In the heated conversations under my previous two posts about the influence of the British Empire on Singapore one thing stood out to me: it seems that everybody agrees at least on one thing - that the city-state is really the only successful former colony in the world. No country
Predictably my last post ruffled a few feathers leading some to protest how dare I say such things! Sadly, ignorance comes in many different flavours, so now I'd like to address some of them separately. One may believe presenting historical facts should be enough but ethnonationalist biases, ego
September has only just begun and so much misinformation to deal with already. HDB prices, consequences of smoking a joint abroad and now the evergreen topic of "minimum wage".Starting Sep. 1st companies employing foreigners in Singapore will have to pay their local employees a minimum qualifying salary
Ladies and gentlemen of Singapore, the country is ready for some serious cost cutting in the administration as it closes down its central bank, which is obviously no longer needed as its role can be now done by one man!Unsurprisingly, just moments after MAS announced adjustments to its policy,
Conventional knowledge suggests that economic crises are not the best time to increase taxes. After all, they tend to add to the burdens already faced by the economy at a time when it should be lifted. So, why is Singapore pressing with the GST increase to 9% by 2024? Firstly,
I remember when I first heard how much it costs to buy a car in Singapore I was absolutely astounded.With all the import taxes and COE the sum you have to pay for a mid-range hatchback could let you very nearly buy a supercar in Europe. The thing is,
I've long observed that the government in Singapore, while delivering a solid performance, has problems with communicating it clearly to the public. One such example is the impending GST increase to 9%, which was tentatively announced back in 2018 and is now planned to take place by 2024.
I once heard someone say that the government could technically abolish income tax for most people but it doesn't to give them a sense of participation.While I don't know if the story is true, it's easy to see that instead of a sense
My recent argument with Jamus Lim (you can follow it in full on his wall) has revealed just how ambitious and self-confident WP's economist is.After lecturing trade unions back in 2020 about "folksy wisdom" that apparently guides their negotiations with the government re: minimum wages,
A few days ago I responded to Jamus Lim's post proposing that MAS should spend billions of dollars to make SGD more expensive so people can buy things more cheaply (even though it makes Singapore more costly to foreign buyers). Today I got an even more bizarre reply,
Does Singapore have too much money in foreign reserves? Should MAS spend it to boost the value of SGD and promote imports?
Despite David Card's rebuttals, his findings on minimum wage continue to be peddled by left-wing economists and politicians as dogma.
