Early June Rantings

June 3, 2010: 41% of civil servants are corrupted

The news: Cuepacs is alleging that 418,200 or 41% of the 1.2 million civil servants were suspected to be involved in corruption last year. 

My 2cents: If you round them all up into cells, all the jails in Malaysia won't be able to fit them so we should go to our famous Padang Tembak and shoot them all as punishment. In China, capital punishment which is execution are applicable to economic crimes such as tax fraud & corruption. Now do you see why government funding in China really translates into growth.

Solution: Time for a total overhaul of our bloated civil service. Malaysia has the highest civil servants-to-population ratio in the Asia Pacific region. 4.68% of ours vs the closest; Indonesia at only 1.79%. Stop dumping unemployed graduates as civil servants as shown by the increase of size by 23.5% in the last six years. 

June 4, 2010: M'sia won't go bankrupt

The news: Malaysia will not go bankrupt in 2019 even if a subsidy totalling RM74bil a year is continued, said Deputy Finance Minister, Senator Datuk Dr Awang Adek Hussein.

My 2cents: Malaysia's current deficit of ~RM400bil is 56% of GDP while Greece's debt-to-GDP ratio was 113%. We are already halfway there and at the rate of deficit of RM50bil each year & assuming GDP growth of 5% we will say Hi to the Greeks in 2019. This debt-to-GDP ratio can be interpreted as "the number of years to pay off debt, if all of GDP is devoted to debt repayment". When you use all your economic output to service debt what else is there left for continued development? No money = bankrupt. How did you become a deputy in finance ministry I wonder.

Solution: Remove all subsidies over 3 years and let the Rakyat know how high the standards of living is in a globalized world. Stop being overprotective in order to increase productivity & overcome complacency.

June 4, 2010: Woman loses RM1.2mil through Internet

The news: A virtual friendship cost a 47-year-old housewife a very real RM1.2mil. The con man she had befriended on the Internet did not just wipe out her savings but also that of her mother, sister, niece and her husband’s funds for investments.

My 2cents: This is the largest single amount I have heard someone losing their money to a scam. Apart from scam such that, I'm sure many have heard of ponzi schemes like Red Island Cafe. They don't invest in quality of food and gave assurance that people will keep coming because they are members. Hur? You are eating food using vouchers at your own investment. How to earn money? Get more investors lor to cover up but in the end this is not sustainable & simply just crashed AND it was fast (within 6 months). Another more recent is the Gold Label "Bullshit", currently being investigated by BNM. Get 3-5% monthly interest while holding gold bar with rm13k min investment and buy back when mature. If an investment opportunity is by collecting deposits & investors are promised returns within a certain period of time they MUST be licensed. You can check the list from BNM. If NOT LISTED do not invest. 

Solution: Call this stupidity? No, it is pure greed. Greed is also part of the seven deadly sins and is referred to as an excessive desire of wealth in this case (there's power & status too). It is human nature to be greedy because our instinct tells us to be greedy in order to survive. Control yourself emotionally, do some research before investing your money to someone else & seek opinion of others especially those 5% people (rich people are minority). Biggest mistake is that people go ask those who are 95% (not-so-rich people the majority) for advice, chances are these people know nuts! And when you follow you become the 96% lor.