Another Singtel mindgame?

Its $30 voucher to buy a phone OR $8 rebate per month for 24 months' contract.

If you choose to buy a new phone in the middle of the 24 months, rebate stops.
But if you terminate / downgrade / temporary suspend your contract, you will have to pay:-
$8 x no. of months with rebate plus $50 adminstrative fee.

What is Singtel trying to achieve?
Try to buy your loyalty (AGAIN, as in 2nd attempt) for 24 months with this kind of crap deal in my humble opinion. My loyalty is worth more. Perhaps Singtel should more loyalty to your customers with a sincere deal.

What do you think?

Election in Indonesia

the security I experience in a hotel in Jakarta BEFORE the recent bomb blast

far away from the lobby

No news is good news as one commentator said of the peaceful election in Indonesia.

I was in Jakarta last week. My client (supposed to be well informed) was not aware of the election date when I briefly enquired about the election. In my two hours' ride to and fro the airport, there was hardly any messy signs that the country is currently in election mode.

The election process in Singapore (just shown on TV5 news) for Indonesia surprised me. Any Indonesian citizens who walk in with a valid passport will be entitled to exercise their constitution right. Bravo to that!!

I hope Malaysia will that step in the next election.

Ponzi scheme here in Singapore?

ion continues to take shape

On Madoff's billions dollars Ponzi Scheme, the Judge asked Madoff before he sentenced him to maximum 150 years in prison, "Where did you learn the scheme from?"

Madoff clamly responded, "The Social Security Scheme."

Couple of months ago, I said US government could actually be doing a Ponzi-scheme too with its government bonds and Treasury bills. Upon maturity of $1 billion worth 5-year bills, the government would borrow $1.05 billion to repay the principal and interest of the maturing bills.

In Singapore, CPF collects contributions from current generation of working adults and paying out to the retiring group. Take for example - Every month, CPF collects $10 from thousands of employers and pays out $2 to people reaching 55 years or to estates of people who have passed away.

Madoff had been comfortable with a $8 positive margin to finance his lifestyle and massive marketing machinery for so many years. He only started to feel the heat when more and more people withdraw their monies.

The only difference is that our money with CPF are being invested in productive assets and thus generating income to pay interest. What if we reach the stage that we are unable to generate decent returns, the possibility of huge investment losses and a definite scenario of increasing no. of baby boomers withdrawing their lifelong savings?

Could we degenerate into another Ponzi scheme? Never says never. But we certainly must not let that happen.