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30/10/89
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Thursday, August 30, 2007
Was reading "Aims and Issues" and "Fiscal Policy" today [was supposed to do Monetary as well but SEE no more time :'(] and the whole issue about GST hikes and greater redistribution of income was rather interesting to me.For non-economists, GST hikes are regressive in nature. By that, it means that the poor lose out more when paying for GST because a greater amount of their income is spent on consumption. GST hike doesn't take into account the ability to pay, simply put, and hence the overwhelming concern of the populace of the effects of a GST hike hurting the lower income groups.
To abate political pressure and ensure greater redistribution of income, a set of measures have been put in place. The one-off GST offset package and WIS are examples. Yet, is that sufficient? That I'm not so sure. Some measures put in place are also corporate tax cuts and lowering of effective tax rates in the upper income groups. Doesn't that counter the effects of greater redistribution of income then? Yes Singapore's progressive income tax structure has been steeply progressive all this while (about 70% of Singaporeans don't pay income tax at all). So, does the 100% include young dependants, the elderly and people who simply don't work? Given the high educational requirements in our competitive society (a lot of Singaporeans complete tertiary education) and aging population, perhaps it should not be odd to see such a high proportion of people who do not need to pay income tax. Yes? No?
I'm quite confused.
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The last part was closely related to what I was musing about today. The benefits that one can gain from studying economics. Perhaps I should phrase it this way. All other subjects are graded out of 100 marks, because it is very possible to get full marks. On the other hand, it is rather hard indeed to get full marks in economics tests. In fact, I don't know of anyone who has gotten full marks yet, in my school at least. So I shall propose an alternative model to grading economics. An "A" grade should be 70% of 80-100% of the paper! The 80-100% would of course vary according to the difficulty. Perhaps that would move the number of "A"s in econs to approximately the number of "A"s in say... Physics or Chem. Seriously. With less than 5% of economics students getting A, that's rather harsh isn't it? Or are we just too daft?
Eeks. Im crapping by the way. Don't listen to me.
Actually simple bell-curving would make more sense. Oh well.
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Solve the mystery --- Who's okeo? Please show yourself!
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Was supposed to blog about this yesterday. I went running. In the evening. And the feeling was wonderful. Like pounding along the pavement once again. Feeling blood running [My stamina is totally totally GONE though :(].
The moon was very nice yesterday. But before I veer totally off course...
Have you ever stopped to look around you? Ok I suppose you have. I do so often enough. Running during the evening, watching the sun set. Was wahhhh...
It started off quite bright. The grass was shining with greenness. Then after sometime of putting one foot ahead of the other, I looked up, and the sky was darkening and the street lamps were lighted. The amazing thing was that the colour of the sky wasn't even. Like half of it was greyish blue and the other half was totally clear. Then at the corner of the sky, it was a mix of pink and purple and gold. Wahhh...
Ok that probably sounds quite childish. But it was amazing to rediscover the treasures in the world around me. Learning how precious these small little things are which could make your day. It made my evening at the very least! And finding out where north is from my house. I faintly recall playing with magnets and trying to make it suspend freely. Haha.
Ohhh and I was trying to figure this out yesterday. You know how we learnt in primary school that objects are magnetised by aligning all the (magnetic) plus-es towards one direction and minus-es towards the other? And then magnets are all aligned in that way as well? Sooo... What gives rise to the plus and minus _thingies_ in the magnet? We already know that there are no currents running through conductors. Most magnets are conductors yes? And we also know that magnetic fields are formed by moving charges. And the cations and freely flowing electrons cannot create magnetic fields because the electrons move by random motion because there isn't a current inside the conductor yes?
Confused yet again. Anyone can please explain the elementary physics to me? I'm hopelessly lost.
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