![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
The terms retrenchment, lowered wages and the all too familiar 'Times are bad...' never fail to remind us of the finiancial recession that broke out just a few years back. Peoples' impression of their cushy jobs and bright futures suddenly became bleak, almost as if a dark blanket was being pulled over the once-thought-to-be recession proof economy of Singapore. Several months later, hopeless Singaporeans received a message from the Government; the economy is forcasted to take a turn for the better in the year to come. Almost within a week, retail businesses started to pick up once again. The Great Singapore Sale recorded an all time high in sales, unemployment rate dropped and people could finally take a breather. The Government announced that two large scale casinos to be built, erected the spectacular Singapore Flyer and won the bid to host the inaugural F1 race. With the expected boom in tourism, the fate of our economy looked bright and hopeful.
September 15th, 2008. The leading U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy and stock markets all over the world plunged overnight. To the ill-informed and economy-ignorants, this just seemed like any other news article in the financial segment of The Straits Times. The implications were only realised when the news media erupted, strategically featuring the carnage in financial sectors worldwide. Hopeless investors with their messed up hair and crumpled half-tucked shirts staring blankly into the stock index, reports of millions of dollars lost and multi-millionaires bankrupting overnight. Economists even tossed around the possibilty of a second global depression. Back home, local experts started to craft lists of potential problems related to the general population; higher cost of living, retrenchement, lowered wages, ... Ministers' advice on coping with the catastrophe included spending less, watching what you spend on, upgrading yourself to minimise chances of retrenchment and lowered wages. Needless to say, we obedient Singaporeans were panic-stricken. National stress-levels must have hit an all-time high, with paranoia coming in second. Many started keeping a personal 'check-list' of do's and don'ts, and as I would expect, started treating their fellow colleagues and bosses a tad better. Affected industries started assessing their risks, figuring out ways to cut-coss and to minimise their losses. The banking industry, being hit the hardest, was the first to act. Inefficient bankers lost their jobs and bank loans became harder to acquire.
Amidst the chaos, a group of industries began to ride on this wave of tragedy. It became an excuse to unaffected companies to cut-cost, lower wages and retrench for the purpose of generating greater revenue. When asked, they simply respond with 'We have also been hit badly, it is either we retrench or we have to lower wages, cut-cost and charge more to survive.' One would expect that the banks, being at the front-line of this disaster to be busy cleaning up this mess but instead, they have actually been opening up more positions. On the surface, it looks like a noble act of helping people who have been hit worst, giving people the hope of staying employed in these tough times. Pardon my dogmatism but a simple chat with fellow banking friends of mine have revealed otherwise. I have heard that these banks are actually hiring more to seive through the bunch of desperate bankers, keeping only the best. What a luxury.
Blame the economy or even the Lehman Brothers if you will, but take an objective look at the involvement of the media. If you're an avid news follower, i'm sure you would recognise that even up till now, more than 4 months later, there are still articles and reports on the matter. 'More people losing their jobs', 'The retrenched seeking help', 'Luxury goods dropping in demand' , 'One in three people believe that they will lose their jobs', 'Senior employee coping with retrenchment', '2009 growth forcast gloomy',... The list goes on. It does not take an expert to draw a relation in these reports - most of them are bad and depressing news. It almost seems as if people are drawn to such articles, wallowing in their sorrow and self-pity. As reports like these roll out day by day, people are only developing unnecessary fear and panic, painting grim defaced realities of our lives. Our expectations of jobs and prices are now oppressed by the dominating power of the media, giving inethical business practices a chance to thrive.
Additional chilli sauce on your noodles costs an extra fifty cents, taking out your food an extra dollar, even five dollars can hardly get you a decent meal these days. In my opinion, hawkers are in the most advantageous postion. With hardly any form of regulation to their business practices and the fact that food is indispensible to our daily lives, they pretty much call the shots. The cost of ingredients might have risen a mere five percent but their prices skyrocket to an exorbitant increase of twenty percent. Thank you for doing the math now pay up and finish your food.
Yes, we know about the financial recession. Yes, we know that we have to expect less and cut spending. Yes, we know that jobs are now hard to come by. Yes, it is time to stop reiterating the facts and move on. Give us consumers a little breathing space and we might just work harder to move us out of this recession.
September 15th, 2008. The leading U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy and stock markets all over the world plunged overnight. To the ill-informed and economy-ignorants, this just seemed like any other news article in the financial segment of The Straits Times. The implications were only realised when the news media erupted, strategically featuring the carnage in financial sectors worldwide. Hopeless investors with their messed up hair and crumpled half-tucked shirts staring blankly into the stock index, reports of millions of dollars lost and multi-millionaires bankrupting overnight. Economists even tossed around the possibilty of a second global depression. Back home, local experts started to craft lists of potential problems related to the general population; higher cost of living, retrenchement, lowered wages, ... Ministers' advice on coping with the catastrophe included spending less, watching what you spend on, upgrading yourself to minimise chances of retrenchment and lowered wages. Needless to say, we obedient Singaporeans were panic-stricken. National stress-levels must have hit an all-time high, with paranoia coming in second. Many started keeping a personal 'check-list' of do's and don'ts, and as I would expect, started treating their fellow colleagues and bosses a tad better. Affected industries started assessing their risks, figuring out ways to cut-coss and to minimise their losses. The banking industry, being hit the hardest, was the first to act. Inefficient bankers lost their jobs and bank loans became harder to acquire.
Amidst the chaos, a group of industries began to ride on this wave of tragedy. It became an excuse to unaffected companies to cut-cost, lower wages and retrench for the purpose of generating greater revenue. When asked, they simply respond with 'We have also been hit badly, it is either we retrench or we have to lower wages, cut-cost and charge more to survive.' One would expect that the banks, being at the front-line of this disaster to be busy cleaning up this mess but instead, they have actually been opening up more positions. On the surface, it looks like a noble act of helping people who have been hit worst, giving people the hope of staying employed in these tough times. Pardon my dogmatism but a simple chat with fellow banking friends of mine have revealed otherwise. I have heard that these banks are actually hiring more to seive through the bunch of desperate bankers, keeping only the best. What a luxury.
Blame the economy or even the Lehman Brothers if you will, but take an objective look at the involvement of the media. If you're an avid news follower, i'm sure you would recognise that even up till now, more than 4 months later, there are still articles and reports on the matter. 'More people losing their jobs', 'The retrenched seeking help', 'Luxury goods dropping in demand' , 'One in three people believe that they will lose their jobs', 'Senior employee coping with retrenchment', '2009 growth forcast gloomy',... The list goes on. It does not take an expert to draw a relation in these reports - most of them are bad and depressing news. It almost seems as if people are drawn to such articles, wallowing in their sorrow and self-pity. As reports like these roll out day by day, people are only developing unnecessary fear and panic, painting grim defaced realities of our lives. Our expectations of jobs and prices are now oppressed by the dominating power of the media, giving inethical business practices a chance to thrive.
Additional chilli sauce on your noodles costs an extra fifty cents, taking out your food an extra dollar, even five dollars can hardly get you a decent meal these days. In my opinion, hawkers are in the most advantageous postion. With hardly any form of regulation to their business practices and the fact that food is indispensible to our daily lives, they pretty much call the shots. The cost of ingredients might have risen a mere five percent but their prices skyrocket to an exorbitant increase of twenty percent. Thank you for doing the math now pay up and finish your food.
Yes, we know about the financial recession. Yes, we know that we have to expect less and cut spending. Yes, we know that jobs are now hard to come by. Yes, it is time to stop reiterating the facts and move on. Give us consumers a little breathing space and we might just work harder to move us out of this recession.
Leave a comment
relaxed
lethargic
confused