The Adventures of Being Homeless and Broke

A few days ago, a man named Karthik Rajaram shot his mother-in-law, his wife and his three sons (aged 7, 12 and 19). Karthik then proceeded to shoot himself.

This happened in an upscale neighbourhood in Los Angeles. According to Karthik's suicide letter, he had decided to kill his family and himself because of their financial difficulties.

Karthik was a well-educated man with an MBA and used to work for major accounting firms such as Price Waterhouse. However in recent months, he had been unemployed. One speculates that recent events such as the stock market collapse might also have wiped out his investments.

Coincidentally, this week I received an email from another American. Adam has just published a new book (his first) and he asked if I would review it on this blog. I said yes, and the book is now in the mail on its way to me in Singapore. I'll write again about the book, after I've received and read it. Apparently it has received considerable media publicity in the US, but so far, not outside the US.

Briefly, what is Adam's book about? It's a true story. It's about Adam's personal 1-year adventure to investigate whether the American Dream is still alive. One day, Adam left his home and family, and took a train to a randomly-chosen city. He carried only $25 and some clothes in a haversack.

His goal? To see whether he could start from zero and within one year, have $2,500 in his wallet, a car and a furnished apartment. The rules of Adam's game were that he would not rely on his education qualifications (he is a graduate), and he would not ask any of his personal contacts, friends or relatives for help.

Since I have not yet read the book, I don't know how Adam's adventure turned out. (I do know that he spent some of the time staying at a shelter for the homeless). For the current times, the book's theme is very topical, especially in the US. How bad does it really get, when you're homeless? How do you survive, when you're broke? Can things get better? If so, how?

I just have a feeling that Karthik might have done some things differently, if he had had a chance to read Adam's book.

Singapore's Media Tied Up in Its Own Knots

Here is an extremely interesting article from the Straits Times. In a moment, I'll tell you why.

ST Oct 5, 2008
Students protest uni censorship

A GROUP of students staged a protest in Singapore on Sunday against their university's censorship of a campus newspaper article.

Fronted by a black banner with the slogan 'Responsible Press For Students,' the four protesters made speeches in front of about 40 students at a park designated for limited free speech and demonstrations.

The four were protesting against the decision by the Nanyang Technological University to pull the plug on a recent article about the visit in August of secretary general of the Singapore Democratic Party, Chee Soon Juan, to the campus.

'Let us again be reminded that this incident is not about Dr Chee's visit but rather about the censorship of the news... We are proposing responsible editorial independence,' Scott Teng, one of the four, said in his speech.

Mr Teng said the article was initially given the go-ahead to be published in the campus newspaper last month before being axed suddenly.

It was about Mr Chee's visit to the school and carried nothing about his political views, he added. According to Mr Teng, the university's reason for axing the article was they did not want the campus newspaper 'to be used as a platform for unsolicited guests to air their views'. -- AFP

The article is very interesting because it is NOT really by the Straits Times. Instead it's an AFP story reproduced by the Straits Times. ("AFP" stands for Agence-France Press, a global news agency)

The ST does regularly use articles from international news agencies like Reuters, AFP, AP and Bloomberg. However, these articles are usually about foreign events happening in other countries. Typically, the ST would not rely on the foreign media for reports on events happening on our very own little island.

However, here we have a protest in Singapore, held at Hong Lim Park. The event is organised by students from a local university, and concerns an editorial decision about an article, which itself is about a very local event - Chee Soon Juan's speech at a local educational institution. It is a highly local story.

And yet the ST did not cover the story itself. It did not assign any reporter to interview the students or NTU or Chee Soon Juan. It did not even send a photographer to take any of its own photos of the event (the photo I reproduced above is an AFP photo).

Why? We can make a few guesses.

(1) The ST is incompetent at sniffing out newsworthy events. It found out about this particular event only after it had happened, and had to purchase the article from AFP, instead of sending its own journalist to cover the event.

(2) The ST knew about the event. However, in the same way that NTU had been nervous about publishing the article about Chee's speech, the Straits Times was nervous about doing its own report, about a protest concerning that matter.

In other words, the ST decided that it was too politically risky to report the event itself. If the ST published the "wrong" things in its article, it might attract a reprimand from the Singapore government, for crossing the line. It would be much safer to just reproduce a foreign agency's report.

(3) The ST had deliberately chosen not to report this event. It intentionally decided not to publicise this particular matter concerning a protest about censorship in Singapore. However, after AFP broke the story, the ST felt that for the sake of its credibility, it could not pretend that the event had not happened. Therefore the ST quickly purchased the article from AFP and published it here in Singapore.

Which theory do you prefer?

A Preventable Tragedy

What we have here is a real-life, genuine example ... of how things can go terribly wrong in a country where the state controls the media.

I suppose the Chinese government must be feeling very pleased with its "nation-building" press.

There is an important lesson for Singaporeans here, I suspect. If only we were not too blind to see it.

China covered up milk scare to protect Olympics: critics

BEIJING (AFP) - - China knew about the contamination of milk products months ago but covered the scandal up to prevent it tarnishing the Beijing Olympics, according to journalists, rights groups and media critics.

The crisis broke in mid-September, a month after the Olympics, but several Chinese reporters had long known about babies being hospitalised after drinking tainted milk, yet were muzzled by the authorities, the critics say.

An editor at a respected southern China newspaper said that as early as July one of his reporters was investigating how milk powder might have been to blame for children developing kidney stones and falling seriously sick.

"As a news editor, I was deeply concerned because I sensed that this was going to be a huge public health disaster," Southern Weekend news editor Fu Jianfeng said on his blog.

"But I could not send any reporters out to investigate. Therefore, I harboured a deep sense of guilt and defeat at the time."

Fu's blog posting was later removed, although it could be read on some overseas Chinese websites. Fu himself could not be reached for comment.

An estimated 53,000 Chinese children have been sickened after the industrial chemical melamine was added to milk products, and four infants have died.

Perils for the Retail Investor

A letter to the ST Forum:

ST Sep 24, 2008
Minibonds worry: 'How is the layman supposed to beware when the prospectus is filled with jargon that even the sellers do not fully comprehend?'

MY WIFE wife and I are joint account holders of Maybank Singapore. We purchased $100,000 of the Minibonds Series 5 from Maybank's investment banker around August last year. We were under the impression then that these were supposedly very safe bonds.

Every few months, I would even call up Maybank to ask about the performance of our Minibonds and whether I should still hold on to them. Each time, I was informed that these bonds were still sound, and there wasn't any need to bail out.

Now that Lehman Brothers is bankrupt, and the public disclosure that our Minibonds investment has, in fact, nothing at all to do with bonds, but are instead Collateralised Debt Obligation (CDO)-related derivatives, we are extremely disappointed, distressed and upset with Maybank's lack of professionalism and poor product knowledge.

The investment advisers are more interested in closing the deal and going through the motions during the investors' risk-analysis.

We fully understand the concept of buyer beware. However, in this situation, how is the layman supposed to beware of what they're being sold when the 60-odd-page prospectus is filled with legalese and technical jargon that even the sellers themselves do not fully comprehend?

Ngo Chee Keong

I've never really had to deal with such issues at work. I have years of experience within the banking industry, but the clients I deal with have always been the MNCs, the government bodies, the hedge funds and other banks.

We call these clients the "big boys". A big boy is a strong, powerful client who knows, or should know, what he's doing.

When we do business with a big boy, we usually sign some form of a "big boy" letter (or other written agreement). In a big boy letter, both parties confirm to each other that they understand the risks of the transaction; neither party is advising the other party; and neither party is relying on the other party for advice.

The idea is that neither party will hold the other party responsible, for any losses that it may subsequently suffer.

"Big boy" letters are not possible with the man in the street. If a bank sells complex financial products to Mr Tan Ah Kow, the law requires the bank to assess the customer's needs; to recommend suitable products, and to give appropriate advice. Furthermore, complex financial products generally can't be sold to the retail public, unless they satisfy a range of regulatory requirements.

One of the common regulatory requirements is a prospectus. This is a thick document with a lot of small print describing the financial product in great detail and setting out all the relevant risks. If a bank fails to disclose all the relevant risks, it could be committing a criminal offence. Therefore banks are very eager to disclose as many risks as they can think of.

Consequently, prospectuses tend to grow into very long, detailed documents. Inevitably the prospectus is packed with technical terms. Finance is a technical field, and if you want to properly describe the risks fully and properly, you will need to use all the technical financial terms.

And of course, the thicker and more technical the prospectus is, the less likely it is that the retail customer will actually attempt to read it. That's the irony.

Two Perspectives on the Emigrated Ex-Singaporean

The first perspective comes from an article by one Philip Lee. The article was published in both the New Paper and the Straits Times (on 30 August and 1 September respectively).

Retiring abroad ain't bed of roses
By Philip Lee

THEY are day-dreaming, those young Singaporeans who said in a recent survey that they wanted to retire abroad.

A make-believe Utopian world is always more pleasant than the real one.

Harmless reverie, I suppose. A form of escapism when all roads here seem to lead to ERP gantries.

But we need to also get real. It ain't all hunky-dory in the US. G'days come with bad ones too in Australia. And there's no milk and honey aplenty in Canada, Malaysia or China.

Who needs this reality check? The poll result showed that a desire to live abroad was the highest among those aged between 21 and 34.

They probably had in their young minds attractive lures such as cooler climate, cheaper housing, lower cost of living, wide open spaces and so on.

Pardon me, while I burst a few bubbles.

First, housing abroad is not as cheap as we once thought, except perhaps for sub-prime property.
Nor is the cost of living. And by the time these youngsters retire, costs would have soared even higher.

A change of weather? Yes, spring, summer and autumn are nice seasons, although in many countries early spring and late autumn are as chilly as winter.

Winters can be so severe that old joints ache, parched lips crack and aged minds go into depression.

The last is the result of a phenomenon known as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).

This is believed to be caused by the deprivation of sunlight during the short winter days.

I was a sufferer when I lived in Vancouver for 10 years. Some are afflicted year after year and may need exposure to artificial sunlight. Some feel suicidal.

When one has reached retirement age, making new friends is not going to be easy. Set in their ways, they cannot discard their idiosyncrasies accumulated over so many years on earth.

Idiosyncrasies and new friendships don't mix. Don't believe that everyone ages gracefully. Many are cantankerous, irascible, suspicious and anti-social.

At a time when you most need the sight of the familiar faces of family and friends, you'll find yourself among virtual strangers - living in a strange land and feeling like a second-class citizen.

I know of friends who migrated to the West years ago after renouncing their Singapore citizenship, only to regret this after a few years.

Immigration: Many countries in the west and in Australia today prefer young, qualified immigrants, not oldies with money.

So the picture is not as rosy as the young imagine. Let's hope they wise up.

The second perspective comes from one of my readers, Cheong Wing Lee. From his home in Vancouver, Canada, he sends me an email. Rather long, but the highly specific information will be helpful for those seriously considering emigration.

Dear Mr.Wang,

Mr. Philip Lee's critical assessment about the pride of Singaporeans retiring abroad cannot be left unchallenged.

I have been retired for more than ten years and have been spending my time between Guangzhou in China and Vancouver in Canada. Contrary to what Philip Lee had said, both these cities are interesting, fun and cheaper than Singapore.

In Guangzhou, I live in a penthouse apartment that I bought for S$150,000 five years ago. It is situated in Tian He district (similar to District 10 in Singapore) and next to the beautiful 1,000 acres botanic garden that residents of the condo can access for free through a side gate. It is a gated community with a club house and first class facilities, Olympic size swimming pool and modern security services. A similar apartment in Singapore would have cost at least S$900,000 or more.

For about 5,000 yuan or about S$1,000 a month I live extremely well. A similar lifestyle in Singapore would cost me at least S$5,000 a month. One can easily survive well in Guangzhou for 2,000 yuan or about S$400. It would be cheaper if one decides to live in smaller cities like Fushan or Chungshan. A Singaporean who speaks proficient English can easily get a part-time job teaching English and earn 3,000 to 5,000 yuan a month.

A retired professor from NTU in Singapore has been living in the same estate as I in Guangzhou for the past few years. He teaches science at a local university and earns about 10,000 yuan a month. He too can testify to the cost of living in Guangzhou. He is unlikely to move back to Singapore as he has liquidated all his assets there.

In Vancouver, I live in a 5,000 sq feet waterfront property that costs me less than S$1 million. A similar piece of waterfront property in Singapore would have cost at least S$3 million or perhaps more. Attached is a photo of the view from the windows in my house.

I drive a Honda Civic Hybrid that I brought brand new five years ago for S$25,000. A similar new Honda Hybrid in Singapore would have cost close to S$100,000 if you include COE. If one prefers to drive more prestigous cars like a brand new Mercedes 250 or a BMW 325, these cars cost less than C$50,000. The cost of living for my wife and myself is less than S$2,000 a month. The cost of living for me in Vancouver would drop significantly when I reach the age of 65 when I am entitled to old age pension from the Canadian government. My wife and myself would then receive more than S$2,000 a month from the government.

Factor in the savings in the cost of purchasing a house and a car in Vancouver vs in Singapore, and the difference is more than enough to pay for a happy, comfortable retirement for the rest of your life.

If a person is more adventurous and hands-on, the cost of living in Vancouver can be only about a few hundred dollars a month. You can fish, catch crabs and prawns, grow your own vegetables, hunting etc. There are lots of places to fish and hunt. All you need then is to purchase rice, sauces, spices and pay for essentials like gas and electricity for the house you stay, telephone bills and transportation. These items amount to no more than S$500 a month. I have tried it and it is fun.

It is impossible to find similar opportunities in Singapore.

Philip Lee had personal experiences of depressing tales about lack of friends for retiring Singaporeans living overseas. I sympathize with him for "suffering from seasonal affective disorder", but I suspect Mr.Lee is an introvert and does not have a sociable personality. As long as one is an extrovert and willing to engage in and be pro-active, he will have lots of friends.

I have lots of friends of all races both in Guangzhou and Vancouver. I participate in dragon boat races in Vancouver, San Francisco, Guangzhou, Hawaii, etc. I am the only Singaporean with the rowing team and the oldest. The rest of the team are from Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Thailand and some European countries. I play golf with friends of all races. I give free English lessons to Guangzhou universities students as well as local business persons.

I am a member of both the Guangzhou and Vancouver Toastmasters clubs, Guangzhou Canadian Friendship club, Friends of Taiwan club, etc. I am always welcome by friends in Guangzhou and Vancouver. We have activities all year round, i.e. snow hiking and skiing in winters, fishing, gardening, cruises to Alaska, and BBQ during summers, pot-lucks, mahjong, hunting, etc., throughout the rest of the year. There is hardly a dull moment.

My wife who is a retired teacher from Singapore gives free English lessons to doctors and nurses at Chungshan Hospital in Guangzhou. She does volunteer work when in Vancouver. Life is so rewarding and there is simply no time to be depressed.

It is surprising that Philip Lee had said that we are treated as second-class citizens. It is inevitable that there will be a small minority of people who are racists and bigots. These people even hate their own kind. It is not the norm and that happens in any country including Singapore.

I have kidney failure and it cost the Canadian Government S$8,000 a month to treat me at no cost to me. There are nine friends who are willing to donate their kidneys to me. They include a Caucasian, a Taiwanese, a Malaysian, a Korean, a Mainland Chinese (a doctor herself) and four members of my family. It is unfair to say that we are 2nd-class citizens when people like Dr Ron Werb, head of department at St. Paul's Hospital personally accompanies us in dragon boat rowing practices twice a week together with other doctors.

I remember when I first immigrated to Canada more than twenty years ago, all my three children were given C$250 each as "milk money" until they reached high school. This policy is still ongoing. There are plenty of support organizations to help new immigrants of different cultures and races to assimilate into the Canadian society.

The Canadian Government even pays for my medical treatments when I travel overseas. Healthcare is very costly and a very important factor for retirees. To have access to good, free medical treatment during retirement is like striking a million-dollar lottery .

The benefits of free healthcare in Canada makes Singapore's claim of a lower cost of living quite meaningless.

Now, note the next part. Here's a personal invitation from Wing Lee. SPH and Mediacorp employees, please take note. This could be your chance to write an interesting story. Wing Lee has given his telephone number to me (and I have his email address, of course) - if you are a journalist and you want to contact Wing Lee, please feel free to email me.

To prove my case, I welcome any member of the Press to visit Guangzhou or Vancouver and stay with me for a month and experience the truth. However, I have one condition. Do not send an introvert and an eternal pessimist who only engages in self-pity and complaints. Then there is nothing to prove. The person should be open-minded and adventurous and enjoy sea sports. He must be a hands-on person and preferably be able to handle a rifle and likes hunting and able to cook.

Philip Lee is correct to say that life is not a bed of roses, but only if one is not prepared to make the necessary adjustments to adapt. If one works hard and stays positive, it is difficult to fail. As for me and many others, we are very happy immigrants. Life could not be better. There is no shame and we certainly have clear conscience when emigrating from Singapore.

Regards
Cheong Wing Lee

Just a small note from me now - perhaps not terribly relevant. Last month, around the National Day period, I wrote a long blog post with a patriotic theme. Its title was self-explanatory: "Why I Will Not Emigrate From Singapore".

But I never posted that article. After I finished writing the article, I looked at all my personal reasons for staying on in this little island, and I realised that collectively, all those reasons made me a rare statistical quirk, an improbable oddity in the Singapore landscape.

In other words, my reasons for staying on in Singapore will apply only to a very, very small number of other Singaporeans. That is to say, if my personal circumstances were more like the typical or average Singaporean's, I think I might struggle to find reasons to stay.

So as not to dampen everyone's happy National Day mood in August, I decided not to post that article. But now let me just state, very briefly, some of the reasons why I will not emigrate from Singapore:

1. I have a congenital heart defect and no NS liability. Therefore I am personally not disadvantaged by NS, vis-a-viz the ever-increasing number of foreigners on this island.

2. My children are extraordinarily bright and I believe they will belong to the tiny minority who can sail through the local education system with minimal tears and suffering.

3. Unlike most Singaporeans, I have no interest in driving a big car or owning landed property.

4. At work, I'm paid like foreign talent.

There, I told you. If my personal circumstances were more like a typical Singaporean's, I really would be quite unsure why I'd stay.