Inevitable means not the govt's fault - nothing they could have done about it. MM Lee was answering question from a 4th year SMU student on the income gap in Singapore. He explained that it was the result of globalisation. While that is true, it is only half the story. The income gap has widened in many countries due to globalisation but no 1st world nation has the level of income inequality we see in Singapore.
Our ministers in Spore & NBD are the highest paid in the world and our cleaners and drivers are the lowest paid among those in 1st world nations. Govt policy on foreign workers is extreme allowing more foreigner workers here per capita than anywhere else in the world except for a handful of middle-eastern oil rich nations. The govt imported cheap labor to retain industries dependent on low wages. The help given to the poor shaved the GINI from 0.481 to 0.462 - by 0.019. Yes, the PAP govt likes to claim it is doing something but 0.019 tells us they are not doing much. In fact, Singapore has little in the way of social safety nets and comes in among the last if not the last when compared other 1st world nations. Superimpose the income gap over the high cost of living and you get a large segment of the population living in misery. Our high housing cost, 2nd highest cost of electricity in the world and transport costs makes Singapore the 10th most expensive city in the world.
MM Lee now tells us that the income gap is inevitable. The resentment among the population caused by the income gap and rising cost of living is also inevitable. When people are resentful and the govt does nothing about a problem except to blame it on everything else but themselves, it is also inevitable what the voters do at the ballot box. They understand that once they support the wrong govt and the policies they put in place, all their
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