Will minimum wage laws work here?

[d5dude]

Of course the lowest income group who r struggling to get by everyday would hate the system. That is only natural.

I am not communist by the way, I know we r in a Capitalist system. But capitalism seems a bit extreme for me in Sg. I think I am a socialist at heart.

Socialist will not think about buying landed house everyday, you are just jealous that there are people who are better off than you, this is why you want higher taxes for them. You are already considered high income in Singapore but you pay very little income tax, I can guarantee you that you will not like it if you are in Scandinavia where taxes are really high.

 

[d5dude]

Income tax just squeezes the middle class. Ultra-rich don't pay income tax. Their money comes from capital gains.

Ya like warren buffet.

 

[BBCWatcher]

If PM pays $30k per month only, you will attract the less than capable and low profile people. Those who are more elite wouldn't want to be in the politics.

There are reasonable counterarguments here. For example, the same government pays a market wage to its police officers who carry loaded guns. Do we want people carrying guns amongst us in shopping malls, supermarkets, and train stations to be "less than capable"? How about nurses, who could (and occasionally do) make medical errors and kill patients? Shouldn't we pay them above market wages to attract higher quality nurses?

In other words, where's the greater return on a salary investment in terms of public well being? If we pay nurses more and top ministers less, would the public be better off overall? Maybe it would! I don't automatically assume that the highest, best use of those incremental public dollars is for ministers' salaries. I'd like to see some more evidence supporting that hypothesis.

 

[Merg91]

Can just let us know a few gems ?

..... most of the stocks are 0 dividend stocks.
They appreciate about 10-20% a year.

 

[vindieselandgas]

Did the minimum wage grow now?

 

[fzhfzh]

Can just let us know a few gems ?

Berkshire Hathaway, at&t, Apple, Microsoft, Costco etc for safer stocks. If you have bigger risk appetite there’s nvda, square etc. tech stocks. Balance the risk with some government bonds, 10-20% is easy in last 10 years of bull run.

 

[d5dude]

There are reasonable counterarguments here. For example, the same government pays a market wage to its police officers who carry loaded guns. Do we want people carrying guns amongst us in shopping malls, supermarkets, and train stations to be "less than capable"? How about nurses, who could (and occasionally do) make medical errors and kill patients? Shouldn't we pay them above market wages to attract higher quality nurses?

In other words, where's the greater return on a salary investment in terms of public well being? If we pay nurses more and top ministers less, would the public be better off overall? Maybe it would! I don't automatically assume that the highest, best use of those incremental public dollars is for ministers' salaries. I'd like to see some more evidence supporting that hypothesis.

Leaders have always been paid more than foot soldiers in the history of mankind because they are crucial to the success of the organisation, Apple will not be what it is today without Steve Jobs, the question is how much more should they get to be considered "fair"? The market determines what is fair in the private sector so there is no issue there, for the public sector and politicians I agree there is a problem when they try to pay themselves a lot of money. Unfortunately there isn't an easy KPI that we can look at like profits for shareholders when it comes to running a country, but we have to assume that they are worth that kind of money when the vast majority of voters support them in a democracy.

 

[Merg91]

It is sooner or later they will get the bills.
https://www.irishtimes.com/business...eland-over-tax-avoidance-rule-delay-1.3971144

the normal rich who only have one company probably cannot escape corporate tax. the super rich companies can try to escape tax by parking their profits in tax havens or even get to pay negative tax:

https://nypost.com/2019/02/14/amazon-paid-no-federal-taxes-again/

 

[fzhfzh]

It is sooner or later they will get the bills.
https://www.irishtimes.com/business...eland-over-tax-avoidance-rule-delay-1.3971144

You don’t even have to use Dutch Irish sandwich to reduce tax in Singapore. Just reinvest back all your profits for your company so you have zero profits. Tax is based on profit, not revenue. This increases the value of your company. Then sel your company or go ipo and sell you stocks. Bam capital gains tax 0%.

 

[mummy1234]

Let me use your words...

"I would rather be treated by doctors who r not moneyfaced and who r truly passionate about their jobs than doctors who only do it cause of money".

Are u that doctor?

I am only a locum dr. I get paid when I work and no pay if I don't work. I have to see sometimes 9-15 pts at hr for a busy clinic. Per consult is really not much. Yet I am expected to be perfect. I am not a machine.

I love medicine and I love people, that is why I still work though my pay is considered peanuts to some people.

 

[Mecisteus]

Leaders have always been paid more than foot soldiers in the history of mankind because they are crucial to the success of the organisation, Apple will not be what it is today without Steve Jobs, the question is how much more should they get to be considered "fair"? The market determines what is fair in the private sector so there is no issue there, for the public sector and politicians I agree there is a problem when they try to pay themselves a lot of money. Unfortunately there isn't an easy KPI that we can look at like profits for shareholders when it comes to running a country, but we have to assume that they are worth that kind of money when the vast majority of voters support them in a democracy.

For bigger countries like US, China, UK, Germany, etc the status of top policyholders are much more valuable than the ones in Singapore. So there are more incentives other than money to join these ranks.

 

[Mecisteus]

There are reasonable counterarguments here. For example, the same government pays a market wage to its police officers who carry loaded guns. Do we want people carrying guns amongst us in shopping malls, supermarkets, and train stations to be "less than capable"? How about nurses, who could (and occasionally do) make medical errors and kill patients? Shouldn't we pay them above market wages to attract higher quality nurses?

In other words, where's the greater return on a salary investment in terms of public well being? If we pay nurses more and top ministers less, would the public be better off overall? Maybe it would! I don't automatically assume that the highest, best use of those incremental public dollars is for ministers' salaries. I'd like to see some more evidence supporting that hypothesis.

Like what d5dude said, it's not hard to sieve out the lousy nurses and policemen. Basic tasks like giving injections and marksmanship can be easily measured and monitored.

It's quite hard to measure politicians. Because these guys are more into "acting" and talking. If you can talk and you can act like Trump, it's easy to be politicians.

Since Singapore can afford, I don't see why they can't afford to pay top dollars to attract the most intelligent people who can talk and act too.

 

[BBCWatcher]

Leaders have always been paid more than foot soldiers in the history of mankind because they are crucial to the success of the organisation....

No, that's simply not true. Top salespeople routinely make more than CEOs, for example. The CEO of Japan Airlines took less total compensation than the airline's pilots did. Recently, Haruka Nishimatsu (JAL's CEO) lost pay because one of the airline's pilots was caught drunk and sentenced to 10 months in prison in the United Kingdom. JAL routinely ranks as one of the finest airlines in the world, and they've been ranked as having the world's best economy class product for three years running.

....Apple will not be what it is today without Steve Jobs....

Who famously worked for $1/year in salary during his second stint. Jobs only became wealthy (or even was paid anything) when Apple's shareholders did well, and they did.

....the question is how much more should they get to be considered "fair"? The market determines what is fair in the private sector so there is no issue there....

There are many issues. Labor markets do not function perfectly or even particularly well on their own, left to their own devices. Government plays a big role in supporting and regulating labor markets, including here in Singapore.

....for the public sector and politicians I agree there is a problem when they try to pay themselves a lot of money. Unfortunately there isn't an easy KPI that we can look at like profits for shareholders when it comes to running a country, but we have to assume that they are worth that kind of money when the vast majority of voters support them in a democracy.

How about if voters decide ministerial compensation via direct democracy? Or, if you don't like direct democracy for some reason, how about if there's a 7 member ministerial compensation board, and voters directly elect those board members?

Ministerial salaries probably shouldn't be benchmarked to the private sector much at all, or not only to the private sector anyway. I think they should be benchmarked against what high quality, high performing, low corruption governments manage to achieve with their levels of ministerial compensation. Pick a basket of developed, small country governments that are doing well or even better than Singapore -- Switzerland and Denmark come to mind as two examples -- and benchmark against them.

 

[d5dude]

No, that's simply not true. Top salespeople routinely make more than CEOs, for example. The CEO of Japan Airlines took less total compensation than the airline's pilots did. Recently, Haruka Nishimatsu (JAL's CEO) lost pay because one of the airline's pilots was caught drunk and sentenced to 10 months in prison in the United Kingdom. JAL routinely ranks as one of the finest airlines in the world, and they've been ranked as having the world's best economy class product for three years running.


Who famously worked for $1/year in salary during his second stint. Jobs only became wealthy (or even was paid anything) when Apple's shareholders did well, and they did.


There are many issues. Labor markets do not function perfectly or even particularly well on their own, left to their own devices. Government plays a big role in supporting and regulating labor markets, including here in Singapore.


How about if voters decide ministerial compensation via direct democracy? Or, if you don't like direct democracy for some reason, how about if there's a 7 member ministerial compensation board, and voters directly elect those board members?

Ministerial salaries probably shouldn't be benchmarked to the private sector much at all, or not only to the private sector anyway. I think they should be benchmarked against what high quality, high performing, low corruption governments manage to achieve with their levels of ministerial compensation. Pick a basket of developed, small country governments that are doing well or even better than Singapore -- Switzerland and Denmark come to mind as two examples -- and benchmark against them.

Alamak JAL went bankrupt a few years ago, and the airline is still shaky now so management should not be rewarded. The whole thing is fair. I remember reading aomething about the average ceo on the s&p500 making few hundred times more than the average worker in those companies, so in general ceo pay is very obscene.

I agree that government should regulate labour market like restricting the number of migrant workers, but for them to tell shareholders that their ceo is overpaid is too much, they should be the ones to decide that.

Benchmarking government performance is difficult. What KPIs do we use to determine the benchmark? Gdp? Happiness index? Income equality? Hdi? Its very difficult. Some of these things aren't even easily measurable, if you noticed.

 

[Merg91]

Trump let go of a fart /tweets a few line and there is an international chain reaction.
This is power.
He loves it.

Singapore PM makes a speech. Edmw /FB makes more noise than the media.

For bigger countries like US, China, UK, Germany, etc the status of top policyholders are much more valuable than the ones in Singapore. So there are more incentives other than money to join these ranks.

 

[mummy1234]

Like what d5dude said, it's not hard to sieve out the lousy nurses and policemen. Basic tasks like giving injections and marksmanship can be easily measured and monitored.

It's quite hard to measure politicians. Because these guys are more into "acting" and talking. If you can talk and you can act like Trump, it's easy to be politicians.

Since Singapore can afford, I don't see why they can't afford to pay top dollars to attract the most intelligent people who can talk and act too.

Leaders must lead with a vision and not just act and talk. Leaders must improve lives of his or her citizens. GDP is good as a benchmark if it means the citizens get wealthier over time. But in Sg, the rich get richer while the poor get poorer which is not good. And the middle income gets squeezed. So I am against extreme capitalism as it is exploitative in nature.

 

[Mecisteus]

Leaders must lead with a vision and not just act and talk. Leaders must improve lives of his or her citizens.

There is no shortage of such leaders.

Wait. Why must wait for government to help the poor?

You are a doctor. Can you give us a free consultation? If there are more doctors like that, the world can be a better place. Medical costs is one of the main concerns among citizens.

 

[Mecisteus]

Trump let go of a fart /tweets a few line and there is an international chain reaction.
This is power.

This is the kind of power that many people can dream of.

 

[Merg91]

More to come for many MNCs.

Google will pay a €500 million fine for tax evasion, as well as a further €465 million to settle claims with French tax authorities.
Read more at:
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/new...5-million-tax-settlement-with-france-11901616

 

[Merg91]

Next general election is coming.
Try approaching Tan Cheng Bock or Lee Hsien Yang.
We love to see some opp candidates with substance.

Leaders must lead with a vision and not just act and talk. Leaders must improve lives of his or her citizens. GDP is good as a benchmark if it means the citizens get wealthier over time. But in Sg, the rich get richer while the poor get poorer which is not good. And the middle income gets squeezed. So I am against extreme capitalism as it is exploitative in nature.