“what we need is a bottom up….. fairly distributed”

I do not think our govt has any intention on achieving a fair or equitable distribution of wealth. Rather social order through low unemployment is the driving principle.

Look at NTUC and GST.

In the age of diminishing labor power, labor here has even less bargaining rights as the only legal union is beholden to political interests.

GST is regressive, and increasingly so, not just because the GST is increasing in absolute terms but also that when basic living costs take up a larger portion of an average workers income the flat GST eats a larger portion of disposable income. As real wages here fall, GST becomes even more regressive.

Until we suspend GST for basic necessities like food and energy, the argument that taxation here is progressive and that singaporeans enjoy low real taxes cannot be made.

With a possibly regressive tax regime and lack of labor bargaining power it is reasonable to project that wealth will accumulate at the top regardless of the overall level of prosperity.

As long as the income/wealth gap does not adversely affect social stability, i believe the govt is unlikely to bother with structural reforms to return labor their bargaining rights and move to a more progressive taxation regime.

the problem is the trickle is too slow and too little and there are blockages all around.

what we need is a bottom-up economy so that the cake can be bigger and yet will be more fairly distributed

The problem lies not with govt policy but rather with the relationship that govt has with corporates, policy favorable to corporates is the natural result.

Take a look at the American system where corporations pay millions every year to lobbyists to cajole senators and congressmen to support policies favorable to their scope of business.

Take for example the recent bailouts where banks were granted billions in taxpayer money, it is no surprise that the banking sector had paid millions to ‘lobby’ for those bailouts.

The ‘beauty’ of the singaporean system is that govt favors businesses by default over labor based on their guiding policy of high employment. Thus it is no surprise that capital (business) has been able to capture the greater share of productivity (corporate profits grow faster than real wages).

While these policies have been effective in the past, the situation is now very different. Rather than attempting to compete on cost, where we can never beat the chinese/indians/vietnamese/…etc we should instead take a page out of the current Israeli economic model.

Cost competition CANNOT work for singaporeans, but may work for the singapore inc, singaporeans need to take a stand or risk becoming the frog in the kettle.

They have made a check and this only serves to confirm that the remaining 5 to 6 cases brought up by the internet to be true and the govt didn’t do anything to help them.

What good is help at 300 dollars a month when you only get them when you have NO savings and NO flat.

The fact that the authorities didn’t detect the other 5 cases, show that the system is not working according to our general understanding.

If GDP growing is not benefitting the common citizen financially but at the same time, there is a crowding out effect our physical habitat, job opportunities and resident rights then shouldnt we be questioning why have the migration policy in the first place.

The only reason I can think of is that it allows the Govt to have more tax revenues, high land sales prices, and reasons to justify even higher salaries for our Ministers and senior civil servants.