To Be Poor and Living in Singapore, A Real Shame

[TDowl]

I spent Xmas in Singapore and was invited for Dinner, I also spent my birthday there also.

[TDowl]

Somehow I am not receiving mail off this site...inbox your number on FB, we can touch base tomorrow.

[Jawge]

say self reliance would turn jakans into communists? Did i get it wrong?

[Karl]

Here is a peep into "If you see what I mean?"

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)

SAN FRANCISCO — Not long ago the pink house at 1829 Church Street, in the Glen Park neighborhood here, hit the market for $895,000.

It sold for $1.425 million — $530,000 over the asking price — in less than two weeks.

The story of this fixer-upper, with three bedrooms, two baths, linoleum floors and an Eisenhower-era kitchen, is in some ways the story of the moment in the city, where longtime residents complain that Silicon Valley money is basically ruining the place for everyone else.

More wealth is concentrated in the San Francisco Bay Area than just about any other place in the nation. Google alone, the story goes, minted 1,000 millionaires when it went public. Ditto Facebook. And Twitter? Some estimate 1,600. Tech worker bees are doing just fine, too, with average base salaries now north of $100,000.

To understand how all this money is transforming San Francisco, for better and worse, look no further than this city’s hyperventilating real estate market. As technology companies have moved in — more than 5,000 start-ups now make their home locally — the influx of well-paid workers has pushed rents and home prices through the roof. Worsening matters, San Francisco has also become a bedroom community for many of the young people who work in Silicon Valley. Each day, Apple, Facebook, Google and others shuttle tens of thousands of their employees to work using private buses that have become a controversial symbol of rising tech wealth.

At a recent open house for 1829 Church Street, the broker explained the property’s dilapidated appeal.

“It’s a block away from all the tech shuttles,” he said.

On one level, the technology industry and its riches have been very good to San Francisco. The unemployment rate is 4.8 percent, compared with 6.6 percent nationwide. Entire neighborhoods are being revitalized — or destroyed, depending on whom you talk to. To some, San Francisco is losing its soul as it gentrifies rapidly.

There is reason to worry. Over the last decade, 75,000 people have moved to San Francisco, but only 17,000 new housing units have been built. Over the next 25 years, city officials project, 150,000 more people will arrive.

“The city is surrounded by water on three sides, and there is nowhere for people to go,” said Glenn Kelman, chief executive of Redfin, an online real estate brokerage firm.

Little wonder, then, that a feeding frenzy is underway in the housing market. Landon Nash, a real estate broker, said it was not uncommon for open houses to see hundreds of people shuffle through and conclude with a 20-person bidding war. People are waiving mortgage contingency clauses and home inspections — and paying cash.

In December, almost 40 percent of the home sales were all cash. Redfin estimates that, on average, homes in San Francisco are selling for 60 percent to 80 percent over asking price. Most are gobbled up within 16 days of being listed, down from 61 days five years ago, when the nation’s real estate market was still soft.

But here’s the problem: As more people move in, the city will also need more public-school teachers, police officers and firefighters. Living in San Francisco on a city salary is difficult if not impossible. According to Redfin, in San Francisco County, where the average teacher earns $59,700 a year, not a single home now on the market is within the reach of the average public-school teacher. For police officers, who make an average of $80,000 a year, there is one affordable home. Five years ago, police officers and teachers could have afforded 36 percent of the homes on the market, according to Redfin.

Even some tech entrepreneurs and programmers say they are being priced out. They are competing with co-workers who got in early on a tech start-up, or started one of their own, and have seemingly unlimited money at their disposal.

When Mark Zuckerberg bought his pied-à-terre in San Francisco’s Noe Valley in 2012, he had a representative knock on the door of the home he liked — it wasn’t even for sale — and then offered the owners all cash at double the value of the property.

On Tuesday, 250 San Francisco residents congregated at Virgil’s Sea Room, a bar in the Mission district, to discuss the housing crisis. It didn’t take long for the event, called Tech Workers Against Displacement Happy Hour, to erupt into an expletive-fueled yelling match between tech workers and people running nonprofits that are trying to stop evictions in the city.

City officials know they have a housing problem on their hands.

“Our approach to housing in San Francisco is very dysfunctional,” said Scott Wiener, a San Francisco supervisor who is a proponent of new housing. “The system is intentionally designed to make it as difficult as possible to build new housing.”

There are long lists of rules, regulations and hurdles developers need to get around before building in the city that Mr. Wiener said were created to curb new construction. Real estate experts say the only way to build is up, but many longtime residents have shot down proposals for high-rise housing.

Additionally, with each new housing unit, there need to be some affordable options. According to the Public Policy Institute of California and the Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality, more than 23 percent of San Francisco residents are below the poverty threshold.

In recent years, officials have managed to approve some new high-rise housing in the SoMa and Tenderloin areas. But it seems to be too little, too late.

“We’re in an absolute housing crisis right now,” Mr. Wiener said. “There’s no easy solution, and it’s going to take us time to fix this.”

Twitter: @nickbilton Email: bilton@nytimes.com

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/0...ype=blogs&_r=0

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Now if we just substitute Singapore for San Francisco...it could have you thinking, "I wonder if the situation in that Singapore island state is for many not far removed from what is occurring in that San Francisco Bay Area?" If so, majority of the citizens or a minority of the citizens and in any case what are the facts/the numbers on either side of 'the divide'?

We think on that lady with the 6 kids in Singapore and her SGD5,000+...and we say, why are they living in that inadequate 30 sq. ft. home? ...and the lack of amenities the articles describe? The children having to 'squat' on the floor at meal-time? ...the numbers on earning that ensures the old shall be destitute when working life is over? How far does her SGD5,000 really go? "Exactly what is the situation"...as SGD5000+ on surface sounds great???

I do not know...but I wonder on what are the problems associated with attempts at living comfortably and retiring with grace and dignity intact in the Singapore presented 'Shangri-La'?

[Rockman]

Have you been to San Fracisco Karl?
Lower unemployment rate than average,sign of wealth evident...and with the US konwn for welfare...,everything is fine because Islandman,Willi...told us so.
Singapore problem is even more pronounced,at least healthcare and education are largely influenced by the Federal Govt.....
Your choice of where to live has narrowed to the point of oblivion.
But hey,at least in SF it is not a case where families are purposely separated to circumvent their ability to demand better.
The diffences in cultures abd languages lessen the chances of the afflicted coming together in Singapore,not clearly visible by sight as shiny buildings are.

[Muadib]

Malaysia is next door.. nuff land deh deh !

While Singapore’s expatriates eye the relatively cheaper houses in Malaysia, Malaysians especially those who have just joined the workforce complain that they cannot afford to buy houses. The Singapore dollar is worth about 2.5 times more than the Malaysian ringgit.

<“Malaysia offered an affordable alternative,” the Australian wife of a Dutch national, Geert Hulst, working in the island republic, told Singapore’s Sunday Times, in an article published today.>

Next.

[Muadib]

A bridge connects Singapore to Malaysia..

All who nuh like it.. there are 50,000 cars a day crossing the bridge.. bum a ride..

Your quixotic yapping getting boring now...

[Islandman]

Can't afford to live in San Franciso? Move to Oakland, it is very near.

Can't afford to live in Manhattan? Move to Brooklyn, Bronx or Jersey.

Don't understand the problem. Why would you want to live among the greedy capitalists and their neo-consumerism culture anyway?

Do you have ANY idea how much economic value the Bay Area and Silicon valley has given to California, the US and the world in the last 5 decades?

But anyway gwan enjoy the fruits of Babylon while cussing the people who planted the seeds. Lucky fe you, you live in a country where them allow you fe do dat (up to a point), unlike many of those you like to promote.

[Rockman]

There are opposition to what is happening in SA by the middle class.Am I not allowed to form an opinion?
How different is telling dark skinned Americans complaining to just go back to Africa from telling immigrants to....

[Islandman]

Nobody is TELLING anybody to go anywhere. I am saying what sane people do when they cannot afford to live somewhere is they move to somewhere they can afford.

If the cost of living in an area is increasing because the economy is booming, the solution is not to stop the economy booming or stop the successful people from living in the area. That is the height of folly and backward thinking.

If one seeks to preserve the culture of a community there are options such as building subsidized housing or subsidizing rent for those who are considered to be adding non-monetary VALUE to the community. So if you are a city that has a culture based on music or the arts which the population wants to preserve, then you should consider giving musicians and artistes subsidized benefits and tax the citizens who want the musicians to stay. Otherwise they will leave.

You cannot be anti-progress and then demand that others owe you a certain standard of living. This is what is really troubling with your viewpoint. You demand that Singapore distribute more of their great wealth to their poor than they already distribute, even as you refuse to acknowledge the success of the policies that has made them wealthy. Other nations whose policies have resulted in widespread poverty and misery, you praise for having nothing to distribute to their poor. What is wrong with this picture?

[Muadib]

When one cannot have a perfect society one has to make choices understanding your priorities...




<Watching the ever-increasing costs of the welfare state in Britain and Sweden, we decided to avoid this debilitating system. We noted by the 1970s that when governments undertook primary responsibility for the basic duties of the head of a family, the drive in people weakened. Welfare undermined self-reliance.>

. . .

<For nearly four decades since the war, successive British governments seemed to assume that the creation of wealth came about naturally, and that what needed government attention and ingenuity was the redistribution of wealth. . . . We have used to advantage what Britain left behind: the English language, the legal system, parliamentary government and impartial administration. However, we have studiously avoided the practices of the welfare state. We saw how a great people reduced themselves to mediocrity by leveling down.>

"Success needs no explanation, failure does not have one that matters..."

[Rockman]

It is beyond that,the progress in SF is pushing the middle class out,that is unacceptable.Who will teach your schools,who will police your streets?
If SF is doing so well then why salaries are not increased for the middle class?
The model is geared towards enriching the already wealthy,maximizing profit by whatever means necessary.
See Islandman,a mere glance at human beings will clearly shows two eyes but we know there is a third eye.
Again,countries that you deemed failures do not succeed because of the subversive tactics of countries you deemed highly successful.
To conquer something you must see it for what it is,or it conquered you.

[Islandman]

Ah, who is teaching in the schools in Singapore, in Tokyo? These places have some of the highest literacy rates in the world so I assume somebody is teaching them.

Most of the new rich in San Francisco and the Bay Area are from middle class backgrounds and in one generation they became wealthy by participating in a lucrative industry. In fact many of them are immigrants.

Take the newest billionaire on the block:

Koum, who Forbes believes owns 45% of WhatsApp and thus is suddenly worth $6.8 billion (net of taxes) — was born and raised in a small village outside of Kiev, Ukraine, the only child of a housewife and a construction manager who built hospitals and schools. His house had no hot water, and his parents rarely talked on the phone in case it was tapped by the state.

Now you can class him as a greedy capitalist who is driving up the cost of living in the Bay Area. What I see is someone who helped to create a piece of technology that allows me to text my family overseas for a next-to-zero price. He has created value for me and it is fantastic in my view that he has been richly compensated for this.

What you constantly fail to understand is that it is EASY to redistribute wealth that has already been created. What is difficult is to create new wealth.

Anyway stick with your wealth redistribution model if it makes you feel comfortable. I will stick with my wealth creation model because I see no virtue in poverty and lack of opportunity even if it makes everybody feel equally miserable.

[Muadib]

Clearly you don't understand what is driving real-estate prices in Silicon Valley.. it is not already weathy being enriched.. it is formerly middle class tech workers becoming Millionaires on a weekly basis !

What do you suggest.. not giving them stock options and NOT making their companies stock market sensations ?

Maybe you prefer Downtown Kingston today to the middle/upper income Downtown prior to the 70's..

It would not surprise me if you did... I am coming to understand the mentality.. and why Jamaica is a murder capital and economic disaster for black people and the pariah of the region...

[Rockman]

Islandman,Kaum has nothing to do with this unless he underpays his workers.He is not the one that sets real estate prices or benefits from.
Regarding Singapore and education,if salaries for the middle class is not increased to offset the rising cost of living then what you have created are debt slaves.Education cost in Singapore is tailored for the rich.
Maybe that is why Singaporeans are among the most unhappynation and not the terrible decision whether to have lobster or concerns about the limitation with regards to the speed of their yatch.The issue at hand Islandman,the plight of those people that are not wealthy.
Maybe you are all accepting,apparently there is no room for impeovement in your preferred model.Walmart hands out welfare forms to their employees,there is a move to make unions extinct,and middle class wages have not increased for many years.You will always find some that will work for less.