#215 yo-yo stock market

I cannot believe that I read: yesterday the US stock market soared 900 points or 11% (!) while for the past few days, in spite of monies injected, yet…there was a spiral downwards! Why no stability? Who are the suckers? Who are the winners?
Who has been deciding or manipulating the rise and fall of the stock market?!
Who is [...]

#214 food scare

Milk, an essential for babies and now cup noodles, the popular fast food for adults especially the elderly who found this convenient to prepare.
All one needs is to pour hot water into the cup and wait for several minutes…voila, the food is ready for eating! Mind you, the price for a cup noodle is not that cheap…but [...]

#213 european rights prize

Hu Jia, a prominent activist and currently serving jail sentence from China apparently won the European rights prize. What does this prize stand for?
Will this prize given to Hu Jia encourage more dissent in China?
When people are given the housing and food, will they rise up against the leadership of a country?
Will any nation in Europe [...]

#212 simple understanding

CNN’s senior business correspondent Ali Velshi gave this layman’s understanding on Oprah Winfrey show:
The first step toward grasping the bailout plan is to understand how we got in this mess in the first place. Ali says it started with three basic assumptions about the American economy: homes will increase in value over time, wages will go up over [...]

#211 dispute over ancient temple

The latest dispute according to news left 2 Cambodians dead and 2 wounded while 5 Thai soldiers wounded.
Where is negotation? Where is peace? What do some leaders know about peace?
These leaders certainly know how to add spicy spices to the lives of the villagers.
As it is, the villagers are living in dire poverty, will they have to flee?
Are temples [...]

#210 school lessons boring

“How’s school?”
“It’s boring!” remarked a teenager from a good school.
Sadly students think that teachers can teach…but the truth is, many of us who had gone through the mill discovered the qualified teachers were average. They could hardly impart knowledge. Some teachers read through the text with us during lessons and they expect us to perform. We must be the [...]

#209 learning to live within one’s means

Man has short memory indeed! The last recession was about 6 years ago here in Singapore?
Have we picked up since then? Or are we gliding further? Up a little and slide further?
Have we learnt our lessons since?
Recession, panic selling in the stock market, credit crunch gale force sweeping Europe might be blessing in disguise — though [...]

#208 retrenchments and wage cuts

Singaporeans are forewarned there will be retrenchments and wage cuts during this recession.
Who are the ones to be retrenched? Will those in the 50s of age bracket be the first to go? The rationale that the older ones are higher wage earner…but the new intake start with higher starting pay without experience!
What about rents on [...]

#207 who do you trust?

Having money is a problem these days. Putting money in the bank is no consolation either.
You lose your hard earned cash when a financial institution collapsed. I was told you could file for misrepresentation — that the profile of products bought did not suit the personality of one. How does this work?
The high turnover of officers serving you in [...]

#206 students in school uniforms

The school uniform a student wears serves as an identity.
Yesterday at a bus interchange, instead of queueing for the bus, a student in Nanyang Girls’ High uniform tried to cut queue. She thought by following an uncouth middle-aged man, no one bothered ticking her off.
This student obviously did not take pride in her school – neither pride [...]