Monday, April 18, 2011

High cost of public housing IS PAP policy and PAP responsibility

Brilliant article from Yawning Bread (here) reveals the economic forces behind the high cost of public housing in Singapore.  Contrary to PAP's prevarication, the government is actively engaged in maintaining, and fully responsible for, the high cost of public housing. 

Quoting from the article:

Singapore’s public housing policy is like a giant vacuum cleaner that sucks up personal reserves from citizens in order to fatten the state’s reserves. This was revealed by none other than Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan. Personal savings are depleted so that national savings continue to grow.

It works like this: When you buy a new flat from the HDB, you deplete your present and future savings paying for your flat. The money you pay goes to the HDB. Part of it goes to pay for the actual construction of the block, but a large (though indeterminate because of lack of data) part of it goes ultimately to the Singapore Land Authority based on a notional value of the land your block sits on. That money that is paid to the land authority is considered part of the national reserves.
In short, your personal savings have been sucked out and piled onto the state’s savings.

Of course, the government is never going to admit that they have sucked away all your savings. What they say instead is that your liquid savings (present and up to 30 future years’ worth depending on the term of your mortgage) has been exchanged for an asset.

After the giant vacuum cleaner known as HDB has sucked out all your personal savings and deposited it into the national reserves, the key to all this hijacked money is given to the elected president who swallows it. It sits in his large intestine until he agrees to move his bowels.

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