just an article i found on the ST interactive that is relevant to what i wrote on 21/01/05 ...."yes, u need a job to support your family.. the question is how much is enough? when will u be content? (or rather, will u ever be content?) "
Feb 4, 2005
Why S'poreans complain about the cost of living
By Ling Chien Yien
SEVERAL bread-and-butter issues were discussed at length in Parliament recently. The conclusion drawn was that since per capita income had grown faster than the cost of living from 1998 to 2003, it is not true that middle-income families are worse off than before. Rather it is Singaporeans' rising expectations, among other reasons, that have led them to complain.
The Government and its relevant agencies have ample resources to gather information and naturally are able to put forward arguments based on large amounts of statistical data. The public is unable to dispute the statistics. But statistics often give only a broad picture and may not reflect the real feelings of the people.
Singaporeans have for years heeded the call of the Government and worked hard to create economic wealth. It was the common hope of both the Government and the people to see their standard of living rise. Therefore, to hint now that Singaporeans' rising expectations are not absolutely necessary, and are even asking for trouble, would be an injustice to the middle- and lower-income groups.
In fact, we should ask whether, in the process of raising the standard of living, we realistically identified and addressed the high expectations of the people and the price to be paid to meet these expectations.
Given people's current income levels, did we consider whether they could afford these expectations?
Naturally, if we relentlessly seek maximum gratification, our income will never be able to match the price we need to pay for such needs, and we will be slaves to our unrealistic expectations.
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icymistral :
when i was working as a waitress during the summer vacation last year, an observation i made while i was at work kept my mind occupied for several weeks. i saw that many of my colleagues, esp the older colleagues, were happy with their lives, their standard of living. they wanted a higher income but did not gripe much about it. they led more relaxed lives than those of the higher income groups who always sought to better their living standards - this does not mean that they(colleagues) do not want to improve their living standards, it is just that they take things slowly and work at a pace that is comfortable.
then, i observed the people and families in my social circle. somehow, the butter brought home each month is never enough. and so the question arises, "Are we afflicted with a 'grandiose syndrome', that is, a compulsion to upgrade everything in a hurry? ......Are these so-called 'high-quality' facades - which are not real needs - what Singaporeans want?"- ling chien yen
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Hey, just some comments I extracted from my blog:
http://lydiateh.pitas.com
Isn't it funny that we’ve brought so much upon ourselves - the baggage of always striving to be firsts at everything - thus translating into a pressure to elicit quality, and in the economics of scale bringing us to the issue of accruing standards of living. I tend to believe I’m not much of an aggressive competitor; rather I've always favoured the challenge of building personal experiences. But there seems to be this Singapore thing that makes me think less inwardly, rather on a broader scale. And we start young - I mean, at 7 years, we watch our parents fight to secure placements at popular schools for apparently top education. And at 10, we are ranked and streamed into classes of kids with similar caliber. At 12, it's about a grueling pursuit of good grades and good secondary schools. And that's all just a kickstart for young Singaporeans to join in the full cycle of the rat race. The rules for comfort keep changing, wherever the first world countries are, that's where Singapore's heading. So, I think we've been disciplined to feel uncomfortable, to strive for top, for best. And therefore a 'good' standard of living is always not good enough, but a 'better' standard of living, that's better than good - its' great. So we don't just need an education, we need a top class education. We need more than just a car, Singaporeans need a Lexus. We can't afford to have just roof over our heads, we've got to have condominiums with all facilities attached. Sigh, what a price to pay to live in a buzzing metropolis!
lyd! i reallieee love your blog! thanks for the comments. looks like we are on the same wavelength on this. we should start a movement together.. haha~ take care and God bless!!
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