Expats and the rising cost of living

Mr Brown highlighted the rising costs of living in SG in a recent article, which can be linked from above. My heart goes out to expats working in Singapuraaaaa oh Singapuraaaaaaaa now, since I know that rent can be the most headache part of living in another country now, having experienced it for myself.

But one of the forum posts that he highlighted struck a chord with me.

not a dollar chaser:

Singapore Inc is all about money. The people are obsessed with it, and you can't do anything without spending some of it. Most conversations here involve money and you will find that even if you think you came here to experience the "culture", your life will be consumed with the thought of money. We're going home too. I don't want my kids growing up in a place that values cash and "prosperity" over all else.

So now it is one person's voice (I might consider squeaking a little too). If you don't take steps to nip it in the bud, (and I don't mean by sending this guy to jail/ censorship of any form), soon it will be an avalanche of voices in unison, agreeing to a mass exodus of talent, foreign or not, from Singapore's shores.

Yes, isn't it? When you see the government glamorizing awards they receive from financial companies and other agencies - like AAA ratings, busiest port, best airline, biggest telecoms company in SEA (which is so small as compared to the rest of the world), a ever-increasing stockpile of foreign reserves - and rate this as more important than the average livelihood of citizens by downplaying the plight of the less fortunate, you know that somewhere, somehow, something has gone wrong. Unknown unknowns - as some minister put it. Whateverrr.

The hardware has been set in place, we are now first-world in more ways than one. But the heartware is not installed properly. That may be the singular factor to cause a spectacular crash in our smoothly running hard(hearted)ware.