THEtree is all about my friends who grew up with me in good old Kulim town, Malaysia in the late years of the 1950s and the 1960s. For me this is a time tunnel and I just love Kulim of 1960 especially Bukit Awi THE place I wanna be!!! - Dave Li Wanji (Wan Mokhtar Ramlee Al-Sambas).
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Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Layman's understanding of the 2012 budget.
Subject: A LAYMAN'S INTERPRETATION OF NAJIB'S 2012 BUDGET
Being only a retired military officer, I may be blind to the economic facts, but certainly not stupid to swallow a pack of untruths (I do not like to use the word lies). Firstly, a bunch of 'one off" handouts that mainly makes the civil servants, soldiers,policemen,pensioners happy. Then some populist moves across the board to give everyone hope.
Now, I wonder and ask some searching questions: 1. Is there a long term investment beyond 2012 in the budget? Nyet,Nadai,Nien,Bo liau,Tadak,Yillai!!!! So, is it wrong for me to assume that the whole idea is to con the people into an election victory and then do the fire fighting/damage control etc. later? How often have you heard recently from govt depts, "Allocation ada, duit belum terima". Here, they were playing a mahjong game, with the skills of a Tai Chi exponent. It gets us by, believe me, but it doesn't solve the problem. 2. How can Jibby confidently predict a 5 to 6 % GDP growth in 2012 to "afford" the expenditure, when the world is on the brink of an impendingdouble dip recession? I would guess that 4 to 4.5% would be more realistic at most. Now here lies the biggest failure.
THERE IS NO CONTINGENCY WHATSOEVER IF THE RECESSION KICKS IN!!!! Remember, failure to plan is planning a failure. 3. How is the deficit gap going to close? There is no clear cut plans onprudent spending against added revenue collection. The Capital Gains Tax increase is a drop in the ocean. More money can be collected from stamp duties due to the volume of transactions anyway. Yes, there is transformation; from one area of unproductiveness to another area of unproductiveness. Budget deficits translate into debts. Debt servicing was RM12.8 billion in 2008. For 2012, it is estimated to be RM20.5 billion - an increase of nearly 60%." Let's do the math-take interest rate at 5%, RM12.8 billion debt service charges in 2008 would make federal government debt at RM256 billion.
Now with debt service charges at RM20.5 billion, the federal government's debt is projected at RM410 billion. This is an increase of RM154 billion from 2008 to 2012, an average increase of RM38.5 billion per year. That would now be the nation's annual actual deficit!!!!! Yes, I have tears in my eyes too, because my children will have to pay for it. 4. Where is Jibby going to get the money? Yes, from us, my friends, the long suffering 1.7 million tax payers. The long awaited GST will be shoved in after the election. Mark my words.The EPF (Employees Provident Fund) and other government-linked funds will be asked to do national service by investing in debt papers issued by the government. Again, a case of using the peoples'money to bail out a financially weak government. So, in essence I say, look at the forest my dear friends and now tell me how they are ruining my beloved Malaysia. Call me a pessimist, non believer, not a risk taker etc. but I ask- CAN YOU RUN A COUNTRY ON BORROWED TIME? The answer is YES! If you are a leader living on borrowed time.May God Bless Us All.
Being only a retired military officer, I may be blind to the economic facts, but certainly not stupid to swallow a pack of untruths (I do not like to use the word lies). Firstly, a bunch of 'one off" handouts that mainly makes the civil servants, soldiers,policemen,pensioners happy. Then some populist moves across the board to give everyone hope.
Now, I wonder and ask some searching questions: 1. Is there a long term investment beyond 2012 in the budget? Nyet,Nadai,Nien,Bo liau,Tadak,Yillai!!!! So, is it wrong for me to assume that the whole idea is to con the people into an election victory and then do the fire fighting/damage control etc. later? How often have you heard recently from govt depts, "Allocation ada, duit belum terima". Here, they were playing a mahjong game, with the skills of a Tai Chi exponent. It gets us by, believe me, but it doesn't solve the problem. 2. How can Jibby confidently predict a 5 to 6 % GDP growth in 2012 to "afford" the expenditure, when the world is on the brink of an impendingdouble dip recession? I would guess that 4 to 4.5% would be more realistic at most. Now here lies the biggest failure.
THERE IS NO CONTINGENCY WHATSOEVER IF THE RECESSION KICKS IN!!!! Remember, failure to plan is planning a failure. 3. How is the deficit gap going to close? There is no clear cut plans onprudent spending against added revenue collection. The Capital Gains Tax increase is a drop in the ocean. More money can be collected from stamp duties due to the volume of transactions anyway. Yes, there is transformation; from one area of unproductiveness to another area of unproductiveness. Budget deficits translate into debts. Debt servicing was RM12.8 billion in 2008. For 2012, it is estimated to be RM20.5 billion - an increase of nearly 60%." Let's do the math-take interest rate at 5%, RM12.8 billion debt service charges in 2008 would make federal government debt at RM256 billion.
Now with debt service charges at RM20.5 billion, the federal government's debt is projected at RM410 billion. This is an increase of RM154 billion from 2008 to 2012, an average increase of RM38.5 billion per year. That would now be the nation's annual actual deficit!!!!! Yes, I have tears in my eyes too, because my children will have to pay for it. 4. Where is Jibby going to get the money? Yes, from us, my friends, the long suffering 1.7 million tax payers. The long awaited GST will be shoved in after the election. Mark my words.The EPF (Employees Provident Fund) and other government-linked funds will be asked to do national service by investing in debt papers issued by the government. Again, a case of using the peoples'money to bail out a financially weak government. So, in essence I say, look at the forest my dear friends and now tell me how they are ruining my beloved Malaysia. Call me a pessimist, non believer, not a risk taker etc. but I ask- CAN YOU RUN A COUNTRY ON BORROWED TIME? The answer is YES! If you are a leader living on borrowed time.May God Bless Us All.
Labels:
politics - world
From a Chinese Malaysian....
Diterima
melalui e-mail ini oleh W.Mokhtar ‘Lee pada 24 Oktober 2011. W.M’Lee (Dave Li) mengambil kesempatan menterjemahkan ke dalam
Bahasa Malaysia. Selamat membaca.
Subject:
MCA, I want to vote for PAS!" – Aku nak pilih
PAS !!
|
Labels:
politics - world
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Sunday, October 16, 2011
DIPPED IN THE AMBIGUITY......
DUMC - Jais: Bishop Troubled by Sultan's Statement
Terence Nett Oct 1
Catholic Bishop Paul Tan Chee Ing described the statement from the Sultan of Selangor on the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (Jais) report on alleged proselytisation of Muslims by Christians at the Damansara Utama Methodist Centre last August as “dipped in the ambiguity that would make wanton accusations against Christians no more difficult in the future than it is now.”
“Begging the Tuanku’s pardon, how is it possible to assert that there were attempts to deviate the faith of Muslim attendees at the dinner function at the DUMC but there is, then, not sufficient evidence to prefer charges,” queried the titular head of Catholics in the Malacca-Johor diocese, in an immediate response to a statement on the matter issued today by the Sultan.
“If there is not enough evidence, there ought to be no imputation of wrongdoing – it’s as simple as that!” exclaimed Tan (above), who is concurrently president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Malaysia.
“As it stands now, the Sultan’s statement paints the Christian organisers of the dinner function as having been given a discharge not amounting to acquittal from accusations that they proselytised to Muslims,” he asserted.
“I would have much preferred no statement at all to one that is neither here nor there,” offered the Jesuit-trained prelate. "Christians have waited patiently for exoneration from false accusations by people whose intent is to grandstand on behalf of their losing causes,” said the bishop.
“It’s a good thing the general election is imminent, because there seems to be no let-up in this ugly campaign of innuendo and insinuation against Christians, so that the ballot box becomes our only recourse from persecution by vile slander,” he concluded.
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Labels:
politics - world
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