"The root of all superstition is that men observe when a thing hits, but not when it misses." - Sir Francis Bacon

***

I am pessimistic about the prospects for Singapore (as the saying goes, "Matilah Singapura"), because it seems most non-politically apathetic people fall into one of 2 categories:

1) Unthinking sheep who reflexively swallow everything they are told by the MIW, and assume that everyone who disagrees with them is an idiot who is anti-PAP/Government/Singapore
2) Unthinking sheep who reflexively denounce everything they are told by the MIW, and assume that everyone who disagrees with them is an idiot who is pro-PAP/Government

Some might say that you find this everywhere else, but conspiracy theorists aside, even if they do call you an idiot, they do not assume that everything the Powers That Be tell them is automatically true or false, or jump to conclusions about your political affiliation. For example, Independents make up a large proportion of the voter base in the US, and even the party bases are not homogenous.

To wit,


ShadowFox's hideout: PAP's Convicted criminal Tharman says you should not be allowed salary increase

"I thought only Malaysians have morons when it comes to monkey ministers but apparently even Singapore is afflicted with the same disease, judging from the latest statement by this convicted criminal Tharman Shanmugaratnam. This convicted PAP criminal says employers should not raise the salary of employees or else there would be another round of inflation, but yet no one complains when the salary of these PAP bums are raised higher than what American politicians are getting.

Wah... Singapore, truly Asia, just like Malaysia, except they're 100x better at Public Relations aka LIES. They dress themselves better than Malaysian politicians but inside, everything is equally rotten and disgusting. One only needs to look at the number of opposition parliament seats in Singapore and one can easily conclude that Singapore is also a fucked up country just like Malaysia (Probably much worse where political freedom of expression is concerned). Except of course, I believe we Malaysians have way more balls than Singaporeans when it comes to putting our opposition MPs in parliament."


In the comments:

Me: What do you think causes inflation?

ShadowFox: http://www.investopedia.com/university/inflation/

Me: In that case you should understand why wage rises will lead to inflation.

ShadowFox: Corruption will lead to inflation too, just look at Malaysia.

You must be a PAP scholar. *LOL*
You sound so apologetic to that convicted criminal Tharman.

You should read this as well.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/06/25/do2503.xml

Me: You send me a site that explains that wage rises cause inflation, and then you accuse me of being a PAP scholar. If nothing else, this shows that you should read material before you recommend it to others.

The second link you send me talks specifically about the UK's situation and their money supply, where the government is apparently pumping too much money into the economy. What the relevance is to Singapore, I cannot tell, especially since the Singapore government almost always runs a surplus, and so cannot be accused of "excessive borrowing".

In fact, if you bothered to read the second link in its entirety, you would have read that big pay rises are justified *only if there are commensurate productivity increases*. Which in fact is what Tharman says (though not in the same words): "Mr Tharman said the lasting solution to inflation is to continue with efforts to help workers upgrade their skills and earn better wages."

I ask you again, what do you think causes inflation (in Singapore)?

And the point about Malaysia is just nonsensical.

"If it has been raining, the ground will be wet"

This does not mean that if the ground is wet, it has been raining (I might've dumped a bucket on the floor).

ShadowFox: I sent you a site because I can't be bothered to do your homework for you.

Why the fuck do I care if pay rise will or will not cause inflation but the fact is why should people NOT be allowed pay rise to accommodate the high cost of living whereas the ministers are allowed their pay rise.

Since you already know what causes inflation why the fuck do you bother to ask me the question?

I am questioning the hypocrisy in why Ministers are allowed pay rise whereas the commoners aren't.

But it appears to me you're more interested in other agendas and I am afraid I am not interested in entertaining smart ass NUS rubbish pro-PAP scholars such as yourself.


In other news, I was explaining to someone (and have explained to people in the past) why the phenomenon of unemployment is a good thing.

You may recognise the quote in its original form: "Layoffs not all bad. If there are no retrenchments at all, then I worry for Singapore." - PM Goh Chok Tong, Mar 22, 2003.

A simple way to understand the intuition of why unemployment is good is to ask if it would be good if no one died.