Property here cheap???

Today's newspaper article once again compared Singapore with the other countries, saying that Singapore is not expensive compared to Hong Kong and Mumbai.

The main question they should ask themselves is that how big are their cities compared to Singapore? And how much they earn average compared to Singapore. HK salaries are on average twice more than Singapore for the same job!!

I get it!! There's a conspiracy to make us move to our neighboring countries so we can attract more foreign imports into the country! Where else can we move if the property prices go beyond the average folks?? Even HDBs are going for more than half a million. Yeah right. Use the word inflation. I'm going to use the word called election soon!

HDB Boon Keng $650psf???!?!?

Updated 5 Jan 2008: Refer to this post for the newest pricing ($520psf average)

This is crazy!! I thought I will never see the time where HDB is selling for $650psf. That means for a 5 room flat, you can pay as much as SGD650,000!!

Has HDB forgotten the roots of why HDB was formed? What's their vision? What's their objective? Although Boon Keng HDB is built by private developers, the premium should not be excessive. This premium puts it more expensive than some of the condominiums around that area.

Is HDB sleeping???? If the pricing is really approved, Singapore be prepared for an inflation of 2 to 3% next year.

Ridiculous! And the civil sector just got a raise too! This is definitely going as a black mark.

What is Beauty?

I like this quote from the Slice Of Life:

Beauty, in its most wholesome sense, has to be authentic. The real You is the most attractive thing about you. If you depend solely on your external appearance to feel loved or valuable, then you'll probably forget to nurture your other attributes. In time, you'll find that you are not much more than a shell.

Beauty is being comfortable with yourself. It's the realization that you truly are your own person. That you are no longer accountable to the judgment of others. This is you and this is what you do, and the judgment of others should in no way overshadow your own interests and mental well-being.

Totally erase your files

Have you ever encountered the situation where you want to trade-in your laptop, and wish that you can wipe out all the data such that it cannot be retrieved? Actually, there is a hidden command in WinXP that allows you to do that. It's called cipher.

Cipher has many options and one of the options is /W. This is a snapshot of the help provided by cipher:
/W Removes data from available unused disk space on the entire
volume. If this option is chosen, all other options are ignored.
The directory specified can be anywhere in a local volume. If it
is a mount point or points to a directory in another volume, the
data on that volume will be removed.

My layman translation is that it will entirely wipe out all the data in the free space you have currently in the drive containing the directory specified. For example, if you have specified C:\Temp, it will make sure that all the free space in your Drive C will be wiped out.

However, if your C:\Temp points to another drive, it will wipe out the other drive's free space instead. This however, I have not tried. I have also not tried wiping out Drive D for example, so I'm not sure if my translation is correctly.

Do note that when you're running the command, close all your other applications. It may take some time as it does the following to your free space in the drive:

• Write Hex 00 to every free space
• Write Hex FF to every free space
• Write random numbers to every free space

To run the command, please do the following:

1. Goto Start > Run
2. Type cmd
3. Type cipher /W: (e.g. cipher /W:C:\Temp)

That's all to it. Just leave it there and it will make sure your free space is really free space. :)
Hope this helps...

Why the HDB $8,000 ceiling should not be raised

Just read an article giving the reasons why the HDB income ceiling should be raised. I'm now giving some reasons on why it should not be raised. Just 3 will do.

1. What does the recent Walk-In-Selection (WIS) fights tell you about the demand and supply of HDB flats?
2. What does the recent numbers of the balloting for both WIS and new flats, tell you about the demand and supply?
   
3. What does the growing number of complaints that they could not get a chance to own a HDB flat tell you about the demand and supply?

For those who keep track of these happenings, they will know the reasons why the HDB income ceiling of $8,000 should not be raised. Simply put... Supply is much lower than demand. It's not like those who earn more than $8,000 could get an HDB flat. I can think of much more reasons but I think these 3 suffice. Anyone who knows about economics know that pricing is all about demand and supply.

Sometimes, you have to think about those people who try year after year, but still unable to ballot for a flat.

Co-relation between my guitar and mood

After reviewing my previous blog postings, I have realized something which I missed out if I did not write down my thoughts.

The period where I was most negative, seems to be also the period where I had no guitar practices for some reason or another.

Somehow, playing the guitar helps to tune and balance my mood, and helps me keep my sanity. I suspected this a long time ago but I guess I did not know how big an effect it is on my mood. Although I might complain that I do not have time to practice my guitar, but when I do squeeze out time to do it, I somehow feel better after playing, like now. :)

The wonders music does to you... Back to my guitar...

US growth is definitely slowing down

The latest job report came out yesterday and fears of a recession is taking hold. Why? Because its the first time in 4 years where the US economy lost jobs (-4000), instead of adding on to jobs. Cut in jobs mean economic growth might be stalled. Since US is the biggest consumer of services, their slowing economy has an adverse effect on the global economy. No one will like this because it will affect almost each and every country in the world.

I was curious so I dug a little on the details. I'm not a economics graduate but I guess I can still understand some numbers. :)

Government sector (public): -28,000
Private sector: +24,000
Total: -4000

Therefore looking on this perspective, the general economy is still growing, abeit a little slower.

Government sector lost jobs due to the slower hiring in the education sector.

Private sector was largely affected by the construction and manufacturing. Construction we all know why. Manufacturing though, the most job cuts is due to the automobile sector. The reason behind that is most probably due to Toyota, high oil prices, and the upcoming energy bill "forcing" cars to be more energy efficient. However, services sector hiring is healthy.

By looking at the details, I don't see that recession is coming because the different sectors are balancing each other. By zooming out, and looking at the numbers using year on year, you'll find that there's virtually no change in numbers compared to Aug 2006. Therefore looking at it as a whole, the economy is still growing, just much slower.

I still do not believe that the US will go into recession just because of a major slowing down on one economy sector. Gone are the days where the country is only reliant on 1 particular sector for growth, especially for developed countries. If this still happens, it speaks alot of the current Bush administration.

However, the numbers do have an effect on the general global economy. The threat of a recession for US does go up. Singapore, being highly reliant on the US economy, will be affected, as our most recent newspaper articles show. Now is the time though to see if all the FTAs among Asia countries help in averting a recession. It will be interesting to see how our government will react to this piece of news.

So will this jobs data trigger a cut in the Fed's benchmark interest. Previously, I was of the opinion that the Fed would not cut at least for this year. However, for now, I think the Feds would be forced to cut 25 basis point in September. It'll be more of a psychological cut, instead of an economy-induced cut. After that, they will maintain the rate, and depending on the inflation data, they might raise the interest rates again. Of course this is a personal opinion, based on the various news I've read and dug out.

Having said that, the Feds might have more tricks up their sleeves. With new chiefs, come new ways of doing things. Who says you must take the same medicine to cure the same illness? :) I got a weird feeling that the Feds might not cut, but introduce some other measures. Easy money does not cure the illness. It just hides the symptoms.

This is really an interesting year...

Why are people so lazy??

Just witnessed something very stupid today.

Saw a few people standing about 5metres away from the traffic light, waiting for the green man to appear. The most "wonderful" part is that nobody press the button to indicate that they want to cross. Meaning, the light will never change to the green man. I see them patiently waiting for the green man which will never appear.

I never know why are people sometimes so lazy. Does it take a lot of effort to raise your hand and press the button? Yet, they wait there, and expect somebody else to press the button. It's like the bus. No one will want to press the bell unless it's very near the bus stop.

Going off. I've been very tired recently. I just need to touch the bed, and I can fall asleep. Not sure why...

Needs and Wants

I quote this from the Slice Of Life, which I find very meaningful:

There is nothing fundamentally wrong with desire. Desire can inspire us to greater love and selflessness. It can motivate us to improve ourselves. But if the things we want are unattainable, we must be able to accept it. We all can get what we want, if we can just want what we get.

As Donald Horban once said, "We don't need to increase our goods nearly as much as we need to scale down our wants. Not wanting something is as good as possessing it."

Thoughts on Bush and Bernake Speech

I was reading briefly on their speech last night regarding the sub-prime crisis. Basically, every analyst who read the speech interprets it differently. Most however seems to think that the Feds will rescue them because they are "ready to act" when necessary.

The key point however, is that they are ready to act if it spills to the broader economy. That's the keyword. Another is that they will not bail out speculators and investors who undertake too much risks.

Translated, the share markets are not their concern. However, if they see a drop of numbers in the general economy, they will act. However, acting on it does not necessarily mean cutting of interest rates. In nowhere did they mention anything about rates. Meaning, it could be government policies (like our CPF changes), or injection of liquidity, or even formation of some agency.

I'm still firm on the belief that they are trying to undo the damage of "easy money", and they will not cut rates so easily. The general economy of the US on the contrary has been steady. Everyone has been too focused on what US was like, but did not look at where US is going to be in the future.

My general thinking is still the same. Economy will slow, but it will not lead to a recession, provided there are no "external" factors.

This year is going to be interesting... Next year even more.