Budget 2016: Stuck in a Car in the Fog. Who to Ask for Directions?
Since 2012 I have pointed out, repeatedly, that the Singapore Budget presentation gives a deeply misleading picture of the Government’s finances. I have written innumerable times on how the Budget does […]
Changing Austerity For Prosperity
Budget Day, which has been postponed to March 24 this year without a reason being given (perhaps to coincide with the anniversary of LKY’s death) will soon be upon us. The […]
There Are Bigger Things to Worry About Than a Shrinking and Ageing Population
Yesterday Japan announced that its population had shrunk by nearly a million in the last half decade (see the NY Times article here) . The Ministry of Internal Affairs and […]
Plunging Exports Will Result in Many Years of Slow Growth Without a Change in Policy
In the light of the big drop in exports in January 2016 over the same month last year it is likely that growth for the final quarter of 2015 will […]
Slick Presentation and an Appeal to Your Emotions Cannot Hide a Fascist Message
Recently I came across a video by a group callling themselves We are Majulah that has been making the rounds on Facebook. So far it has garnered about 11,000 shares […]
Singapore’s High Ranking on the Heritage Foundation Index Has More to do with US Politics Than with How Free Singapore Actually Is
A few days ago the State Times published an article entitled “Singapore still 2nd freest economy in the world but gap with top-ranked Hong Kong widens“. The Heritage Foundation, a […]
No idea what to do? Talk about the long-term instead
On the first day of CNY Lee Hsien Loong was up early and distributing mandarins and red packets to the Changi Airport workers unfortunate enough to be working on a […]
Temasek’s Portfolio is Probably Down 20% Already and the Chinese Stock Market Rout May Just Be Getting Started
Back in July last year I did some rather basic analysis of Temasek’s results for the year ended 31 March 2015 and for the performance of its portfolio since then […]
Why Donald Trump Can Only Envy Lee Hsien Loong
Recently some American journalists have described the leading Republican candidate for the Presidency, Donald Trump, as a fascist citing some of his statements, particularly against Muslims and Mexican immigrants as […]
