The Surprising Short-Sighteness of The SG Govt..

Just over a month ago, Finance Minister of Singapore, Mr. Tharman said in an interview with Bloomberg news that Singapore's model of growth- through exports mostly, with banking and construction of real estate also playing major roles- which has been the forefront of the Tiger growth in recent decades remain sound and will remain the main policy of the current government.

The ST has an excerpt of this interview and its over here.

But in the past week or so, Time Asia had another article about the Asian Tiger economies and reviewed how much exports almost dominated economical growth in the last few decades, and how inflated consumer spending in the West has led to an export, banking and construction bubble over in these Tiger economies.

The article is here.

I think, as a student of economics, one must always, as an economist, see the bigger picture, and to use current, and later data to not just predict this year, but the years ahead in a realistic fashion, and factoring in unpleasant stuff like risk of high unemployment, high inflation rate, unrealistically low unemployment rates in relation with interest rates, and inflation, and the amount of flow of migrants and immigrants, in and out of the country.

I think a country cannot sustain itself if it hitches on an economic model and expects it to go on forever and forever. And neither should it encourage everyone else to spend and spend, and then also promise more "Golden Years and/or periods, without any evidence whatsoever, and without considering the "what-ifs".

An economic policy that depends on economical bubbles is not an economical policy; instead its just an ad-hoc initiative that takes advantage of a sinful human habit(that is greed) and make it as if its gonna be our magic pill of growth forever.

Its clear that this government has lost its way in the economical front for a long time. They have had continued to encourage bubble growth by easing credit access for couples, even though they cannot fully afford the costs of these loans, CPF and banks in the first place. They have encouraged rich foreigners, to buy and sell, local landed properties without as much as any sensible regulation to stem any bubble; they have privately liberalise the banking industries by allowing rich foreigners to put in money here, in the form of savings, Swiss bank-type accounts, and in hedge funds the like; and then they allowed inflation to rocket sky-high, and even worse, didn't give the full picture of the amount of inflation in the first place, and the impact of it on citizens; didn't give the full picture of unemployment rates of local citizens in the bubble years; and finally only giving ad-hoc credit to some of the most vulnerable on a year-by-year basis, which is only not just inadequate, but also insulting.

And we haven't gone through the problem of GIC and Temasek investing in Western banks and losing more than tens of billions of dollars in taxpayers dollars.

To see Mr. Tharman, an esteemed economist, use his position to insist that the politicised economical model is still viable is simply stunning and shocking. This government either can't bring themselves to recognise that their model is now dead in the water, or they are just blind, and deaf to everything else that is happening around them.

It is sad when they don't realise it. It is sad when they refuse to recognise it. And its even sadder when they think that such a self-indulgent economical policy still has legs in it when its clear the days of such are long over.

Thus, to say that they deserve a chance to get it right, and to trust them fully, and completely- when they have clearly not kept their word is wrong. We should have known. And that's why if there's any snap elections in Singapore this year, let it be known that they cannot have their way anymore.

Its time to restore Parliament to its rightful place, and not make it be a rubber-stamp, yawn inducing institution anymore. Let us herald in a new era, whether the government likes it or not. Its time for transparency and accountability and the opposition will play their role if you give them a chance and trust them. Let us not waste this opportunity in these times of crisis to do something good for the future of our people, the future of later generations, and the future of Singapore itself.

Let us go and change this world. It is time.