Friday, August 24, 2007

The Big Picture Sucks!

It seems the CPF changes were far less successful and popular than the Singapore government had hoped for. I don't know why. Surely they know that raising the draw-down age for the minimum sum from 62 to 65 and making buying annuity compulsory would not go down well with the Singapore public?

The government is not taking things lying down however. A whole series of government ministers had come up one after another to 'explain' the government's position. The lastest one is Environment and Water Resources Minister, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim who said issues related to the CPF are sensitive but the changes have to be implemented for the good of the country. He asked Singaporeans to consider the big picture.

I'll asked, "What if the big picture sucks?" What Dr Yaacob is asking for is that the Singapore public take one for the country because raising the draw-down age and making buying annuity compulsory does Singaporeans no favours. How is it in my interest to leave my money in the CPF for another 3 years and buy annunities which even the Prime Minister agreed gives very poor returns?

Until the Singapore government answer those two questions, unhappiness will reign.

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