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Today's ST shows an article on latest leasing program from Prime. Typical structure is only pay 10% dp, and pay an amount monthly, which includes Insurance, road tax. U drive for 5 years, if u don't like the car, can return to Prime and lease another new car. If u like the car, then can buy it. ST shared this customer leasing the new Honda Vezel. She paid 10% dp of its price, and monthly payment of $1688, includes insurance and road tax, for 5 years. And I think Prime also covers the regular maintenance. Is this worth? I compared this Honda vezel leasing with buying the same car. Monthly payment of Honda vezel after 50% dp is about $1100+, excluding insurance and road tax. Looks like this leasing Program is workable.

Recently I had to subscribe to Toggle Prime for my wife because of the Channel 8 drama that is showing now at 9pm. The one with the Xiao San. Ok so Toggle Prime's subscription is relatively cheap at $9.90 a month. There are also movies that you can watch, only for Prime subscription. My question is... It seem to me they only have less than 30 movies on their list and most of their movies are outdated. Or maybe I'm not searching it right. Pretty Woman, Starship Troopers......... Anyone else subscribe to Toggle Prime? Is it even worth the $9.90 per month. I'm thinking to terminate next month.

Saw this posting on FB. since the company name was mentioned, i think it should not be untrue. ========================================================================================================= Dear Mr Prime Minister, My name is Delwyn Yee Zheng Ting, aged 21 and I wish to discuss a very dire issue regarding my father Dallas Yee Kok Keong aged 48. My father is a very hardworking man who was working for Jaguar Landrover as a manager and was forced to resign by his superior who is a Canadian. This particular superior was a bully. He draws a high salary and would always push all the work to my father who was already very busy but my father was way too good a person to make a fuss with him. His immediate superior drew a high salary but was not able to perform. He even asked my father how to do excel spread sheet and power point. How is this person a foreign “talent”? To me he is just another bad person making use of my dad! My father tried his best to inform the higher authority about this issue but it didn’t work. This was because the top management were all Westerners. Many of the managers from the company resigned, leaving only my father who still turned up for work faithfully everyday. 3 months ago, my father was called up by his Canadian boss and was told that my father had to either resign or be sacked by the company. The reason he gave was they thought my father would also resign like the rest of the managers. They told my father that the company had already employed someone else to replace him. This was even before my father’s resignation. My father had never thought of resigning. But his Westerner boss and superiors, thinking that he might be a threat to the company, forced him to resign. My father had no choice but to resign and was told to leave the company immediately. My father was a very good manager who was well liked by his staff. He had worked in the company for 6 years and his performance was always good. But he was forced to resign because his Canadian superior was not happy with him for no reason. His performance appraisal for the past 6 years in the company had been good. His customers were also happy with him. But he was forced to leave the company because these foreigners came to work in Singapore bullied my father. Thankfully, my father, having a good reputation in the industry, was immediately approached by Jaguar in the Philippines. He had to accept the position because he had no choice. He left with my younger brother and sister and my step mother. I am now studying in Poly and cannot go with him. Now I am living alone in Singapore with my family so far away. Is this fair? Is this fair to me or my dad? I really hope that you can come up with something to bring justice. Why are so many foreign talents allowed to work in Singapore even when they didn’t have the necessary skills? My father told me that his Canadian superior’s salary was so high that the company could use the money to employ 3 managers like my father. Shouldn’t Singaporeans be given the job? Or are the Singaporeans so incapable that we need to hire these foreign talents to come and bully my father. I know foreign talents are important. But my father is also a talent. He has 30 years of experience in the industry and has been hard working. Why should he lose his job for no good reasons and now have to leave Singapore to work in the Philippines? Please understand that I miss my father and my siblings. I am now all alone in Singapore. The foreign talents came in to Singapore and now Singapore talents have to leave and families break up. Is this what Singapore should become? Thank you for listening to me. http://therealsingapore.com/content/young-singaporean-pm-lee-please-stop-bringing-anymore-foreign-talents

What do you think?

Hi folks, Be sure to drive safely during rainy weather and avoid travelling beside heavy vehicles. Practive defensive driving. My experience last week...

Nexus prime apparently is to be launched next week in HK. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,23945...bid=NN3LwkPIbn4

Is this tablet good?? Just launched, does anyone have review of it??

Yes they can but buyers must be prepared to pay "market" rates... From ST Forum: http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Online...ory_702736.html Build ECs at prime locations I WAS heartened to hear of the raising of the income ceiling for build-to-order (BTO) flats as well as for executive condominiums or ECs ("HDB raises income ceiling to $10,000"; Monday). However, when I checked the locations of the new ECs, I was rather disappointed. New ECs are usually in outlying, suburban areas such as Sengkang, Yishun and Tampines, while prime sites in Serangoon, Clementi and Bishan are saved for private condominiums. Since the beginning of last year, 13 condominium sites have been sold, out of which five sites are in prime areas such as Hougang, Bishan and Kallang. For the same time frame, 11 sites for ECs have been sold and all the areas are in outlying areas. Given that the Urban Redevelopment Authority and the Singapore Land Authority conduct land sales for private residential areas and most of such land are in central locations, shouldn't more central HDB sites be saved for ECs as well? Koh Chin Chin (Madam)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJKGAZO4beI...feature=related

Since the PM & his cabinet colleagues have been emphasing that they will listen more to the ground just before & after the recent GE, I will like to seek my fellow MCFers' opinion on this. For me, I think it will be mandatory that the ED be completely independent from the executive, legislative or judiciary branches. Ideally the people there should be appointed from both public & private sectors maybe 1 year before the next GE. This is remove some concerns from people of the nagging feeling of the conflict of interest element which may influence how electoral boundaries are drawn before each GE so far. Even though I am not from Aljunied GRC, I certainly do not want it to be broken up in different wards come GE 2016. Your views?

That's what I call accountability....I salute u PM Kan although he still receive the lawmaker's salary[thumbsup] http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/...dex.html?hpt=T1

Saw the ad on CNA about it. What question would you like to post? http://www.facebook.com/QuestionTime

December 16 has been flagged as a potentially momentous day in Luca di Montezemolo's career. According to French F1 commentator Jean-Louis Moncet writing in his Auto Plus column, the Ferrari president has called journalists to Fiorano on that day. "What will he tell us?" wondered Moncet. It is speculated that the Ferrari president will discuss the famous Maranello based team and possible tweaks in the management. "Maybe he will talk about politics," added Moncet. Indeed, in recent days, 63-year-old Montezemolo has been mentioned in Italian reports about the likely demise later this month of the country's prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. "He could use his high profile in business as a springboard into politics the way Berlusconi did in the early 1990s," one report said. Fascinatingly, Montezemolo's December 16 meeting with journalists is due just two days after Berlusconi faces a confidence vote in Italian parliament "which may well bring down the government", reported the New York Times. Referring to Berlusconi, the Daily Telegraph quoted Montezemolo as saying last week: "The one-man show is over." Source: GMM

Anyone got lobang where can I find such services and their charges? Am thinking of giving my kids some surprise after their year end exam. Thanks in advance.

Was at the Hankook show at Suntec recently and quite impressed with the above-mentioned tyre. Would like to know more from users here, if any. Many thanks.

ok, i think sometimes back, someone ever mentioned he saw a fit/jazz taxi and in the end, convinced by others that could be a freed since it doesnt make sense to use fit/jazz as taxi....... i think he was right..... this morning,i saw a honda fit taxi from prime for the first time...... so, can i assume this taxi wont be queuing at airport and only good for the casino?....

Just watched the news .. Prime Taxis is launching 30 new Toyota Prius into its existing fleet .. First of a kind for a taxi operator here .. and the rental for the taxi per day is at $87 .. $1 more than normal taxi .. just wonder what is the flag down rate ? Gd to see green cars are making their existence felt here ..

http://www.tnp.sg/news/story/0,4136,212519,00.html? Boycott Prime Taxi

Chilli Sauce - http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews...231-111620.html >GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS 1. 2008 has been an eventful and challenging year. The world is entering the most serious economic crisis in sixty years. The global financial system has seized up, companies are finding it harder to obtain credit, and economies everywhere are slowing down. Europe and Japan have joined the US in a simultaneous recession. Asia too is seeing a sharp slowdown. 2. As a small, open economy, Singapore cannot avoid being hit. We earn our living by trading with and servicing the world. So the fall in worldwide demand has hit our exports, our tourism sector, and our broader economy. We have gone into a recession, though growth for the year as a whole is still positive at 1.5%. 3. The outlook is highly uncertain. At each stage of this crisis, events have turned out worse than the experts predicted. Governments everywhere have been implementing monetary and fiscal measures, rescuing troubled financial institutions and key corporations and pumping money into the economy. But no one is sure how the financial systems and economies will respond, or which policies will work. There is a loss of business and consumer confidence and, hence, one thing is certain: things cannot turn around overnight. Quite likely the global recession will be followed not by a quick rebound, but by several more years of slow growth. 4. We must therefore prepare for a difficult year ahead, and especially the first half of 2009. Our economy will probably contract further. More companies will be forced to downsize. So far we have not seen many job losses, but I expect more retrenchments in the next few months. We must be psychologically prepared. GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO SAVE JOBS 5. The Government has responded promptly to this economic storm. Our key focus is jobs ? keeping people in jobs, helping workers who lose jobs find new ones, and retraining them with new skills. To do this, we have to help businesses ride over this rough period. So long as people have work, they can take care of themselves and their families. 6. We have already implemented two significant initiatives. The first initiative is the Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (SPUR), which was jointly launched by the tripartite partners on 1 December. SPUR helps businesses pay for their staff training. The tripartite partners have reported good response. Already, more than 120 companies have come on board, which together will train more than 4,200 workers. 7. The second initiative is enhancing government financing programmes for companies. This is to ensure that basically sound firms, especially the smaller ones, can still obtain financing despite the tight credit climate, and so keep their operations going. We have also recently reduced interest rates and increased insurance premium subsidies under the schemes. These measures will benefit some 13,500 existing loans worth $550 million and an estimated $3 billion in new loans. 8. Apart from these two measures, we also lowered corporate taxes in 2008. New enterprises and smaller companies enjoy further tax exemptions, which mean that many pay little or no taxes. For households, the 2008 Budget package included Growth Dividends, U-SAVE, S&CC and Rental Rebates, and top-ups to Post-Secondary Education Accounts. These schemes are helping Singaporeans, particularly lower income families, to tide over the difficult period. 9. Our next major move will be the 2009 Budget, which we have brought forward to January. The emphasis is still to protect jobs. We will do more to help viable companies to stay afloat and continue to employ their workers. We will introduce measures to help them with their business costs, including rental and wage bills. We are also studying further financing support for companies. 10. Compared to the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, this crisis is more difficult for us to overcome because it is global. Still, it will not last forever. After a few years, conditions will go back to normal, though we cannot expect a quick return to the boom years before the crisis. Meanwhile, a world in recession is not a world without opportunities. In the midst of the storm, we must keep pursuing new growth chances, and look beyond the immediate problems to ensure that Singapore emerges stronger after the downturn. Hence, the Budget will also contain measures to develop our competitiveness and build up new and long term capabilities. Some businesses may not recover from the slump in global demand, but most should survive. We will help them to build up their operations, and also encourage new businesses to grow, so that there will always be good jobs for Singaporeans. 11. The Budget package will not restore our economy to high growth overnight. But our measures will moderate the impact on Singaporeans, and on our economy. We will continue to monitor closely how events unfold. If more measures become necessary, we have the resources, and the will, to do more to see Singapore through this recession. MEETING THE CRISIS AS ONE NATION 12. However, Government help alone will not solve the problem. Every one of us has a part to play. Companies should work with the unions to find ways to cut costs, and consider downsizing only as a last resort. During a downturn, businesses should try hard to keep their core team together, to hold on to their critical knowledge and skills. They should also take advantage of this slack period and the available schemes to build new and better capabilities. Such a far-sighted approach will pay off when the upturn comes. 13. On their part, workers should go for upgrading and pick up new skills. There are still many good jobs even now. Singapore has attracted exceptionally high investment commitments in the last two years. For 2009, EDB forecasts that investment commitments will be lower, but could still exceed $10 billion. When these projects are completed they will create many new jobs. 14. In addition, sectors like construction and marine which have not been popular with Singaporeans still offer many jobs. There are also vacancies in the service industry, such as in healthcare and education, the IRs and retail trade, and in the Home Team and security. There are jobs not only for the rank and file, but also supervisory and technical positions for professionals, managers and executives. If you are job hunting, I hope you will venture beyond your comfort zone to take up these available jobs, even if they are not your first choice. - The IR will have lotsa job oppties 15. In this difficult period, families must bind together, as Asian societies have always done in times of trouble. We must all fulfil our duties to our parents, our spouses and our children. In particular, we must safeguard our children's future. Parents must ensure that children continue to attend kindergarten or childcare centre, and keep up their school attendance and school work. 16. Singaporeans must also take care of one another beyond our immediate families. Community and welfare organisations, as well as grassroots organisations all over the island, have expanded their schemes to help needy citizens - food hampers, Fairprice vouchers, bursaries, and pocket money for needy students. The Government will also continue to play its part, by helping the poor through ComCare. These efforts must be supported by all Singaporeans. If you are able to contribute, do volunteer your help. TACKLING SECURITY CHALLENGES 17. Besides the economic downturn, 2008 has also brought political instability and security threats to some countries in our region, making it harder for these countries to focus on their economic problems. 18. Extremist terrorism is a continuing threat. The recent terrible attacks in Mumbai were a vivid reminder of this. Singapore was not the target, but tragically a Singaporean, Ms Lo Hwei Yen, became a victim. We all mourn her loss. We must also understand what this incident means for our security, and how we can protect ourselves better from the threat of terrorism. 19. We are doing our utmost to prevent something like this from happening here. Our security and intelligence agencies monitor potential threats closely, and cooperate quietly with their counterparts in neighbouring countries. We are tightening up border security, and taking physical precautions at major events. Ordinary citizens can help in this too, by being on the alert and reporting anything suspicious. 20. But there is no 100% guarantee that we will never be hit. Therefore, we must strengthen our psychological resilience and our social cohesion, so that should an attack ever occur despite all our efforts, we can absorb the shock, pull together and recover from the blow. 21. Most importantly, extremist terrorism must not be allowed to undermine our racial and religious harmony. Singaporeans understand that terrorism is a threat to all of us. All religious groups have unequivocally condemned the Mumbai attacks. We need to work continuously to further strengthen this unity, trust and resilience. This is the purpose of the Community Engagement Programme (CEP) - to prepare ourselves to respond to any crisis not as individuals or different communities, but as one nation. CONCLUSION 22. Despite the storm clouds, we have good reasons to be quietly confident. Around the world, people recognise that Singapore started with precious little but built a prosperous and cohesive multi-racial nation through our ingenuity and effort. On my recent journeys abroad, I found everywhere a high regard for Singapore. Whether in Latin America, China or the Middle East, people admired what we have achieved, and were eager to learn from our experiences. I was asked many questions about how we tackle our problems, and in particular how we are responding to the crisis. They were confident that we would pull through and wanted to pick up ideas from us. Perhaps that is why the World Bank is setting up a World Bank-Singapore Urban Hub in Singapore, to share some of our experience and expertise with other developing countries. 23. Singapore's key strengths are our honest and capable leadership, sound policies which look beyond the short term, social cohesion and talented and hardworking people. These strengths have brought us peace, prosperity and progress for decades, and they will see us through these difficult times. When the environment was favourable, we upgraded and grew our economy, lived within our means and patiently built up sizeable reserves. So when this sudden, severe storm struck, we were ready. - DUNCH PLAY PLAY 24. Together, we will overcome this downturn, as we have overcome many previous ones, and emerge stronger from the experience. Together, we can meet the future with confidence. 25. I wish all Singaporeans a Happy New Year.

Dear Chin Chai One 10Q you for your letter. On behalf of the Prime Minister, I am replying to your letter as follows. As the erected party of Singaporeans, we are here to serve. We are demon-cratic country, you are master, we gahmen servant, we serve you. You got problems we must help. You say no need our help? That means your not Singapore 's master. You say you run for cover? Cannot one, our police will find you. GST is to help the Gahmen to help yourself. The Gahmen Service Tax is everywhere, you go America also have one, cannot run one. Traffic very bad, so bad that we have to hold car racing at nite to avoid traffic jam. We believe there is no free lunch like PM's father say before, you use, you must pay, so Every Road Pay. So you see no ERP cannot one. Needless to say, passenger service also must pay. The increase in bus fare and MRT and taxi fare are very little already. We forsee world inflation coming: oil, steel, pay of foreign talents etc, so we have to pay for the service. You see, many foreign talents come to Singapore . If we don't pay our ministers well, they will go other countries to be their foreign talents. So must raise salary to keep them. If not, Nathan, Shanmugam, Bala etc will go India and work. Khaw will go Malaysia . etc etc. Must keep them. To keep them must pay well. You are right, any help also must pay. To help yourself? No, it's illegal. You mean you can build your own MRT? Run your own buses? Drive your Ba-Ong-Chia? Build your own roads? Seow liao!! Every one help himself then how? No social order lah! Ga ga ask for help, we are here to serve you. We understand some of you have temporary problem. Dont worry, it is only short term. We must look long term. We must invest long term. Now lose a bit dont cow beh cow boo, long term! Yes, remember. 30 or 50 years later we will own Swiss banks, US banks, UK properties, maybe even South Pole condominiums. We must tighten our seat belt and bite our false teeth. The future very bright. As long as you> continue to support the gahmen 30 to 50 years you will see bright future. So Chiang See Tong a bit lah. Also, investing is very complicated business, not easy. We must pay school fee to learn from advanced countries. On Selamat's case, we also must learn our lesson. We encourage life-long-learning. I learn whole life time, you learn whole life, Mr Wong Cant Sing also whole life learning. It's actually good. Mr Wong already apologise, dont force a dog to jump over the wall, the wall may collapse. Old dog cannot jump high also. Selamat's case gives us many lessons. We must be on alert, not too complacent. Now every Singaporean know there can be a terrorist among us any time. This is the best self defence education !! PM will give Mr Wong another salary increment for that. Also now we merge the prisons and detention centre, more space will be available now. We will build it like another IR, Integrated Retention - so those dont want our service and thinking of doing illegal service will go there. We will pass a new law too, the expenses for stay in that IR will be deducted from your CPF money. Remember we must be grateful to people who help us --> and pay. I hope I have explained the situation and give you the message clearly. If you still need help, please call my handphone: 99906767, it's toll-free. By the way, Mr Chin Chai One, our pioneer Toh Chin Chai already toh long ago. So if you choose to be Chin Chin Chai Chai, you will also Toh. 10Q you again, Reguards, Ah Beng Grassrude secretary

What it means to be trapped in bankruptcy I believe the government expect the number of bankruptcy to increase over the coming months Imagine even bankrupt government make you pay compulsory course to attend no way of escaping the long arm of the money suckers http://www.asiaone.com/Business/My%2BMoney...0629-73476.html

Dear Prime Minister, We citizens of singapore urge you to PLEASE MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS. We DO NOT NEED your help. Every time, you mention HELP, we have to run for cover!!! Help the poor? Raise GST! Help traffic flow? Up ERP! Help passenger service? Up Bus fare/MRT fare! Help us get taxi? Raise taxi fare! Help us get good government? Raise Minister and Civil servant salary! Everytime YOU WANT TO HELP, we all PAY FOR IT!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU...TOLONG LAH, please, we will HELP OURSELVES, no need your help liao. We DARE NOT ask for help any more!!! Sir, most honoured sir, I urge you NOT TO HELP Singapore INVEST also! Everytime your wife invest, we all lose money! Kao liao, kum siah! Just let us have a dose of bad governance, like recently the Mat Selamat case, like dat....so far, it is ok, your incompetence, we ACCEPT! PLEASE DO NOT help us have better security! Wait we all kena PAY FOR IT!! I believe ALL SINGAPOREANS PREFER NOT TO HAVE CRUTCH MENTALITY! I think it is ok lah, please just take your salary and enjoy life ok? Thank you thank you, I am very chin chai one, any how any how, no need to help oso can one.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7073131.stm The US sub-prime crisis in graphics The US sub-prime mortgage crisis has lead to plunging property prices, a slowdown in the US economy, and billions in losses by banks. It stems from a fundamental change in the way mortgages are funded. THE NEW MODEL OF MORTGAGE LENDING How it went wrong Traditionally, banks have financed their mortgage lending through the deposits they receive from their customers. This has limited the amount of mortgage lending they could do. In recent years, banks have moved to a new model where they sell on the mortgages to the bond markets. This has made it much easier to fund additional borrowing, But it has also led to abuses as banks no longer have the incentive to check carefully the mortgages they issue. THE RISE OF THE MORTGAGE BOND MARKET In the past five years, the private sector has dramatically expanded its role in the mortgage bond market, which had previously been dominated by government-sponsored agencies like Freddie Mac. They specialised in new types of mortgages, such as sub-prime lending to borrowers with poor credit histories and weak documentation of income, who were shunned by the "prime" lenders like Freddie Mac. They also included "jumbo" mortgages for properties over Freddie Mac's $417,000 (

Salute this lady http://catherinelim.sg/2007/11/04/an-open-...inister/#more-1

Ever wondered if this will affect our tiny country of 500,000 cars population? Ever since the credits allowed easy borrowing, 100% loans, etc etc..... A lot of ppl who just scrape their monthly salary are buying cars and breathing jus above the waters. I noe of at least 9 of my colleagues/frens/relatives who did that. Say salary S$1500.00, spends S$800 on instalments and 200 on fuel. Left 500, so scrimp and save on every thing possible. So if sudden recession, wun we see the crippling effect? What say u?