Popped by the market during lunch to pick up some seafood. (Fresh prawns and vongale clams... Mmmm)
Anyway, I picked up some mushrooms as well and while I was being served, the cashier (with a headdress) said "something something something... lima ringgit".
And I went "Oh. Are you a malaysian ?"
Her: No. I singaporean. You ?
Me: Yah. Singaporean also.
Her: Ohh. I bedok lah. You ?
Me: Bedok. I near by. East Coast.
Her: How long you been here ?
Me: Almost three years ?
Her: How ? you like it here ?
Me: Yah. It's more comfortable here.
Her: Yah. Work also less stress ah.. Better life.
Me: Ok. Enjoy the rest of your day.
Then it hit me.
Wow. This lady was happy working in the market. Is that what Singapore needs ? More people who're happy working everyday jobs ? Or should everyone continue to strive towards becoming a lawyer/doctor/fighter pilot ?
(Incidentally, option A and C were my dreams as a kid. Option B involved biology, which means I'd have to cut up dead animals and stuff. Yuck.)
I've been thinking a bit about Singapore's economy recently. Everyone seems to be complaining about the cost of living going up. Now I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. Inflation drives prices up, and as a country prospers, the prices of things going up are normally matched by the increase in wages as well.
So what do the stats say ? "After adjusting for the increase in CPI, real total wages rose by 3.8% and real basic wages by 2.6% in 2005."
I won't get much further into this because it's a whole big can of worms. But, food for thought. Are Singaporeans really getting richer ? Are they expecting more ? Or is there just a greater difference between the rich (who earn more and drive up the wages) and the poor (who earned less than the CPI increase and make up a large proportion) ? Incidentally, last years' CPI rose by 0.5% which isn't much at all. Would be interesting to see what this year's is, hearing about all the prices going up.
