Credit facilities - a time-bomb ?

I was walking happily along Carrefour in Suntec City , when a nice-looking lady approaches me ;-

" Sir, we are giving free card for 3 years from XXX bank ? Come over there and I will process your details and card now " she smiled invitingly

I was irritated rather than taken in by such sales pitch . I use credit cards , but are cutting them to 1-2 cards now . And hardly purchase on credit now - I'd rather pay cold-hard cash . Why ?

These card providers are like angels when economic times are good - personal or global . But they shed their robes for a fire-fork & tail and put on long, black horns when times are bad . You get the idea ?

Hard-selling amongst credit card providers are legendary . I can just come home, open my mail box, and voila ! I have an envelope + card with preapproved credit given . Just sign and return the reply mail and boommzz , tomorrow I have credit ready .

Are these practises ethical ? Aren't these considered socially irresponsible ? If you're so kind when giving a card , why push people to doom when they have financial problems to pay the card balance ?

Thats just an issue . I have seen many cases of people getting summonses from card providers after many years of not getting account information . True , these account holders may be delinquent in payment - for one reason or another . So pursue them immediately, find ways to get the money . THen if by 3 years no actions taken, card providers - Just Forget it ! Consider it bad debt and write 'em off . Move On !

But no! It seems they incubate the account. Many debt-collectors will come a knocking presenting complex calculation . Debt of say $ 8000 , after 5 years becomes $30,000 ! What a ripoff ! How is this different from AH Longs ? Ah Longs will do funny things -splash,threaten , etc - but authorities will come in and voila ! Case closed .

Card companies - authorities are supporting them .
You don't pay - summons will come . Do they tell this when they push card to new users ? Nope !
Garnish your pay if you don't pay will be one action .
Writ of seizure and sales - where the sheriff of the courts will come to your place, seize your items and sell it off - will also be executed .
Still cannot pay - send you Bankruptcy orders - you cannot move practically and your life will be robotized by Official Assignee .

Meanwhile, your problems are not solved . It may go through years , and I've known of some cases where they are in debt till they die - of natural or unnatural causes . Is the debt solution settled ? No .

WHy not ? Because , the steps taken are NOT THE SOLUTION to addressing the DEBT problem. I am surprised that this was not reviewed and many years have passed and practise still continues .

WHen will we see an end to such blind ignorance ? WE're high tech and considered 1st world country - but we still follow 3rd world solution to problems !

Where do we stand ?

"Illegal" Moneyspinners - boon or bane ?

There was recently many cases and reports of rampant aggressive money-lending activities here and Malaysia .

In fact just few days ago in the New Paper , there were snapshots of Ah Longs putting "promo pamphlets" in the loos in Genting Highland... call them Ah Loos from now on . These people knew where to find customers - get to the basic needs of the lot . Its a numbers game ...

Actually since some years back, such activities were already observed . I was in Genting for holidays , and these stickers were already present in abundance.

In Singapore, its also rampant - at bus stops, walkways, HDB blocks, etc etc etc . Low interest, high capital .... can use CPF ... or ... use your name to get handphone and line & sell it then ..up to $2000 in cash ... blah blah blah.. not to mention ads for shady acts to such lengths . There was even a movie dedicated to it in Singapore - imagine that !

Are there any checks on such activities ? If yes , who does it ? And if so , what actions are taken?
Why is it so rampant ? Are there many demands for such trade ? Is it legal or illegal ? Why are the ads still intact on bustops after so many months ?

I think someone or organisation must REALLY address this issue . Its a virus, and if not controlled and eliminated , will spiral our of control ... just like Ah Long activities which had to be highlighted and clamped in recent years as they are becoming out of control.

What do you plan to do ? Ignore or act ?

How about the borrowers ? Does anyone try to study their reasons for such foolish acts ? Surely they only resort to such avenues due to desperation - if not why bother right ? How to tackle such group ? What avenues are open to them ? Why has this problem still exist ?

Society as a whole must be responsible to curb this acts . Its when society does not bind together and are individualistic that such things happens . We live in compact , kueh lapis like flats, sharing walls , ceilings, floor , with others - but it seems we're actually more distant to our neighbours than if we were to live in kampungs .

FINE - the Singapore way... is it the right way to go?

There were many classses of fines in SIngapore .

Nope , I am not talking about fine, finer , finest type of FINES

I am talking about FINES, as in DOLLARS, CENTS PAID in FINES . . .

Many heartlanders are used to it .. fine for not paying taxes, duties that's ok .

Look at it from a person with genuine cashflow problem .. not those rich towkays and nyonyas who purposely engage in game of brinkmanship ...

What if the person has no cash to pay it for say, their Conservancy charges ? This recession has made many PMETs pocket dry as the Sahara desert for months, if not more than a year !

Find work ? Sure, but PMETs have been scratching at doors of many employers without any results ...

So, if they cannot pay the fine , should we not empower them ? Enable them to pay it in other forms , egs do some work for the Ministry concerned who imposed the fine itself ? Rate their services on number of hours of their last drawn pay , for instance ? Thats means they pay by providing public service .. or simply said, community service , ya!

This is not the mode here, however . It was a known fact that such resorts were unlikely . Most likely , these people would be taken as made an offence, and dragged to court . They would then be fined by the judge, in default , few days of prison . Strange, the other party has no money in the first place , to pay his basic needs, and SLAAAP come another bill/ fine .. pay or stay the nights in the dungeon .

So, as an analogy , if someone is drowning in a pool, we make the pool deeper ? Hmmm...

Once they go to prison, the employment prospects looks even dimmer and dimmer ... not to mention the problems that comes with it ...

We should look at this issue seriously. Easily said, just go to any sessions in Sub Courts, there are many such cases here. Or easier still, open our ears and listen to the sighs of many such cases here.

I am concerned as a citizen, that we're putting money above human self-worth . THis should not be the case . . .

ETHICS - Eugenics - Should we do it ?

What is Eugenics ?

EUGENICS: the science that deals with the improvement of races and breeds, especially the human race, through the control of hereditary factors. From Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary

Probably we have all heard of the idea that large-sized parents gives large sized babies .... mentally-ill parents will give mentally-ill child . . .. so on and so on .

Men has always been keen observers . They observe nature and learn from it . It was a known fact in animal kingdom that selective breeding ensures successful survival of species .

Take the LION for instance. The LION has a harem of LIONESS, who produces his offspring season after season. There will be season that comes, where a young, LION will try to wrest the harem from the current KING - the present LION. A battle ensues. THe victor almost always would be the experiened older KING . But come a day, a young galant LION comes along and defeats the old KING. THe old KING is driven out, his HAREM wrestled into the paws of the young , new KING . THe new KING will almost always not tolerate the offspring of the old KING. They will be mauled and killed . The LIONESS will and not likely to interfere . The offspring of the older KING , if older , will strike out on their own to seek their own group .
The young LION will mate with the current harem of LIONESS , which strangely but biologically explainable , instantly becomes fertile . THe cycle goes on and on , and on. Such nature driven selective breeding leds to the demise of the old KINS , but ensure his descendents will most likely be superior LIONS , KING-like in character .

SHould humans copy the same ? Even before WWII , there were already scientific communities experimenting with Eugenics .

Now we have genome projects, genetic manipulation of and selection of sex of babies , genetic modified animals, foods for instance .

HUmans will forever be evaluating ways to better their lives - for what ? THe benefit and continued existance of humans till end of time . Many of the other species in the world has perished , but humans were able to continue its existence . A combination of genetic and social engineering mix was continually update as time goes by

Is it right ? Is it ethical ? Is it due to sMAn's urvival instinct ? Or was there some ulterior motive ? Is there such a thing as perfect MAN ? Where is the limit ? Who dictates it ?

Alvis Chin

Alvis Chin

Yo !

ETHICS - Too much, too strong PDA ( Public Display of Affection) amongst our student/teens nowadays....

What is PDA ? Nah , not those gizmos technies used .
PDA - Public DIsplay of affection . Means public display affection between people of opposite sex, be it simple handholding to smooching to activities that can "pop" the mercury out of a thermometer bulb ! PDA is common in the west , much less in Asia , right ?

Just when we thought many of our teenage students are passive in class , lo & behold !

Passers-by were staring at them, yet these teens just carry on - never tekan brek as they say -keep embracing each other in a passionate lip-lock at the void deck of Block 212 Serangoon Avenue 4 at about 1.40pm on Sept 10.

Broad daylight, some more !

Passers-by watching , some more !

Hmm , what is our teens thinking nowadays ?

I have seen many more "dramas" elsewhere (by chance , that is! ) - at MRTs, buses . . . Orchard Road, beaches for instance , has become like a Hollywood PDA destination of choice for our teens.

Teens of all races , are now bolder & brazen enough to do it anywhere, anytime . Where goes the value of Asians' renowned heritage as a morally-behaving society ? Has western influence eroded our youths ? When their generation takes over from us .... I dread to think what will happen next !

Maybe our teens became "instant Americanised" through watching too much TV, medias, etc . Our teens modelled and copied American teens on TV to look & be COOOL . Boy . . . . are they in deep trouble .

WHat the teens here do not know is the REAL USA. Many parents in USA are still as reserved as us Asians. Many parents there share the same ideals as Asian parents. I know many of my friends in USA who makes sure their teenage sons & daughters behaved morally.

But then one person cannot change the world - I guess many teens follow the theme " If you can't beat them , join them !"

Sigh ! WHat can and should we do to rectify this , huh ?

ETHICS - Is private "steamy" events ethical ?

Headlines for 4 Oct 2009
Saturday, October 3, 2009 at 7:57pm
Singapore's first topless car washTHEY WORE NIPPLE TAPE AT FIRST, THEN...Organiser admits it was risky, but insists it was a 'private' event...

One Singaporean really did it - Mr Gerard Ee from Motoring Exchange . . .it really took place 1st Oct guys ... here.. yes here in Singapore .. . ..
Topless Car Wash Teaser Video 2
Topless Car Wash Teaser Video 5
http://www.teasewash.com/

He can make big bucks here ... with the big pool of perverted , dirty old man here maybe.
But if a 16-year old says he's 21, and paid the money, how ? Is this ok ?
Or a 65-year old man .. watched the session ... got cardiac arrest ... died ... will authorities prosecute ?