Another interesting Forum article

Take a dig at this:

New HDB flats below market value (ST, Oct 14, 2008)

I REFER to Mr Gilbert Goh’s letter, ‘Shouldn’t new HDB flats be priced less than market rate?’ (Sept 30). New HDB flats are indeed priced below their market value. The HDB takes a market-based approach when pricing new flats so as to reflect the true subsidy to buyers. To determine the market value, HDB takes into account the actual selling price of similar flats in the vicinity, bearing in mind variations in location, design, internal finishes and other attributes. The flat is then sold at a discount to this price.

The Pinnacle@Duxton is an iconic public housing project. It is situated in a prime location with easy access to Tanjong Pagar and Outram Park MRT stations. This special project has an international-award winning design, with unique features such as sky gardens and bridges linking its seven tower blocks, and planters, balconies and bay windows. The relatively high prices of these flats are a reflection of the premium attributes and prime location. However, they are still priced below the resale prices of similar flats in the vicinity. As of last Friday, the subscription rate was already over seven times the supply offered. This high demand shows the flats are attractively priced.

The Government is committed to providing affordable public housing, and offers a range of subsidised flats to meet the needs of flat buyers with different incomes. First-timers who bought new flats from the HDB last year used, on average, about 20 per cent of their monthly household income to service their housing loans, and most flat buyers (at least 70 per cent) could service their housing loans entirely from their CPF contributions.

The minimum occupation period is imposed to prevent speculative purchases of HDB flats. The current five-year period provides a good balance between the need to prevent speculation, and giving flat owners the flexibility in selling their flats after a reasonable period of occupation.

We thank Mr Goh for his feedback and suggestions.

Ignatius Lourdesamy
Acting Deputy Director (Marketing & Projects)
Housing & Development Board

(Just a few words from me: I will be applying the “charity principle” with this one–anyway I can’t remember my Economics on Market Force, though I think if it is a monopoly, it isn’t really a market [who else produce flats in Singapore? {“Similar flats” is a problematic phrase and we can argue till the cows come home.}] I might be wrong. In any case, when students do not declare in their essays specific figures and numbers, the impression is that they are not really sure. It is the same here when people of authority do not cite them when they have the time to do their own research. Either that or they think commoners whom they are replying to should know the facts. But that’s rather snobbish, I feel–or scheming, because there are more than one problematic phrase to confound people [we’ll soon find one more]. Well, the only people with licence to not cite such numbers are GP teachers! We digressed, actually. My main grouse is with the fact that the Effect has been blinkered by the writer–high demand doesn’t necessarily just mean “attractive price”. This Effect might be due to other Causes, like higher purchasing power of the buyers, which begs the question: who is the Target Audience for that kind of “flats”? Well, aliens or poor folks like me belong in Jurong West! Maybe HDB just didn’t have the heart to say it…)

Typical Typo

Usually I’m not harsh on typo errors, but if you are educated or if you run a big business, there is no excuse.

A video that I don’t understand but I’ll post it anyway

Just for the benefit of you economics freaks out there!

http://www.fundsupermart.com/main/research/viewHTML.tpl?articleNo=2923

Anyway my friend’s in there, but he didn’t pay me for this publicity stunt. =)

Russell Peters in Singapore…again

Wow… the tickets had not yet been put on sale and they were all sold out.

Just checked my inbox. Not going to be free, so not going to be going. Too much going on for me in November.

Three Little Pigs

It is true that analysis takes the fun out of things. My humbl(ing) experience in marking and vetting attests to that. The funny ones are usually those narrative type.

Three Little Pigs cannot survive GP but Three Little Birds can. You can!

Vent your frustration here

If you feel sad about your GP grade, let rip at this article. Find the illogical bits in this argument. Post your comments here.

*************************

‘Unlucky’ birth cert: Be more flexible
Oct 3, 2008

I REFER to Mr Joseph Tan’s letter, ‘Baby’s birth cert reverses parental joy’ (Sept 20).

I am not Chinese, but I can fully empathise with Mr Tan’s feelings as a parent when it comes to what is auspicious for his newborn daughter.

Blessings are what any parent can give in abundance to his offspring. Giving the child an auspicious name is a blessing. Not wanting an inauspicious number in the child’s birth certificate is also a blessing. If anything symbolises death in a particular culture, no parent from that culture will accept it for his offspring. Even the most ‘rational’ parents will react this way.

Singapore has built itself a reputation as a rule-abiding and law-enforcing place. But it is not wrong to count on the Government to be flexible and sensitive in implementing its rules. For Mr Tan, here are the reasons: Buyers can choose the numbers for inanimate objects like mobile phones. If they can do that, surely they should have some say if the number for their baby’s birth certificate is disturbing. Mr Tan only wishes for a number that is not inauspicious.

Second, the front-line officer was right to stick to the rules. But the higher authorities have discretionary powers to make exceptions, if customer satisfaction is assured and the cost is not high. It is hard to imagine what great disaster would have happened if Mr Tan’s appeal was granted.

Finally, the Singapore system already has measures in place to ascertain a person’s religious affiliation. There are many free thinkers who are not sensitive to numbers. Would it be so difficult to allot the ‘problem number’ to one of them?

PJ (name edited)

This is not an ELS article

Actually it is. It is pretty much an ELS (English Language Studies) write-up. But that is not to say it is not in any way related to GP or PW. ELS is now offered only in four JC’s, and I speculate that AJ would not have it any time soon, so I’ll just do a quick take on this one:

This advertisement appeared in the Classified section of the Straits Times on Oct 4, 2008

The analysis can be a revelation; it can also make some feel insulted. Again, I suggest you download the analysis only if you have a mature and objective mind. Download it here: multimodal-analysis-of-subaru-ad

I stress again that this is just a quick take. It is quite a watered-down analysis. Evaluation is not entirely complete. But it is good for its purpose here in the GP or PW context.

Post any views here!

F1 Ferrari F9

Ferrari blames Singapore soon after. lol