May Day Message
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In the spirit of Labour Day, let's all remember our duty to work harder to earn more money so that we can pay off our huge mortgage loans for our 3/4/5 room HDB flats in 30 years.
Oh yes, and save some money for our retirement since we can only withdraw our CPF at age 85 in the near future.
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When is the May Day Rally?
I need standup comic to relieve me from recession blues.
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Originally posted by deepak.c:
When is the May Day Rally?
I need standup comic to relieve me from recession blues.
Every year, it's the same old message:
We have tripartite arrangement.
Jobs aplenty, just change your mindset.
Lower your expectations.
We need foreign talent.
United we stand, divided we fall.
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I like the 2 discussion topics started by the Administrator of REACH. There are no participants in the discussion.
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Originally posted by charlize:
Every year, it's the same old message:
We have tripartite arrangement.
Jobs aplenty, just change your mindset.
Lower your expectations.
We need foreign talent.
United we stand, divided we fall.
You no longer amused by his comedy routine?
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Originally posted by deepak.c:
You no longer amused by his comedy routine?
If you hear the same joke every year, you will feel sian also.
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Originally posted by deepak.c:
When is the May Day Rally?
I need standup comic to relieve me from recession blues.
LHL to announce that he is sending WKS dressed as wealthy Arab into indo to look for Mas?
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Originally posted by 4sg:
LHL to announce that he is sending WKS dressed as wealthy Arab into indo to look for Mas?
Mas could easily be in Singapore ... or out of Singapore.
Really.
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Originally posted by 4sg:
LHL to announce that he is sending WKS dressed as wealthy Arab into indo to look for Mas?
Then what if he can't find Mas there, he going to come back to tell us that Mas could either be in Singapore, Indonesia or outside of Singapore and Indonesia.
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Originally posted by charlize:
Mas could easily be in Singapore ... or out of Singapore.
Really.
You qualify to be a Minister of Home Affairs.
Just remember to make windowless toilets in detention centres.
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Originally posted by deepak.c:
You qualify to be a Minister of Home Affairs.
Just remember to make windowless toilets in detention centres.
Minister of Home Affairs job very easy - just tell the truth and nothing but the whole truth - "Mas is either in Singapore or outside Singapore".
Like dat can liao.... -
Originally posted by 4sg:
Minister of Home Affairs job very easy - just tell the truth and nothing but the whole truth - "Mas is either in Singapore or outside Singapore".
Like dat can liao....He covered all the bases, identified the whole sample space, he can never be wrong.
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If this is not Singapore, some people will lob a shoe and a sock for good measure.
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I read the first paragraph again and the asshole really sounded like he was caught off-guard.
"1 Much has changed in the course of a year. When I was preparing my May Day Message last year, we were in a very different situation. The economy had a strong first quarter in 2008, and workers were enjoying good bonuses from the year before. The US had already run into difficulties, but we still hoped that the world could avoid taking a major tumble."
OMG what an idiot! Even sgforums was well prepared since July 2007 for this downturn in Singapore.
Originally posted by AndrewPKYap:A bit of history lesson....
July 2007
BTW you people know that the market crashed today? [page: 1, 2, 3,... 25, 26, 27]
November 2007
Looks like its getting really serious.... [page: 1, 2, 3,... 42, 43, 44]
Jan 2008
It no longer just Looks like its getting really serious..... [page: 1, 2, 3,... 13, 14, 15] -
How did Singapore end up with such a big idiot up there?
People saw the storm coming in July 2007. You believe an idiot that could not see the storm coming in May 2008 will be able to find solutions?
OMG!!!!!!!
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Singapore ended with an idiot up there because of this type of blatant cronyism and nepotism like giving an award to Hole Jinx. -
Originally posted by AndrewPKYap:
I read the first paragraph again and the asshole really sounded like he was caught off-guard.
"1 Much has changed in the course of a year. When I was preparing my May Day Message last year, we were in a very different situation. The economy had a strong first quarter in 2008, and workers were enjoying good bonuses from the year before. The US had already run into difficulties, but we still hoped that the world could avoid taking a major tumble."
OMG what an idiot! Even sgforums was well prepared since July 2007 for this downturn in Singapore.
Yeah, how many singaporeans read the forums in sgforums? How many people were prepared for the retrenchment?
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Originally posted by Herzog_Zwei:
Yeah, how many singaporeans read the forums in sgforums? How many people were prepared for the retrenchment?
err ask fifi help u count =D
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Originally posted by 4sg:
Minister of Home Affairs job very easy - just tell the truth and nothing but the whole truth - "Mas is either in Singapore or outside Singapore".
Like dat can liao....
It is so easy for him to take home S$3.2 Million a year from Singaporeans - MM LKY must be commended for his brilliance in recruiting this talented Minister into the PAP Central Executive Committee. -
Talking abt these 'May Day' thing, there were some commercials tht were put up to telecast at TVM ytd (1 May). Title is 'Safety Starts With Me'. For you people who didnt watch it in the buses/taxis/wherever, itll first show some of the safety factors thru songs (but the singer singing is damn horrible
), then itll display some messages abt 'May Day'. -
1 Much has changed in the course of a year. When I was preparing my May Day Message last year, we were in a very different situation. The economy had a strong first quarter in 2008, and workers were enjoying good bonuses from the year before. The US had already run into difficulties, but we still hoped that the world could avoid taking a major tumble.
2 Unfortunately, the US problems grew into a major financial crisis which has caused a severe worldwide recession. World financial markets are no longer frozen, but things are far from back to normal. All the major economies are contracting simultaneously, for the first time since the Great Depression. The World Bank expects global industrial production to fall by 15% by the middle of this year, and world trade also to fall sharply, especially in Asia. Governments have taken bold steps to boost their economies, but in this unprecedented situation nobody can be sure what measures will work, or how quickly.
3 Singapore is doing all we can to buffer ourselves from the storm. We have launched the Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (SPUR), and the "Resilience Package", which includes the Jobs Credit scheme. We have focused on preserving jobs, because when people have jobs they can look after themselves and their families. Unions and employers have supported these schemes. They have aligned the interests of employers and workers, and helped companies to think of cutting costs to save jobs, instead of cutting jobs to save costs.
This speech reveal the brilliance of a matchstick in Singapore's PM.
It shockingly revealed that in the course of preparing his May Day message in 2008, he did so without considering the stark warnings that were written on the walls in Washington D.C. that appeared as early as 2006 -
What happened to the researchers and gatherers of intelligence and information that would have helped him get a better grasp of reality ?
It seems that despite the writings on the walls, even his Old Man MM LKY and his grand dame at Temasek were all similarly wantonly ignoring the same signs that more astute investors would have given serious attention - and in the process lost US$100 BILLION from Singapore's Reserves.
As early as March 2008 - at least a whole month prior to PM's effort at preparing the May Day 2008 message - investment gurus such as Warren Buffet and those at the US National Association for Business Economics had warned that the -"US Economy is in Recession".
In the second paragraph of his speech - is there any use for the PM to give a summary of what has been the daily dose of economic gloom printed in the various broadcast and print media ?
If Obama paid only an annual salary of US$500,000+ and can show decisiveness in seeking the US Congress to pump US$3 Trillion into the US economy in support of the banking sectors to the manufacturing sectors, and to rebuild the infrastructure of the USA - why is our S$3.5Million salaried PM less certain as to the outcome or direction of his economic recovery policies ?
Compared to the US$3 Trillion Economic Recovery Plan proposed by Obama's Team - the Million Dollar salaried Ministers in the Singapore Cabinet could only think of petty program with an acronym "SPUR" to further drive Singaporeans like horses being moved forward by the sharp spurs on boots.
After urging Singaporeans to move forward by the "SPUR" of their ministerial boots - they come up with another brilliant plan to create "Resilliance Package" to soothe Singaporeans, which will include "Job Credit Scheme" - in the usual PAP "big stick and small carrot" approach used since the 1960s.
Can the Unions and Employers "create or save jobs by cutting costs" - instead of "cutting jobs to save costs" ?
If we could reduce the million dollar wages from the entire Singapore Cabinet, the sum total of all the Ministers' Million Dollar Wages will go a long way to help many jobless Singaporeans to become entrepreneurs.
The Total Annual Wages paid to 22 Ministers and 8 Minister of State amount to S$75Million - and this amount saved annually could be the seed money to help jobless Singaporeans to start new businesses.
His efforts at making the speech is so painfully dismal - as seen in the opening three paragraphs of his May Day message - that it becomes a drag to read it entirely.
PM LHL has a long lead time to fix his next May Day message for 2010 - and it will do him well to read the many signs written on the Singapore walls, if he cannot read those clear signs written in Washington D.C. in 2008.
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The following is a counter-balance dose of reality to the Singapore PM's May Day message:
SDP's May Day message: Time to help our workers
Thursday, 30 April 2009
Over the last decade or so when Singapore experienced the so-called “golden period” described by Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, Singaporean workers have not seen their conditions improve.
In fact statistics show that wages for the labour force, especially those in the lower income levels, have diminished. Between 1998 and 2003, the average household monthly income of the poorest 20 percent of the population decreased by nearly 15 percent while the richest quintile increased by 11.7 percent.In that same period, while the average wage dropped for the poorest 40 percent of households, their expenditure continued to outstrip their income.
These have contributed significantly to the widening income disparity in Singapore. Our Gini coefficient, an indicator of income inequality, resembles those of Third World countries.
Part of the problem is that the PAP Government continues to use cheap foreign labour to suppress wages in a bid to show that our economy is still making money.
There are, of course, a few ways that an economy can grow. One is that our workforce is innovative and intelligent, producing goods and services. The other is that wage levels are ruthlessly suppressed to give the illusion of healthy profit margins.
Needless to say, the second mode of economic “growth” is not viable nor sustainable. This is clearly demonstrated in surveys that show that among the various Asian societies, Singaporeans are most likely to have suffered depression, stress, and fatigue.
But even before our workers can share in the largesse of the boom years, they are now reeling from the devastating effects of the current global economic crisis.
While the going was good, workers did not share in the progress. Now that things have turned sour, workers are expected to bear the brunt by getting retrenched or having to suffer further wage cuts. Singaporean workers are in a lose-lose arrangement.
On this occasion of International Workers' Day, the Singapore Democrats repeat our call for the Government to cease its exploitation of our workers and to return to them the rights to freely organise themselves.
The National Trades Union Congress is a relic that serves neither the purpose of a labour union nor the interests of the workers. It is merely a tool of the PAP to continue the subjugation of workers and to buttress the power of the ruling party.
The Singapore Democrats repeat our call for a democratic and free labour union where workers are empowered and be free of economic enslavement. In doing so we will cultivate an economy that can compete on the world stage and not be at the constant mercy of an export-oriented economic model.
To urgently address some of the immediate problems faced by our workers, we repeat our calls:- for a Singaporeans First Policy in which foreign workers will be retrenched first and Singaporeans laid off only as a last resort. In addition such a policy will require the Government and employers to employ foreigners only if locals cannot be found for the job. This will ensure that only qualified foreigners will be allowed into Singapore.
- to introduce Minimum Wage to ensure that employees be paid fair wages for their work commensurate with the cost of living.
- for Retrenchment Entitlements where the State pays all retrenched workers their salary for a limited period if and when they are retrenched. Such a scheme will provide workers a cushion when they are retrenched.
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Gentle reminder that we have an opposition and activists persecuting, short sighted, public money grabbing, self-serving despot in power....
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Originally posted by deepak.c:
KNN!
I just realised that I have been taking bitter medicine for the past decade.
Apart from the bitter medicine, they did give me a chicken drumstick to eat, not long after they demanded a chicken back from me.
gave you a chicken drumstick but demanded a whole chicken back right?