Powered by glolg
Display Preferences Most Recent Entries Chatterbox Blog Links Site Statistics Category Tags About Me, Myself and Gilbert XML RSS Feed
Sunday, Sep 01, 2013 - 14:40 SGT
Posted By: Gilbert

It's A Tarp!

Some slightly draining Sunday mornings.

To round up the state of national change: it'll take another year to figure out how to make Medishield Life work - with lower bills stressed as a possibility, but higher premiums a certainty - while the PSLE banding non-event has largely degenerated into a mudslinging fest by what I gather are parents, over whether the likely very minor edits in criteria will specifically benefit their children in the zero-sum game.

On housing, some hard numbers are at least out, with the addition of S$150 million in grants reemphasized to not be "... a trivial policy shift, but a significant one", by the latest minister to join in the chorus, apparently in the hope that if you call a deer a horse often enough and loudly enough, others will eventually buy into it.

Consider: S$150 million sounds like a huge sum in the aggregate, but divided over the roughly 25000 BTO flats released each year, it comes to an average of S$6000 per flat extra, barely 2.5% off a S$250000 four-room flat (already on the low end of the scale), which does not even come close to covering the typical increase in price of over S$20000 in the past couple of years. No wonder that some have come to call this maneuver - of collecting quietly, then giving a part of it back with trumpets blaring - a perpetual reciprocation trap.

By the way, Mr. Ham has kindly finally decided to share his thoughts on why CPF Life has no guaranteed payout. In basic accounting, one has to take liabilities into account. For example, if a company raises S$1 million through a bond issue, and promises to pay holders $100000 a year for the next fifteen years, its books would show an extra million bucks on the assets side, but also the long-term liability commitments on the other side, which makes a lot of sense.

So, what if the company had borrowed S$1 million, but with provisions that allow it to return only what it decides to? The official figures would sure look good, and in a completely technically above-board manner, wouldn't it? Let's not even go into how low-lease HDB flats will be handled; well, if it helps get us better rates...


My Poor Eyes

The blithely overexposed train wreck that was Miley Cyrus' VMA performance [Not Safe For Taste] was an exercise in morbid fascination - where does one begin? The horrendous outfit, the unbecoming wedgie, the cringing moves, and that tongue all combined to make her routine far more pathetic than sexy, which I suppose was the intended effect. Even if this sort of thing's the new normal for former Disney princessess come of age, it's kind of sad when Lady Gaga trumps her in the attraction stakes, and the tragedy is that she can actually sing a bit.

After that torment, I had to pull out an old Alizée favourite to regain my composure.



Which goes to show:

  1. It's not about showing skin, or provocative outfits (though it certainly doesn't hurt, if done correctly)
  2. There are so many better things to emerge from
  3. Who cares about the lyrics?
  4. This should be strongly considered as the top argument for the existence of God - it would be difficult to refute, and many might not even want to do it

Unfortunately, she wasn't immune to the pull of the rebel side either, but those were some splendid times.


Those Bullet Points





comments (0) - email - share - print - direct link
trackbacks (0) - trackback url


Next: A's The Letter


Related Posts:
The Hundred Thousand
Our Hamster Conversation
The Party That Cried Change
Thai Trip
Supposedly Sia
Back to top

Copyright © 2006-2025 GLYS. All Rights Reserved.