Fountain Pen: Singapore’s Best Christmas Trees [Thanks Jammer]
- Fire Opal: Fibre is Destroyed so easily??? [Thanks ecko]
- Yesterday.Today.Tomorrow: Memories @ Old Ford Factory
In Memoriam of JBJ
- TOC: In memory of JBJ
Infoblogaramous
- Moving Higher In Souped-up Heuristically Agon Moment: National Heritage Board Launches First Online Gaming Competition To Boost Heritage-Awareness Among Youths
- Random Thoughts Of A Free Thinker: Initiative by Singaporean youth – Darfur Now! 2009
- Let’s get 100,000 signatures for Tan Kin Lian: Why sign petition?
- EDMW: Cathay Cineplexes Promotion with NETS Now until Friday, 20th Feb 2009
December 20th, 2008 | Category: Weekly Roundup
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Say NO to internet regulation in Singapore.
December 21st, 2008 at 3:56 am
I would like to bring a very important bit of information to your attention that relates to this economic crisis that was overlooked until now.
On Sunday, 12/14/08, CBS 60 Minutes aired a segment “The Mortgage Meltdown”.
Scott Pelley’s piece on the 2nd Wave of Foreclosures overlooked a critical fact.
The segment missed the fact that this next wave of Foreclosures in 2009 Will Take Self-Employed and Smaller Businesses who have these TOXIC mortgages. In fact, ALT-A, Option ARMS, Interest-Only, the TOXIC Mortgages that are considered the “Troubled” assets in TARP were specifically marketed to the self-employed who fell prey to them.
The upcoming defaults on these risky “Toxic Mortgages” will result in an increase in foreclosures. But worse, once these small businesses fail, the resulting loss of jobs will cause millions to add to the ranks of the unemployed. Note that self-employed business owners (16.2 million according to the SBA) employ between 1-10 employees.
An NASE survey at http://www.nase.org , was the first to provide compelling evidence of small business involvement in the upcoming toxic mortgage crisis. The survey was created by Prof. Samuel D. Bornstein and Jung I. Song, CPA of BornsteinSong Consultants in Oakhurst,NJ,and was conducted by the National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE) which issued a Press Release on November 21, 2008.
According to this survey, it is estimated that 3,709,800 small business owners hold Alt-A and other toxic mortgages, and 1,279,800 are already delinquent as they have missed one to three or more monthly mortgage payments at mid-November, before the expected Resets that are scheduled to begin in 4th Quarter 2008 through 2012.
These small business owners will be at-risk of payment shock and default as their monthly mortgage payments skyrocket. Small business owners were especially targeted for these Alt-A loans which required little or no documentation of income which appealed to many small business owners who previously were unable to qualify.
The resulting defaults will be the cause of the upcoming second tsunami wave of foreclosures that will dwarf the subprime crisis and will take many homeowners, small businesses, and their employees.
Thank you,
Samuel D. Bornstein
Professor of Accounting & Taxation
Kean University, School of Business, Union, NJ
December 21st, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Obama’s really gonna have it tough
December 22nd, 2008 at 1:48 am
Prof B,
“According to this survey, it is estimated that 3,709,800 small business owners hold Alt-A and other toxic mortgages.”
Pls tell me you’re shitting me. Please. I beg you.
If what you say is true, this is going to read like the concluding chapter of the onion story; the more you peel; the more you cry; only to end up with nothing.
SD
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:01 am
You know, I was always under the impression Alt-A loans were just like another option or alternatives like deciding to put on the occasional slippers instead of laced up shoes to the standard of conforming, GSE-backed mortgages.
I had absolutely no idea everyone in the US had decided to throw their shoes away.
Are you sure about those NASE figures?
If what you say is true how does it show up in the fourth quarterly results?
Shouldn’t it be like mid 2009 or something? That makes more sense when you compare the loan ratio equity against debtors/loans under capacity. If the default rate is that big, as you said. Right?????
SD
December 24th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
Singaporedaddy,
Standby for direct link @ 0730 GMT – 25-12-08 / a very important message is headed your way from CC.
Regret to inform you. Your request for transfer has been declined. You will stay here.
Merry X’mass from all of us in the Interspacing Communication Guild.
:)
December 24th, 2008 at 11:01 pm
ICG,
Understand this! I don’t take orders from the ICG. I report directly to the ASDF.
Look here. Something has happened. I need to speak to Vollariane and the others asap.
Pls just up the link pls. I am not in the position to elaborate further.
SD
December 25th, 2008 at 12:32 am
If I dont get a link by 7.00 am tmr.
I will pick up the phone and speak directly to darkness. And I guarantee u, all of you in the icg will be sent packing off to the Russian front. And that will the end of that.
I have been requesting for a link for nearly 24 hours!
As I have something very important to report!
That will be all, btw happy christmas.
SD
December 25th, 2008 at 10:41 am
SD
No need to make threats. If its so important. They are meeting up for a X’mass in Astro’s house today.
Be there at 3.00 and bring your super important report along.
FYI, they already know abt it, ekunaba filed a report in some time yesterday.
From the looks of it, no one seems surprised, this happened.
It had to happen sooner or later.
Aurora (ICG)
December 25th, 2008 at 11:07 am
SD,
Too many of our regular readers have been flooding there since we set up a liaison mission there.
There is even a rumor circulating that a new book will be released there to coincide with the new year.
ASDF has been telling you to just keep to social /political issues and NOT to mix up our love episode stories with gaming.
The last thing they want is for ppl to flood the site.
I have stepped in to inform the 4-bit readership there is no book release by Darkness.
We are working to re-route traffic via ina-terra to holiscan platform so that it doesn’t crash again.
Meanwhile pls inform the regular readers to surf using their own account and not ours.
Nothing is happening, everything is cool.
Aurora.
December 25th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
SD,
Pls informed CC does NOT want u to get involved in book launches in you know where!
If memory serves, u did it WITHOUT our permission.
Otherwise, you will cause another massive overload again. We guarantee u!
They can’t handle so many readers flooding into one site.
If you want to do that. Do it here. There is capacity. But not over there stupid.
I have already made arrangements for this to be handled exclusively by Ina-Terra last Sept.
Pls note, they are our online love story retailers in the virtual. We already have an agreement with them for god sake!
Note there is ONLY one edition of the tree that binds will be released in 2009 / it is the same 2007 version. There is NO other version:
Preamble:
“The Tree That Binds,” is based on a Korean series,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_70cP77XGU&mode=related&search=
Darkness watched during a flight to Japan – the story has been modified. To date over 20,000 copies have been sold.
It runs 48 chapters and retails for 103 Imperial Shekelians. Please contact your book club for further details. Brief Extract: Main Protagonist / Musings / Chapter 31 – The Revelation
“Pain can never be taken philosophically; otherwise it isn’t pain. Today Dr Kim told me she will certainly die within the month. Yet as I walked aimlessly through this streets, I feel nothing – can it be I am still yet to live and experience life? My eyes have hardly opened, have they? I am simply a child standing before the portal of life – all this is so clear when someone you love only once in your life has to suddenly leave you.
The old say, the more humane we become, the more likely we are to suffer the pain of others. To love simply means to embrace vulnerability, to be even woundable in the way a man grips and searches out the sweetness of her lover in a moment’s ache. Never made easier by the solace of simply observing from afar, but here where she is before me, I can no more deny her existence any more than I can say, I never once existed.
If it is not given me to know the course of time, then the best I can do is to be attentive, to watch the moments go by, to feel her occasional caress and to revel in her closeness. You could say this is how a man who has never loved ambles his away across this strange terrain.
It’s like trying to work my way along a wall in the dark, It doesn’t serve me to turn and rail against the wall; it may have been placed there so that I don’t slip and fall over the edge – that evening, after finishing my fifth cigarette – I decided to walk beside her again….slowly, one step at time, I retraced my steps to the hospital – lets see where it goes. If this is the script the story teller of life has penned for me, then I shall simply have to utter my lines! Do I even have a choice? What I will have to do can never be considered an accomplishment or failure worth mentioning – it’s simply what it takes to be a human being who loves another more than himself – to live for the moment, that is and not to expect anything in return except pain. You could say, I have finally discovered my purpose, my reason to live and a reason to enthomb my selfishness……and with it, this has to be the first day of my awakening….breathe…this is my first day and as day’s goes. A day when a man simply loves a woman.”
Darkness 2007
If everyone stuck to their roles SD. We wouldn’t get cross lined so often.
FYI
Aurora (Interspacing Communication Guild)
December 25th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
SD,
This is FYI. Darkness is currently working on a new book release entitled, “Spring Snow,” it’s a period love story – I expect that it will be another tear fest. Ina-Terra has informed us the anime crowd for some funny reason takes readily to Korean love stories. So its very likely the same template will be used as the tree will bind. This is the rough outline.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmwnsbwGNJ4
The book will be launched sometime in March 2009 – you will be happy to know Darkness has informed all of us; some of the proceeds will be used to fund your Russian venture.
It was supposed to be a Christmas surprise. But you have been begging everyone for money and it’s really becoming a source of embarrassment for all us. Most of us cannot tahan your whining anymore. So its best you know now.
FYI, Spring snow is based on another Korean winner; Joseon namnyeo sangyeoljisa, it’s supposed to run 41 episodes and retails for 40 Imperiums a piece. There are some tax issues which CC wants to get around in you know where. I believe they are getting some heat in HK as the authorities may be coming up with a new law regulating e-transactions. If you want to add value to the whole push; CC has informed me to tell you to work on it in your free time.
Aurora (ICG)
December 25th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Aurora
How the hell am I supposed to know all these things? No one ever tells me anything.
“There are some tax issues which CC wants to get around in you know where. I believe they are getting some heat in HK as the authorities may be coming up with a new law regulating e-transactions. If you want to add value to the whole push; CC has informed me to tell you to work on it in your free time.”
Let me guess? Its going to be me or me or me again. Right?
Go tell them, I dont mind winging this, but I can’t do it alone.
For some odd reason everyone who ask for help gets it except me.
I am always the one who always needs to improvise, adapt and jump over hoops and get everything done with duct tape resources.
You go tell Vollariane, I need help.
SD
December 25th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
SD,
Pls stop yr nonsense. No one is here. Who are you trying to impress? There is no one here except us.
FYI, The ICG has already made arrangements for you to RDZ with both Elfinman and Kadjal.
Pls note they are reps from the Mercantile Interspacing Guild.
They will assist you with negotiations with the HKSAR.
Try not to fight with them. One reason why no one wants to work alongside you is bc you r anti-social.
Try to cooperate SD. For once.
Good luck, once you have fulfilled your mission pls let us know.
Aurora (ICG)