GST 4%, thanks a lot mate...

Another feather on the cap? Asyik nak ikut orang je, orang buat GST, kita pun nak buat GST. Whats the real problem actually? Short of cash? Inflation? With this 4% government is getting rm1b additional into its coffer. But what are the effects? Buying power is reduced by 4%, i believe this is fair to assume! IMF recommend GST kita pun ngikut!!! If the gov is short of RM1b, then there are a lot of other ways to get this money. Key word is "BUSINESS!!!" dont tax people as u wish. Thats a feudal practise!!! When the govs were not bright enough, they tax their people. Now I believe more had been to Harvard, and are bright enough, then taxing should be the last resort.

Remember last time I wrote about making money for the gov through companies like Petronas for the abundance of minerals underneath our terrain? They can always set up ENAS (Emas Nasional) to dig out gold, TENAS (Tembaga Nasional), BANAS (Balak Nasional) what else do we have underneath? Germanium? Kaya pakcik kalau ada mende ni hihihi...Whatelse can we do? Another easier way, asked the GLCs for another RM50mil each, perhaps another RM500mil from Petronas alone, kowtim!

Another easier way, review the gov spending, especially goverment projects. This one I'm willing to volunteer for the job, as I am very used to it. Come on, dont tell me you cant get a RM1b cost down from over RM200b budget?

So still got to do this GST for other reasons? To curb spending? Biar betul, urban poverty line is already at RM3k, what to spend, all are necessities! Perhaps GST is good for things like, ciggy, 4 digits, massage services, entertainments like concerts, football matches etc. Then it sounds reasonable. Dont do like Japan for this one, GST covers everything, Onigiri, Sushi, Sashimi etc. All in!
How do you feel if you have to pay extra for Nasi Lemak? Perhaps you dont right? If you dont mind, then it'll beat the purpose! The idea of imposing GST is to make you do mind spending.So that you will stop spending and save the money.If you continue buying even with a fret, then the purpose looks very much like the one written in the beginning of this blog, just to enrich gov's coffer!

The easiest way to increase saving is by increasing EPF contribution rate, perhaps 11%+4%. Of course shouldnt go flat on everyone, i.e RM4,000~6000=+2%,>6000=4%. Senang nak managekan? Tak payah buat account baru, organization baru, etc. The monies go direct from spending to saving, no losses in between!

Then better think carefully before doing this, PRU13 is getting closer by the day...

Best Bank in the world - BNM

Ni kalau buat IPO ni mesti laku giler...Sounds funny tapi believe it or not Federal Reserve is a private institution! So tak impossible kalau one fine day, BNM akan buat IPO.

Baru jer puji kejap tadi, dah keluar regulation baru to further strengthen the management of the greatest banking system regulator in the world. Baca kat sini...

We Malaysian can sleep tight at night because these people really know what they are doing.Imagine, in other economies, products like sub-prime loan can enter the market without any scrutiny, but not here. I dont know about you guys but some bankers approached me for the sub-prime products since my email is registered in the US. The conditions were ridiculuous, and yet nobody (Greenspan, Bernanke, Friedman, Krugman all the so called expert with loads of free advises spitted globally especially to the third world countries, all of them were quiet) did anything about it until it exploded.They didnt see it coming, that made me wonder how I did!

Bukan macam pakar ekonomi yang sorang tu asyik quote Michel Camdessus, Wolfensohn, kalau tak pun Wolfowitz. These people are the real thing, they have the knowledge, originality, perfect view of the scenarios & integrity. Just make sure succession plan is well in place. Just dont be like politics, when Mahathir resign, everything gone hay wire...

Malaysia Boleh!

Bank Negara really had learned it!

They left the benchmark rate unchanged for I-dont-know-how-long! Actually there are a lot of other ways to manage money flow in and out of economy. We dont really depend on the interest rate alone. If you listen to the Monetarists, of course throwing away the interest rate knobs will be a heresy. But, in some other economies they are living without it and they are prospering!!!I got the feeling that Bank Negara is trying to be less dependant on the interest rate mechanism so that the economy can be less vulnerable to the volatility.

Fundamentally, do we need to raise the rates to get money in (In the first place, do we need the money in?)? I believe 300 billion in the system from the EPF alone is enough to ensure liquidity. But there are other factors like return potential, investment effectiveness, strong currency, strong economic management, political stability etc that can keep the money coming in.The interest rate is just a mean, there are some other ways that can keep the economy prosperous. Last time pensioner complaining that low interest rates can be destructive to their income stream, but nowadays with some other hedging instruments like options, and more currency fund available had produced good results even if they put their money in unit trust, but of course they have to pick the right manager.

We should learn from Japan (which I believe Madam Governor already did) on how they keep the rates low and still prosper! Obviously there are other options rather than the monetarist way!Pump priming perhaps might create back lash politically, but if I were the private sector, investing in the down turn will be the best opportunity which Buffet will take less than 10 days to decide! Perhaps we can learn something from the socialist...

The value of 2 hours a day....

I got this calculation when I was a student. Then I did a partime job for 2 hrs daily, cash registering in a convenient store in Japan.That 2 hrs daily's wage end up more than a thousand ringgit a month and more than 10 thousand ringgit that year, that was in 1994!

I am not going to write about money this time, but about something worth more than money, thing that money cant buy. I am talking about "time". What 2 hours a day can be over a life time?

Imagine if we watch TV for 2 hours a day, how big can the time snow ball into during a life time? Lets see, 2 hrs x 30 days = 60hrs/month. Equivalent 2.5 days/month, multiply with 12 months = 30days. That means if you watch 2 hours of TV everyday, annually you are watching a solid 30 days/month!!! So annually you are only living for 11 months! Say you start watching TV when you are 4 years old and your dead at 64, means you live watching TV for 2 hours a day for 60 years. So just now for every year, you lose 1 month, so for every 60 years, you will lose 60 months = 5 years.
So conclusion is, if you watch TV for 2 hours a day for 60 years, you are spending 5 solid years watching TV! What do you think?

The issue is not just about TV but more of wasting little time, so to speak, but in a life time, you will see the snow ball is so damn huge! If we can sleep 2 hours shorter (8-6), if we can travel 2 hours/daily faster or perhaps we can eliminate travelling time, or
if we can eliminate waiting time, just 2 hours a day, then perhaps we can live our life longer by 5 years!