Government spending

Had a discussion with my cousin about stuffs and it end up to government spending.

Well, if you think about it, paid healthcare might be a lousy idea at first, but it is a long term solution. Look at countries with free healthcare, they tend to end up in debt. Also, with less need to spend on healthcare, the govt can spend more money on other things like education, military and so on. (*cough* not to mention free MCs = lowered productivity *cough*)

Its also not like we are paying 100% of our medical fees, as SGreans, we are given a hefty subsidy. Why would you complain about a flat fee for consultations from GPs all the way to specialist, when foreigners have to pay more the as they go up the "ranks" of the doctors?

Then some people might talk about the poor. They too aren't left out from healthcare yo! Medishield, medifund and etc. If you look at it, the poor are actually well off in SG due to them getting close to or even free healthcare in SG!

Me and my cousin realised that the ones that are complaining a lot are the people those fall under the lower-mid income range. Because they just missed the criteria to get subsidies so they end up being treated like any normal citizens. If you were to look at it, due to subsidies, the poor tend to be much more well off as compared to those in the lower-mid range.

We see that there is two ways this could go, the govt leave the low income to feel like they got "screwed by the govt" or the govt have to fork out money to make them happy. I, for one, agree with the "screwing of the low income."

Okay look, before you bash me for being either a rich bastard or coz I'm a kid so I have yet to taste how the govt is screwing with us, all that is actually personal opinion. You actually really do have enough to make ends meet. Sure prices are rising, the problem is that you can't indulge in extravagant stuffs, which is probably the reason why people complain so much. That or probably the low income prevents them from having savings.

Okay so if we look at the govt forking out money to help the low income, it will start a vicious cycle. Okay let's see here.

If govt. totally supports the low income > mid-low income will complain that they just barely passed the cut off point > (assuming) govt changes the cut off point to include mid-low income > mid income will complain that they barely passed the cut off point > govt changes cut off to include mid income > and the cycle continues until everyone gets covered under the govt.

Then SG goes into debt and when the govt can't support the citizens anymore, it will revert back to this current system. So nothing is achieved but a big debt.

So assuming the govt does consider doing that, they would have to reduce spending on things like education/military to pump more into healthcare. Bad move, especially in SG.

SG's only resources is us, the people. If we can't become educated or trained enough to contribute, we will have to end up depending on Foreign Talents (oh I know you guys hate that word). Meaning a more saturated SG simply because the SGreans aren't smart/trained enough to help in SG's growth.

Draining military spending is another bad move. Remember that SG is a very small country. We NEED to spend much on military or else we can't defend ourselves well enough. People might question the use of NS to prepare against an enemy that doesn't (yet) exist. But let's take a look at Japan, as the aggressor (WWII) and defended (current).

Back then, we depended on the British to protect us. But, the Japanese invaded us ON. FREAKING. BIKES. Why? Because the "big guns all pointing wrong". Not mention, if you were to look under morale, what's the point in defending a country that is "geographically" not yours?

Looking at Japan currently, while it does have a Defense Force, it is generally under the protection of the US. What happens when US withdraws their protection, because North Korea is trying to be an ass by throwing nukes at Amurika? The US troops in Japan will be used to defend the US, either retreating back to US or launching a pre-emp. strike on North Korea. This will leave Japan defenseless. You want this to happen to SG? Because we can't defend ourselves properly, we have to depend on other countries' goodwill to either protect or not attack us. Nope, if history teaches us anything, never, EVER, depend on others.

So you can see that SG actually has a well-thought out system. But at the slight cost of the citizens somewhat. "Sacrifice for the greater good" so to speak. Individually, you might feel that the govt sucks and what not, but hey! There are also others in the same predicament as you. If the govt, singles you out, sure! Go ahead and complain! But when a whole lot of people are also faced with the same thing AND some of them can still be happy with what they have, why the hell are you complaining?

Be thankful that it is a "blunt,dispersed" sacrifice instead of a "sharp,focused" one. There is nothing "unfair" when there are many others in the same situation, if anything, its about as fair as it gets.

TL;DR : Yeap. Singapore actually has a very fair, balanced system that seems bad, probably because the citizens don't look around to see the impact of systems in other countries and also due to our own nearsightedness. So let's up and look at the whole picture instead of sticking with your shoes on the ground!