PAP-The Singapore Graduate School of Taiji-ing

As many of you should have heard about the Mas Selamat Escape Incident and the explanations given by Minister Wong Kan Seng and PM Lee.

So the top guy should not be held responsible for things that go wrong at the bottom. Given that every minister does their jobs through another person (come on, you don't really think that policies are crafted by ministers do you? They have an army of scholars/economists/policy planners doing the work for them. And their job is to peruse, ask questions, and approve), they are virtually immune from any wrong doings.

"Oh this policy A is wrong?...hmm, the ministry will review it. The economy is dynamic you see..."

"Ah, some terrorist bombed Ang Mo Kio MRT station! Why aren't the public more observing? Singaporeans, a complacent lot."

Then, the ministers claimed credit for anything good.

"Thanks to our very capable government, we manage to minimize the impact from the financial crisis." (Hey with more than US$500 bn in reserves, there are more than one way to mitigate economic downturn.)

"Our government is far sighted in planning for the future of our citizens. Therefore the extension of the CPF is absolutely necessary." -- What good planning. It makes good economical sense which I agree absolutely. Then you realize their far-sightedness is only based on theory but complacent on current establishments such as silly things on not checking that there's no grills in the toilet of the Detention Camp that Mas Selamat escaped from.

It's always easy to blame the government for anything. But at least be accountable. And responsible. When is the last time ISU did an audit of their operations and all important dentention camps?

To the government:
Since we are paying you millions of dollars a year, I think it's rather fair for us to expect what was being paid out. When you pay $5000 for a watch, you at least expect a Rolex, not a Swatch. You said you guys are an extraordinary lot of people. So at least match up the price. We aren't demanding a lot ya know. To use a financial analogy, I think you are over-valued. And maybe we should start selling ya in the next GE.

Thorough explanations? I can't sense the sincerity in apology. Well trained they are in the Singapore Graduate School of Tai-ji-ing.

Higher fees to watch EPL/Champions League in Singapore

I haven't been posting, coz time is rather tight. But still, this fine Sunday afternoon prompt an inner side of me to post some stuff, just as an escape from the stress of life (laugh).

The Sunday Times Headlines screams "Football fans bear brunt of pay-TV battle' (actually, the headline SHOW ME THE MONEY on Ronald Susilo who might take legal action against his ex-fiancee Li Jiawei attracts my attention more. Haha).

While it is generally true that a more competitive market generally contributes to more consumer welfare, we have to analyze deeper than the simple competitive market model. While having another competitor offering similar products generally shift out the supply curve, the thing is, having another bidder actually increases the demand for the same supplier of the product -- the EPL and Champions League content. In the end, they end up paying more to win the bids of the content and in the end pass on the higher costs on consumers due to inelastic demand curve (and supposedly elastic supply). Plus the bundling pricing strategy captures a higher producer surplus (since most people who pay the bundle only wants to watch football more than the rest but has to pay 'extra' for the other contents).

The ultimate winners are the football clubs and football players (and the distributor of football contents) since they command high monopolistic power. It' s no wonder football stars are earning so much money.