THE PRICE TO PAY FOR BEING A GLOBAL CITY
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Did anything strike you as strange after reading today’s edition of The Sunday Times?
I’m not quite sure how to describe the feeling I had — one of sadness, surprise or wonderment.
One Page 16 article entitled “Big Spenders from China” talked about the expensive shopping habits of affluent young Chinese tourists from the mainland.
Fashion designer Wen Hong Xia, 25, told the newspaper she visits Singapore every year with four girlfriends, stays at the exclusive St. Regis and spends at least S$100,000 each time on designer goods.
Why? Because “we don’t feel ashamed by how much we spend because our parents can afford it, and they don’t mind us spending,” the Shanghai native quipped.
In another example, a local tour guide recounted how he led 400 mainland Chinese tourists from Wenzhou city to a DFS Galleria outlet and how they wiped clean $300,000 worth of luxury goods off the shelves at one go.
Another article on the previous page entitled “PRs seeking welcome to the Club” talked about how Permanent Residents (PRs) from the rest of Asia such as Japan, Korea, Taiwan and India are snapping up country club memberships at places like Sentosa and Singapore Island Country Club.
It gave the example of Singapore PR Lu Chao Chen from Taiwan, 45, who splashed out S$225,000 for an SICC membership last month because “I’m sure it will go up, and then I will have to spend more.”
Contrast this with another article on Page 8 on the sudden spike in money-lending outfits around Singapore entitled, “A peek into the business of quick cash” and how they were making brisk business from Singaporeans.
It quoted a 24-year-old Singaporean lady toting a Louis Vuitton bag urgently needing to borrow $800 to settle a phone bill as saying, “I will return my loan over two weeks in six payments. Like that, the interest rates are not so high, so it should be okay.”
And on Page 2, there was a follow-up on the recent announcement of the 2010 World Cup pricing package and how Singaporeans complained that the $70.22 early bird deal was way too costly.
Am I the only one that feels that there is an imbalance of sorts somewhere? How the average Singaporean gripes about having to pay $70 for a television program or desperately scrambles to pay a phone bill while tourists and PRs here think nothing of blowing thousands on bling and bags every chance they get?
I’m well aware that the big spenders who splurge their cash and flaunt their wealth here are generally well-heeled and do not accurately portray the average lifestyle back in their native countries.
But still, it makes me wonder about the cost of living in Singapore. Are Singaporeans slowly being priced out of the market – from everything from jobs to condos to cars to casinos and country clubs? Is this, pardon the pun, the price to pay for aspiring to be a global city? -
oh now we are blaming it on being a Global city.......??? why not corporate Greed on the issued of world Cup!!!
We are a laughing stock to the world....to have to pay so much on watching a sporting game show that would have been pay off by "Advertising revenue".
No countries would pass so much cost to its viewers.... this entire world cup price is a disgrace it should have been call World CASH.
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Want to cut and paste, at least quote the reporter's name la brudder. I think Sg has gone down an inevitable path, one that is of no return.
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No more Singapore liao. Sometimes I feel we Singaporeans are no different then Bangladesh workers. But upper class and educated. Foreigners come here open business and tour we provide them skills, service with much lower cost of price than other countries. Singapore is like a mass production factory which produce educated and cheap workers thru a conveyor belt, which keep upgrading its hardware and firmware according to the global market needs.
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Yes wonder more.U r falling waaaay behind.
Jealousy has no cure!
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Many foreigners in Singapore. We are invaded by foreigners
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Originally posted by small-man:
No more Singapore liao. Sometimes I feel we Singaporeans are no different then Bangladesh workers. But upper class and educated. Foreigners come here open business and tour we provide them skills, service with much lower cost of price than other countries. Singapore is like a mass production factory which produce educated and cheap workers thru a conveyor belt, which keep upgrading its hardware and firmware according to the global market needs.
This.
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china people are the new rich lar. but they are boarish in their behaviours. how ironic that their country is still officially under communism, but more capitalist in reality. Deng Xiao Ping knew that communism was the road to ruins in 1978 when China was opened up.
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Aiya of course in ever country, there are bound to be rich people ma. No surpise they come to spend. Also have rich Sporeans go overseas to learn how to cook, spend so much money & then kanna bomba by netizens.
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I also feel hopeless on future of Singapore.
That is what depresses me.
I don't see any future for Singapore under PAP rule.
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so u know what to do when the next GE comes around lar
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All my dreams of living in Singapore turned to dust since Lee Hsien Loong rule 5 years ago.
He killed off all of my dreams of Singapore.
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It is obvious that the news reports cannot be taken as a comprehensive picture, they are just merely snapshots.
Tourists of course will be more well-off.....they are middle or upper-middle class people.
But not all foreigners in Singapore are like that. Foreigners in Singapore consists of jet-set, upper-middle class, middle-class, lower-middle class, and bottom poor people.
Majority of Singaporeans are poor and will continue to be poor. Why do I say so? Because Singapore lacks land. Singapore also lacks natural resources.
Because of that, most Singaporeans live in small chicken coops.
But nothing can be done.
In Japan it is also like that.
I read a book written by a former Singaporean ambassador stationed in Japan. He wrote some very good and insightful observations. One thing he said is that, on the surface Japan is rich, but actually, many Japanese actually live a poor life. They work long hours, stressed, compete with everyone, live in small chicken coops, have low sex, and low birth rate.
Guess what?
It is exactly matching the conditions in Singapore.
Singapore is even worse than Japan, because the land area is smaller, population and critical mass, market size, talent pool, everything is less.
HongKong is also similar, even worse. HongKong is an oligarchy with very rich people but also has some very poor people around. Housing is even worse. You can just move your buttocks from your bed and walk one-two steps and fill the entire room already.
This situation is different if you see a country such as Australia.
Australia has abundant land and natural resources.
But I dont believe that we can say, that foreign capital, trades, and incoming foreigners have made life more difficult for Singaporeans. This is not true economically speaking. (except housing). Because in economy theory they should benefit the Singaporeans through ripple effect and trickle down effect.
So in conclusion, the hard life is not caused by external factors, but by a limiting internal factor.
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Unlike many countries, singapore alway emhpasis on education first, Singaporean are actually god bless people, because we are given ample education opportunities throughout their life in a longlife learning journey, but sad to say, many dun pick up the advantages given, you dun get that kind of education, which is cheap and recognized in most of our surrounding countries, perhaps our govt had overly pampered the locals too much in the past resulting in many having a complacency attitude toward life.
Our City is global, but the citizens is very much still local thinking, they need to come out of their shell, explore the world more and maybe they will fully appreciate and able to adapt to the global city condition.
There are such thing as all rich in a rich country, and in reverse, no such as all poor in a poor country.
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The income gap has nothing to do with being a global city. It's just that in a capitalist and meritocratic environment, the rich will naturally get richer and the poor poorer. The income gap between the rich and poor is widening with each year, despite the progressive tax system.
The government needs to help the poor by ensuring that the income gap does not widen so much that livelihood becomes a problem. So our government has come up with some measures to protect the poor, like allowing the the values of Singaporeans' HDB flats to appreciate, and increasing GST to 7%.
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Having said all, our poor in singapore are not as poor as most countries in comparision, unlike other countries' poors, most of our poor still have a roof on top of them, a job, easy access to medicate cares and most importantly, able to rich thru ample opportunities The bus of richness is alway moving, it is up to individual to hop on it, if you miss it, wait for the next one to come along, but if you do not intent to take any of this opportunities, which also need alot of hard and smart work, no body can help you much. Given you a fishing rod and taught you how to fish, dun expect people to fish for you.
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Havent anyone spotted yet that this is another attempt at sneaking in a self praise of being a 'global city'?
Why would anyone complain about the people splashing money on these extravagant unecessary things? these are the people keeping the economy going.
Singaporeans being priced out of Phone and television bills? c'mon even if the population raises to 7 million that would be marginal given the economies of scale of small singapore?
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Originally posted by godchuanz:
The income gap has nothing to do with being a global city. It's just that in a capitalist and meritocratic environment, the rich will naturally get richer and the poor poorer. The income gap between the rich and poor is widening with each year, despite the progressive tax system.
The government needs to help the poor by ensuring that the income gap does not widen so much that livelihood becomes a problem. So our government has come up with some measures to protect the poor, like allowing the the values of Singaporeans' HDB flats to appreciate, and increasing GST to 7%.
This sounds like propoganda.
Something which I expect will be very common for the next couple of months from newly registered posters.
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charlize, this is not propaganda. I don't belong to any political group. And it has nothing to do with recently registered or not.
The thread starter talked about the contrast between the spending power of the rich and poor, and linked it with being a price to pay for being a global city. My opinion is that it is not a direct consequence of being a global city, but that it is natural in a capitalist environment. The government has the responsibility to help keep the income gap manageable.
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Originally posted by godchuanz:
charlize, this is not propaganda. I don't belong to any political group. And it has nothing to do with recently registered or not.
The thread starter talked about the contrast between the spending power of the rich and poor, and linked it with being a price to pay for being a global city. My opinion is that it is not a direct consequence of being a global city, but that it is natural in a capitalist environment. The government has the responsibility to help keep the income gap manageable.
My bad, my bad.
Increasing GST is to help the poor.
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Originally posted by charlize:
My bad, my bad.
Increasing GST is to help the poor.
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At least according to our government, increasing GST is to help the poor.
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those who live a high life represents only a very very small percentage.
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Originally posted by Wmyongj:
Did anything strike you as strange after reading today’s edition of The Sunday Times?
I’m not quite sure how to describe the feeling I had — one of sadness, surprise or wonderment.
One Page 16 article entitled “Big Spenders from China” talked about the expensive shopping habits of affluent young Chinese tourists from the mainland.
Fashion designer Wen Hong Xia, 25, told the newspaper she visits Singapore every year with four girlfriends, stays at the exclusive St. Regis and spends at least S$100,000 each time on designer goods.
Why? Because “we don’t feel ashamed by how much we spend because our parents can afford it, and they don’t mind us spending,” the Shanghai native quipped.
In another example, a local tour guide recounted how he led 400 mainland Chinese tourists from Wenzhou city to a DFS Galleria outlet and how they wiped clean $300,000 worth of luxury goods off the shelves at one go.
Another article on the previous page entitled “PRs seeking welcome to the Club” talked about how Permanent Residents (PRs) from the rest of Asia such as Japan, Korea, Taiwan and India are snapping up country club memberships at places like Sentosa and Singapore Island Country Club.
It gave the example of Singapore PR Lu Chao Chen from Taiwan, 45, who splashed out S$225,000 for an SICC membership last month because “I’m sure it will go up, and then I will have to spend more.”
Contrast this with another article on Page 8 on the sudden spike in money-lending outfits around Singapore entitled, “A peek into the business of quick cash” and how they were making brisk business from Singaporeans.
It quoted a 24-year-old Singaporean lady toting a Louis Vuitton bag urgently needing to borrow $800 to settle a phone bill as saying, “I will return my loan over two weeks in six payments. Like that, the interest rates are not so high, so it should be okay.”
And on Page 2, there was a follow-up on the recent announcement of the 2010 World Cup pricing package and how Singaporeans complained that the $70.22 early bird deal was way too costly.
Am I the only one that feels that there is an imbalance of sorts somewhere? How the average Singaporean gripes about having to pay $70 for a television program or desperately scrambles to pay a phone bill while tourists and PRs here think nothing of blowing thousands on bling and bags every chance they get?
I’m well aware that the big spenders who splurge their cash and flaunt their wealth here are generally well-heeled and do not accurately portray the average lifestyle back in their native countries.
But still, it makes me wonder about the cost of living in Singapore. Are Singaporeans slowly being priced out of the market – from everything from jobs to condos to cars to casinos and country clubs? Is this, pardon the pun, the price to pay for aspiring to be a global city?Well, we do have people splurging over $40,000 for a 2 week trip to Paris for cooking classes.
Is that living the high life or what?
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Originally posted by dragg:
those who live a high life represents only a very very small percentage.
Like Sharel Ho, for example.