Singapore Democrats

This is the most humane measures the sdp has come out with to help not just the individuals but also the economy. You guys are really smart !!

Who are the greatest beneficiaries of jobs credit?

It is the surrogates of the PAP, like the various GLCs that have become uninnovative and made the economy uncompetitive.

It does not take an economist to know that in a recession, cash grants given to employers will merely be HOARDED, as risk aversion is high.

Now that JCS has fallen flat on its face, what next? More talk?

that's the PAP for u.

The reason why there still retrenchment occur after the Job Credit Scheme was offered because SME's & MNC's bosses pocketed the no collateral & no string attach dangling carrots gave by the PAP Government.
No check & balance been conducted by the PAP Government on how that billions of dollars really benefits both employers & employees.

It is becoming obvious that regardless of how we motivate our ministers with higher salaries, there is little they can do to assist the people.

The Government need to attract good people to run the country, so we give them higher salaries, so what did they do in return? Raise more EPR? Cost of Living? Pay themselves, …

“They don’t really care about us!” Michael Jackson!

Sikinhead, deadhead, Everybody gone bad, Situation aggravation
Everybody allegation, in the suite, on the news

All I wann say is that, They dont really care about us …

http://www.straitstimes.com/print/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_413323.html

Aug 6, 2009
Growth strategy 'robust'

IT'S a misperception that the Singapore economy is driven largely by foreign MNCs, which have crowded out smaller, local companies catering to domestic demand, said Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry S. Iswaran on Thursday.

He maintained that there is a healthy mix of companies, with no particular corporate model being dominant.

'Over the last few years, SMEs share of the total value-add produced in our economy has been steadily increasing to just under 50 per cent. Small companies therefore account for about half of Singapore's value-added,' said the minister in his address to the Singapore Economic Review conference on Thursday morning.

' If you were to split total value-added along the lines of foreign versus local companies, you would find that each accounts for about half of the total value-added of the economy.'

On questions raised by some economists that Singapore has become too reliant on external demand, Mr Iswaran sought to explain that if it did not have an export-led growth model, the economy would not have grown as fast in the past decade.

External demand accounts for three-quarters of Singapore's total demand. Between 2000 and 2008, average annual real growth in total demand was 8 per cent - with external demand contributing 7 percentage points while domestic demand contributed just 1 percentage point.

'For a small economy like Singapore, the reality is that external demand will always be a key driver if we want to raise living standards for our people,' said Mr Iswaran, adding: 'If Singapore did not have an export-led growth model, we would not have grown as fast in the past decade. And we would not have been able to build up the resources that have helped to cushion the impact of this current recession.'

He told the conference that Singapore's approach to economic development and growth remains robust strategies have been constantly reviewed to match the economic conditions and the goals set.

The tenet is a simple one: to capture growth opportunities when prospects are good, to ensure that it will have enough resources to ride through lean times.

But in the wake of the current economic crisis, which is expected to lead to significant shifts in the patterns of global demand and growth, Mr Iswaran said it is imperative that Singapore be well prepared for the choices, and poised for the opportunities that lie ahead.

guy2100, if simply handing out money to those who have lost their jobs is indication that SDP is "really smart", then governments just have to be Santa Clauses to be geniuses.

Mr Ambalan's article does not give much analysis of the underlying problems with the economy which, by the way, is export driven. Simply handing out money is... simplistic and playing to popularism.

Paparazzi,

The "string" is that the employers continue to keep the employee on their payrolls. So I don't think it's right to say that there are "no collateral & no string" attached.

Of course there will still be retrenchments, but perhaps you can see that there is a remote possibility that there could be even more if there were not Job Credit Scheme.

The JCS is the brainchild of a few kids who are still wet behind the ears.
It's highly irresponsible for the gov to do that.

SDP suggestion is good but gov have no $$ to spend on such luxury, they still have to problem filling the hole Tamasick dug.

The PAP govt does not care for the needs of the people. It's simply an agent/ representative of the rich, MNCs and foreign capital.

Temasek is prepared to give away a staggering $58 billion to "bankrupt" Western banks and financial institutions so that their executives could continue to receive hefty bonuses and other perks. But the PAP is reluctant to even raise by $30 the monthly allowance for our needy and the poor.

Singapore’s export driven economy is over reliant on foreign corporations looking for cheap labour. Since the late 1960s this has been the policy of the PAP, drawn up by the Dutch economist Albert Winsemius.

There was very little attempt to diversify, despite other places, like China and India having appeared on the scene to compete for the same contract manufacturing. This has resulted in lowering further the wages of workers to make the parasitical MNCs stay in Singapore. When even this draconian measure is not enough, the PAP allows foreign cheap labour into the country to compete with the locals. This is how the PAP has been fixing the problem.

All that the PAP govt wants is "growth" in GDP at the expense of the workers to justify its ministers’ out-of-this-world salaries.

JCS failed to bring changes to our workers life, many are still jobless . Pap is useless !!!! Moe Gan Thai

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_414279.html

S'pore in stronger position

SINGAPORE is now in a stronger economic position after a turbulent start to the year, thanks to a united response from Singaporeans and slew of government measures that cushioned the impact of the downturn.

A variety of measures included bringing forward the Budget to January and an unprecedented use of past reserves to fund Jobs Credit and other job-saving schemes.

One clear result: Singapore has one of the world's lowest jobless rates - 3.3 per cent - despite being one of the worst-hit economies.

PM Lee said the Government also aims to build a 'new Singapore' by improving amenities, upgrading housing estates and opening up more university places, among other efforts.

'We must work hard to strengthen it, and to bridge potential divides within our society, be it between Singaporeans and new arrivals, between rich and poor, or most fundamental of all, between the different races and religions.'

LHL's National Day message is nothing but the same old PAP hubris. The export driven economic model for Singapore has remained the same for more than four decades, relying on labour-intensive MNCs looking for generous tax holidays and other concessions at the expense of our workers.

How can Singapore be in a stronger economic position when its economy contracted by 6.5 per cent in the first half of this year?

The total control of the MSM by the authoritarian PAP is sickening.

I think the reliance on labour-intensive MNCs is no longer very true except for a few industries such as that of marine and ship building. And even those lower end jobs in these industries are not in the radar scope of Singaporean workers.

Even if we want to, the MNCs know better than to bring labour-intensive work here since labour cost in China is much lower.

More than 70 percent of Singapore's manufacturing is in the hands of MNCs. These MNCs, mainly involved in contract manufacturing to meet the consumer demands of US and European markets, depend on cheap labour.

This economic model based on attracting MNCs with tax holidays and other generous perks, was going on for more than four decades, with very little diversification, resulting in Singapore competing with China, India and others for the same low-value added manufacturing.

To satisfy the hunger of these parasitical MNCs and to make them stay here, the PAP govt is making sure that there is a steady supply of cheap labour from Third World countries.

Similarly, the service and construction sectors, etc are also relying on cheap labour with very little attempt to upgrade and increase productivity.

Mummy returns, XXXVI:
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/video/index.php