Constructive Politics

Criticising the political system and figures is a favourite pastime of whiners on a little tropical island aka The Little Red Dot. The targets always reply with template answers or simply siam or tai chi, local parlance for avoidance and deflection. However when push comes to shove, there's always the ultimate response to shut them all up: "let's engage in constructive politics."






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Did the British really leave Singapore in 1965?

Image
When young Thomas Stamford Raffles set foot on Singapore in 1819, he planted the seeds of success that were to turn the island of fishing villages into a throbbing metropolis by succeeding generations of islanders, colonialists and immigrants.  The British might have departed in 1965 with the city-state's independence, but vestiges of their presence are very visible to this day.
Read more

Quantitative Easing aka I Piss on your Currencies.

Image
When politicians want to keep their jobs in the face of economic challenges they turn to a simple tool. Roll the printing presses, euphemistically called Quantitative Easing. QE in effect is telling the world “I piss on your currency.” Especially for the debtor who can print his own money in which the debt is also denominated and is accepted globally. QE 1: Nov 2008.  Fed buys $100B agency debt + $500B mortgage-backed securities (MBS), followed by another $750B MBS. QE 2: Nov 2010.   Fed buys $600B long term treasuries followed by another $400B treasuries. QE 3: Sep 2012.   Fed buys $40B per month of MBS. QE 4: Sep 2012.   Two can play the game! China injects 1 Trillion Yuan ($157B) stimulus package. Image credit: Earth by NASA, Tidal Wave by Pamela Heckel on Unsplash (edited). QE 5: Jul 2020.  In response to the Covid-19 pandemic the Fed, PBOC, ECB, BOE, BOJ and other central banks unleash a tsunami of over $8 Trillion in monetary easing.  Sources: Forbes, Asian Banker, Atlantic Counc
Read more