Worrying lesson from Japan

The headlines of a news report said, "GDP up, exports up" but the sub-headline says "Jobless increases, wages depressed".

I am afraid that this will be the situation in many countries around the world, including America and Singapore. It is the consequence of the "globalisation" model, weak protection of workers and consumers, and the wide disparity of income. This is why Singapore, Hong Kong and America have the largest ratio of billionaires to population.

Even Japan, which is more socialist in its governance, is suffering indirectly from globalisation. This is why wages continues to fall, and many people continue to be unemployed.

How can the world be more prosperous, if wealth is not shared fairly and justly? How many people should go into poverty and debt, to create more billionaires for a few?

Slow recovery of global economy

Many analysts have commented that the global economy is still not "out of the woods". Unemployment continues to be high. The current euphoria in the stock market is due to the injection of government funds to prop up the economy.

America faces this situation now. I think that our government leaders are also hinting that Singapore faces a similar situation.

Express bus in Singapore

Read my views about operating express buses to connect the different towns in Singapore and offer effective competition to the MRT.

Use "funny language" to confuse the policyholder

In April, a policyholder was advised by the agent to "lock in" his investment linked policy and wait for a higher price to "lock out" his policy. He was assured that he would not be adversely affected by this transaction. He trusted the agent and took the advice to "lock in" his policy, although he was not clear about this concept.

Later, he discovered that "lock in" meant that he sold his investments to prevent further loss, if the market falls further. Instead of protecting against further losses, he missed the rally in the market and lost a lot of money due to this bad advice.

Why did the agent use "funny language" to confuse the policyholder? Why not advise the policyholder in direct language, i.e. sell the investments to avoid further losses from a falling market?

If the policyholder sells the investments and buy them back later, will the agent earn commission on the new purchase? I do not know the practice of this company and the terms on which the units are sold and bought back. Is this another form of twisting?

I wonder if the agent was giving bad advice, or have an ulterior motive in getting the client to churn the investment? I am very sad that some agents take advantage of policyholders to earn more commission.

Billionaires

The following table shows the ratio of billionaires to population. HK has the highest ratio followed by USA. They tend to reflect nations with the widest disparity of income. I wonder where Singapore stands?

Country    Billionaires    Population    Ratio
USA          269             303 m        0.88
Japan         29             127 m        0.23
Germany       28              82 m        0.34
Hong Kong     14              10 m        1.40
UK            12              60 m        0.20
Singapore      ?               5 m         ?

President Obama's speech to the United Nations

As I hear President Obama speak to the United Nations, I wonder - how much is he referring to Singapore? We will know, when he comes to Singapore in November for the APEC meeting.

Whistle blower of a rating agency

Here is an ex-employee who blew the whistle on a rating agency. Read this story.