The thing about spilling water all over the keyboard on the work laptop is, it gets fried.
My screen is dead. So IT has to rescue it by replacing a new screen. Since I can't comfortably do mousework for 2 days, I had to go look for something else to do. External projects maybe. Manual labor sorta.
So when laptops get fried, I get a perk-me-upper this morning at Starbucks.
I was really really tickled by this thingy in the newspapers. It was the Opposition Member of Parliament's (MP) comment to our Minister's words and thoughts in a Parliament sitting. The darling opposition MP retorted, "The minister's answers sound like the MAS shouting across the river while watching a fire burning." (In other words, 隔岸观火。)
Well, can we please ah, don't everything also expect the government take care of us can?
We got brains and minds to do research and all before buying right? Would you trust someone's words wholesale? Seriously? Even if it's the de facto national bank? I mean, someone will give you all the merits when he's trying to sell you something. It's like the banks asking me why I don't want their credit card even if they waive the annual fee for life.
So we decide to buy a badly structured financial product. If and when it collapses, we go crying to Papa Government who should then pat us on our heads and return us our capital?
Yes, it's sad. The stories are heart-wrenching. Sure, questions and complaints. Blow it up. The facts are painful. The losses are staggering. But there is no strict obligation by Papa Government to rescue us the way IT has to rescue my laptop even though I was the one who fried it.
Papa Government has already guaranteed our bank deposits till 2010. Come on.
11 comments:
fried screen still fried?
ah. i see you're biting your tongue to say the word responsibility. we are all responsible for our pathetic little asses in this world. ain't it?
corsage: dunno yet. i'll know tmrw when i get back to the office. they're supposed to take it away to repair today. IF there're stocks of the screen, i get it back tmrw. haizzzzzzzz.
meteor: WELL. you said it for me.
Hey remember during the US VP debate - Sarah Palin said that it was the predator lenders who caused the crisis by convincing Americans they could afford a $300K house when they could only pay for a $100K one.
Mess in the US financial market - greed + loose regulation.
Mess in the minibond situation in Singapore - greed + loose regulation.
Those old aunties and uncles, they have no bloody idea what these "bonds" are. All they wanted was to put their money into FDs and now their money is gone.
They bought into these minibonds because they trusted the banks. They trusted these banks because they had been their bank customers when the banks could still be trusted to give truthful advice. These old folks (of which my mother is one) will never understand even basic financial concepts. My mother's head hurts when I tried to explain the very basic "high return means high risk" concept.
Do these people really have no brains? Or were they instead mislead into purchasing something they didn't intend to. My own mom was persuaded into buying some unit trust under the impression that she was sure to make higher interest. At POSB mind you, the "people's bank". Fortunately it was not too late to cancel the investment.
The banks make these hapless folks sign some forms and claim that proper disclosure has been made. Yes, all the words are there but has the signatory truly understood what was said? The signature is of course there but do these people have no recourse at all?
if a product is badly structured and i still buy, that's my loss. BUT i expect to be able to make noise and complain. just to see what recourse is there. but i'd be dreaming if i expect my capital back.
seriously. if these individuals are SMEs, would there be such a furore? the SMEs would be forced to close with huge losses and still wouldn't stir up any sympathy.
i am with eve+line abt the uncles and aunties. and it is not greed on their part. they just trusted the banks they used for ages. they are not suitable target market for mini bonds but the banks just sign them on anyway. i don't think it should be so straighforward and condemn them and say they signed on the dotted line.
dawn: similarities abound.
eveline: the banks are no different from street salesmen. i still wonder 'WHY BUY?!!' why would people trust banks in the first place?
sinlady: is it a generation thing? my generation (i think) distrusts banks. so of course these people must have recourse. but why should the govt step in? if it's misrepresentation, make a case and MAS should hear it. but otherwise, how? it's not realistic to expect the govt to guarantee the capital of all investments.
opal: SMEs are viewed as a different thing. aren't they?
it is possibly a generational thing; it is definitely a mis-informational thing.
of course not asking for garmen to guarantee everybody. but this particular bunch of misguided investors has to be given recourse. this one time.
sinlady: then perhaps the banks/private sector should look into buying back as one method to alleviate losses.
I totally agree with sin lady here. My mom is illiterate and every time she goes to the bank, the RM will pressure her to move her FD into some other product like unit trusts. It's a real pain for her and she wouldn't have understood the risks even if the RM had explained it. It's wrong for the banks to be selling such complex products to folks like her.
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