Those who started work around 1973
a 1.3 Litre Japaness car was RM 7000
Today the equivalent let's say it is RM 60000...........8.5 times
In 1973 a double storey house was about RM 45,000..or less
Today it is about RM 300,000............6.6 times
In 1973 an Eng ineer's pay was RM 1000
Today it is about RM 2000 +/-............2 times....
From 1973 to 2008........35 years......what is the Trend.?
Bearish !!!!
In a stock market when the trend is bearish , what do we do?..Exit !!!
When a country's trend is bearish what do we do?
This Bearish trend is more difficult to turn around as compared to the
stock market.
I have used these 3 items House, Car & Salary as a measurement of the
country' s
performance for the past 35 years....
There is a book I saw in MPH bookshop entitled :
Malaysia : The Failed Nation
some of you may be interested to read up.
I agreed with the writer.....
This morning I was having Coffee at McDonald ( now the coffee..100 %
Arabica beans..is quite good@ RM 2.90....free refill !!. I asked how
much per hour is their pay?
RM 3.00 ! x 8 hours = RM 24 per day... x 25 days = RM 600 per month
My daughter works part-time during her University days..she worked at
Gloria Jeans Coffee
..the pay Australian $ 14.00 ( @ 3.15 = RM 44 per hour.....x 8 = RM
352 per day !!! x 25 days = RM 8800
13.3 times more !!!!! ......Price of houses in Perth is about the same in
KL
Price of cars are about 23 %
cheaper...in Perth.( Australia )
I think more and more people are becoming aware of this Bearish trend.
Developed country by 2020?...means High income country
Let's look at some as of year 2005 ( Financial Times )
USA GNP per capita US$ 35400
UK GNP per capita US$ 25510
Australia GNP per capita US$ 19530
Singapore GNP per capita US $ 20690
These are developed countries by income measurement
Malaysia GNP per capita US$ 3540
Year 2020..developed country?
Really...a sad story.
Worrying Trends, isn't it??
Ringgit sliding further and further under BN
Gan | Jul 8, 08 4:03pm
Recently, I interviewed some fresh graduates applying for jobs with my
engineering company. I accepted two applicants on a starting salary of
RM1600. It struck me as odd that 15 years ago, I myself started work
as a fresh graduate engineer for the same pay.
Indeed, if you compare the salaries of graduates now and 15 or even 20
years ago, you'll find little difference but that their purchasing
power is vastly different. It's the same story when you compare
salaries of shop assistants, office staff, factory workers and others.
To compound the effect of inflation, the ringgit has depreciated
greatly against all major currencies. The real income of most
Malaysians has moved backwards.
This is why many Malaysians suffer under the petrol hike. The root of
the problem is that our real incomes have shrunk in the face of
inflation and depreciated currency.. Malaysians have not been spoiled
by subsidy but are unable to move out of the time lock of stagnated
and depreciated incomes.
If you compare the per capita incomes of Singapore , Hong Kong , Taiwan
and South Korea , they are a few multiples of ours although at
independence all these countries were the on the same economic level
as Malaysia .
What has gone wrong? We were the rising star of East Asia , a country
rich in natural resources with the most promising potential.
The reason is massive corruption, plundering of resources, wastage of
funds for huge non- economic projects, anti-public interest deals with
politically-linked companies and passing-of-the -buck to the man in
the street..
Four decades of NEP where education, economic and employment policies
are defined by race ensured that meritocracy took a back seat.
Our university standard has declined and the today best and brightest
of our youth emigrate to escape the racial inequality only to
contribute to the economies of foreign lands.
The reputation of our judiciary which was held in high esteem
worldwide has sunk so low that foreign investors now insist on
arbitration in Singapore in case of any dispute.
We also have a slew of oppressive laws such as the ISA, OSA, Uuca and
PPPA which stifle free speech and are designed to keep the ruling
parties in power.
We have become less attractive to foreign investors and now lag behind
our neighbours in Asean for foreign direct investment. Even some
corporations who have established themselves here are moving out.
All the economic and social malaise cannot help but affect the value
of our currency. The strength of a country's currency is after all, a
reflection of its fundamentals.
Furthermore, Bank Negara has a policy of weak ringgit to help
exporters, never mind the burden on the common folk. The government is
pro-corporation, not pro-rakyat.
While the poor and middle-class are squeezed, an elite group gets
breathtakingly rich. We have the distinction of having the worse
income disparity in Asean. A re-distribution of wealth is under way
from the poor and middle-class to a select group of
politically-connected elite.
The end result of this re-distribution will be a small group of
super-rich while the majority are pushed into poverty and the
middle-class shrinks. This is what happens when the rich gets richer
and the poor get poorer.
There is much that is wrong with Malaysia . The responsibility for
pulling the country backwards can be laid squarely at the door of the
ruling regime. It is BN's mis-governance, racial politics and culture
of patronage which has seen the country regress economically and
socially.
We seem to be sliding down a slippery slope, further down with each
passing year of BN's rule. Another five years of BN rule and we'll be
at Indonesia 's standard under Suharto. Another 10 years and we'll be
touching the African standard. What a way to greet 2020.
Is there any hope for Malaysia?
Faced with the reality that BN will never change, many Malaysians
desperate for change turn their lonely eyes to Anwar Ibrahim.
Pakatan Raykat has promised to treat all races fairly, to plug
wastage, fight corruption, reform the judiciary and make Malaysia more
competitive.
But some have questioned whether we can trust Anwar and his loose
coalition of disparate parties..
The question is not whether we can trust Anwar and Pakatan Rakyat but
whether we can afford not to.
Can we afford another ten years of BN's misrule?
David Teo July 13, 2008
Please read weekly magazine 'The Edge (week of July 14-July20,2008 page3)'
OPEN TENDERS SAVE BILLIONS (below is some of the paragraphs copied from this businessman magazine)
Quote:
The Balfour Beatty Rail-Ansaldo STS joint venture has, last week, won the rail system works package from the MMC-GAMUDA joint venture, for the 330km Ipoh-Padang Besar double-tracking project for a sum of RM1 billion.
The contract price awarded has come down significantly from an earlier estimate of about RM2.5 billion.
- - - - - -
- - - - -
Had there not been an open tender, it would have cost the government (meaning the tax-payers) RM1.5 billion more, excluding the financing cost on the amount.
- - - -
- - - - -
Imagine how many 'RM1.5 billions' the government would have saved had there been open tenders for all projects.
Unquote.
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