I have never understood why they called the current economic fubar: Financial Tsunami [金融海啸].

By doing so, it gives people the impression that this is a natural disaster – or an act of God – we can do nothing about to avoid. Yet, Paul Krugman saw this coming, perhaps as far back as 2003.

It is my opinion that the mechanical characteristics of the Earth and economics are two very different animals. In short, it is harder to predict an earthquake compared to financial / economic problems. Unlike a tsunami, this financial fxxk up could have been averted had someone actually listened to Krugman, realised the magnitude of the problem and started doing something back then. Sadly, all the while the people who can do something about it were just happy making their money and claiming that the last thing the economy needed is more government gahmen and repeatedly insist that the vaunted ‘free market’ will regulate itself and things will always turn out alright.

Now, tell me which seismologist tells you that you don’t have to worry about the fault lines and impose special regulations about structural safety because the plates would rub against themselves and then everything will be alright after that?

Simply put, by calling this crisis a tsunami, the people who are in the position to avert this fiasco can now shirk from their responsibilities and put the blame on some power they have no control over. But is that really so?

Anyway, most countries by now realised there will be no quick fix to this mess, nor will there be a turn-around in the short term. There also won’t be a white knight in shining armor loaded with cash to bail everyone out, even though everyone was expecting China to fit into that role in the beginning.

In fact, it is pretty obvious gahmens around the world are now trying to spend themselves out of the recession either by massive infrastructure building projects, or by driving domestic consumer demand. Taiwan is a fine example of the latter.

With an export-based economy without any sizable domestic demand, we are caught between a rock an a hard place. Even if the Singapore gahmen is going to spend in infrastructure, how much of that will trickle down to Singaporeans when most construction-related jobs are filled by foreign labour anyway?

It appeared to me globalisation and the restructuring of our economy had made us even more vulnerable to the current economic crisis ^[1]. We are perhaps the first in the region to declare ourselves in recession! I won’t be surprise that this maybe Singapore’s worst economic downturn in 50 years, and the most painful one the X-Generation – now in their 30s – will have to bear. Whether they can pull out of it is a question I shudder to ask.

Furthermore, the current Tali-PAP leadership lea-duhsip does not inspire any confidence at all. Take for e.g. the flip-flop over the guarantee of bank deposits. One moment they were saying it is not necessary, and the next moment they decided to do so because Hong Kong has done it. I mean, would they not have considered the fact that as long as someone does it, it will affect the competitiveness and so we might as well just do it in the first place even though there is no lack of confidence in our banking system?

Perhaps they were just attempting to avoid panic, but it makes one wonder whether they even have a grasp of the magnitude of this problem at all!

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Random Thoughts of a Free Thinker: A Universal Declaration of Human Responsibilities (proposed)