The PM’s midnight musings
Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue
So now we know what keeps PM Lee up at night is not so much Ho Ching’s snoring but midnight musings over how to retain the “specialness” of Singapore. This so that outsiders can look at us and say: “Wow, let’s go and see what’s happening there.”
Appearance matters, after all, when keeping up with the Jones of the world.
PM Lee also said that if he could persuade another ten billionaires to Singapore, he would have no qualms doing so even if it results in higher income inequality, “because they will bring business, they will bring opportunities, they will open new doors, they will create new jobs”.
Instead of losing sleep over how the world views Singapore, perhaps the PM should ponder over how the average Singaporean views the government’s curious fixation on the super-rich. So far, it has not done a very good job of convincing us that the much feted trickle-down economics has improved the lives of Singaporeans. Show us that we are wrong please, give us the numbers of exactly how many businesses, opportunities and jobs have been created for every billionaire who has relocated to our shores.
Tell us that it’s not just about the likes of Eduardo Saverin single-handedly shoring up the private night club industry, of Jim Rogers competing with Singaporean parents for a place in Nanyang Primary with his influence and resources just so that his daughter can learn Chinese, or of Nathan Tinkler supposedly moving here to escape his creditors, because it is all we read of why these rich foreigners are here. Where of the jobs, what of the businesses? And this is before we even get started on them buying up luxury properties and fancy cars that just makes everything more expensive for everyone else.
Why not, instead of obsessing over ways to persuade another ten billionaires to come to Singapore, spend more time thinking about how to help another ten local companies grow?
A lesson from corporate finance is timely if we think of the PM as the CEO of Singapore, Inc and every citizen as shareholder. As academics will tell you, the first and foremost role of the CEO is to maximise shareholders’ value, not to increase top-line revenues, earnings per share or share price. Think of this as analogous to the role of the PM in improving the lives of every Singaporean, where economic numbers are either a means to this end or a by-product of this mission. As with CEOs, it is all too easy to lose sight of this mission.
Corporate finance also teaches us to guard against management pet projects and empire building. PM Lee proudly tells us there’s only one Marina Bay in the world, like it is some eighth world wonder. Gardens by the Bay is our new pride and joy while yesterday’s darling, the Singapore Flyer, was a borrowed idea and is no longer sexy as it goes into receivership. What pet project next? His government also tells us we need 6.9 million people to continue growing, like CEOs buying up companies to grow their empires at the expense of quality of growth and value to shareholders.
Rising inequality leads to rising discontent and discord, regardless of how true it is the presence of the super-rich will end up benefiting the rest. This is because perception by the people matters as much as, if not more than, the appearance to the outside world that PM Lee worries about. And, right now, the social costs are much more visible than any economic benefit.
[…] – The Void Decker: The PM’s midnight musings […]
A related question would be why are our home grown GLC’s not generating enough jobs. I have worked in both GLC and MNC, and find GLC management and corporate culture inferior to that of MNC. Can’t expect these tai-chi masters to take risks and make shrewd business judgement.
Actually my impression is that GLCs do create a lot of jobs, seeing the many people I know who work for the likes of SembCorp and Keppel. Some of these jobs are even more lucrative than MNCs!
Management-wise, there’s a lot of PAP/govt influence naturally, so you may have a point about the culture. Recent cases being Ong Ye Kung and Yam Ah Mee.
It’s more like he’s the CEO of Foxconn, million $ ministers as shareholders, we are the little workers and the billionaires as Apple fanboys….
I think you hit the nail right on the head. It’s never about the Gini coefficient. It’s actually about stagnating or shrinking real wages from median downward.
The mindless reverence for trickle down economics has got to stop. If only assets move here without starting of any businesses, only a handful of asset management professionals will stand to gain. The additional wealth created for these people will likely stay in the upper reaches of the economic ladder due to their spending habits (luxury items, posh housing, cars, overseas holidays, etc). Only scraps would fall off the table.
Exactly. No doubt there will be scraps left but the cost-benefit analysis doesn’t seem to hold up at all.
Agree with u. When any leader can only think about making short term gains, he is risking long term stability. The more he thinks about short term gains, the more he will lose his future. It is a double edged sword.
Voiddecker
The problem remains that most grads inclusive of engineering grads still want to work in finance or finance related fields.
I believe this includes your goodself in the City of London
In fact this would be in line with the pet project of opposition hero TJS who only wants services and wants the manufacturing sector to be downsized further.
if Singapore can be liked Luxembourg so that more services can be catered for, would not the grads be more happy?
Indeed most engineering grads I know didn’t end up in engineering, unless you count software engineering.
But the issue is not about building up the finance industry, since services is one sector the country is looking to grow on, but the building of more and more mega development projects in the downtown Marina Bay area. I thought they should have created a second business district somewhere slightly outside the CBD rather than packing it further to make a pretty skyline, like Canary Wharf in London which is entirely separate from the City.
Voiddecker
Under the impression that your focus was commenting on thje PM’s musings on the billionaires. So thats the reason for comments
Since you were an engineering grad, why don’t you put a critical path decision cycle and see what you come up with eg CBD or second CBD if there was a need to retain all other areas green as much as possible and the proviso that it should only affect land which is not acquired compulsorily and not new greenfields available within the geographical constraint and also ensuring all other engines of growth are retained port/airport/logistics/tourism/manufacturing.
Happy doodling
Sounds like a lot of work for a keyboard warrior
But I did think that possible places to have a second CBD would be Harbourfront area or Kallang. I also read not long ago some planner even suggested building a new business district in the north west (not sure exactly where).