62? 65? 68?

Am I surprised about the news that they intend to raise the retirement age to 68? Nope. I sort of expected this when I read that Europe is intending to raise their retirement age. Other than what the news has mentioned about Finland, Britain is also intending to raise their retirement age (for men) to 68 from 65 years of age.

However, one important point was missing from the news article. The reason for the other countries' decision to raise their retirement ages is because of *drum roll* their pension funds. So what's our reason? Our pension funds? What pension funds?


All this talk on raising of retirement ages and working as long as you can is all based on one big assumption. We all enjoy our work and will like to continue working as long as possible. This is really a big assumption. Are all of us happy at work? How many of us drag ourselves to work everyday? How many of us look at our retirement as an end goal when we go to work?

Not all of us are able to find work that matches what we like to do. For example, if I choose to play classical guitar for a living, will I survive in Singapore? Not very likely. However, will I play guitar as long as I can? Yes I will.

There is a mismatch in expectations. We're expected to work longer because Singapore depends on human capital for its growth. The prices of goods and services are also rising faster than our salary due to the "productivity" drive. As a result, we become more stressed at work and work longer hours to "do more with less". What does that result in? Lesser babies. I've written about this in another post here.

Some people will of course ask, where is the proof? Where is the connection? I just ask a very simple question. Do you have the mood for intimacy if you're stressed up?

This leads to a vicious cycle where the number of elderly people will soon surpass the number of younger folks. Lesser people working will lead to lower taxes and consumption which results in lesser jobs. Solution? Easy way which most are taking is to redefine the definition of elderly. 60 considered as old? No no. 62. 65. 68. They will keep increasing the retirement age. The not so easy way? Innovation that will allow different industries to do things differently, and in a more efficient manner. For example, look at how Android helped Motorola.

All this talk on increasing retirement age is valid and achievable, if and only if, innovation is encouraged in all the different types of industries, and there is no need for people to switch industries to chase after the latest "trend". People can choose to work in areas that they are interested in, and yet able to make a living. When you're working on things that you're interested in, it's more likely that you'll be able to enjoy your work, leading to a reduction in stress levels. It's also more likely that innovation happens when you're doing things that you're interested in.

Anyway, productivity doesn't help you do more with less. Innovation does.

Inflation is up 3.7%

These are the Singapore inflation rates for 2010:
January: 0.2%
February: 1.0%
March: 1.6%
April: 3.2%
May: 3.2%
June: 2.7%
July: 3.1% 
August: 3.3%
September: 3.7%

Transport and Housing are once again leading the pack, rising by 9.1% and 4.7% respectively year on year. Other than Communication costs, all other items' inflation is once again in the positive zone.

I believe the increase in inflation is mainly because of the rise in electricity tariffs, and this would be the theme for the rest of the year. This spike is unexpected though. I will refrain from adjusting my inflation estimates, but it would seem that it would hit 2.7% or even more for this year.

Nowadays they don't go to elections with concrete plans?

I watch with interest in the upcoming US elections in November. It seems that the upcoming US election is not about giving concrete plans on how to move ahead, but to see who is more popular. Republicans are rumoured to be able to grab the majority of seats in upcoming election because of the dissatisfaction with the ruling party. That would be a pity though.

Ok, I don't live in the US and I can't say that I know a lot about US politics. However, I do know that it seems that whatever the Democrats proposed, the Republicans are sure to oppose. I don't know about you but if someone seems to be vetoing everything that I'm proposing, how will I then resolve the problem? People seem to forget that the economic crisis was years in the making, and it cannot be resolved overnight. People also forgotten which ruling party caused the US deficits and in a way, this economic crisis.

One example of the politics being played now in US is the topic of the growing US deficits. The Republicans initially aim to continue the tax cuts even for high-income people, contending that taxes shouldn't be raised during the economic recovery. It was said that the economic harm of ending any of the Bush tax cuts would outweigh deficit concerns. However, did they come out with any concrete plans to reduce the deficits? So those people earning millions can be exempted from income tax, some of whom were "saved" by the injection of funds by the US government?

It doesn't really seem fair to the Democrats because they were not even given the chance to implement their policies in the first place. But then again, life is never fair. Pity...

Why bother resenting?

I quote from Catherine Ponder:

When you hold resentment toward another, you are bound to that person or condition by an emotional link that is stronger than steel. Forgiveness is the only way to dissolve that link and get free.

I really wonder what's the consultation all about

I really do wonder whether any thought was given to the topics that the Singapore government throws out for consulting. The recent consultation which I found laughable was the increase in fine if the telcos violate their licence conditions or codes of practice. Instead of having a fixed ceiling of $1 million, they are considering tweaking the formula so that operators can be fined up to 10 per cent of their annual turnover.

I find it very amusing that the government is consulting the very companies that they're regulating and asking them if it's reasonable to increase the penalty. Which company will say oh it's perfectly fine. 10% of the annual turnover is reasonable. Yes yes. And pigs can fly too.

If the government consults us, the citizens, if it's reasonable to fine someone $300 for littering, do you think anyone will say that it's reasonable. Most I guess will say that a warning is more than enough. Does that mean the government is going to remove the fine?

Speaking of $300, recently SMRT was fined $300 as two of its services failed to leave the bus terminals on time on three occasions in the last six months.

SMRT, a big company earning millions of dollars per year, being fined $300 for not adhering to the contract.

versus

Citizens, most earning around 5 digits per year, also being fined $300 for littering.


Laughable right? What's the use of the penalty then as deterrence? $300 for a big company like SMRT. I will say that they can even pay for it by getting the staff in one of the divisions within SMRT to donate $1 each. I always find it amusing whenever I read such news.

Android 2.2 is not suitable for tablets and yet the manufacturers are still making tablets??

I find it very amusing that even though Google has announced that Android v2.2, codenamed Froyo, is not optimised for use on tablets and the apps will not run on that form factor, you still see many manufactuers creating such products based on Android v2.2. That would also explain why some of the Android tablets are curiously small.

So is it profit all that matters? Did those manufacturers not do any R&D to see if Android apps works on the tablet form factor? The key point in Android is not in the operating system, but it's apps. The existence of apps in smartphones have so far define the success. Looking at the iPad, it seems that this is true too.

It would seem that many of the manufacturers doesn't seem to be quite conversant in technology.

Quantitative Easing only delays the inevitable

I am not sure what the Feds are thinking when they are looking at going back to quantitative easing. The term quantitative easing describes a monetary policy used by central banks to increase the supply of money by increasing the excess reserves of the banking system. The results speak for themselves.

With quantitative easing = economy up
Without quantitative easing = economy stagnant or on a downward trend


My question to the Feds is whether are you going to do "quantitative easing" forever? Is that the way to prop up the economy or should you try to find the root cause and resolve it? If no one is purchasing financial assets, including government bonds, agency debt, mortgage-backed securities and corporate bonds, from banks and other financial institutions, is there something very wrong with the assets and/or the risk management and/or the product structure?

I really like to see how long the Feds can continue quantitative easing. Why do they want to delay the inevitable?

Thoughts on the Liverpool Sale

Thoughts that I have on the Liverpool sale. I quote from Angela Merkel:

I feel sorry sometimes for these sportsmen and women who put in just as much effort as the footballers. For example, athletes train at least as hard as footballers but have to be happy if they can earn enough to finance a decent education.

Impose a limit where the developer must build on the land that they acquire

I am not sure if there is such a limit in place but quite often, I've seen news where URA and HDB have announced that they have sold so and so land parcel for x million. However after that, there is no news on the construction until much later.

I believe there lies the problem. The government may be using the land sales as the reason that the developers are well-supplied but the problem is that the developers are sitting on the land, doing nothing. What matters to us is that houses are built, and not the land that is sold. That piece of land means nothing to us.

We all know the reasons why developers are sitting on the land. Waiting for the right moment to launch their property so that they can make a fat handsome profit, etc. Imposing a time limit whereby developers must start construction of their properties will help in preventing excess inflation of property prices because the developers will bid cautiously in view of this time limit. This will also prevent excessive houses being built in a certain quarter as the respective authorities can space out their land sales so that a certain number of houses are available every quarter. This will in turn prevent excessive rise in prices.

I still think the property prices are crazy. An executive condo costs more than a condo?? Then the government might as well take over all the housing construction.

Windows Phone 7 worth all the hype?

I did not feel any excitement when Microsoft announced Windows Phone 7. I guess the reason may be because back when I was still doing mobile programming, time and time again I was disappointed by Microsoft Windows Mobile, especially when the promises that they made never happened (e.g. Uploading from mobile IE did not work for the longest time).

Anyway, some of the Windows Phone 7 will hit Singapore shores on 21 Oct 2010 (Singtel at least). Singtel will be releasing the HTC HD7, LG Optimus 7, and Samsung Omnia 7. Starhub will release the HTC 7 Mozart and LG Optimus 7 while M1 will only release the HTC 7 Trophy.

I was looking through the YouTube videos on the first look for Windows Phone 7 and indeed, it's much better than the Windows Mobile and will help Microsoft to catch up with iPhone and Android. However, I don't like the tiles (you can take a look at the Youtube videos below) format, which is what Microsoft is using to differentiate themselves from the iPhone and Android.

It seems to me that when you access the Home Screen, the tiles seem to start loading images to be super-imposed on the tiles. Some say it's cool. Personally, I don't like it because:

• everytime you access the Home Screen, you'll be using your data plan to download these images to be super-imposed on the tiles. The more tiles you have pinned on the Home page, the more images you have to preload.
• the phone will be constantly using the data plan if you're always going back to the Home page (not sure if they're cached).
• the battery life will suffer due to this constant usage of the data plan.

Furthermore, I find that the screen is a little confusing because too many images are put randomly together. In one of the Youtube videos below, you'll see the reviewer even had problems trying to find the Pictures app. Icons are there for a reason and I very much prefer icons than a tile that constantly changes. No one talked about the battery life but judging from the tiles that I'm seeing, I don't think it'll be good. By the way, there is no copy and paste.

Even though Microsoft said that they are not targeting any specific market when they build this OS (personally, I think he shouldn't say that because that means that they have no idea which direction they are going and they are playing catch-up), it looks to me that they are targeting the MS Outlook and Office users. It remains to be seen how XBox Live will be positioned for the Windows Phone 7 but personally, I think that they have made a miscalculation. The user experience for games on the PC/XBox and a touch-screen phone is completely different. Likewise for Office documents. It's a long shot to convince users that you can use the full Microsoft Office features on a mobile phone.

If you're still interested in Windows Phone 7, I found some Youtube Videos below on the mobile phones to be released in Singapore. Here is a self-help link from Microsoft if you're interested in taking a look at the user guide.





HTC HD7


LG Optimus 7


Samsung Omnia 7


HTC 7 Mozart


HTC 7 Trophy