Sounds like Singapore under LKY, Xi’s “bias against ‘welfarism’”
[China] must not “fall into the trap of ‘welfarism’ that encourages laziness”.
FT article
Under his beloved son, there’s been a swing towards social protection especially for the elderly (self included). But the official ideology was still against ‘welfarism’ whatever this Hard Truth meant.
But the constructive, nation-building ST is now rewriting history?
Our kay poh living in Tokyo has this good rant:
You can say Chua Mui Hoong and the ST have amnesia. You can also say this is making a big deal out of something not big at all. But you can also say slippery slope, what slippery slope? The only thing you can say that is closest to the truth is that, the social safety net has indeed expanded but this expansion is merely catching up from the nasty old days and there is still more catching up to do. There was no slippery slope in the past becos we are such a long distance from it that saying there is one is just scare mongering bs. And ofcos Hard Truths die hard but has to die sooner or later becos Hard Truths were for a different time that is long past.
The Economist has a lot of stuff on S’pore in its latest issue out tomorrow.
But it never made this point:
“Chileans were upset because the elite was keeping them out of the promised land,” … “Boric said, ‘I’m going to build you a new bridge to a different promised land.’ But they didn’t want that. They just wanted access to the old one.”
Patricio Navia, a political scientist and professor at New York University quoted in article headlined Chile’s leftist president forced to curb radical transformation
We have a top tax rate of 22%, got so many true blue S$ billionaires meh? Our millionaire ministers always say low top marginal rates incentives people to earn more, get very rich. I for one in the 1990s resented paying top marginal rate. But I got it all back what with my mum being a Pioneer. LOL.
It can’t be that many; otherwise, our constructive, nation-building media would have highlighted the legions of true blue S$ billionaires.
But the STB and our millionaire ministers should rethink. Did Swift bring an extra 170 flights in one week?
An estimated 1.6m people attended a Madonna concert in Brazil—the pop star’s biggest-ever gig. The free show took place on Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro. Demand was such that the city’s international airport forecast 170 extra flights during the first week of May, while city officials have reckoned that the concert will add 293m reals ($58m) to the local economy.
Our PM has been PM longer than the iPhone had been introduced (June 2007). He ascended to power in November 2004.
Who has changed our lives for the better? I say the iPhone because it started the smartphone revolution which got us the ubiquitous Android phones. And I say this as someone who just recently subscribed to a pre-paid data plan from my previous pre-paid voice-only plan. LOL.
I also had to change finally. And I got rid of my landline. So on a net basis I should not spend more on basic telephone bills. S’pore is not a cheap place to live in under the Pay And Pay millionaires.
GST increases when there is global inflation. OK, OK we got vouchers. But as vouchers are given out on a household basis for many families the vouchers provide “peanuts” relief. It’s best for single households.
Then there is the property tax increase for owner occupiers. OK OK got relief for 2024 but in 2025?)
Then there are the ever increasing water bills.
Worse as experts like Chris Kuan point out there’s room to use more of our reserves.
The fund is invested in about 9,000 companies worldwide, but seven US technology companies — Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla — account for about 12 per cent of its equity portfolio.
The Singapore 10Y Government Bond has a 3.365% yield. 10 Years vs 2 Years bond spread is -9.2 bp. Yield Curve is inverted in Long-Term vs Short-Term Maturities. Central Bank Rate is 3.42% (last modification in April 2024).
Our SWFs especially Temasaek (as that Kay Poh S’porean living in Tokyo keeps reminding us) placed big chips on private equity. So it’s interesting that the FT reported that Princeton reports “a 1.7 per cent loss last year, a product mainly of private equity underperformance”.
Princeton University’s endowment, known for its aggressive bets on private equity, is facing the “worst ever environment” for the asset class as a slump in dealmaking and public listings weighs on returns, according to its outgoing chief investment officer.
Princeton endowment chief sees ‘worst ever’ private equity climate
Singapore releases inflation data on Monday. Core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, averaged 4.2% last year. In January it fell to 3.1% year on year, but February’s figure is expected to be higher after an increase in consumer spending over the lunar new year. In February Lawrence Wong, Singapore’s deputy prime minister, warned that inflation remains high. He announced a package of handouts to help Singaporeans cope with rising prices, after the country raised its goods and services tax to 9% in January.
Singapore expects output to grow by 1-3% this year, but the government warns of “significant” global risks. An important one for the trade-dependent city-state is further disruption to supply chains, given the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. Nonetheless, experts surveyed by Singapore’s central bank have raised their GDP forecasts for the year, mostly because of faster-than-expected growth in manufacturing and construction.
Economist: The World in Brief
Our constructive, nation-building media will spin pages and pages around the above facts.
The shell game investors in PE have been playing is that they try to draw out more (cashed out of older investments) than they have to pay out for new investments.
The game has changed, PE funds are calling for money while being unable to cash out of investments.
Our PAP millionaire ministers (remember especially ex-minister Tharman?) were fond of saying that S’pore grew the pie not redistribute the existing pie.
Well a growing pie does not mean much to those at the bottom of the pyramid when their slice of it is shrinking, does it?
Singapore’s $300bn investment fund Temasek and the venture capital arm of one of Abu Dhabi’s largest sovereign investors, Mubadala, have held talks with biotechs to fund development of psychedelic mental health treatments and clinics, according to three people familiar with discussions.
… are bankrolled by countries that have some of the world’s most restrictive laws on drug possession … Singapore has executed at least 15 people for drug-related offences in the past two years.
Doing his duties “would have led him to realize that the company was being defrauded,” Justice Aedit Abdullah said in published remarks dated Jan. 24 on a petition involving Inter-Pacific Petroleum Pte. The defense argued there was no such breach or causation of loss, and regardless, the company qualifies for relief from liability under the companies act.
“The financial position of the company was suspect, and should have primed the defendant to look further and obtain a picture of the true state of the affairs of the company and monitor what was happening within it,” the judge said. “That was his duty as a director.”
“Loss was caused to the plaintiff through the transactions and drawdowns which should not have been carried out and would not have been had the defendant performed his duties,” the judge said.
But pa would still be happy if he was earning millions?
Remember GCT saying publicly that if S’pore reduced its ministerial wages, it will “end up with very, very mediocre people, who can’t even earn a million dollars outside”?
Remember GCT saying publicly that if S’pore reduced its ministerial wages, it will “end up with very, very mediocre people, who can’t even earn a million dollars outside”?
So maybe Goh Jr was trying real hard to earn a million dollars or more to show pa he wasn’t a bankrupt lying bum, like one Karl Liew? Karl’s pa was earning millions.
Justice Abdullah said Goh had an obligation to oversee the affairs of the company as a director.
“The obligation is to monitor the affairs of the corporation,” he said. “This entails, among others, at least broad level supervision of the activities of the officers of the corporation, for the protection of the company, shareholders and creditors.”
The judge said the evidence showed that Goh played an active role in the management of the company and had assumed responsibilities, and obtained knowledge and information.
While Justice Abdullah said a director need not know all details, the evidence showed a lack of knowledge by Goh about IPP’s cargo trading business, which was a significant portion of the company’s activity.
There were three “red flags” that should have triggered Goh’s inquiry into the financial position of the company, said the judge. About US$132 million was owed to the company, its bunker licence got suspended, posing a threat to its profitability, and large sums totalling about US$15.6 million were owed to Maybank while the licence was suspended.
“The financial position of the company was suspect, and should have primed the defendant to look further and obtain a picture of the true state of the affairs of the company and monitor what was happening within it. That was his duty as a director,” said Justice Abdullah.
He said if Goh had performed his duties, transactions and drawdowns that caused loss to the company would not have been carried out.
While Goh pointed to certain information within the company to say there was enough basis to be satisfied or not probe further, the judge rejected this.
An honest and reasonably diligent director would have persisted and probed further,” he said.
Goh also argued that the banks had breached their duties to the company, but the judge found this “speculative” and a separate issue from Goh’s liability.
The judge found that relief under the Companies Act was not applicable to Goh, as that provision requires that the court finds the person had acted “honestly and reasonably”.
“At the very least, the circumstances precluded the conclusion that the defendant had acted reasonably,” said Justice Abdullah.
He allowed the full extent of losses claimed by the company, measuring the breach from Feb 7, 2018 and encompassing the whole amount of the drawdowns during June to July 2019, for a total of US$146,047,099.60, and the relevant interest claimed.
Really bad analysis by people who should have known better.
My suspicion is that they tot the huge (I think one third) of people who are happy to use debit/ credit cards meant not seeing the deduction was no big deal for users.
The analysts (not from RI?) forgot the benefits of using debit/ credit cards: all-in-one card, no need to worry about topping up, and delay in debiting. For debit cards, debiting can take up to 5 working days and with credit cards, need only settle on the due date.
Delay deduction or payment on the now defunct card, and S’poreans would have accepted SimplyGo.
In an uncertain and volatile era, Temasek’s long-term portfolio construction is shaped by four key structural trends: Digitisation, sustainable living, future of consumption, and longer lifespans for long-term growth. Discover their relevance and how Temasek leverages on them.
As NTUC Fairprice is here to serve Goh Chok Tong’s “mediocre”, hopefully this “deflation” will happen here. But don’t hold your breath? Isn’t the NTUC part of the PAP’s network of making sure that our millionaire (“not mediocre”) remain in charge?
Ownership of FGP Topco Limited, the parent of Heathrow Airport Holdings Limited, if the deal For Ardian and the Saudis goes through (%), Seller is Ferrovial,
Our constructive, nation-building media reported that a S’porean ( a woman) was sentenced to eight-months in prison for forging an engineering degree from Nanyang Technological University.
Over 16 years, she used the counterfeit credentials to secure jobs in various companies including Walt Disney, earning good dollars.
The constructive, nation-building media did not point out an engineering degree wasn’t needed to do these jobs. So why did employers’ want a degree-holder, let alone an engineering degree?
Tamil and Japanese-speaking job seekers can earn the highest salaries in Singapore, a survey by Preply revealed.
Including languages natively spoken in Singapore, Tamil speakers can earn an average salary of $41,280 whilst Japanese-speaking job seekers can earn $40,164.
Spanish, French, and Hindi speakers round up the top five highest earners.
Meanwhile, Mandarin and English, which are native languages in Singapore, are ranked seven and eight, respectively. Malay is ranked 11th.
Yesterday I had a routine monitoring check up at the Bedok branch of the SingHealth Eye Centre.
I was in and out within 45 minutes. I was shocked. Six months ago I was in and out within an hour and a half. And that was a shock. Prior to that it took two hours minimum after registration to see the eye doctor at the branch. If one had to go to SGH, it would take even longer. Because I had cataracts, I had to go SGH every six months for years.
As it takes two hours to see someone in a DBS branch, time for DBS to recruit staff from the Eye Centre to learn how to get things done a lot faster.
A DBS customer service staffer living near me told me to go to the branch around opening time. And to avoid doing this on Mondays, Fridays, Saturdays and the the eve of public holidays.
Btw, my eyes need less monitoring. Next visit: one year’s time.
Regular readers will know I’m no fan of this BS artiste, but he’s right
Just yesterday morning during our Alliance walkabout, a group of retirees were complaining about the rising cost of basic food stuffs. Just a couple of years of ago, they could possibly afford to feed themselves with $6 per day but now, even with $15, they may still barely get by.
With a fix amount of savings, are they supposed to shorten their lives by 10 or 20 years?
All adult Singaporeans to receive up to S$800 in Assurance Package support in December
Constructive, nation-building media
And remember the $500 vouchers next year.
And ask yourself where got enough?
The good news is that global food price inflation set to fall in 2024, says Rabobank. It predicts prices of sugar, coffee, corn and soyabeans will weaken as production increases. Rabobank specialises in lending to the agriculture business.
MAS is the world’s third-largest gold buyer from January to September 2023, behind China and Poland. It bought four metric tonnes of gold on regulated gold exchanges in the third quarter of 2023, bringing its total purchases so far this year to 75 tonnes, the World Gold Council said.
Saw this in my FB feed and it purports to come from Jack Sim (Remember him? If you don’t see below)
1. They want you to have original ideas but it must be proven before.
2. They want you to be entrepreneurial but they’ll believe you only if you have a degree.
3. They want you to be creative, but you must follow their rules and restrictions.
4. They want you to take risk, but they offer you lots of safe alternatives.
5. They can trust you, only if you can be controlled.
6. If your idea is good, they copy it and do it themselves.
7. If you are good, they buy you.
8. They said the playing field is even. They meant that they’ll bring in the best proven talents from the world, fund them heavily, and you have to compete with these strongly supported foreigners, while you are not yet proven.
9. If you succeeded overseas, they see you as a foreign talent and want you back here. If you come back here, they see you as a local talent and don’t get very excited after that.
10. They always wonder why Singaporeans are not creative, but they never noticed local creative people unless the foreigners said they’re good.
Who are they?
I cannot say. I don’t want to get into trouble.
I must play it safe.
Jack Sim is the founder of the Restroom Association of Singapore, the World Toilet Organization, the World Toilet Day initiative and Bottom of the Pyramid Hub. Formerly in the construction industry, he decided to devote the rest of his life to social work after attaining financial independence at the age of 40.
This reminded me that GST is going up 1% soon, after having gone up 1% on 1 January 2023.
If Ikea were S’porean it would have followed NTUC Fairprice (remember unions have cabinet and MP representation) in raising prices across the board. Yes, yes, I know Fairprice is saying it is holding the line on basic foodstuffs, but can believe or not? Go dare and compare.
And think public transport fares too.
And water prices.
But to be fair this year got $150 CDC vouchers for spending in supermarkets and $150 CDC vouchers for hawker food etc. Been eating roast duck or braised duck.
While the $4G leaders still swear fealty to the Hard Truths (which can be surmmarised as “Own self check ownself” and “You die your problem”), society has evolved to be more caring and accountable because as S’pore has grown more prosperous (in part due to the PAP Old Guard).
Vicious cycle
As a society, we have developed positive-sum beliefs and no longer have zero-sum mindsets?
We have moved from a minister’s very public sneer that implies that the poor don’t deserve to eat decent food:
“How much do you want? Do you want three meals in a hawker centre, food court or restaurant?”
to Tharman’s kinder, gentler view of the world. Btw after that sneer Tharman then Finance Minister allocated more to social spending. He was telling his fellow rich kid mama (both from ACS) something.
We aiming to be like ang moh cities but without the European social welfare systems to help the less well off. We like American cities: no welfare, high water prices.
The PAP millionaire ministers look down on other Asian cities
But India is growing partly because the ruling party under Modi is getting more authoritarian: behaving more like the CCP and the PAP. Modi admires our Harry.
China’s slowing down because Xi is getting even more authoritarian. He puts national security and self reliance above the good life for the masses.
Looks like there’s a point when authoritarianism becomes detrimental to growth and prosperity for the masses. .
Wonder if S’pore has reached that tipping point? What do you think?
Artémis was attracted by the opportunity of working with Singapore’s Temasek, which the French group believes shares a similar long-term outlook and which will remain a minority shareholder in CAA.
FT story
Artémis is owned by French luxury goods billionaire François-Henri Pinault. It has reached an agreement to buy a majority stake in Creative Artists Agency (CAA) from private equity firm TPG, the parties involved said on Sept. 8.
The transaction, through holding company Artemis, adds Hollywood’s premiere talent agency to Pinault’s family empire which spans fashion, wine and contemporary art.
Reuters
Re “shares a similar long-term outlook”: I’m sure some anti-PAP folks will have a lot to say about who they say are Temasek’s real owners. LOL.
Of course our millionaire ministers blame global events “We open economy. Not our fault”. Hedgies also blame global events, e.g.”Fed is irrational, not us”.
Can u imagine Clown King TKL lending a helping hand to our millionaire ministers on what to do to grow the economy? To be fair Kosong also cannot help much. But with Tharman as president we know that wanna be Clown Kings like Kee Chiu will be restrained from clowning around.
Seriously, we’ll still get the “goodies” (“Ownself pay Ownself”) because the PAP millionaire ministers have ensured that the elected president has no power, something TKL alluded to when he asked why have an elected president with no power.
It could be a really good idea to vote for the clown TKL to try to show the PAP of the folly with persisting with the idea of an elected president to safeguard the reserves. The judges gently suggested an alternative that was rejected.
The only real problem is that he’ll behave like Estrada or Duerte, presidents of PeenoyLand. Not the killings but his talking cock will bring international shame and ridicule.
Personal note:
Funnily enough I worked with two of the candidates. I joined MAS as a junior officer in MAS when NKS was already a rising star. Due to my work I had dealings with him. Very competent guy. Fits LKY’s idea of what the president should do except that he was never a PAP person.
Many years later (around 2008), I and one Mathew John and another helped TKL when he was trying to help the mini-bonders etc. (Remember them?). There were a few early successes but he was very upset by the government’s reaction to the situation (refusing to follow the HK govt response of forcing the banks and finacial cos of paying out)) and got more and more “garang”. I’m sure people like Goh Meng Seng who advised him had a lot to do with his attitude.
Btw, one of his personally selected aides at NTUC warned me that I’d not be able to work with him for very long. He said that TKL liked balls-carriers more than good advice. His judgment was warped by flattery.
It borrows. Its treasury debts was US$30.93 trillion in 2022
Of the total 7.6 trillion held by foreign countries, Japan and Mainland China held the greatest portions, with China holding 868.9 billion U.S. dollars in U.S. securities.
Btw, the FT reports that US Treasury reports that Treasuries owned by Japan and China — the two biggest owners of US debt — fell by 11% and 12% respectively, over the year to June.
Check out this graphic by clicking on it. Tells u how much our millionaire ministers put in US treasuries.
I’m not one of those constructive, nation-building S’poreans who think the sun shines from Tharman’s ass. And who find find the Economist’s comments on our CPIB “deeply offensive and uninformed”.
This is why The Economist’s charge that simply because the CPIB reports to the prime minister it can’t be independent strikes many Singaporeans as deeply offensive and uninformed.
T. K .Lim High commissioner of Singapore London
When the news of the incident in question went public, I got a call from KL, from an old connection who like me is semi-retired. Like me he invests, but he also does deals: he was once an adviser (Others would say “crony”) to Tun M and Anwar. He is proud that he and Anwar are friends even when the latter was jailed. I suspect he was (like others) funding Anwar when he was in the Wilderness. I was hoping he’d get a post in Anwar’s govt: no such luck. Btw, he’s also a friend of Badawi (Remember him?)
Sorry for the meandering.
He said that in the UK, Oz, NZ, and Canada the anti-corruption investigators never ever have to inform the PM or ministers of their investigations. The latter would only hear of the matter just before someone is charged.
Even in M’sia, he said the PM would be told of pending charges just before the charges are laid. He pretended to be offended when I laughed at this assertion. I said I had assumed Mrs Najib (aka First Lady of M’sa or FLOM) had received a call from the M’sian CPIB telling her that she and her hubbie were bring investigated and could they destroy any evidence that proved they were corrupt.
Back to the original comment, the High Commissioner, it seems reasonable to assume, is trying to muddy the waters between reporting lines on purely administrative matters (budgets, etc.) and seeking permission to investigate or charge. This misrepresentation, I find deeply offensive and uninformed misleading.
People are struggling with the cost of living: headline annual inflation hit 6.5% in February—driven by increasing food, transport and house prices—before easing to 4.5% in June.
… two cabinet ministers were cleared of wrongdoing over the renting of colonial-era mansions. The story looks bad in a country where cramped Singaporeans grapple with finding affordable housing.
… the prime minister, says that the solution to graft lies not with more checks and balances, but with more honest people. That might be placing too much faith in human nature.
Economist’s “The world in brief” on 9 August 2023
The millionaire PAP ministers missed the plot on the mansions for rent. The ang moh writer got what annoyed S’poreans: “cramped Singaporeans grapple with finding affordable housing”.
As to inflation, it’s the topic that cannot be mentioned except in the context of ownself-fund-ownself vouchers (I used mine to buy roast ducks) and that it’s coming down.
As for graft, PM isn’t doing what pa used to do, “Put the fear of God or LKY into ministers or bureaucrats thinking of accepting private sector goodies.
targeted 60% ratio of costs to revenue is higher than the 55% that HSBC managed last year, in adjusted terms, and the “below 40%” target of Singapore’s DBS
But he’s not just a cost-cutting banker from Citi. DBS’s, vaunted (mainly in our constructive, nation-building media but also in the int’l business media), digital services are very good. The only problem from my perspective (I recently updated my ancient POSB passbook account into its digibank) is that the digital offerings are prone to “Oops, something went wrong. Try again later”. I try again a few minutes later and there are no problems. OCBC’s and UOB’s digital banks are BS, or so I’m told.)
And from the perspective of millionaire PAP minister’ perspective, he’s a slave driver.
“it’s not because [he] want[s] people to work all the time” … “It’s just that I believe that work is a part of life.”
Constructive nation-building social media
He might just agree to be president.
DBS CEO Piyush Gupta disposes of 100,000 DBS shares at over $34 apiece
…
Following the sale, Gupta is deemed to be interested in 2.19 million shares in DBS which are held under a trust arrangement.
It’ll be good to have a president who was already filthy rich. Not like Nathan or Hali who needed their salaries to get filthy rich. LOL.
And the PAP can tell FTs that we love you guys so much that we make an FT president. Then maybe the FT will stop KPKBing that S’pore is not FT friendly. It’s not friendly to White Foreign Trash (they love to trash S’pore because they have to pay the rents from their own pockets) who are pretending to be FTs.
Further to FTs, the “champion grumblers” and the coming election, there are S’poreans including some resident overseas (no not thinking of that guy in Tokyo but of the guys in Helsinki and Taipei) who KPKB about the really rich come here. Globally (see chart below) we are third in list of most favoured destinations. Actually second if we exclude the UAE because its the only place that welcomes Ruskies.
As FT says “The prizes for countries hosting the wealthy are higher consumption, employment and investment.”. Still there are those (here and overseas) who’d rather the rich stay away. Then they can KPKB about less consumption, employment and investment and blame our millionaire ministers for a drop in living standards. Do they really wish S’pore well? I have my suspicions.
Europe and China have become major buyers for US LNG.
US LNG supply contracts by import market, mmtpa
Btw1, The International Energy Agency warned that “a cold winter, together with a full halt of Russian piped gas supplies to the European Union” could cause natural-gas prices to rise again. Prices have fallen sharply this year because a mild winter left gas stocks in good shape. The IEA thinks that “fierce competition for gas supplies could also emerge if north-east Asia experiences colder-than-usual weather.”
Economist
But importers and traders are complacent (so far) this year.
And they are also forgetting that Asians will be turning on their air-conditioning for longer periods and higher.
Btw2, we should thank Tharman (and others) for their vision and work in making us an LNG hub.
Further to Temasek’s Bayer deal shows the peril of a being contrarian investor, German pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals group Bayer said yesterday it will take a €2.5bn writedown on glyphosate glyphosate because prices and demand collapsed. The goodwill impairment would cause a net loss of €2bn in the second quarter, Bayer said.
Earlier this month there was a report that Bayer may spin off its troubled crop science division.
Bayer’s component parts, valued separately on peer multiples, would have a total equity value of 96 billion euros, Breakingviews calculated in February, or almost double the group’s current market capitalisation.
They think Oz, S’pore, US, Switzerland, Canada, parts of the EU and NZ are better. The Russians are going to the UAE as that’s the only place that will allow them in.
I just read this: “The need for immigrants is hard to explain in a climate of high unemployment, riots in the streets, financial crisis and people in extreme difficulties,” Cecilia Malmström, a Swedish politician who was then the EU’s home affairs commissioner in conversation with FT’s Tony Barber in 2011.
In S’pore with effectively no unemployment, and the PAP government looking after the plebs from cradle to grave (“Every school a good school”, “affordable” HDB flats, inflation vouchers, subsidised and good healthcare (especially for the oldies) and other goodies for the Pioneers and Merdekans, many S’poreans (plebs and professionals) are upset that the millionaire PAP ministers allow FTs to steal our jobs via very liberal immigration practices. And they don’t believe the protestations to the contrary.
S’poreans who grumble about cattle trucks of FTs flown in in A380s and 747s should remember that one Tharman negotiated the Ceca agreement. An agreement that many say allowed FTs from India a free pass into S’pore.
They should remember these facts when they vote at the coming presidential election.
Either earlier this year or late last year Sembcorp Marine (now Seatrium) came out with a brochure to persuade us shareholders to support its merger with Keppel’s offshore operations.
There was no mention of oil and gas, both cos’ source of biz. Instead lots of pixs and hot air about green energy products.
Well well now
Seatrium could also benefit from the demand/supply gap that may stem from the growth in global offshore wind and Europe’s continued push into wind. Industry estimates that global offshore wind could grow by a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14% to 20% over the 2022-2030/2035 period although Europe may face supply-related problems in or around 2028/2029 when offshore turbine towers and wind tower manufacturing capacity may see demand far outstripping supply.
“In our view, Seatrium could benefit from this in the next six to 12 months as European governments take note of the demand/supply gap and place orders for offshore structures well in advance,” says Loh.
“There is precedence in this given that in March, Seatrium received a EUR3 billion ($4.44 billion) order for offshore wind farm structures that would only be delivered between 2029-2031,” he adds.
Btw, I’m still holding the shares I acquired at 0.08cents: Tempting fate but thanks again Ho Ching. And I didn’t sell the shares that I got because I’m a Keppel shareholder.
One day I’ll be crying as the vultures circle. Hopefully I’ll be crying all the way to the bank to deposit my winnings. LOL.
The optics for the PAP government especially the millionaire ministers don’t look good after several weeks of unenforced PR failures.
So today’s GDP figures might provide some relief.
DBS points to the hospitality sector and the high hotel occupancy rate (driven by returning Chinese tourists) as a boost to growth.
But then it might not
A slump in trade, particularly in electronics, is dragging on the economy, raising the risk of a technical recession—two consecutive quarters of falling GDP—after a 0.4% drop in economic output in the first quarter.
Wonder if the use of yellow for S’pore’s “crescent and stars” instead of white is to hint that S’pore is part of China: Our flag: Did you know?. Or that all Chinese (PRC or ethnic) are Ugly?
… East or South East Asia, where her fans or “Swifties” are legion. Singapore, the Indonesian capital Jakarta and the Philippines’ most densely packed city, Quezon, are among the world’s top locations for streaming Swift’s songs, according to Spotify.
And it’s really good news for STB and the tourist industry. In Asia she’s visiting Japan, Oz and S’pore.
So for fans in this corner of Asia, Singapore which is closer, offers visa-free or visa-on-arrival and plenty of cheap flight options, is an easy pick. The country has long been a popular stop for big music acts because of its impressive public transport and infrastructure – Coldplay is performing at the expansive National Stadium a month before Swift.
Maybe that dog (with fleas) of a stock that I own FEHT will trade consistently above my cost price. To be fair, if I include the payouts, its been a profitable investment, like Singtel (another flea bitten investment). Too bad Singtel won’t benefit much from her visit. But maybe all those calls and sending of photos might help it. But then they’ll all use WhatsApp. The cheapskates.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong says Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam and Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan retain his full confidence.
Part of headline in constructive, nation-building Today
If he followed the EPL, La Ligue, Serie A or any other major European league, he’d know that saying “retain his full confidence” is the kiss of death. Whenever the chairman or CEO of a footie team says the manager or head coach or director of football has “his full confidence”, it means that the said person is going to be sacked very soon because the club no longer has confidence in the person.
Shows how out of touch our PM is with the “little people”?
(Part of an occassional series on our SWF’s failures,)
Saw him no ak isit?
He was appointed CEO of JPMorgan in 2006. And he and JPMorgan had a good 2007/ 2008 crisis. It bot, at the Fed’s request, Bear Stearns, a failing investment bank, and mortgage lender Washington Mutual, the biggest ever bank failure.
It’s more recent performance
Share price has outperformed Citi and BofA (Reminder Temasek bot into BofA by betting on Merrill Lynch (Remember them?) and took a beating.
From a 2009 report
Singapore’s smaller fund Temasek Holdings lost an estimated over $4 billion in Bank of America-Merrill Lynch BAC.N and Barclays BARC.L in hasty exits around the start of 2009.
Singapore’s largest sovereign wealth fund GIC said on Tuesday it had halved its stake in Citigroup C.N to below 5 percent, making a profit of $1.6 billion as global equity markets rebound.
The first of an occasional series on Temasek dogs with fleas on them.
Bayer, an aspirin-to-crop chemicals group, shares are trading at around €52, about half of what they were in 2016, The wider German stock market is up by a quarter.
It made a US$63bn takeover of US crops group Monsanto in 2016. The market did not like the deal.
Remember that LKY, and Dr Goh and the other Old Guards helped create this stable environment. We have to make sure Lee Jnr and the 4th G PAP millionaire leaders keep things this way. So far they don’t seem to be doing a good job: B-
Thank LKY and the Old Guard and the let’s pray to LKY that our millionaire PAP ministers don’t screw up.
Switzerland is tops. GCT was trying to BS us about Swiss standard.
The usual Nordic countries and Western countries are ahead of us. As in Japan and Korea. US of A just ahead of us.
From the Economist:
Which countries’ citizens are thriving and which are languishing? Where are people making progress and where are they sliding back? Often the answers to such questions come from examining their economies. GDP per person, however, can only show so much. More important is how prosperity translates into well-being. A dataset published on May 24th by the Social Progress Imperative, a non-profit organisation, aims to show that. It ranks 170 countries on how well they have provided for their citizens, using metrics other than wealth.
Why I’m still not selling the SIA shares that I acquired in a rights issue in 2020 at $3. It depends on premium passengers.
Keep on doing Temasek specials, Temasek: massive rights issue at huge discounts to current prices. It benefits long term shareholders whose cost is very low.
We had a good pandemic but we are now a real laggard.
Vote wisely,
M’sia is projected to expand by 4.0% to 5.0% in 2023, driven by firm domestic demand says its govt. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has forecast Malaysia’s economy to grow 4.7% this year, and 4.9% in 2024.
Switzerland was the world’s largest centre for offshore finance in 2021 with $2.5 trillion assets, followed by Hong Kong with $2.3 trillion and Singapore with $1.5 trillion, Boston Consulting Group data show.
HK still tops us despite all the Chinese wealth fleeing HK.
I don’t know what to say. In army if boy, she garbra and sabo king.
She threw the PAP mgt under the bus by telling us that she cleared it with HQ.
They then pulled her under the bus by saying that she didn’t give details. They implicitly said that they assumed she knew the rules about lobbying when she raised the matter.
Prediction, she won’t be standing in next GE. Will she be in Grab after making way for PAP new blood? ‘My retired PAP MP friend resigned from a senior private sector job when he had to make way for new blood. Go figure it out. But I very cynical.
Adrian Tan comment on FB
PAP FB statement
Employment of Ms Tin Pei Ling by Grab Singapore
In September 2022, Ms Tin Pei Ling informed the Party that she would be taking up the post of Public Affairs and Policy at Grab Singapore (“Grab”), and the nature of the job. The Party noted this and did not object. Earlier this month, following public comments about Ms Tin’s appointment, we discussed the matter with her again to understand better the scope of her duties. It then became clear to the Party that she would be expected to engage regularly with Government ministries and agencies on public policy issues on behalf of Grab. While she would make it clear that she was engaging in her private capacity and not as a PAP MP, there could still be challenges in carrying out these responsibilities, especially under the current circumstances.
Ms Tin has since discussed the matter with Grab and informed the Party that her role in Grab has been changed to Director (Corporate Development). In this role, her primary duties will not involve Government relations in Singapore.
The PAP holds itself and its Members of Parliament to high standards of propriety and integrity. Most PAP backbench MPs have private careers. This keeps them in touch with our economy and society and enables able and committed people from many professions and walks of life to serve as MPs, raising the quality of MPs in Parliament. However, it is essential that MPs rigorously separate their public role as MPs from their professional and commercial interests in their private careers.
Under the “Rules of Prudence” issued to every PAP MP, MPs are expected to conduct themselves in their duties and responsibilities with utmost propriety, to uphold the reputation of the Party and the integrity of the Singapore system. In no circumstances are they to abuse their status as MPs, or their access to ministers, civil servants, and government agencies, for private or commercial gain. While performing their MP duties, they are expected to declare potential conflicts of interest, and recuse themselves as appropriate from decisions, discussions and positions where there is a risk of such a conflict arising.
The Party wishes Ms Tin Pei Ling success in her new role in Grab, and is confident that she will continue serving residents of MacPherson as their MP effectively.
Or there are some FT financial engineers there trying very hard to show the private equity funds that they should employ them as financial engineering specialists who know how to borrow up to hairline.
This had me thinking of the time when the Pay And Pay party tried to help the plebs.
This was a time rich men like LKY, Lim Kim San and Baker joined “mediocrities” (GCT’s term for those who didn’t earn a lot of $) like Dr Goh and Devan Nair to help S’poreans. Now civil servants become millionaire ministers and many S’poreans think these millionaires sneer at the plebs. Many S’poreans were upset by GCT’s remarks “mediocrities” even after his “clarification”. I’ll say this for PM, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he doesn’t do sneering at the poor.
The environment in which the Old Guard operated:
Dr PaulA and other younger S’poreans should read the u/m book. While they rightly discount much of the LKY, SPH stuff, as propaganda, they can’t and shouldn’t discount this written by a ex-Special Branch ang moh, after he was sacked by the British. He was married to one Han Suyin and was sacked from Special Branch because of her: In 1956, she published the novel And the Rain My Drink, wherein she described the interrogation techniques used by the Special Branch against Communist suspects. Comber has written that he was sacked (asked to resign) as Assistant Commissioner of Police (Special Branch) because of said book.
The book describes how bad things once were. A PAPpy would say they make my above bitchings petty. He could also point out that after reading the book, I sent an email to friend in his 60s who moved on from S’pore after Sec 4,”Reading this book reminds me why you did the right thing: go to London. It was a tough time, and the rhetoric from LKY wasn’t reassuring.”. My friend went on to become v.v. rich as a financier.
Temasek has written off its US$275mn stake in cryptocurrency company FTX, saying its trust in former chief executive Sam Bankman-Fried appeared “misplaced”.
Much has been written by PAP and anti-PAP paper warriors and investors.
Talking about two Canadian pension funds losing $ in two crypyo investments (one of which was FTX) this year, the FT pronounced (or should it be” pontificated”?)
Pension funds have no business investing customers’ retirement savings in a market as volatile as crypto.
FTX’s $8bn crunch exposes a dog-eat-dog cryptosphere
Btw, while Temasek took its time admitting the cock-up, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan disclosed almost immediately that the US$95mn investment in FTX FTX collapse will have ‘little impact’ on its performance. “Naturally, not all of the investments in this early-stage asset class perform to expectations,” loss on this investment will have limited impact on the Plan, given this investment represents less than 0.05% of our total net assets.”
And we are Asean’s financial centre and a global port to boot. Our PAP millionaire ministers are very lucky that S’poreans allow them to govern us. But are they grateful? I doubt it.
Look at this and you’ll see that with the exception of the Chinese banks (Communism at work?) and DBS (Remember that POSB was the people’s bank?), at least $10,000 is needed for FDs. Quite a number (including OCBC and UOB) have a minimum of $20,000.
So it’s nice to know that the millionaire PAP ministers are helping the plebs to get good interest rates on fair terms via Singapore Savings Bonds.
Plebs only need to invest $500 (Same like the Commie bank, ICBC. Need $1000 at DBS) in the the Singapore Savings Bonds. The minimum one can invest in SSBs is $500 — and this can increase in multiples of $500 — but the total amount of such bonds one can hold at any one time cannot exceed $200,000. (Btw, in 2020, when the interest rate on SSB was 0.96 per annum for the first few years and S’pore was being locked down and I got very lucky, I applied for 200k and was filled. It can’t happen nowadays. The allocation is 10k nowadays. Fine by me as I don’t have $200,000 needing to find an urgent home. Btw2, I redeemed the lot in batches in 2021 and very early 2022.)
Returns on the Singapore Savings Bonds hit record highs for the second straight month, with the latest December issue offering a 10-year average return rate of 3.47 per cent. Better still, the first-year interest rate of 3.26 per cent is also the highest ever, beating the record set in the previous issue. I’ll be applying.
And there’s more:
Safe and flexible bonds for individual investors. Enjoy returns that increase over time and redeem in any month without penalty
“[W]ithout penalty”: remember that FDs can only be “broken” by foregoing the interest. But SSB only have a $2 fee when redeeming. Interest is paid up to redemption date. Pretty fair.
Do remember that the govt is tightening money supply via SSBs and other interest-bearing securities. this to to try to keep inflation in check. There’s a reason for its generosity. But its also keeping the banks honest.
DBS estimates that approximately 44%-50% of Singapore banks’ loan books are exposed to Singapore properties via residential mortgages and via lending to REITs or other private vehicles may be captured under “financial institutions, investment and holding companies”
I’ve never voted for the PAP. But to quote the FT minister, “I’m invested in S’pore”and that is the way I show my appreciation of what the PAP does to keep me in prosperity.
Gupta makes DBS Great. Previous ang moh or pseudo ang mohs made it a laughing stock. CEOs Btw, he’s another Citibanker
Our other two banks are also looking good. Eat your heart out, the overseas based anti-PAP paper warrior. U should bot into them.
Which reminds me of a clueless tai tai (Tai tai’s luck runs out, heading for Woodbridge?/ Tai tai forgot this ), sold her SPH shares her elderly husband gave her when they married in the 90s, sold them and bot DBS when she panicked in 2020. She then sold DBS because she said UOB paid more in dividends (What an ass). Then sold UOB to buy SPH when it spiked from 1.20 to 1.90 last year, then sold out in panic when it weakened before it rebounded
. Her husband told her to buy back the UOB because it was cum dividend and there was 80 cents in it.
This reminded me that I forgot (Thank you Ho Ching) to also thank her for another Temasek special (massive rights issue at a huge discount to the existing price) that’s looking good.
Sembcorp Marine announces change in terms of Keppel O&M transaction
The share price tanked last year (It was already sick because of a previous Temasek special in 2020, followed by a really bad results) when Temasek did another special.
As I wanted good quality TLC penny stock exposure to the offshore marine and energy sectors, I bot a few shares and then applied for lots of rights shares at $0.08. I got filled to the gills.
The shares have been on a wild run: up to $0.138 and then back down to -$0.11 recently. I regretted not selling out at +$0.13. But I was going for $0.16 or more. After the above announcement, they are back to +$0.13. Riding the tornado like Pecos Bill: GameStop in charts: Riding the tornado
Usually when Temasek does a special, shareholders or new investors who participate make $. It’s money for jam. The downside is finding the cash to fund it. Not like Temasek. Need $, make a call to MoF and PMO if dividend income not enough.
Not always, Sembcorp Marine did an earlier rights issue at $0.20 in 2020. Everyone lost $ when it had a really bad set of results. Hence the 2021 rights issue. At that time I didn’t want exposure to the offshore marine and energy sectors, so I missed a bullet. Praise the Supreme Being. And yes, I made a charitable donation.
But I really shouldn’t be counting my chickens, tempting fate or the gods. Not taken profits. And no immediate plans to. I’ll ride the whirlwind on this ($0.19 says a broker) and hope to come out alive or belter still smiling. Why Wall St is a cowboy town.
Minority shareholders (those who participated in 2020 Temasek special) might reject the deal (one reason why the terms were changed).
And pray that I remain lucky. I’ll be getting more SembCorp Marine shares via Keppel distribution. Might sell these.
The only thing you can say that is closest to the truth is that, the social safety net has indeed expanded but this expansion is merely catching up from the nasty old days and there is still more catching up to do. There was no slippery slope in the past becos we are such a long distance from it that saying there is one is just scare mongering bs. And ofcos Hard Truths die hard but has to die sooner or later becos Hard Truths were for a different time that is long past.
Thoughts of a Cynical Investor 