Sunday, September 23, 2012

Why Nations Fail - book recommendation


A prominent local blogger 'singaporemind'
has recommended the book 'Why Nations Fail'.
 
It is written by Daron Acemoglu, an MIT economist
and James A Robinson,a political scientist from Harvard.

Perhaps our PM and his gang should spend time
reading this book instead of having a national
conversation invaded by his own PAP supporters,
which does not address our concerns. 
 
Most of us think it is just another wayang
cum propaganda to lend support to their
existing failed policies which they could not
let go, but keep patching up pot holes as
they appear more and more frequently over the
years.  

Over flooded with Condos

Is S'pore being over flooded with condos ? There are so many condos units being built all around the island. Recently their advertisements appear so frequent during TV commercial breaks.

Just along East Coast Road, numerous condo developments are springing  up both left and right of the road.

Even once upon a time 'peaceful' HDB estate is invaded by condo development activities. Travel along Loyang Avenue (towards Changi direction, before turning into Pasir Ris Drive 1), there are 5 directional bill boards advertising new condos within a span of less than 15 feet !

Wonder when will the property bubble burst. All the ingredients for popping are there.

Unbelieable - $11k psf for a 355 sq ft unit ! !

Unbelievable - paying $11,261 psf for a 355 sq ft  unit ($4 million) at Sim Lim Square ! The 2nd highest for the same commercial building went for $1,689 psf  for a 1066 sq ft shop unit ($1.8 million).  Really wonder what sort of business is those buyers involve in. Perhaps they buying with the intention of flipping them in the near future.

So property investors / speculators are moving from Housing to Commercial and Industrial units. This is not good for ordinary citizens as the cost of living is heading up and up. The cost of doing business is getting ridiculously high with such unbelievable fix cost. With so much Reits in the market, rental is heading North too. Inflation is our permanent resident and eroding our savings.