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I really don't think Singapore is exceptionally wealthy, I think people are often just comparing apples to oranges by comparing Singapore, which is essentially a city, to other countries. Many cities are rich--if you list cities by Per-capita GDP, singapore wouldn't even crack the top 20. Macau, Seattle(Washington), Portland(Oregon), Calgary(Canada), etc. all have higher per-capita GDP. By total size of economy places like New York, Tokyo, London, Paris also have GDPs 4 times higher than Singapore's.
That's a good point actually. Likewise, people often say that Singapore's inequality is really bad, which isn't fair either as cities are always more unequal. I bet the inequality in New York, Paris, or London is wayyyyyyyyyyyy worse.
That's a good point actually. Likewise, people often say that Singapore's inequality is really bad, which isn't fair either as cities are always more unequal. I bet the inequality in New York, Paris, or London is wayyyyyyyyyyyy worse.
On a whole. USA is more equal than Singapore. But NYC is more unequal compared to Singapore.
I really don't think Singapore is exceptionally wealthy, I think people are often just comparing apples to oranges by comparing Singapore, which is essentially a city, to other countries. Many cities are rich--if you list cities by Per-capita GDP, singapore wouldn't even crack the top 20. Macau, Seattle(Washington), Portland(Oregon), Calgary(Canada), etc. all have higher per-capita GDP. By total size of economy places like New York, Tokyo, London, Paris also have GDPs 4 times higher than Singapore's.
Singapore is well off, has great infrastructure, and a strong economy (and great food :-)), and the economy has grown quickly. it also stands out as one of the wealthiest cities in the region.
Note: Of course GDP is a tricky measure of a city's wealth. One large company or a couple billionaires move into a small city and that can have a large effect on GDP without necessarily effecting the average quality of life all that much, but I suppose it is the best metric we have for doing this comparison.
Dun measure the amount of GDP from each city....measure the amount of ultra high net worth millionaires in each city.
Singapore rank third in place after London and Tokyo.
On the contrary, many foreign workers in Singapore, especially the white collar Indian, Filipino, China foreign workers are living in upscale private condominiums, while the older local professionals being squeezed out by these new comers are working as low end jobs like security guards, taxi drivers, waiters, or tissue paper peddlers. This happen after the floodgates were open to foreigners in past few years.
I really don't think Singapore is exceptionally wealthy, I think people are often just comparing apples to oranges by comparing Singapore, which is essentially a city, to other countries. Many cities are rich--if you list cities by Per-capita GDP, singapore wouldn't even crack the top 20. Macau, Seattle(Washington), Portland(Oregon), Calgary(Canada), etc. all have higher per-capita GDP. By total size of economy places like New York, Tokyo, London, Paris also have GDPs 4 times higher than Singapore's.
Agree. A large country with very successful cities will not have good statistics when they average it out with the hinterland. Singapore do not have a hinterland. The authorities know about this and they will take pains to avoid city to city comparisons. Instead, they like to use country to small city state comparison, knowing that this will put them in good light.
Singapore is definitely on par with the UK, US, Japan and Australia on quality of life. But it does not have the great level of social welfare provided in European countries, Canada and Australia. Tax rate is much lower in Singapore, the expectation of having a lot of social welfare is therefore less expected.
You may have a point there. In our recent visit to that region (Dec 2014), my husband pointed out something to me that gave me pause. He said he didn't see any smile from Singaporeans we encountered. Every where we went, everyone looked so unhappy and tense, even the taxi drivers looked grumpy.
By contract, Indonesians, whose country is less wealthy and usually suffers ridicules from its more wealthy neighbors, looked much happier as a whole. They smiled a lot and went about their daily life in a happy go lucky sort of attitude.
Thanks for seeing what I mentioned ..it is in a way sad though the country is well off but the people are not happy as a whole..
Honestly I lived in Singapore all my life and I think life was the best in the 1900s to mid 2000s. After that life have become not so happy in a sense
You have to understand that the whole basis of the modern corporate globalist Euro Anglo American combine is based on immigration. Singapore is a perfect example of how they did this in South Asia. They carved out a location on the tip of the Malay peninsula for a sea trading port for the Dutch and British East Asian companies. Then they imported workers from China and other parts of Asia. Then they created a fake 'identity' for these people based on this corporate nation worker state, which always plays off the idea of people 'getting ahead' by working hard for the company. On top of it all they impose a dictator to keep the people in check. Immigration is a tool of the corporate colonist as it allows them to play one group off on another through fake made up 'ethnic' differences and previously fake made up racial categories. Then they put one or a few other group on a pedestal and use them to impose the rules on the rest. Indonesia was a text book example of this and Hawaii another. The plantations are where they perfected the practice from using Africans in America to Chinese in South Asia or Filipinos and other mainland Asians in the pacific. Then as agricultural trade gave way to industrial trade they practiced it in corporations and industry. And because the people have no alternative to the globalist corporate system of banks and industry still primarily run by the West, they have no choice but to 'play the game' in order to get ahead...... whether it be working as a sex worker for European tourists, a migrant construction worker, maid, nanny and laborer in Asia and Arabia, or a 'white collar' migrant worker, it is all the same thing.
I really don't think Singapore is exceptionally wealthy, I think people are often just comparing apples to oranges by comparing Singapore, which is essentially a city, to other countries. Many cities are rich--if you list cities by Per-capita GDP, singapore wouldn't even crack the top 20. Macau, Seattle(Washington), Portland(Oregon), Calgary(Canada), etc. all have higher per-capita GDP. By total size of economy places like New York, Tokyo, London, Paris also have GDPs 4 times higher than Singapore's.
Singapore is well off, has great infrastructure, and a strong economy (and great food :-)), and the economy has grown quickly. it also stands out as one of the wealthiest cities in the region.
Note: Of course GDP is a tricky measure of a city's wealth. One large company or a couple billionaires move into a small city and that can have a large effect on GDP without necessarily effecting the average quality of life all that much, but I suppose it is the best metric we have for doing this comparison.
Do you think Singapore is a unusual one-off case or is an example of how small city-states tend to thrive economically?
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