The Greek cisis is a bad sign for the global economy. Many countries have large budget deficit and depend on borrowings to finance the deficit. Lenders are now worried that these countries cannot repay their debt.
The crisis is now affecting Europe. It is likely to spread to other countries. The countries that have large budget deficits that depend on borrowings include the USA, UK and Japan. Investors may lose confidence in these countries and lead to another crisis.
Look at what happened to Dubai and now Greece. It is a matter of time before the loss of confidence spread to other countries.
The global economy is fragile. It is bad to depend on private money to fund government deficits. A lot of the private money are in hedge funds. I consider these hedge funds to be financial terrorists. They can bring down a currency or a country, so as to make a large profit from the destruction. I think that hedge funds should be banned.
Tan Kin Lian
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Think out of the box
20 people responded to the contest to find a "out of the box" solution shown here. Most of the suggestions are:
a) ask X to remarry
b) buy a single's flat
X is not prepared to remarry just to keep the flat. He finds it costly to sell his flat and buy a new flat under the single's scheme.
I wish to award my prize (Tangram book) to the person who submitted this suggestion:
Quote
1. Mr. X appears to be occupying the existing flat under Public Scheme with a CPF Housing Grant for Family which is $30,000. HDB will consider the case of married child moving out based on the case. See http://www.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/fi10326p.nsf/w/ChgOwnerMarriedChildMoving?OpenDocument
2. If (1) above does not work, appeal to HDB to change the scheme type to Single Singapore Citizen Scheme with CPF Housing Grant of $11,000. See http://www.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/fi10321p.nsf/w/BuyResaleFlatSingleScheme?OpenDocument and be willing to return (30000-11000)=$19,000 back to HDB.
3. If (1) and (2) does not work, the simplest solution is to move to the daughter's new flat. There will be lack of privacy and independence but guarantees to provide a roof for Mr. X without hassle.
Unquote
What can the HDB CEO do to help X? He could consider the appeal and do not take any decision for a long time. X can continue to live in the HDB flat while the appeal is being considered.
Tan Kin Lian
a) ask X to remarry
b) buy a single's flat
X is not prepared to remarry just to keep the flat. He finds it costly to sell his flat and buy a new flat under the single's scheme.
I wish to award my prize (Tangram book) to the person who submitted this suggestion:
Quote
1. Mr. X appears to be occupying the existing flat under Public Scheme with a CPF Housing Grant for Family which is $30,000. HDB will consider the case of married child moving out based on the case. See http://www.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/fi10326p.nsf/w/ChgOwnerMarriedChildMoving?OpenDocument
2. If (1) above does not work, appeal to HDB to change the scheme type to Single Singapore Citizen Scheme with CPF Housing Grant of $11,000. See http://www.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/fi10321p.nsf/w/BuyResaleFlatSingleScheme?OpenDocument and be willing to return (30000-11000)=$19,000 back to HDB.
3. If (1) and (2) does not work, the simplest solution is to move to the daughter's new flat. There will be lack of privacy and independence but guarantees to provide a roof for Mr. X without hassle.
Unquote
What can the HDB CEO do to help X? He could consider the appeal and do not take any decision for a long time. X can continue to live in the HDB flat while the appeal is being considered.
Tan Kin Lian
Case study - flexibility
12 people participated in the survey. Here are the results.
Case Study
X is the person in charge of convening a meeting of owners of a condominium that wishes to appoint a sales committee for an enbloc sales. The law requires 30% of the owners to be present for the meeting to start at the "appointed time". At the time of the meeting, the quorum of the meeting was not met. However, some owners appeared with the next 15 minutes and the quorum was met. The law did not state whether the meeting cound be extended beyond the appointed time, but also did not state that any extension was disallowed. Should X allowed the meeting to start later, when the quorum was met? Give your views in this survey
Case Study
X is the person in charge of convening a meeting of owners of a condominium that wishes to appoint a sales committee for an enbloc sales. The law requires 30% of the owners to be present for the meeting to start at the "appointed time". At the time of the meeting, the quorum of the meeting was not met. However, some owners appeared with the next 15 minutes and the quorum was met. The law did not state whether the meeting cound be extended beyond the appointed time, but also did not state that any extension was disallowed. Should X allowed the meeting to start later, when the quorum was met? Give your views in this survey
Expensive computerisation projects
I heard about companies spending several tens of million dollars in computerisation projects. This is far too expensive. Most of the money goes towards paying consultants to advice on workflow and customisation of system.
My friend, who worked in a large insurance company, told me that they spend more than 100 million to computerise their operations and the new computer system is still not working well. This is mind boggling. The money comes from the bonus of their policyholders!
Sometimes, I wonder if the board and top management is happy to spend so much money and if they are preapred to consider a lower cost option, if available. I believe that a large organisation can cut its computerisation budget by 50%, if they adopt a sensible approach towards computerisation. Apart from the cost savings, they will also be able to implement the new system more quickly, have less hassle and a higher chance of success.
But first, they must be keen to explore this possibility. If they prefer to spend big budget, there will always be the opportunity to make a big splash.
Tan Kin Lian
My friend, who worked in a large insurance company, told me that they spend more than 100 million to computerise their operations and the new computer system is still not working well. This is mind boggling. The money comes from the bonus of their policyholders!
Sometimes, I wonder if the board and top management is happy to spend so much money and if they are preapred to consider a lower cost option, if available. I believe that a large organisation can cut its computerisation budget by 50%, if they adopt a sensible approach towards computerisation. Apart from the cost savings, they will also be able to implement the new system more quickly, have less hassle and a higher chance of success.
But first, they must be keen to explore this possibility. If they prefer to spend big budget, there will always be the opportunity to make a big splash.
Tan Kin Lian
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