Currency, War, and Civil Pay - We better Care for Ourselves

Read some rather disturbing article lately. An article suggested, when a government administration is inefficient, they hide the truth by inflating their currency (if they could) else go to war. This can camouflage their mismanagement, but it just exposed their citizens to further sufferings.

America
Is the problems in the US just credit crunch or a true mismanagement of many governments leading to the mess it is in today? US had gone through massive financial gusting wars since this current administration. With the wars, a lot of funds are diverted in the name of home security and world peace. Nothing has been proven, no "weapons of mass destruction, no nuclear, no biological warfare", no nothing but a lot of oil and victims. What has been done for the people? Credit problem just surfaced in recent 1 odd year. Economy is near a meltdown (is this a economic nuclear meltdown?) and not enough has been done to save it.

Let me share some extracts from the article:
(1) The first thing politicians do to hide their mismanagement, he said, is inflate the currency; the second thing they do is go to war.

(2) Iran has no nuclear weapons, and its military is designed for defense. It has no offensive capability - no air force, no navy to speak of. Israel, on the other hand, is usually ranked as the fifth most powerful military state on the planet. It has more than 200 nuclear weapons and a superb air force

(3) the lies told to you before Iraq: that Saddam Hussein was pursuing a nuclear weapon; that he had enormous stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons. The only thing he really had was oil. That's why we went to war

(source : http://www.populistamerica.com/inflating_the_currency_and_starting_wars)

Singapore
It was announced this week that "Top public sector staff will have a second round of salary adjustments on January 1 next year. Their annual salaries will rise between 4% and 21%". This means, the entry level ministers and senior permanent secretaries, will see their annual salaries increase by 21% to S$1.94 million. They did not mention the Prime Minister's pay.

It was also mentioned "Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had said in April that he will donate his wage increases for the next five years to charity", but it did not mentioned that he will be receiving pension (already pensionable by now) later in 2007. So, if pension is 2/3 of his last drawn pay (which is >$3mil when he is on pension), it amounts to more than $2mil in pension. So, what is $500,000?
(source : http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/317221/1/.html)

I am not saying they do not deserve such pays. Afterall, we have enjoyed a country to be proud off, many thanks to our founding fathers. The British foresaked us during WWII, came back after the fall of Japan, had enjoyed their colonial days, did nothing wonderful and Singapore was foresaken by the Federation of Malaysia on 9 August 1965. Since the founding fathers of true Singapore done so much for us, till the current government, they deserve what they can justify.

The Singapore Education
Education teaches us, "study hard, get good grades, get a decent job, buy property, buy car, start family, be in debt". Many follows! Wonderful education, thus we have one of the most efficient workforce in the world, and one of the most literate population in the world.

This education system will ensure the majority are living above povety, with slightly average basic luxury of being able to buy themselves a property (doesn't matter if it is public housing or private housing), a car for some, etc.

In fact, we should hold our head much higher than the Americans or British, because, our average property is much more expensive than theirs, our cars are one of the most expensive in the world (mind you, a Toyota Camry cost >S$80k). Yet our pay are not one of the highest, but we are all surviving.

The Summary
From the above two governments I have shared, and this education system, the government has proven themselves. One government is busy firing missiles, trying to prove the existence of weapons of 'mess' destruction, while another government is commanding top notch salary.

Since both senarios has not shown how much the government taught their citizens on proper finanial planning, isn't it time we take care of it ourselves? It's never too early to start planning, it'll only be too late if we don't start now.