TOTD: HDB-CPF axis Time Bomb, the glaring failure of PAP and WP LTK

Thought of the Day - HDB-CPF axis Time Bomb, the glaring failure of PAP and WP LTK

I have said, the Asset Enhancement Scheme is actually the biggest self serving scam of PAP to hoodwink Singaporeans into believing only PAP government could guarantee their HDB flats could increase in value forever, defying the basic logic and economic/financial principles. LKY even boasted about PAP ability to make your HDB rise in value of 10,15 or even 20 times.

The most problematic with HDB is that it is linked to your retirement fund CPF. IF HDB is going to depreciate towards ZERO value, then whatever CPF money you put into it, will be totally wiped off. Your retirement plan will be hurt!

One of my initial resolve in joining opposition politics is to fight PAP against its Asset Enhancement Scam, which is extremely difficult because like any scam, it feeds on people’s greed. Most people are short sighted and didn’t see the full picture while only focus on their short term gain. They didn’t realize that HDB Price inflation may let them gain in short term, but whatever gain they get, is at the expense of their children’s future, as well as many future generations to come.

This greed which Asset Enhancement scam built upon, burnt like fire in the 1990s and even into 2000s. It was a perfect scam that helped PAP to hold on to absolute monopoly of power for three decades.

When I joined WP, on a few occasions. I had raised this issue to LTK and said that this is the most important issue we need to raise. He brushed it off saying that what’s wrong with Asset Enhancement Scheme? It is good what!

Needless to say, I was completely disappointed that the leader of the opposition party which has one of the two seats in parliament, couldn’t see through such a scam.

I tried to explain why this AES is wrong but it just couldn’t get through him. Apparently, the lack of a good Economic training is the key weakness of LTK.

After I left WP with disappointment, NSP approached me to join them. This time round, I didn’t bother to try to explain why AES is bad. I just threw the issue out during the GE and challenged MBT on his Monetizing HDB for retirement concept.

I found out later, apparently this so call brilliant idea was created by a respected professor teaching sociology in NUS. Deep down, I guess it is totally bad idea to have a sociologist to meddle with Economic policies after all.

And I believe LTK didn’t believe AES is bad basically because it was backed by such academia.

Goh Meng Seng

TOTD: HDB Circular Contradictions

Thought of the Day - Circular Contradictions

We have heard about Circular Argument but this is the first time I have heard about people going in Circular Contradictions!

This actually comes from the Chief of HDB. It is good that she has talked about people should pay according to the lease remaining in a resale HDB flat but she still insists that HDB could be monetized as an asset for retirement!

One of the key method of monetizing HDB for retirement is to downgrade to smaller flats. But wait! If people follow her advice on paying much lesser to flats that are old, the. How would the retirees selling their old flats for good money in order to downgrade to a smaller flat, the new studio apartment but yet have excess money to get out from the deal to finance their retirement?

Besides, most people would have PLEDGED their flat to HDB and I guess there would be very little money left for them to cash out from the downgrading, if there is any at all!

And studio apartment isn’t that cheap at all! For 30 years lease, HDB made you pay $60k to $80k depending on locations but if you calculate prorated according to lease, it means this one room studio apartment actually cost $180k to $240k for 90 years! Please remember, it is just a studio apartment!

So if you can sell your three room or four room flat at $250k, if you could actually sell it off in the first place when the lease left is merely 60 years or less, half of it goes to CPF due to the pledge, at least $60k goes to the new studio apartment, in the end, after netting transaction cost, you get $50k or $60k after all that trouble but how long could this last for retirement?

The other option is even more kind of a joke instead of real option. Selling back the lease to HDB. How much would HDB pay? Definitely much lesser and most probably ended up with a couple of hundred dollars per month.

To rent out their flats? The truth is, PAP doesn’t value your privacy at all. And when the grey tsunami waves set into motion, I don’t know whether there is high rental market to make money from when you start to have lots of supply of rental flats from both HDB and private apartments.

Of course, those staying in three room HDB may have to sleep in living room in order to get enough rent to live on ...

The whole problem started when PAP sold Singaporeans the FALSEHOID and FAKE dream that Asset Enhancement Scam could do wonders and make your HDB rise in price forever. That’s why people are throwing huge amount of their CPF into this scam. Now they are stuck.

With graying population, who will buy old HDB flats with dwindling lease? The situation will be worse when many baby boomers who have stupidly believe in PAP Asset Enhancement scam, try to sell off their old HDB flats to cash out for retirement because they have very little left in their CPF after paying a great deal for their current HDB flats.

There will be oversupply of resale HDB flats with very small demand... who would buy after hearing the confirmation from PAP that these flats will have zero value after lease expired and now, these flats have less than 60 years and they would not be able to sell them off for retirement?

The price for these flats will face a spiral downward price pressure and in fact, most of them will have problem selling.

It is an amazing Circular Contradictions which the HDB Chief tries very hard to sell. She is just like that sociologist, who only look on the overly simplistic micro level instead of looking at the macro level of possible market conditions.

Don’t ever allow sociologists to meddle in Economics policies again. We will end up with never ending Circular Sufferings.

Goh Meng Seng

TOTD: Greatest Falsehood and Fake News from PAP ...

Thought of the Day - Greatest Falsehood and Fake News from PAP ...

FORGET about Operation Coldstore or Operation Spectrum. Singaporeans are just pragmatically selfish and self serving. They won’t be bothered about what injustice had happened to a few tens, hundreds or even thousands of people as long as these don’t affect them directly. We are cultivated to be reaped off of any sense of Social Justice but only taught to focus on our own short term selfish well being.


That’s the harsh reality of being a Singaporean.

The biggest, greatest Falsehood and Fake News that were cooked up by PAP Government is Asset Enhancement Scheme and HDB for retirement financing.

What they have done were just a tiny bit of Enbloc with some upgrading which were politically motivated as pork barrel politicking and in the end, Singaporeans were made to believe that their HDB will be “Enhanced” and thus increase in prices forever! It serves only their agenda of prolonging their monopoly of power without telling the HARD TRUTH that such disastrous scheme will only make them “feel rich” at the expense of their future generations who will be paying for higher HDB prices!

They have messed up the HDB system so badly that there is no way of reversing the bad scam without causing Huge pain to a few generations of Singaporeans.

In the end, Singaporeans were told that not all of their HDB will enjoy enbloc... in fact MAJORITY 96% of HDB won’t enjoy enbloc and their HDB flats will turn to zero value when their lease is up! Did they tell Singaporeans about this critical information back in 1990s when they keep harping on Asset Enhancement Scheme? Half Truth told is no Truth but selective Falsehood!

Singaporeans are fooled in believing in the scam of Asset Enhancement Scheme which is nothing more than making you pay MORE for your HDB flats WILLINGLY, justifying higher and higher prices for New HDB flats through the hedging of prices via the BS OF “market subsidy”, which is not a subsidy at all but effectively just a discount.

At the same time, such fooling scam gave PAP the votes from those who were fooled by them!

Politically speaking, it was the most wonderful "perfect" scam in which you made the voters suffer by paying higher price for the HDB flats the PAP government’s selling but yet, they feel so happy paying higher price and gave PAP votes to maintain their monopoly of power!

But just like any scam, it cannot last forever because it is not sustainable at all. People were made to use up all their retirement fund CPF to buy HDB which doesn’t guarantee forever higher return, not even good as an investment. The time must come when people realize that they have neither the necessary CPF for financing their retirement despite of having the highest rate of contribution in the world, nor the dream or possibility of getting good price for their old HDB flat to finance their retirement.

The situation will get worse and peak when my generation starts to reach 60 years old, which is only 12 years away. At present, the situation is just starting to show the stupidity of the whole scam. For the next two decades, we will see slow collapse of the CPF-HDB scam and by the third decade, most probably the whole system will collapse which most HDB will cross their 40 and 50th year and there is a rapid decline in their prices.

A few generations of Singaporeans will suddenly wake up to the fact that they have been fooled and their hard earned CPF is totally wiped off by the Asset Enhancement scam which was promoted by PAP 30-40 years ago!

2011 was the critical year which we might have the slightest hope of saving the situation but that window of opportunity has lapsed. PAP will NEVER admit their deliberate mistake made in their own interests of self preservation instead of a long term vision for the good and well being of Singaporeans. Many Singaporeans will live to regret for their foolishness in believing in such a big scam and Falsehood propagated by PAP simply because they are blinded by their own greed.

Goh Meng Seng