Existing Alternatives Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 Ok, this bothered me for quite some time now. Singapore is considered by many a shining star of the economic freedom and some kind of a libertarian paradise. I did a bit of research on the country including a short fact-finding visit, and I am not impressed. Now all these news coming out about people being arrested for “disturbing harmony”: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-32115052 But let’s ignore for a moment the fact that the country has been a family-run dictatorship for the last 50 years and focus on the economic freedoms. How easy it is for a poor immigrant to start a simple business? (Is there such a thing as a poor immigrant in Singapore? I don’t know.) Let’s say you want to open a small stand selling some chewing gum. Nope – fine and prison sentence. Become a cab driver? Well, in addition to the cost of the car you’d need to shell out for 20% of duty, 140%-180% of Additional Registration Fee (on the amount of over $20K in Open Market Value, which is determined by government, btw), $5K-20K in Emission surcharge, and don’t forget the Certificate of Entitlement, which can run as high as $100K. So, if you want to drive a $50K vehicle to serve customers, prepare to pay another $160K in taxes, and then some for licensing. What if you want to follow Ben Franklin’s footsteps and start a newspaper – don’t make me laugh, you’ll never pass the censure committee. If you get too depressed with all this, just don’t reach for the drugs – penalty for mere possession is… DEATH. Of course, if you are a billionaire social network founder or a multi-millionaire commodities investor – life is your oyster, but then, isn’t it everywhere? I think it's time for a Truth about Singapore episode... 1
Tservitive Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 I could see Truth about Singapore as a very valuable episode, especially for people who have considered expatriation and are recommended Singapore and Hong Kong. I'd expect that this topic could be tied into the overall theme that there is not existing Ancapistan and that the only free place is Youtopia.
J-William Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 Singapore has become spectacularly wealthy by some means, do you have knows what those means were? I'm not surprised that a small place with totalitarian rulers would have heavy regulation on taxis, media, drugs, or sale of gum... Those also happen to be the things about Singapore that I have heard of.
Existing Alternatives Posted March 31, 2015 Author Posted March 31, 2015 I could see Truth about Singapore as a very valuable episode, especially for people who have considered expatriation and are recommended Singapore and Hong Kong. I'd expect that this topic could be tied into the overall theme that there is not existing Ancapistan and that the only free place is Youtopia. I am still hoping for Ancapistan, or at least a "99% Solution." At the end of the day, I would rather play Youtopia in the US or Europe then in North Korea... Singapore has become spectacularly wealthy by some means, do you have knows what those means were? I'm not surprised that a small place with totalitarian rulers would have heavy regulation on taxis, media, drugs, or sale of gum... Those also happen to be the things about Singapore that I have heard of. Singapore does have a couple of natural advantages that they do seem to exploit to the fullest. It is situated on the busiest shipping route. It does have the highest concentration of Chinese population outside of China. It mixes well Chinese and English languages working well as the East-West link. They also focused heavily on the financial services, especially in contrast to their Islamic neighbours, becoming sort of a Switzerland of the East. And of course, there is plenty more heavy regulation there... Internet barely escaped being outlawed, but many sights are blocked, real estate and housing are dominated by the government, alcohol sales are restricted, online gambling is illegal, regular gambling is heavily regulated and is relatively new, pornography and nudity in general are illegal, not flushing toilet is also illegal (yes, police have the right to check), so is oral sex and homosexuality...
Subharmonic Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 Truth about Singapore would be very interesting. The whole situation reaks of fiat money printing, subsidizing businesses, and 'sweeping costs under the rug, praising the benefits' style of government. This is completely anecdotal, but, I visited Singapore on a business trip 2 years ago and we had a tour guide talking up the accomplishments of the Singapore government, with no hesitation, or doubt to some of their policies, as if they have been normalized to him. He explained how if you stole once, you would get your hand cut off, if you stole twice, you would get your other hand cut off, leaving the thief unable to even beg for money with their own hands (Aggressive panhandling is illegal anyways). I was honestly appalled and confused by the assumed success of the Singapore government. It just didn't make any sense, they had to be hiding something, so I grew curious. That night, we had local musicians staying in our bungalow that spoke very good English. I informed them of our tour guide and what he said, and asked them about the accuracy of his claims. They all got very quiet and had the look of fear on their faces, but one guy laughed and said "The success is exactly what our government would love for you to believe, but there are many problems our government hides, it's not such a happy place". Needless to say, this made me VERY curious about the reality of Singapore, and I second a Truth About Singapore episode.
st434u Posted March 31, 2015 Posted March 31, 2015 Grunching: Nobody said Singapore was a perfect, pure private property society. It's still one of the free-est places on Earth, by comparison. Yes, the things you named are bad, but there are many more and worse things than that in almost every other land area of the World.
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