The GPD per head is miles away from 80% of the populations income whilst they live in housing built by the gov on land owned by the gov and leasehold so they are giving their flats back in the future.
The cost of the flats is a made up a figure by the gov which helps ensure you convert part of your pension to leased bricks and mortar to afford them. They allow using your pension to buy an apartment, this allows the gov to push the price up but you still owe the gov that money back with interest when you sell, lets hope your flat goes up faster than the interest they pay on a pension.
Yes property speculation ( during downturns )using your pension has made many poor.
The Gov is an expert in convincing you are doing well whilst you dont notice you dont have any money left at the end of the day.
They also like to sell gov departments into listed companies and allowed people to use their pensions to buy them, another conversion from your money to theirs.
Singtel float being the best example where it was described in the foreign press as the largest pension grab in history. It was a monopoly at float then the gov removed that several years later. The share price reflects that. SGD2.00 at the CPF discount price in 93, SGD 2.50 today
The narrator glossed over the debt issue, which is how the gov explains it, the key part missing is not net debt but the interest bill on that debt which is significant and climbing.
The do mention the very low productivity in Singapore as its a nation of low skilled workers most of whom are cheap foreign labourers. Many Singaporeans are competing with them in the low wage space.
Thats a self inflicted wound and as much as they try initiatives to move the workers up the skills tree, several generations of bosses only know that to compete you get cheaper labour.
Years ago with good infrasturcture and planning Singapore used its low cost base to get on the map, the problem has been as costs and currency went up they dont know how to compete.
Singapore Airlines is proof of that.
Its a great place for the wealthy both local and foreign as many laws to make it that way.
No tax on foreign income is one and very rare in the world, not something many locals can make use of.
Only wage earners are obligated to pay into the pension scheme.
Lawyers and Accountants in partnerships also dont contribute till retirement age where they have to have a minimum balance which is just over the USD GDP figure so easy to pay after a life time of investing.
There is no FOI act in Singapore and all government documents are secret until they say they arent.
LKY and his cohert did a great job for the majority from federation to about the 80’s then the structural issues became an issue as the world moved forward.
The old people keep voting for the incumbent gov as they lived from the poor days to modern.
The young born into this are not happy and and not moving forward compared to any other nation, easy to know with travel and the internet plus everyone knows someone that has migrated and can see that lifestyle and growing wealth in another place.
Its has become a very unfair society, I feel sorry for the majority of the locals.