Tony Tan is also looking forward to such fat bonus..... :lol: On why TT going for easy job doing nothnigs??, where prataman can very easy does it. No need to see a need for TT to becoming a EP.
S'pore is at top for salaries,and nos 2 for the ratio of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per person!
Former minister George Yeo lost his seat in Parliament - he is out. Now he now gets S$2,000,000 (US$1,626,360) plus every year for sitting at home and doing nothing for the REST OF HIS LIFE.......and tax-free!!! If he knows he's only got a month to live, he can ask for and get 14 year's pension in a single lump sum - S$28,000,000 (US$22,769,000) tax free, cash up front!
Ministers have to work for at least 8 years to qualify for a pension. A minister's pension is determined based not on his total monthly salary, but only on the pensionable component of this salary at the point of retirement. All salary increases since 1994 have been added to the non-pensionable component, to contain pension costs.
A minister qualifies for the maximum pension of two-thirds of this pensionable component of monthly salary only after having served as an office-holder for 18 years.
The minimum retirement age is 55.
If they are eligible for pension and they are still serving, they get both salary plus pension concurrently!
Finally, these Pensions are exempt from income tax as stated in the Income Tax Act!
pharoah88 ( Date: 27-Jun-2011 12:02) Posted:
United States: President Barak Obama: US$400,000, with US$50,000 expenses Vice President Joe Biden: US$202,900 Cabinet Secretaries: US$157,000 - $186,600 Secretary of State (Hillary Clinton) - $186,600
Tony Tan is also looking forward to such fat bonus..... :lol: On why TT going for easy job doing nothnigs??, where prataman can very easy does it. No need to see a need for TT to becoming a EP.
S'pore is at top for salaries,and nos 2 for the ratio of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per person!
Former minister George Yeo lost his seat in Parliament - he is out. Now he now gets S$2,000,000 (US$1,626,360) plus every year for sitting at home and doing nothing for the REST OF HIS LIFE.......and tax-free!!! If he knows he's only got a month to live, he can ask for and get 14 year's pension in a single lump sum - S$28,000,000 (US$22,769,000) tax free, cash up front!
Ministers have to work for at least 8 years to qualify for a pension. A minister's pension is determined based not on his total monthly salary, but only on the pensionable component of this salary at the point of retirement. All salary increases since 1994 have been added to the non-pensionable component, to contain pension costs.
A minister qualifies for the maximum pension of two-thirds of this pensionable component of monthly salary only after having served as an office-holder for 18 years.
The minimum retirement age is 55.
If they are eligible for pension and they are still serving, they get both salary plus pension concurrently!
Finally, these Pensions are exempt from income tax as stated in the Income Tax Act!
pharoah88 ( Date: 27-Jun-2011 12:02) Posted:
United States: President Barak Obama: US$400,000, with US$50,000 expenses Vice President Joe Biden: US$202,900 Cabinet Secretaries: US$157,000 - $186,600 Secretary of State (Hillary Clinton) - $186,600
THE Government is currently ramping up its release of land to address escalating property prices.
It is estimated that approximately 53,000 units will be on the market, representing three times the current annual demand, and property analysts expect it to take years to clear this excess.
Perhaps the Ministry of National Development needs to review the current method of maximising land sale revenue. Land cost constitutes the highest component in the price of a property, as the Government sells land based on market value and market prices have been skyrocketing.
So, even if the Government releases a bumper crop of land now, these plots are expected to be sold at current market value which are pegged to prevailing market prices.
In other words, such land is to be sold in the high range, so it eventually ends up in the high price bracket when the property is sold.
It was reported that a plot of land at Alexandra Road is estimated to be sold at S$800 to S$850 per sq ft (psf) in a tender and the break-even price for the property developers could be around S$1,300 psf or higher.
This means the price of property built on land tendered today will continue to stay high a few years in the future.
If not, no developer will bid and the Government will have to stop the supply and the shortage problem will persist.
How can property prices fall or reach equilibrium if the property developer has no choice but to sell above the breakeven price?
The Government could consider awarding the land to the highest bidder, who would then pay based on the lowest bidder’s price or the comparable land cost which the Government awarded in the past — on condition that the selling price of the completed unit be adjusted downward for the land price difference between the highest and the lowest bid, when the completed units are sold to Singapore citizens.
This will not put developers at a disadvantage while ensuring sufficient supply of land to meet the demand.
There is no denying that in land scarce Singapore, property prices will have to go north but the Government has a duty to ensure that prices grow at a sustainable pace.
United States: President Barak Obama: US$400,000, with US$50,000 expenses Vice President Joe Biden: US$202,900 Cabinet Secretaries: US$157,000 - $186,600 Secretary of State (Hillary Clinton) - $186,600
My father-in-law fell ill recently and although not life-threatening, it led my wife and I to consider for the first time that one day, our families might have to take priority over our careers.Shock of Gray, in which he explores what he calls the “most important issue facing the human race”.
Mr Fishman is in town this week to deliver two lectures at the National University of Singapore’s Asia Research Institute.
He spoke to me before setting off from his home in Chicago and I asked him about the potential fall-out from economic migration in reverse as people drop out of the job market to care for elderly relatives.
He said: “The huge unseen cost of this whole thing is when people step out of their high-value job, serving maybe hundreds of thousands of people every day, to serve just one person in your family for a lower wage. It puts you in a completely different economy. And if you multiply this by what would need to happen in a society that is ageing overall, you are literally removing a huge chunk of the work force.”
He went on: “Human beings have lived for seven thousand generations.
For all but six of those we have lived for the same amount of time, which was pretty short. So now for the very first time we are dealing with this huge expansion of human life. It is the very first minute of unprecedented change.”
Mr Fishman points out that as humans we are “hardwired” not to tackle the question of how long we will live — which has resulted in a short supply of solutions.
“In the developed world we have added two-and-a-half years to the average longevity of a person every decade,” he said. “People have just not planned for it because they live in the current snapshot, which is the age our parents have gotten to when in fact, we are reaching far beyond that.
“My grandfather died in 1980 but, based on the average, I have another 10 years on that. That is very hard to compute in the public spirit when you are considering your own lifespan.”
ECONOMIC POWER WITHIN FAMILIES
In his book, Mr Fishman talks about Singapore’s changes to the law made in 1999 which allow parents to sue their children for financial support.
Here, we have one of the lowest fertility rates in the world — just 1.28 — and this, combined with population ageing and shrinking dependency ratios, have resulted in the problem being particularly pertinent.
“This issue puts a huge strain on families. In Asia you have this interesting split in the way economic power is controlled within families,” he said.
“If you look at the leading-edge economies which had the big boost and expansion before the others, like Japan, the older generation has the economic keys to the family.
They own the house, which is more than likely worth more than the lifetime earnings of the children.
They have the great pension plans.
And when you have a situation like that, when the older generations have the economic power, it changes the way their children act.
“Their children tend to postpone marriage, they tend to stay close to home and they tend to have fewer kids because they feel the need to stay close to their parents in order to have access to that economic store.
“But when you get to the more recent ascending economies, like China, the children have the power.
So what happens is the children are the leading-edge urban migrants, they move on, they put their flag in the rising economy and they benefit from it.
“But what happens is, you have millions of core parents that they have been left behind. The children send money home for a while, then it stops. Then the parents are the ones who have to ingratiate themselves with their offspring.
They work their way to the city, they offer themselves as unpaid child minders, they leave their friends and their social networks.
They give up 10 years of their lives as care-givers in the hope that their adult children will eventually take care of them, but it does not always happen.
“If you look around the world in middle-income and above countries, the transfer of money from parents to children is far greater than the public transfer of funds from young workers to retirees in the public sector.
“So you have these two flows of money. One is the private flow that happens in families from older to younger, then you have the public flow that goes from younger to older which goes to pay for national health services or pensions.
Overwhelmingly the money flow has favoured the private flow from older to younger but as people are adding 10 or 15 years to their lifetimes, they are going to be saving over their lives much differently.
“They may feel less generous to their children and then you have to start thinking: Does this change policy? It may have to result in some kind of official redistribution of income through public mechanisms to redress the balance.
“These are the kinds of questions that we have to face up to.”
Shock of Gray
How do we live longer?
is insightful and thought-provoking, throwing some much-need light on the question:
Paul Gilfeather is the principal correspondent at
Today.
Today File Photo
‘So you have these two flows of money. One is the private flow that happens in families from older to younger, then you have the public flow that goes from younger to older which goes to pay for national health services or pensions.’
Shock of Gray
author Ted Fishman
With people living longer, Ted Fishman looks at hard questions for economies and Asian parent-child
It is an issue hundreds of thousands of professionals the world over are being faced with. And it is just one of several problems tied to the bigger question of how society will cope with the world’s rapidly ageing population.
The current global population of 6.7 billion is expected to hit 9.1 billion by 2050. By that time one billion people will be 65 of older and, for the first time, the number of people over 50 will be greater than those under 17.
Author and journalist Ted Fishman became so concerned by the question that he decided to write a book about it. The result is
SINGAPORE: A rarely—seen type of dengue — DEN—3 — has hit the Marsiling area with more than 60 cases reported as of Friday.
The National Environment Agency (NEA) said residents may have little or no immunity against the infection, leading to quicker dengue transmission.
However, it added there is no sign for alarm that this form of dengue is spreading to the rest of the island.
The Marsiling area has seen two clusters of dengue transmission recently, with the first detected at Marsiling Rise on April 21.
The second cluster detected on May 19 is also the largest so far this year.
NEA has since stepped up control measures, including dispatching 70 officers to carry out mass operations to search and destroy potential breeding habitats.
The agency has also roped in various partners, including Sembawang Town Council and the National Parks Board to get rid of larvae.
A Marsiling resident told Channel NewsAsia he welcomed the increased monitoring.
Property agent Allen Lee recently contracted dengue along with other members of his family.
Mr Lee, his daughter as well as his domestic worker were affected for the first time.
" My daughter’s platelets count dropped tremendously and she was feeling nauseous. She couldn’t eat at all (and) was hospitalised at Mt Alvernia (while) my domestic maid was hospitalised at Tan Tock Seng CDC.
" The sad part was my wife had to do all the running (around) because three of us were down," he said.
NEA is also advising residents to be alert to any potential mosquito breeding areas in their homes.
The agency said enforcement action will be taken against all parties found breeding the Aedes mosquitoes.
Meanwhile, Mr Lee said he has also taken his own measures.
" My domestic worker has been taught... how to check for breeding (in places)... like pots of plants.
" I think the rest of the residents here have to be well—informed and also to do their part as a community," he said.
The Peter Principle is a special case of a ubiquitous observation: anything that works will be used in progressively more challenging applications until it fails. This is " The Generalized Peter Principle" . It was observed by Dr. William R. Corcoran in his work on corrective action programs at nuclear power plants. He observed it applied to hardware, e.g., vacuum cleaners as aspirators, and administrative devices such as the " Safety Evaluations" used for managing change. There is much temptation to use what has worked before, even when it may exceed its effective scope. Dr. Peter observed this about humans.
In an organizational structure, the Peter Principle's practical application allows assessment of the potential of an employee for a promotion based on performance in the current job i.e., members of a hierarchical organization eventually are promoted to their highest level of competence, after which further promotion raises them to incompetence. That level is the employee's " level of incompetence" where the employee has no chance of further promotion, thus reaching their career's ceiling in an organization.
The employee's incompetence is not necessarily a result of the higher-ranking position being more difficult — simply, that job may be crucially different from the job in which the employee previously excelled, and thus requires different work skills, which the employee may not possess. For example, a factory worker's excellence in their job can earn them promotion to manager, at which point the skills that earned them their promotion no longer apply to their job.
Thus, " work is accomplished by those employees who have not yet reached their level of incompetence" .
Peter also suggested that ‘super-competence’ in an employee is more likely to result in dismissal than promotion, which again is a feature of poor organizations, which cannot handle the disruption. A super-competent employee “…violates the first commandment of hierarchical life: [namely that] the hierarchy must be preserved…”.
The Peter Principle states that " in a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence" , meaning that employees tend to be promoted until ...
SINGAPORE: Member of Parliament for Mountbatten Lim Biow Chuan will be back at the bus stops when the new school term starts on Monday.
Mr Lim said he will be following up on his checks to see if buses arrive on time or if they continue to keep commuters waiting for too long.
In May, Mr Lim acted on the complaints and concerns raised by residents during the General Election about irregular bus frequencies.
He conducted spot checks at two bus stops in Cassia Crescent and Jalan Batu and arrived at the conclusion that services were irregular.
Mr Lim then followed up on this with the Public Transport Council.
The explanation from the council was that bus services 70, 158, 12 and 14 were affected by traffic jams, and that a bus captain was absent from work.
Residents have been promised one more service for 158 during peak hours.
During the school holidays, Mr Lim stopped his spot checks, as the commuter traffic and volume will be lower.
With the school holidays now, Mr Lim said any spot checks may not be accurate.
He said when he resumes his checks on Monday, he will stake out at bus stops once a month until the situation improves.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a community arts festival, Mr Lim said he will continue to act on the complaints and concerns raised by residents during the General Election about irregular bus frequencies in May.
" I sit at the bus stop for one whole hour just to look at the timings of the buses," Mr Lim said.
" Because sometimes, the buses bunch —— they come two buses in a row. And also, one single incident cannot mean that the bus service is not regular.
" So basically, if you don’t board the bus, then you will know for one whole hour, what is the wait time like."
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