"No one gossips about other people's secret virtues." - Bertrand Russell

***

Me: interesting how your logic is:

"when a singaporean bashes malaysia/malaysians, he is showing that singaporeans are rude, ungrateful, nasty scum of the earth
when a malaysian bashes singapore/singaporeans, he is right"

HWMNBN: i have no issue with you bashing malaysia and malaysians for the right reasons
just that you don't *simply*

Me: "singaporeans are degenerate, illiterate fucks" - you

HWMNBN: *smiles* there is no defense against truth.

Me: QED.


Someone: i met the ceo of airasia too. that guys is GOOD stuff.

Me: yah
one of the few good things to come out of malaysia

Someone: haha
i tell you... the way the govt is killing the people there is actually good for them.

the bumiputra policy.

no social welfare, crappy govt/mnc pay -> forces people to take ownership of their life -> forces people to start business -> high control over property/money -> high initiative/sharing/community-social-support-networks -> active civil society

Me: so bad government is good for the people
so why do we need good government

Someone: we need a small govt.

Me: malaysia government very small meh

well, ethiopia's government is quite small

Someone: big + bad = small

Me: errrr

Someone: ok... close.

Me: in that case africa should be utopia

Someone: haha. i'm pushing it.
but... you know, that's really what's happening there.

the govt shit their people. the people take charge of their own lives.
that's it. that's the magic.

Me: so if that's the case why are malaysians rushing down to singapore
but not vice versa

Someone: well, those are the people that would not have started a biz with/without a shit govt.

i'm talking about the co-opting of bright people into the govt/mnc.
a shit govt liberates them from the co-opt

Me: but overall which country would you say is better off

Someone: singapore for a clueless person, malaysia for a clueful one.

Me: singapore has more millionaires per capita than malaysia

Someone: those are imports lah dude.
and i bet half of them are govt officials.

Me: even if they're government officials
still better off right

our standard of living is also higher

Someone: ehhh... i think it's far better to be poor in MY than poor in SG.

Me: what social welfare is there for the poor in MY

Someone: things are cheaper. you can "run away" from more "cost of living" items.
and it's infinitely easier to start a biz there.

Me: what, grow rice from the soil?

err
I think it's easy to start a biz here
unless you mean there you just bribe someone

Someone: haha. you can start a char kway teow stall in Malaysia with just RM200. try that in SG.

Me: it's not hard to set up a roadside stall there

if that's starting a biz... well technically it's true
but how well off are all these smalltime hawkers

Someone: at least... you earn a living. and there's a chance of making it big.

you know what? it's about POSSIBILITIES. there are more of them for the poor there.
and, for the capable, a repressive govt forces you to startup on your own.
for those in the middle, it won't matter anyway.

Me: then you might as well buy lottery tickets
even though the expected return is negative, there's the possibility of making it big

Someone: *damn* you don't get it - do you?

my fault.

do make a trip up north when you've the time.

talk to people there. visit students. visit businesses.
talk to biz people.

you will know.

Me: right.
I don't think I'll get to do that anytime soon though

Someone: ok.
but, i guesss, it's the same in most fucked-but-not-that-fucked places,

Me: where else would fall into that category

Someone: vietnam, indon, china

Me: I don't think the clueless/clued dichotomy is helpful

it's like saying if you support the PAP you must be a sheep

anyway some people prefer the Wild West odds
but though you may strike it rich, you are more likely to get shot

you see a lot of successful people
and people think there's a chance of success
but the failures are not seen. so it's selection bias

it's the same in the world of entertainment and the world of sport
for every michelle pfeiffer or serena williams there's 1,000 girls doing part-time waitressing
and 1,000 girls without college degrees who spent their time on the varsity team

Someone: you're right.

sure sure. i think we're approaching from different angles.

Me: well in theory you could construct a risk function where someone would prefer malaysia than singapore
but a person with it would probably have to be extremely and implausibly risk loving

Someone: hmph...
you can't explain it that way.

you left out a var called "time".
at some pt in time, a person would prefer MY.

Me: I'm looking at instantaneous preferences
even when you're young you probably have to be implausibly risk loving to prefer malaysia

at least in the monetary/career angle

Someone: hmph...
what if you were born poor?

Me: then you're screwed in either country

20-30 years it was possible for poor, smart people to make it big without education
but that type of social mobility is past us

Someone: even in MY?

Me: yeah
HWMNBN who is more informed about malaysia and prefers it to spore thinks so