The $1 Million HDB flat

(15-09-2012, 08:36 AM)yeokiwi Wrote:

Quote:But it will not hold out this status indefinitely. We are seeing the dusk of the American empire as this crisis unfolds.

US is still the only country that generates the most wanted intellectual properties for the world.
You want iphone X? -> US
You want space travel? -> US
you want driverless car? -> US
Best weapons? -> US

The rest of the world are mainly copycats.
All the technologies that enables you to write this article come largely from US.
Even Europe, which is in quite a bad shape now, is also a technology power house as a whole.

In asia, only Japan is outputing emerging technologies. South Korea, is still a copycat in general.
China? They are still far far away from the technology level of US and Europe.

Now, Apple Inc decides to use nano sim for its phones, so now the whole world must dump away the sim and microsim in exchange for the nano sim if they want iphone 5. And I will expect the rest of the HP manufacturers to follow.

US is having fiscal problems but in general, their economy is highly innovative and vibrant. Their ability to deliver new things that the world want will mean that US is simply indispensable.

May I also add that the biggest corporations and by extension some of the world's most widely used products and services still herald from the USA.

Imagine a world without a product as simple as tooth paste and tooth brushes (colgate-palmolive), coke, fastfood, IBM, for parents of young kids (pampers, huggies).. You get my drift.. The rest of the world still depends on such products and imo to a large extent have made the world a better place to live in. In terms of innovation and enterprise, there is a lot of catching up to do..

Would like to write some points but kinda busy to write up a lengthy report right now.

Alll the points the esteem members are pointing out on the strengths of the America is similar to the final days of the decline of the British Empire.

Some simlarities:
1. The Union Jack undergo two world wars. Amerca has been fighting a futlile war against terrorists. Witness the Arab spring becoming a worldwide US embassies attacks.

2. The East India company was once one of the largest and most powerful company in the world. Sounds like the US big investment banks?

Please refer to here for more information.
Wiki isn't the authoritative source but its a good starting point afterall.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fall_of...ish_Empire

Blame it on endless qe. I think there are bubbles being formed again (bonds, certain real estate in the world). In our own singapore the craziness i see esp in people buying commercial property for pathetic yields in the best of circumstances...

World moves in cycles and eventually bubbles burst. Agree that the sad truth in life is that the common man is always last to the party and yet usually has the most skin in the game.

(15-09-2012, 10:49 AM)arthur Wrote: Would like to write some points but kinda busy to write up a lengthy report right now.

Alll the points the esteem members are pointing out on the strengths of the America is similar to the final days of the decline of the British Empire.

Some simlarities:
1. The Union Jack undergo two world wars. Amerca has been fighting a futlile war against terrorists. Witness the Arab spring becoming a worldwide US embassies attacks.

2. The East India company was once one of the largest and most powerful company in the world. Sounds like the US big investment banks?

Please refer to here for more information.
Wiki isn't the authoritative source but its a good starting point afterall.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fall_of...ish_Empire

British Empire declined because nobody wants them anymore. They did not provide any good protection(half hearted defending) nor offer any economic benefits.(more like plunder)

Does the world want US?
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ap...9855.story
Iphone 4 took 20 hours to reach the inventory limit.
Iphone 4s took 20 hours.
Iphone 5 took 1 hour!

The world literally is being swooned by US products.

Quote:Apple is now more valuable than the gross domestic product of Denmark, Finland and Hungary — combined. And much of that growth has been on the back of the iPhone, which accounts for more than half of the company's profit.

Iphone debuted in 2007.
Which country can have a technological company that achieves the above status in 5 years?
Only US.

The world is more reliant on US than before.

Anyway, US also participated in both world wars.
And.. ironically, Arab Spring was made possible by US technologies and services(Internet, Facebook, Twitter and CNN??).

(14-09-2012, 02:18 PM)Musicwhiz Wrote:

(14-09-2012, 01:19 PM)arthur Wrote: More 1 million HDBs to come, I believe.

I will love to see the ending of such a unlimited QEs by the Western world. Fortunes will favour those who are prepared and knowledgeable.

Hi Arthur,

I was just discussing this trend with a friend over lunch. We both agreed that housing prices are ""crazy" but there are still people who are willing to buy, and for investment as well as home-stay! TODAY surveyed a group of about 3,000 Singaporeans and about 2/3 of them said they will still buy property in the coming 12 months. How''s that for logic?

As for the $1 million HDB, it''s not so much the trauma of it hitting $1m, which I''d expected some time ago. It''s more of ""how high is the limit"" where people will scratch their heads and say ""this is purely insanity and it''s a ludicrous situation"". So far, no one''s saying that yet!

As for QE, it seems USA is intent on screwing the rest of the world. What they solve in their own country will cause problems for others, and asset bubbles may be building up even as we speak!

We dont have to accept their filthy money to begin with. MAS can always ban the inflow of USD or legislate laws that forbids businesses to trade in USD.

Ha! HA!
So far even the BRICs do not dare to do it.
Or they don't have the means to do it.
Now, they can only "NATO".
Even all the BRIC's economy combine together is still quite far behind to US.
But some Reports said that by 2015 may be BRIC's combined economy will exceed US.
Or even China alone will double that of US.
But it's only like a gypsy looking into a crystal ball.
Little "RED DOT" ???

stop hot money from flowing into sg? no way...

:O

maybe to prevent property overheating, a profit tax can be imposed.

look out for more mergers and acquisitions with the influx of QE3 $ which has no where to go!!

(15-09-2012, 06:26 PM)brattzz Wrote: stop hot money from flowing into sg? no way...

:O

maybe to prevent property overheating, a profit tax can be imposed.

look out for more mergers and acquisitions with the influx of QE3 $ which has no where to go!!

Yes! Maybe SIA or SIA ENG become US owned. F&N & APB going to be foreign owned so why not ? i think many of our "Singapore assets" have been sold to foreigners even "Too-Much-Sick" or Singapore once owned them.
Hey Too-Much-Sick companies should be belong to all true blue Sinkaporeans, isn't it?
Nah, so far we have no say.
Watch out! Once NOL is closed or belong to another country.
Then i think Sinkaporeans really Sink then.

(15-09-2012, 07:39 PM)Temperament Wrote: Yes! Maybe SIA or SIA ENG become US owned. F&N & APB going to be foreign owned so why not ? i think many of our "Singapore assets" have been sold to foreigners even "Too-Much-Sick" or Singapore once owned them.
Hey Too-Much-Sick companies should be belong to all true blue Sinkaporeans, isn't it?
Nah, so far we have no say.
Watch out! Once NOL is closed or belong to another country.
Then i think Sinkaporeans really Sink then.

I think strategic companies will never be sold. Like these few: NOL, SIA, ST Engineering, Keppel, Sembcorp, SPH.

(17-09-2012, 02:09 PM)snowcap Wrote:

(15-09-2012, 07:39 PM)Temperament Wrote: Yes! Maybe SIA or SIA ENG become US owned. F&N & APB going to be foreign owned so why not ? i think many of our "Singapore assets" have been sold to foreigners even "Too-Much-Sick" or Singapore once owned them.
Hey Too-Much-Sick companies should be belong to all true blue Sinkaporeans, isn't it?
Nah, so far we have no say.
Watch out! Once NOL is closed or belong to another country.
Then i think Sinkaporeans really Sink then.

I think strategic companies will never be sold. Like these few: NOL, SIA, ST Engineering, Keppel, Sembcorp, SPH.

SPH is regulated, and never be sold without approval. I believe likewise for other key corporations, in one way or other.

From wikipedia:

SPH is regulated by the Newspaper and Printing Presses Act of 1974 and issues both management and ordinary shares. As specified by the act all issues and transfers of management shares have to be approved by the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts, and in "any resolution relating to the appointment or dismissal of a director or any member of the staff" the vote of one management share is equivalent to 200 ordinary shares.