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"All households with at least one Singaporean member will receive a one-off $100 sum to cover their utility bills, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat announced.
[...]
It is a way of thanking Singaporeans for doing their part in the fight against Covid-19 by staying home."
[...]
It is a way of thanking Singaporeans for doing their part in the fight against Covid-19 by staying home."
More seriously, the Fortitude budget perfectly embodies the quality & direction of government support.
For a plan that stresses "innovation", it simply recycles the regime's old (and hopeless) social prejudices & economic doctrines.
For a plan that stresses "innovation", it simply recycles the regime's old (and hopeless) social prejudices & economic doctrines.
There remains no direct fiscal aid for workers, the poor, & the precarious. Salary hikes for essential front-liners are still missing.
Concrete labour protections & social safety nets? Permanent cash transfers? Freeze on utilities, housing, rental payments? All absent too.
Concrete labour protections & social safety nets? Permanent cash transfers? Freeze on utilities, housing, rental payments? All absent too.
But when aid is provided, it's been mostly funneled through corporations & landlords.
Thus, large segments of S'poreans must now depend on the benevolence of creatures designed for capitalist exploitation, accumulation, & profit-seeking.
Thus, large segments of S'poreans must now depend on the benevolence of creatures designed for capitalist exploitation, accumulation, & profit-seeking.
Unsurprisingly, on its livestream, people had accused the budget as yet another corporate bailout, and an exercise in GDP worship & anti-welfarism.
These laments of everyday folks have been echoed by local economists too (see below). https://twitter.com/acadsingapore/status/1255004159436177413
These laments of everyday folks have been echoed by local economists too (see below). https://twitter.com/acadsingapore/status/1255004159436177413
The anger & anxiety was also joined by confusion, as Heng addressed the country with a speech mired in corporate jargon & civil service pablum.
Yet, when clarity was present, it was fleeting (eg. the alarming mention of the 450,000 TRF applicants, despite Shanmugam's threats).
Yet, when clarity was present, it was fleeting (eg. the alarming mention of the 450,000 TRF applicants, despite Shanmugam's threats).
"Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next," wrote Arundhati Roy.
And in S'pore's case, it seems that our leaders are bent on staying behind.
And in S'pore's case, it seems that our leaders are bent on staying behind.
The members of the govt's new Emerging Stronger Taskforce (ETF), tasked to "refresh, reimagine, or reset" S'pore's industries.
Because surely, reinvention will come from the same homogenous, dishwater, jurassic elites who upheld the fragile economies that are collapsing today.
Because surely, reinvention will come from the same homogenous, dishwater, jurassic elites who upheld the fragile economies that are collapsing today.
