To Be Poor and Living in Singapore, A Real Shame

[Islandman]

But we do have the facts and we do know. We may choose to ignore it but the data is there.

Karl you really asking if US $5 has the same purchasing power in JA as US $1500 in Singapore? You cannot be serious?

[Karl]

But we do have the facts and we do know. We may choose to ignore it but the data is there.

Karl you really asking is US $5 has the same purchasing power in JA as $US 1500 in Singapore? You cannot be serious?

You are missing the point. All I am saying is forget the oft repeated a dollar is a dollar...exactly what are we dealing with here? It is more complicated than just looking at dollar=dollar

E.g. What is the price of a *1500 sq ft home (...and what would be considered comfortable or acceptable that 1500 sq ft home or 3000 sq ft home in Jamaica? ...in Florida, USA? ...in Singapore?

Relative monthly cost for maintaining each in respective countries? Monthly electric bills; Water & Sewage; etc?

SGD3,500/month through SGD6,005/month is considered minimum for a family of 4 for acceptable standard of living.

Source:

The question arises - In Singapore - (to the author of the article) - what is acceptable standard of living?

If the info given by "The Heart Truths" article is correct it suggests that lady with 6 kids is not living in the lap of luxury.

....even as many here have not a clue on what holds in Singapore relative to JA or the USA? Right?

Having said that it sure is great to hear of Singapore's low unemployment rate...but for the majority of its people, what does it mean in real terms as far as standard of living goes? Comfy? Suffering? or somewhere in the middle?

[Islandman]

Here is the point

http://www.expatistan.com/cost-of-li...ngston-jamaica

So according to this estimate Kingston is more than twice cheaper than Singapore. Again, to make it less embarrassing, let us say Kingston is 3 times cheaper

You still want to do the math? Remember the bottom 10% of Singapore, those poor suffering souls, are making
US $1500 A MONTH. Jamaica, land of the happy, have a per capita income of US $5000 A YEAR!( and I am again being generous to my homeland here)

[Karl]

Here is the point

http://www.expatistan.com/cost-of-li...ngston-jamaica

So according to this estimate Kingston is more than twice cheaper than Singapore. Again, to make it less embarrassing, let us say Kingston is 3 times cheaper

You still want to do the math? Remember the bottom 10% of Singapore, those poor suffering souls, are making
US $1500 A MONTH.

...and it cannot keep body and soul together!!! = misery!!!

Jamaica, land of the happy, have a per capita income of US $5000 A YEAR!( and I am again being generous to my homeland here)

It says we have a lot of people 'starving'...and a precious few comfortable and even fewer wealthy.


...but again you miss the point.

In Jamaica that USD 1,500/monthly could have the young couple living in St. Catherine or St Mary or St Thomas or the hills of St Andrew...enjoy the "Kingston goodies" and retire at 60 in comfort.

It would not be so in some parts of the USA yet great in other parts of the US. Hell we still see land being advertised for 'pennies' an acre...and homes for under $100,000 with many being below $75,000.

Wonder what more areas...outside of the urban areas in Georgia...are being sold for? Not too long ago wonderful homes or acres of land could be had for less than $50,000. ...some in the $25,000 range.

What does it do for the young couple in Singapore? Did the author of the "Heart Truths" article claim that couple at 60 would be needing an extra few SGD to keep body and soul together?

The facts are not as clear as it seems.
Let me ask just one question as you have the facts - What size home is that SGD300,000 home referenced in one of the sources on Singapore? 500sq ft? 750 sq ft? 1000...1500...3000sq ft?

I would like you to tell me what living in Singapore would be like for that young couple - Simple description.

Truth is, I have taken the Singapore success story with a grain of salt.

I cannot help thinking of the rosy stories I read about Jamaica during the supposedly boom years under the JLP and what my experiences during those same 'boom years' told me about my country. The rosy stories and my experiences never fit.

What is the true story on Singapore?
Please tell me your truth? Simple description, if it pleases you?

[Peter R]

...and it cannot keep body and soul together!!! = misery!!!



It says we have a lot of people 'starving'...and a precious few comfortable and even fewer wealthy.


...but again you miss the point.

In Jamaica that USD 1,500/monthly could have the young couple living in St. Catherine or St Mary or St Thomas or the hills of St Andrew...enjoy the "Kingston goodies" and retire at 60 in comfort.

It would not be so in some parts of the USA yet great in other parts of the US. Hell we still see land being advertised for 'pennies' an acre...and homes for under $100,000 with many being below $75,000.

Wonder what more areas...outside of the urban areas in Georgia...are being sold for? Not too long ago wonderful homes or acres of land could be had for less than $50,000. ...some in the $25,000 range.

What does it do for the young couple in Singapore? Did the author of the "Heart Truths" article claim that couple at 60 would be needing an extra few SGD to keep body and soul together?

The facts are not as clear as it seems.
Let me ask just one question as you have the facts - What size home is that SGD300,000 home referenced in one of the sources on Singapore? 500sq ft? 750 sq ft? 1000...1500...3000sq ft?

I would like you to tell me what living in Singapore would be like for that young couple - Simple description.

Truth is, I have taken the Singapore success story with a grain of salt.

I cannot help thinking of the rosy stories I read about Jamaica during the supposedly boom years under the JLP and what my experiences during those same 'boom years' told me about my country. The rosy stories and my experiences never fit.

What is the true story on Singapore?
Please tell me your truth? Simple description, if it pleases you?

Karl,

You've got to be kidding! Can the JA govt. even beging to think about dispensing close to $500US a month to any destitute person???

Singapore is a success story by any measure. The fact is there are poor people in any country and Singapore is no different. The article is trying to point that out, that's all. if the girl nevah hab six pickney she couda min' harself quite fine... Baby modda inna JA gettin hu much from guvament? The percentage of "poor" people in SIngapore as a percentage of their population compared to JA is how much??

[Islandman]

Willi and Mosiah have been there so they would be able to give you a first hand account of what it is like. I have not so i will not attempt to do that.

I wasn't suggesting that life was particularly "easy' for the bottom 10%, $1500 a month earner in Singapore. Life is not particularly easy for the bottom 10% in any country in the world!

What I am fairly confident about though, is that such a person in Singapore is experiencing a higher standard of living than the bottom 10% in Jamaica, Cuba and most other places in the world. MUCH higher.

[Karl]

Karl,

You've got to be kidding! Can the JA govt. even beging to think about dispensing close to $500US a month to any destitute person???

Singapore is a success story by any measure. The fact is there are poor people in any country and Singapore is no different. The article is trying to point that out, that's all. if the girl nevah hab six pickney she couda min' harself quite fine... Baby modda inna JA gettin hu much from guvament? The percentage of "poor" people in SIngapore as a percentage of their population compared to JA is how much??

Never questioned what the Government of Singapore did and what our GOJ can do.

My question surrounds what the $5000 monthly can do for the Mom and her 6 kids in Singapore. Clearly stated I do not know...and further that those who claim to know should not merely give us figures but let us know what the $5000 (will get one) can do!!!

Islandman suggests it can do much...but he gives no supporting facts on how. I posted a number of links with info on homes, car, source suggesting how much would be needed by the lady... but drew no conclusions.

Furthest I have gone is to suggest that "The Heart Truths" article/paper suggests SGD3500 through SGD6005 monthly is the minimum needed for 'acceptable living' for a family of 4.

Boss, I haven't a clue on what (salary/earnings) it would take for a family of 4 or my starting family of 8 [6 kids, Mom (my wife) and I] through to now...we empty-nesters...for us to be enjoying the comforts we now do. However, I would love to get the facts from any of The Massive who has them.

My interest has been now piqued.

Aside: I did digress and mentioned what U$1500 could get you in Jamaica and the USA (some parts). ...and that only as the conversation flew off when I asked if that, SGD1500 would get you the same goodies in Singapore as J1500 would get you in Jamaica.

If you read my posts you would see that I was asking in the context of what can the money the lady received 'get her' for herself and her 6 kids.

[Karl]

Willi and Mosiah have been there so they would be able to give you a first hand account of what it is like. I have not so i will not attempt to do that.

I wasn't suggesting that life was particularly "easy' for the bottom 10%, $1500 a month earner in Singapore. Life is not particularly easy for the bottom 10% in any country in the world!

What I am fairly confident about though, is that such a person in Singapore is experiencing a higher standard of living than the bottom 10% in Jamaica, Cuba and most other places in the world. MUCH higher.

Got you.

...but back to the lady --->

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nurhaida Binte Jantan is making dinner. She is roasting otah-otah, a Malay dish of fish paste wrapped in banana leaves, over a portable stove.

She is a 29-year-old unemployed single mother with six children from five to 13 years old. She lives in a tiny flat, just 30 square metres, with little furnishing.

There is no dining table, so the children eat their otah-otah with rice and chillies crouched on the floor.

The children share the single bedroom - their only bedding is mattresses and thick blankets. Nurhaida sleeps on the sofa in the living room.

She receives weekly groceries from charities, as well as about S$600 ($474, £262) a month in government aid and money from a boyfriend. But she admits that it is difficult to make ends meet. She has not been able to afford asthma medicine for her second daughter for months.

"No one can afford to get sick in this house because our finances are too tight. It's quite tough and a struggle for me to be raising them up," she said.

"I have to look after this house 24/7… so for me if I were to find a job, it would have to be a night job, so that once they are in bed, I can go out and the older kids can watch the young ones."

...that money she receives each month sure is not 'getting her much'!!! If that does not tell a tale of wretched living conditions then

[Islandman]

I never said it could do much. I said she is better off than she would be almost anywhere else in the world in the same position.

Also if it could do much then she would be getting WAY too much! She is on govt assistance after all. If you can live comfortably on govt assistance then what motivation is there to work?

[Karl]

I never said it could do much. I said she is better off than she would be almost anywhere else in the world in the same position.

Also if it could do much then she would be getting WAY too much! She is on govt assistance after all. If you can live comfortably on govt assistance then what motivation is there to work?

This is a tease - You are a republican!!!

Receiving public assistance and living comfortable do not go together...but receiving funds matters not how much do not equate not wishing to work...or lead to not wishing to work. I believe that for most persons the more financially comfortable they become the harder they work.

There is this upward curve towards those who have a lot tend to play and work hardest!!! (No figures to support that...just my experiences).

Humans just have this built in drive to be always hunger for 'more'. You shall always have a few...mighty few who matters not the circumstance do not wish to work. Has nothing to do with receipt of welfare.

[TDowl]

Things must have really change since I was there, at that time there were no zinc or drum pan fence there, yes they have flats for the poor class too, very decent ones. Who is flooding Cuba? Singapore is the cleanest place I have been to.

[TDowl]

Post a picture of the poor section in Singapore for me?

[TDowl]

MdmeX, where in JA can I get someone to make a suit in one day?

BTW I was invited out to Xmas dinner, I had the best curry goat outside of any Jamaican cooking, I also had brown stew snapper yaad style, dem nuh joke in that department, go to my timeline on FB and see the photo.

I would love to see town water front looking like Singapore's.

[Rockman]

In college(Business Administration,major in Accounting)the bussiness Law professor told us a company that sells cars could have made 1 car a 100 years ago and
made 99 cars last month.That company can in its advertisement say it has been making cars for 100 years and 99% of the cars it made are perfectly operable today.
Careful with numbers Islandman,it probably means more to me than it does to you.
With indigenous Singaporeans on the verge of becoming the minority,what is the demographics of the bottom 10%?
Would you agree discontent with the ruling party is obvious(refer to recent general election....)and the Govt forced to react are clear indicators of the demographics of the bottom 10%....
Heathcare,education and and housing are expensive.
We know there are indigenous Singaporens that are doing well,look at the salaries of Govt officials,they made sure to take care of themselves but in reality has indigenous Singaporens fared a well?
Shiny buildings do they own them,how about the luxury cars....
You are seeing concentrated wealth.

[Assasin]

LOL. A wonder if her kids going to school, and good schools?