@666holydiver666 @wassielawyer @hoeflatoor Banglas have it worse. They are staying in their own worker dormitories so the local population don’t have to interact with them. Absolutely no chance at any long term residency either.
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Chank
1.9K posts
@Chank_Da @wassielawyer @hoeflatoor The difference between Singapore and the UK/Canada/Australia/NZ is that we do not give these workers any chance at citizenship. That alone is worth commendation because… have you been to the UK/Canada/Australia/NZ lately?
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Some thoughts on the recent commentary of Singapore as a “high trust” society.
It’s always amusing to me when people consider Singapore via their Western lenses. Singapore is a social system one cannot understand unless you (a) grow up here and left to see the world or (b) moved here and stayed for some period, often raising children here.
The underlying assumption for the narrative of Singapore as high trust is that it’s so low crime that you can leave your shit lying around and nobody nicks it. The thesis is that Singaporeans must really trust each other because why else? Any foreigner knows the police state allegations are overstated, the surveillance and state presence are present but unobtrusive. So the fact that you can leave your LV bag unattended in a restaurant must be indicative of a high trust society right?
Sort of. But not in the way you think.
Singapore has very high trust in the state but very low trust in their peers. But trust in the state doesn’t just mean use of force. It’s trust in the system.
A state works when its citizens believe that abiding by the social contract is better for their livelihoods than defecting. People who believe they are “winners” will never defect, and people who feel screwed over might defect, at which point you must deter defection via criminal and/or social punishment.
Singapore has a successful social psyop where probably >80% of the under 60 population believe they are, or are destined to be “above average” in the system. The people are inherently bred to be PvP (low trust) but inherently judge the system “fair” (high trust in system) because the system works for me.
Now the math works because Singaporeans are motivated by perceived social class. The math logically doesn’t work when you have to make >80% believe they are above average economically but you can make them believe they are “middle class / upper middle class” and / or morally superior.
One skill every Singaporean has is the socially conditioned ability to find a way to put anyone else down and downplay their achievements.
Rich? Wealthy parents / got lucky. Intelligent? Try hard grinder / mugger. Attractive? Must be dumb. Got a promotion? Prob slept with the boss.
The ability (and desire) to assert moral superiority in almost any circumstance creates low petty/violent crime incidence bc crime is for the morally inferior. (It does however have a ton of white collar crime as people cheat to get ahead but that’s a different discussion.)
The Singapore main quest line of leveraging to max ape property to flip to the next sucker is also a huge contributor to “stability” of the system. You will notice many young people decry the system as “unfair” until they buy a house. Once the 30 year mortgage is locked in, they pivot hard conservative and will literally commit zero crime or take any risk at all, lest they suffer the shame of not being able to meet mortgage payments and dump their investment on the next generation.
Another powerful, perhaps the most powerful, lever for low crime is racism. Yes, unironically.
Crime is low when people believe they are the overclass. Racism allows even a struggling incel Chinese cab driver knee deep in debt to say “eh at least my life is better than [the indigenous Malays or the foreign blue collar workers]”. A Chinese person in Singapore (>70% of population) always has someone to kick down on. Racism-as-a-cope creates low crime (except white collar crime) amongst Chinese population.
Would rant further but hitting character limit lmao.
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@nataschanashali @denisewu lol you do know this is the event of the White House correspondents dinner? You should google what the intended attendees are and what are their professions. No intelligence needed.
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@denisewu They actually stripped him while cameras were rolling? Surreal ... feels more like staging than procedure.
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I didn’t realize there was a protocol for stripping a shooter in custody.
Comfortably Smug@ComfortablySmug
Video of alleged shooter on the ground at WHCD
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@BoringBiz_ @_DeepS01 Same advice if one is in banking. For the other poster saying it’s too generic, i don’t think so. If you know you know. Life isn’t about being spoon fed answers.
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@_DeepS01 put your head down and learn as much as possible. take agency and ownership of your work
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Finance students in college:
“I will do 6 internships, 2 finance clubs, and 3 excel bootcamp courses to get into banking”
The day they get into investment banking:
“I will do 6 headhunter calls, 3 model tests, and 2 case study interviews to get out of banking”
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There's a disturbing trend among US think tankers:
1. Say pushing all of China's red lines is the only way to prevent war.
2. Claim "if" war happens, it won't be due to 1, but because China bad.
3. Predict that war will cause China's collapse.
Their intentions are so obvious.
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@hoeflatoor @wearelosingyou Hope you at least got a pes E out of it and had a relaxed time.
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@wearelosingyou Brother I was tranquilized by psychiatrists in NS
Have you considered the possibility I might already have a therapist?
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It took a godly amount of willpower to not kill myself until my 20s where a lot of my latent abilities manifested because in Singapore if you’re even 1 inch out of line you don’t just have the system against you, all your friends and family will try to push you back in as well. One of my best friends in JC was banned from speaking to me when I dropped out of highschool for fear of being a bad influence (his mother’s words not mine). My own mother would tell me about me sleeptalking and waking up screaming since my early teen years when the burnout started then. A lot better these days.
There is a reason why no genius springs from our little red dot…
sysls@systematicls
My standard answer for anyone asking why the start-up ecosystem in Singapore isn't flourishing really comes down to institutionalized risk-aversion. In Singapore, there is a "standard" path that practically everyone goes through. From age 6 to age 24, there is an institutionalized path that you are more or less constitutionally and socially mandated to follow. If you stick within the confines of the path, you are "doing well". If you veer from this path, you get struck down as a failure. Ability to stick within the confines of the path is only a function of academic prowess. I've lived both sides of the world first as a traditional "overachieving scholar" and then dropping out of school once I decided to walk the path less traveled. The difference in attitude from society is stark. This breeds a mindset among most Singaporeans that there is a "correct" answer for all situations. You smell this fear of "being wrong" in all walks of life, at every layer, in all institutions. This belief system of thinking there is a clear cut answer to all situations is entirely at odds with what is required to invoke the dark alchemy of creating something from nothing. To create a start-up, you need to be radically comfortable with being wrong and being able to iterate ruthlessly towards the correct answers. The government however, WANTS to keep the current outcome. This mentality among society at large allows them to clip the left tails of failure, push the median up (we are, after all, highest GDP per capita in the world) and think that clipping the far right outcomes is a worthy price to pay. To be entrepreneurial in Singapore is to literally go against institutional and societal programming.
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While Singapore is too polite to say it, these are malicious CPC websites designed to mislead Singaporeans into believing they are providing "news." Shut them down wherever they can be uncovered.
Singapore blocks 6 websites flagged for potential use in hostile information campaigns straitstimes.com/singapore/spor…
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@BaldBernieSndrs @SwannMarcus89 $100k is the $60k 15 years ago. This is nothing to flex.
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@SwannMarcus89 Leftist here, I make over $100K and have a 720 credit score and my politics have only become more left despite my circumstances. I take solace in that there are literally no respectable people in science, the arts, or education who are MAGA. It is literally the worst of America
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Leftists don’t want to admit it but this is why you will always lose
It is simply too easy to become rich in America. Your base is college kids and people with degrees make too much money after graduation. The only people who stay far left after 30 are losers and con artists
Alan MacLeod@AlanRMacLeod
"I switched my opinion as soon as my class interests changed"
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@Jeff1mb @GreenPlusAnE What support? Social security will be bankrupt by then
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@GreenPlusAnE Just to be clear, you now want to be a generation that reneges on obligations but will expect support when you get to be seniors?
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Within 6 years, younger Americans will be forced to finance ANOTHER $500 billion a year in transfer payments to senior citizens.
Unless we form the Anti-AARP.
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@szjcapital @wassielawyer The best is yet to be
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Yep this is the correct take.
Running a startup in Singapore is so negative EV that you select for retards who failed out of system, high functioning autists that refuse their place in the system and wealthy heirs trying to make their name outside the system.
The retard class is almost uninvestable, except for those who pivoted into the shadow economy (nightclubs, ktvs, gambling etc) in their teens and still maintain a code of brotherhood but good luck getting access to these people or convincing them to let you ape their KTV / Johor Vape Run. Avoid the system dropouts that pivoted to insurance sales like the plague (they basically sell financial scams to the elderly) and they will rug in the blink of an eye too. You might find a diamond in the rough that previously worked at a local tech company like Grab, Shoppee etc but it’s like finding a needle in a haystack bc it’s hard to tell them apart from a retard that got fired and will be pivoting into insurance if the startup LARP fails.
The high functioning autists are more investable but there are two main problems. To clarify - these are kids preordained by the Singapore system for high finance, bigtech, biglaw, medicine and other “high value” professions alongside a 2 million dollar mortgage but have somehow rejected their destiny.
The first problem is discoverability. The first class of autists fuck off to the West Coast, London or godforbid Berlin for college where they embrace and explore all their quirks that made them feel out of place in Singapore. The ones who went to Berlin are lost forever. The ones that went to California / London might, after a few years of self-discovery often involving sex, drugs and rock and roll financed by autistic superpowers or their parents, return to Singapore after either a family tragedy, the false promise of a good Asian wife / husband or their Western tax bill. You might be able to invest in them then as they seek funding for some grand moral mission to embrace or reject capitalism in their autistic niche area.
But the second class of autists that are investable don’t leave Singapore at all. You will find them in STEM, geeking out in the laboratories and computer science departments of universities, possibly in A Star. They speak a maximum of five sentences a day and are largely incapable of maintaining extended eye contact. But behind those bespectacled eyes in the acne scarred face is the potential engine of a billion dollar empire. Or a Chinese spy. Too bad you don’t speak autist.
The second problem is economic alignment. The autist does not understand money the way you do, if they did, they would be on half a mil+ comp packages within the system. You think just because you found them and funded them they work for your bags? No sir - they work for the mission. And you better pray that mission has the side effect of increased enterprise value or a path to liquidity. If not - thank you for your donation we will be applying our next gen quantum computing capabilities to solve poverty in sub-Saharan Africa.
Finally, the wealthy heirs. Success in the system means nothing because they will never emerge out of their parents’ shadow. Their grandfathers name is on your university lecture theatre.
Desperate to make a name for themselves, they will reject the family mandate to manage the real estate portfolio in order to found a startup. They might even take your venture cheque even though your fund is smaller than his inheritance bc an external fund provides “validation”. You will vie for allocation alongside people who want an intro to their dad.
Pros - they have near infinite funding and networks.
Downside - they don’t care about money and might be retarded. Good luck getting an exit.
Zac@Zac_Pundi
"Singapore has no startups because everything is too convenient" Bro China has the most convenient payment and utility payment systems on earth. That clearly didn't stop them. The real problem: Singapore's system is so well-designed that the rational move for a smart person is to never leave it. NUS → DBS → $10K/month by 30. The expected value genuinely beats startup odds. Smartest locals I know "try" startup for one year — after thinking about it for three. Meanwhile US/China founders just jump. And if Grab started in SG instead of Malaysia, you think MOT wouldn't have shut it down before Series A? It's not convenience. It's a system optimized for comfort, and a culture that counts the odds before jumping.
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@straits_times The HDB income limit is quite low no? Isn’t it hard to even qualify for HDB if you’re in 30s and dual income?
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Couples in Singapore with dual incomes, no kids aspire to buy private property: Survey bit.ly/3OL0A7f
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@undergradwoman @RapidResponse47 @SecDuffy An idiot like you don’t realize you can’t get a CDL without valid work authorization. Eg someone on a F1 visa would not qualify for a CDL
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@RapidResponse47 @SecDuffy I hope the sovereign state of New York ignores Secretary Duffy’s xenophobic demands, because the federal government declared war against New York and what the sovereign state of New York did is protected under the 10th and 11th amendments!
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.@SecDuffy: 53% of Commercial Driver's Licenses issued to foreigners in New York were issued illegally.
We gave them FOUR MONTHS to comply with the law. They refused, so we had no choice but to pull funding — and if they still refuse, we can pull their ability to issue CDLs.
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@stocklurker11 @money_cruncher I wonder what’s the expense ratio on those funds
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@money_cruncher And also, understand the why. These funds were supposed to kickback fees to Fidelity and they have refused to pay. The fee will have its desired effect, people won’t buy those funds anymore unless they do what they said they would. That isn’t understanding.
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There is a lot of talk about the new $100 ETF fee on Fidelity starting June 1.
To clarify:
It applies to some no name funds. Funds you’ve probably never heard of.
Vanguard, Fidelity, Schwab, and many other well known, quality ETFs will still have a $0 fee.
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@graciehartie Prior to Thailand doing their nonsense with marijuana, Singaporeans have been doing drugs with limited consequences overseas.
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@graciehartie You probably haven’t hung out with the right crowd then. Smarter Singaporeans don’t do drugs in Singapore, they just do them overseas, which is why the law was changed to make overseas drug use equivalent to local use.
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As a true NATIVE Singaporean…
any Singaporean with a brain cell don’t even hang out with ppl who take drugs.
Not even friends.
We know the consequences is too heavy to deal with. Even by association it’s a fucking nightmare.
No amount of crying, American president pardon, money, will help you wiggle out of this situation.
Just leave the place if you see anyone do this shit. RUN FOR YOUR LIFE.
Xeer@Xeer
Here is your reminder to not bring any weed for your next trip to Singapore. You wouldn't want to be executed for attending token2049 💀
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@Byron_Wan What happened to “not” Interfering in other countries internal affairs eh?
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🚨 China has demanded Europe’s two largest shipping companies cease operating ports on the Panama Canal, just weeks after they took over from a Hong Kong-based group that was ejected from the terminals.
In a meeting with China’s state planner National Development and Reform Commission last month, Danish shipping group Maersk and Switzerland-based Mediterranean Shipping Company were told to withdraw from the Balboa and Cristóbal ports immediately.
They were also told not to “engage in illegal activities that harm the interests of Chinese companies, and to uphold commercial ethics and international rules”.
The warnings underscore Beijing’s growing willingness to use its economic leverage over foreign companies in areas it sees as critical to China’s supply chain security.
The move also signals an escalation in the dispute over the Panama port concessions. The US has been trying to increase its influence over the canal while Beijing is keen to defend investments by Chinese companies in the strategic waterway.
CK Hutchison, founded by Hong Kong’s richest man Li Ka-shing, negotiated a $23B deal with a consortium led by BlackRock and MSC in March last year to sell its non-Chinese port operations, including those in Panama.
The deal immediately irked Beijing, which signalled it would subject the transaction to regulatory reviews and pushed for state-owned shipping group Cosco to join the consortium.
Tensions escalated in January when Panama’s top court ruled CK Hutchison’s concession to run the two ports unconstitutional and authorities later stripped the company of its rights.
Panama granted MSC and Maersk temporary operating rights. CK Hutchison has since taken Maersk to arbitration and filed a $2B damages claim against Panama.
Early last month, officials at China’s powerful NDRC reacted by summoning the two European companies and demanding they pull out of the ports.
The NDRC demands were delivered on the same day China’s transport ministry warned the two companies of the need to maintain supply chains amid disruption from the war in Iran.
Maersk and MSC have argued their temporary concessions are necessary to keep trade flowing through the Panama Canal.
Maersk chief executive Vincent Clerc attended a meeting with NDRC officials in Beijing on Mar 20, while MSC president Diego Aponte has been communicating with the regulator through written correspondence.
If the European companies pulled out, US operators were the most likely to take over the concessions, an outcome that would be worse for Beijing.
China has been strengthening its legal toolkit to defend supply chain security. This month, it introduced sweeping regulations that make it illegal to “harm the security of the country’s industrial and supply chains” and raised the spectre of exit bans for violators.
This week, authorities also introduced rules to counter what they describe as “undue extraterritorial jurisdiction” by foreign governments, giving Beijing broader scope to assess such actions and impose retaliatory measures across areas including trade, investment and international cooperation.
ft.com/content/91d60b…
Byron Wan@Byron_Wan
Feb 26: Panamanian investigators carried documents out of offices belonging to CK Hutchison’s subsidiary Panama Ports Company, which operated ports at both ends of the Panama Canal until its concession was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court last month. Visits were made to three offices of the Panama Ports Company in Panama City and that the Panama Maritime Authority and investigators from the National Directorate of Judicial Investigation also participated. Public prosecutor Azael Samaniego said his office had information pointing to the possible commission of a crime, but he did not specify what the crime could be. He said an investigation was in its early stages. The investigation comes days after the Maritime Authority seized the Balboa and Cristobal ports from the Panama Ports Company. The company has previously rejected the court’s ruling and the Chinese government has accused Panama’s government of bowing to US pressure. apnews.com/article/panama…
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@money_cruncher I don’t know, every company I worked in had 100% vesting per year.
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If you have a 401k, you need to understand vesting rules.
It means how long you need to be employed to receive your employer’s match (your money is always yours)
Common vesting schedule is ~33% per year for 3 years
Check your vesting before you quit
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@Clark38437391 @pmddomingos What does circle the wagons have to do with science? Maybe calculating the area of the circle?
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@pmddomingos I’ll summarize it: to continue their work, American scientists have to make sure that various right-wing characters are happy with their political views. You can certainly do that if the goal is to have no science. Maybe that needs to happen if you take science for granted.
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This perfectly encapsulates the state of American academia. (Whether to laugh or cry is another question.)
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