The Moley Prophet

Riding on the very old and worn train along the East-West line, you could see the faces of probably ignorant Singaporeans on what the fierce inflation might mean to them. Yes, they probably felt the pinch of the price hikes, probably had restrained their spending power, but the real impact of the latest inflation is still looming. This inflation only further widens the gap between the rich, and the middle income along with the poor. In fact, the middle income might just dilute into the lowest category.

You could see how the rich pursues their winning advantage. Look at SMRT, despite of the numerous incidents which lie on their faulty systems, causing them to receive the ‘big ticket’ fines, their profits continue to increase. And what were they saying earlier? There is a need to increase ticket fares to combat rising costs, if they were able to boost profits despite making numerous mistakes, where did their rising costs go? They had probably taken them from the pockets of their employees.

Recently, during the review by National Wage Council, Singaporeans were told to hold their hunger for higher salaries which they hope to counter rising costs. And yet, Grace Fu could say that we should be increasing the pay packets of foreign expats. These are the people who would be taking the money out of Singapore. Do we not have enough talent pool to support our economy? Or perhaps they have all left for countries which recognizes their talents?

The money that is leaving our shores could only be hurting our economy further. Most Small and Medium sized Enterprises depend on the money coming in from the middle income to survive. With the rising costs and the refusal to adjust the normal income of Singaporeans to match real income, the spending power of the middle class dropped by a huge margin. As their spending power dropped, they buy lesser, and SMEs income dip further. See the chain effect here? If this government does not rectify the situation but continues to make unforgiveable mistakes like the Mas Selamat incident which resulted in loss of millions worth in cross border trades, the situation could ultimately be disastrous.