Predictitions: red devils to win 5 cups

the hand that gave Fulham the first win in so many years

Singapore’s future : foreign talent

Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew speaking to an audience of about 500 students, alumni and invited guests at a National University of Singapore Society (NUSS) lecture on the topic of "Singapore and Singaporeans — Quarter Century From Now"...

..that

Singapore’s future might have a different ethnic and demographic composition as many immigrants become new citizens and permanent residents.

Mr Lee said: "We are caught in a bind — we’ve got to decide this is our country, our society and we must remain the majority. Yes, we will take immigrants; yes, we will take talented people, but we must be the majority.

"

Otherwise, they will change us if they are the majority

. So I think 25 years from now, Singapore will be more cosmopolitan because we’ve got many people from China, India, Malaysia and from the region.


so called "foreign talent" is here to stay, no matter how was the economy doing..how you may do not like it..cheers

economic recession:back to school

when you are retreenched by the company which you have been working for many years and found yourselves over 40s, do upgrade, retraining and refocusing:one way to beat recession and save yourself and your family.
or
take out taxi-licence course and drive taxi in 2 months' time or even lesser.
at least you have some income rather than staying at home or at the park doing nothing.
be active and not wait for the sky to fall.
you have to take the initiatie. do not depend on the employment agencies. they are just a lousy as you can think of when you are over 40s.

and most importantly of all: trust yourself in finding a position, just anything to start with.

also also widen your networking you have better chances.
and when you found the job, thanks them and repaid them in future when they seek you.

just not to take it seriously but an experience in your career.
instead of thinking it negatively, placed them at the bright side.

and most of all:

Live life to the fullest.

nepal

American Charles "Chip" Goodyear

The wife of Singapore's prime minister will step down after five years as chief executive of Temasek Holdings, one of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds, the firm said Friday.


Ho Ching, the wife of Lee Hsien Loong, will be replaced by American Charles "Chip" Goodyear, 51, former chief of Anglo-Australian giant BHP Billiton, the world's largest miner, a Temasek press release said.

She also will no longer serve on the company's board.

Now, Mr. Charles Goodyear has a tremendous task of cleaning up a lot of "shit" what his former CEO has done.
and also a lot of "time bomb" along the way too, not to mention.

it was a tough job to handle.

luckily for him, she will be on until october 2009, during which she has to hand over her duties to him and a lot of explanations of her decision on major issues.

tough act, and brave soul for Mr Goodyear.

ERA: Price fixing?

Judge slams unethical agents who 'flip' properties for profit

'When a property agent is engaged to sell or buy property, he has a responsibility to act in the interests of the person who appointed him - not his own, or his friends', or his relatives' or his boss', said the judge. 'This responsibility that the agent bears is the foundation of the ethical rules and contractual principles that prohibit an agent from acting in conflict of interests and reaping secret profits for himself or his friends.'

Two ERA agents were slammed by High Court Judge Choo Han Teck for their unethical behaviour in the transaction of a two-bedroom downtown flat.


Mr Yuen Chow Hin, an IT company vice-president, and his wife, Madam Wong Wai Fan, a housewife, had let go of their two-bedroom downtown flat at $688,000. They took their ERA agent's word that this was the best price they could get.

What they did not know was that the buyer of their Riverside Piazza unit was the wife of their agent's boss, and that she re-sold it almost immediately for $945,000, making a hefty profit.

On Thursday, Justice Choo ruled in favour of the Yuens, who had sued ERA for the 'secret profit' made in the second deal.

The judge found that the conduct of agent Jeremy Ang and his boss, Mr Mike Parikh, senior group division director at ERA, amounted to breach of duty and fraud. He also had a stern reminder for the industry of its ethical responsibilities, as it had emerged in court that such practices were common.

The judge concluded that it was Mr Parikh who wanted to buy the flat in order to make a quick profit during the property boom. To distance himself from the deal, he used his wife, Madam Natassha Sadiq, as the buyer and Mr Ang as the seller's agent, the judge found.

Mr Ang was the link but Mr Parikh was the person behind the scheme, and his position made his subordinate's breach of contract even more reprehensible. The misconduct was of such magnitude that the judge said he felt bound to make the reasons clear in his judgment so that no property agent could now claim ignorance.

commments:

Mr Ang, an ERA agent used the brand name, ERA to secure trust from his clients, Mr. and Mrs Yuen, who believed in him in selling their house.

but he abused their trust by telling them the lies that their house was not thta good and let his boss and him earned a tidy profit and commission.

that showed how truth the man's is, under every circumstances.

in the end, he has all to lose and nothing to win.

Trust no more.

85,000 jobs lost in a single day

just after 7 days of our 2008/2009 budget and on the second day of our Lunar New Year 2009, we saw the greatest number of jobs being lost in just one day,across Europe.

and we expect many more to come in later days and months

.

It was all gloom and doom.

and we are not spare either.

we also expected many more to retrench after Lunar New Year.

new year new beginning

it was a brand new new year.
already there are so many problems last year, yet unsolved.
still,

it will be the best year yet.

no matter what has happen, smile, let it go and move on.

there are many things we have to do, don't just sit there and grumbled.
it was useless to just do the talk.
walk the talk instead.

and most important, you must made the correct decision at that time.

remember not to dwell in the past, but place hope in the future.

the past is behind you and the future was right in front.

cherish the present for which it determined your future, your life and everything.

we tended to forget the people who cares about us as they scolded us. but they meant well. they do think of you.

loved them as always..

CNY 2009

Have a Joyful Lunar New Year

LKY on Financial crisis

Nobody knows how long this recession will last, or when the America, UK, EU and Japan economies will stabilise and recover.

Meantime, all feel poorer with the loss in asset values of their shares, properties and other assets

This downturn is just beginning.

No one can say how long it will last and how deep the downturn will be.
Recovery will come when the property market in America reaches bottom and begins to rise.

That may not be for many months or even years.

the government will be ready to decide on assistance programmes for the lower-income earners.
But to return to where we were before the crisis and enjoy the same standard of living, we have to wait until the recovery of the world economy.
We all have to accept some sacrifices and cut-backs.

mother and child

the greatest love of all: mother.
treasure it.
cherish it.
be contented.
and
share your joys and sorrows with her,always.

smile when times are bad

laughter

Love story III

Some Town Councils collected our S&C fee and invested in structured products like DBS high Notes, Lehman’s brother minibond, Jubilees notes and Morgan Stanley Pinnacles notes.

It was S$16 millions in total. (Another S$3 million in Pinnacles notes in danger of losing all)

And they were all worthless.

Zero.

It was this sum of money that we could not earn in our lifetime

And they just told us it was gone.

They went in with their eyes opened.

They have excellent learning, unlike the 62-year-old retirees with no primary education. They just like to have safe fixed deposit but were told to buy complex products that they were told it was principle-guarantee.

They did not know, but these people knew.

They knew what they were doing.

They also knew that high returns high risk too.

They read the fine print too.

And it was not just one person but many people involved.

But still they went in.

When things happened as it always, they blamed on others like our 158-year-old Lehman’s brother and low fixed deposits interest rate could not offset high inflation. But not themselves.

They told us that they did not expect it to collapse as it has AAA+ rating.

Like our trusted banks, they told you beautiful stories and sidetracked you the main point that they have made wrong decision and pushed all the blame.


When you owed them money, you will get fine for not paying.

When they lose your money, they needed not pay anything at all.

Not even a single cent.


Trust no more.

Love story II

Benchmark crude oil futures rose to almost US$155 per barrel in July but have since fallen to below US$60 four months later.


Back before July 2008, companies which expected oil prices to continue rising locked in three-month futures contract so that they can protect themselves.


They hedged their fuel cost by buying contracts for fuel at a predetermined price for future delivery and it helps them save millions when oil prices climb.


But when price drop, they have to book the unrealised losses on their account.


But not SP Services Ltd.

They have made the mistakes in locking the three-month future contracts in July for a price of US$155. They have bet the oil would continue on its upward climb.
However, oil began to plunge to US$100, and then US$60.

It was 100-120% drastic drop.

And they have made the wrong bet.

Instead of the helping consumer paying less for the electricity bills, we have to pay even higher bills for the wrong bet made by SP Powergrid.

They should book the unrealised losses and reported in their books.

But unfortunately it was not the case; they passed on the losses.

On the other hand, they book record profits.
And the top management got their fat bonuses, with our money.

Just like the Lehman brother’s minibonds.

They told you beautiful stories, showed the wonderful charts after charts, and explain points by points but did not mentioned that they have made a grave mistakes and this mistake will be undone by us, the consumers.

Trust no more.

a lover's story

An investment bank had betrayed customer’s trust and cause financial tsunami.

And other banks and reminiscing films followed their unscrupulous ways and sold their products to vulnerable ordinary people like 62 years, primary school education retirees.

Like any other lovers, they swept your feet away with sweet words promising fantastic interest returns.

They spoke honey-words, brought you candle-light dinners, best French wines, good food, shopped for exquisite and expensive jewelries, stayed in luxurious hotels.

You signed the applications form blindly without perceives the tiniest fine print that anything happened; you will lose despite the capital guarantees.

Likes other profit-greedy companies, our most-trusted banks followed their footsteps.

Like any exotic things it comes fast and goes fast as well.
Like exotic names as minibonds, High five notes series.

When they collapsed, they placed their blame on other but themselves.
Like any lovers whom they made the girls pregnant, they told them the child was not theirs.

Like any lovers, they have betrayed their trust and caused you miserable, sorrow and heartbreaking.

Like any lovers, they ditched you with unborn child.

In this case, the child was a worthless paper.

Like any other pregnant mother, you have to fight on, bring justice to light and let the world see through his filthy, unclean and foul soul.


Trust no more.

gloomy days ahead

already retrenchment has happened fast and furious.
watch out:

Gloomy days just started.

space

the tide has turned

wolf rain

smile: the best medicine

our blue planet: Earth

Our dearest planet; Earth

time machine

how i wish to have the time machine, where we can roam through the past, present and future..

Unemployment rate

Geed

the first sins: greed

more to come,this is just the beginning

Lehman Bros to sell off assets after 3.9 billion dollar loss

most beautiful words

a loving couple just has a child.
both have to work but they did not employ a maid.
when they worked in he day, they brought their child to their mother, and brought back in the evening.
when the child woke up and cried in the wee hours of morning, the husband would tell his wife," you rest, i get up."
it happened many times but each time,

the husband would say,"you rest, i get up."

when the child grew up and asked his mother what was the most beautiful words in the world, she told him, "you rest, i get up."

one life

One life.
Live it to the fullest.

Next US President

Change,We believe in change.
The American spirit, the American dream

south Korean table tennis team

really admire the south korean girls. they are great

Tim Burton

enjoy his films: they were good.

girl from hell

the person you hate the most, you can call her.
but there was a price to be paid: your soul

time

inflation

Inflation is when your value of money became smaller but our govt smart: she appreciated our sing$.

$ not encough

zero

the end is near

soccer

leaves

monster

Oil Price

peace

CPI:8%

peak hour surcharge

one day at around 0930hrs, we boarded a taxi. my mother and i will be going to alexandra hospital for routine checkup.
i have checked our watch and noted it was at 0931hrs that we boarded the cab.

however, we were inside the bab, the fare meter still charged us the peak-hour surchrage. we were confused.

upon reaching the destination, we asked for a receipt and found out the time was actually 0927hrs. the cab's time and our time were different.

i always checked 1711 for the accuracy. since mine was okay, the cab driver must have actually change the time for another 5 minutes for additional sur-charge.

we have been fooled

Reverse GST? dead end

merry christmas

and Happy new Year

wolf

miss the boat

for those who have been retrenched and could not find a job yet, our sympathy goes to you.
we have assumed that when economy recovered, you could find a job easily.

but when we heard stories after stories, it was increasing difficult to get a simple one.

because market became more competitive.

what NTU professor quote was correct when he said in 2003.

when economy recovered, we could not enjoy the fruits as the jobs were taken away by foreigners

.

he was correct as half or more went to foreigners.

our dearest friends, you have missed the boat.

tell the story right

city of possibilities: Born to be Free

city of possibilities: the truth