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flakfizer
Joined: 12 Nov 2004
Location: scaling the Cliffs of Insanity with a frayed rope.
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 Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 4:25 am Post subject: |
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| I'd bet a lot of the oil-rich nations don't get a lot of tourism dollars either. |
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Justin Hale
Joined: 24 Nov 2007
Location: the Straight Talk Express
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| Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 5:19 am Post subject: |
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| luvnpeas wrote: |
| Justin Hale wrote: |
| Singapore is a straightforwardly superior nation-state and culture. |
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The Ministry of Home Affairs�s Internal Security Department of Singapore enforces the country's Internal Security Act (ISA) as a counter to potential espionage, international terrorism, threats to racial and religious harmony, and subversion. The ISA permits indefinite detention without formal charges or recourse to trial and has been used to imprison political opponents, including Chia Thye Poh, who was held for 32 years without trial before being released. As of 2005, 36 men are being held under the ISA.[1]
... In 2007, Singapore ranked 141th out of 167 nations by Reporters Without Borders in the Worldwide Press Freedom Index. Government pressure to conform has resulted in the practice of self-censorship by journalists.[2]
Singapore uses the death penalty extensively and has, according to Amnesty International, the world's highest execution rate relative to population size.[1] The government has contested Amnesty's assertion that this constitutes violation of human rights. Caning, in addition to imprisonment, remains a routine punishment for numerous offenses. Internment has been used to deal with espionage, terrorism, organized crime, and narcotics. Citizens� privacy rights occasionally have been infringed, and the government has restricted freedom of speech and freedom of the press and has limited other civil and political rights. Censorship of sexual, political and racially or religiously sensitive content is extensive.
Singapore does not offer a civilian service alternative to two-year compulsory military service. Four conscientious objectors, all members of the banned religious group Jehovah's Witnesses, were imprisoned in 2004.[1] |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Singapore |
There are aspects of Singaporean society one must not endorse; nevertheless, it is a manifestly superior society to Saudi Arabia. Being a former British colony helps. Have you ever visited Singapore? I have. It's a civilized, aesthetically excellent and largely decent melting pot of Western, Malay and Chinese peoples. Saudi Arabia is a strict, fundamentalist, Islamic theocracy. Muslims are only 14% of Singapore, btw, lest anyone pursue that.
| Flakfizer wrote: |
| I'd bet a lot of the oil-rich nations don't get a lot of tourism dollars either. |
Why do they not get tourists? Well, firstly, they do get millions of Muslims visiting Mecca, which is a Muslim's obligation at least once in their lives. However the reason Saudi doesn't get tourists in the sense you actually meant it is because it is a disgusting, insane, irrational, unnatural, base, vulgar, erroneous, cruel, primitive, barbaric society that people choose not to endorse and dignify by visiting. Saudi also has extremely restrictive capacity to visit it in the first place. |
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nicholas_chiasson
Joined: 14 Jun 2007
Location: Samcheok
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| Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 5:44 am Post subject: |
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| If you haven't heard a Omani dis Saudi Arabia you haven't heard anybody dis Saudi Arabia. The entire arab world thinks Saudi guys are gross and unmannerly. The funny thing is it reminded me what the Koreans say about English teachers. "Saudis drink too much, act like children, and want to sleep with our women. Oh and they are very dirty." |
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Justin Hale
Joined: 24 Nov 2007
Location: the Straight Talk Express
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| Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 5:50 am Post subject: |
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| nicholas_chiasson wrote: |
| If you haven't heard a Omani dis Saudi Arabia you haven't heard anybody dis Saudi Arabia. The entire arab world thinks Saudi guys are gross and unmannerly. The funny thing is it reminded me what the Koreans say about English teachers. "Saudis drink too much, act like children, and want to sleep with our women. Oh and they are very dirty." |
Saudi fundamentalism is the gold standard. |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 6:28 am Post subject: |
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| nicholas_chiasson wrote: |
| If you haven't heard a Omani dis Saudi Arabia you haven't heard anybody dis Saudi Arabia. The entire arab world thinks Saudi guys are gross and unmannerly. The funny thing is it reminded me what the Koreans say about English teachers. "Saudis drink too much, act like children, and want to sleep with our women. Oh and they are very dirty." |
Ha. A friend, a very tall blond American woman, works for the UN in Switzerland. I guess Switzerland is something of a second home for a lot of Saudis. They spend quite a lot of time chasing and groping blond women. My friend was offered a mercedes if she agreed to become wife #3 of some Saudi guy she barely knew. |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 6:31 am Post subject: |
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| santafly wrote: |
| The GDP per capita difference here could have something to do with many Saudi women not having jobs (just a guess based on middle eastern stereotypes - haven't been there/done any research) |
I think the figure just refers to GDP/population. Not GDP/working people.
But you still might be on to something. The reason Singapore is rich is because it makes good use of its human capital. Saudi Arabia under uses its human capital. Women for starters. |
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luvnpeas
Joined: 03 Aug 2006
Location: somewhere i have never travelled
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| Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 5:37 pm Post subject: |
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| Justin Hale wrote: |
| However the reason Saudi doesn't get tourists in the sense you actually meant it is because it is a disgusting, insane, irrational, unnatural, base, vulgar, erroneous, cruel, primitive, barbaric society that people choose not to endorse and dignify by visiting. |
Sounds fascinating. I wanna go. |
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newton kabiddles
Joined: 31 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 6:34 pm Post subject: |
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| JustJohn wrote: |
Because culture is obviously something that is either better or worse than someone else's and must be ranked.  |
Whoa! A breath of fresh air |
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browneyedgirl
Joined: 17 Jul 2007
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| Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 8:47 pm Post subject: Re: Who has a bigger per capita GDP? |
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| butlerian wrote: |
What can u trade if you have zero resources? I think ur referring only to physical resources. |
There was an economic theory that came out last year�
The places that originally were rich in natural resources (people are also considered resources): Mexico, India, Central America, and South America etc. were the most exploited and had the least amount of backwards and forwards links, so the wealth wasn't spread around, and improvements in technology weren�t utilized because those resource �rich� countries could use cheap labor instead of machinery.
Places with fewer resources had to bring skilled labor and had to educate more of the population (because there was a shortage of people, they needed educated people to do more than one job) and those countries that were originally resource poor now wealthier: Hong Kong, America, Singapore, Canada etc. |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 10:23 pm Post subject: Re: Who has a bigger per capita GDP? |
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| browneyedgirl wrote: |
| Places with fewer resources had to bring skilled labor and had to educate more of the population (because there was a shortage of people, they needed educated people to do more than one job) and those countries that were originally resource poor now wealthier: Hong Kong, America, Singapore, Canada etc. |
Exactly. Human resources (brain power, education, good government, liberal economic policies, mobility of capital) trump natural resources that aren't exploited by a nation or culture that doesn't also value brain power etc.
The best thing a nation can do if it finds a lot of oil is sell it off to private companies to develop and then tax the profits. Private companies take the risks, bring the brains to reduce risks, and you sit back and reap tax benefits.
So, Canada, the USA (still one of the top oil producers in the world), and Norway vs Venezuela. |
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luvnpeas
Joined: 03 Aug 2006
Location: somewhere i have never travelled
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| Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 11:26 pm Post subject: Re: Who has a bigger per capita GDP? |
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| browneyedgirl wrote: |
| those countries that were originally resource poor now wealthier: Hong Kong, America, Singapore, Canada etc. |
North America is resource rich. The other two on that list are (more or less) city states. What does "originally resource poor" mean? Different resources are distributed in different ways. |
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Justin Hale
Joined: 24 Nov 2007
Location: the Straight Talk Express
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| Posted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 4:17 am Post subject: |
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| It's nothing to do with resources. It's to do with superior societies and cultures. Societies should be organized in accordance with what is natural, rational, decent and demonstrably true. Saudi Arabia is not and, therefore, despite containing massive quantities of the lifeblood of human civilization, it's poorer than its superior counterparts. The US and Canada are resources-rich and generally very rich, since these societies are largely organized in accordance with nature, reason, decency and demonstrable truth. Saudi society is organized in accordance with what is unnatural, indecent, irrational, demonstrably false, insane, base, cruel, barbaric, primitive, sadistic, loathsome and vulgar. |
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thepeel
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
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| Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2008 1:47 am Post subject: |
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| luvnpeas wrote: |
| Justin Hale wrote: |
| Singapore is a straightforwardly superior nation-state and culture. |
| Quote: |
The Ministry of Home Affairs�s Internal Security Department of Singapore enforces the country's Internal Security Act (ISA) as a counter to potential espionage, international terrorism, threats to racial and religious harmony, and subversion. The ISA permits indefinite detention without formal charges or recourse to trial and has been used to imprison political opponents, including Chia Thye Poh, who was held for 32 years without trial before being released. As of 2005, 36 men are being held under the ISA.[1]
... In 2007, Singapore ranked 141th out of 167 nations by Reporters Without Borders in the Worldwide Press Freedom Index. Government pressure to conform has resulted in the practice of self-censorship by journalists.[2]
Singapore uses the death penalty extensively and has, according to Amnesty International, the world's highest execution rate relative to population size.[1] The government has contested Amnesty's assertion that this constitutes violation of human rights. Caning, in addition to imprisonment, remains a routine punishment for numerous offenses. Internment has been used to deal with espionage, terrorism, organized crime, and narcotics. Citizens� privacy rights occasionally have been infringed, and the government has restricted freedom of speech and freedom of the press and has limited other civil and political rights. Censorship of sexual, political and racially or religiously sensitive content is extensive.
Singapore does not offer a civilian service alternative to two-year compulsory military service. Four conscientious objectors, all members of the banned religious group Jehovah's Witnesses, were imprisoned in 2004.[1] |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Singapore |
Singapore does not have a hippie approach to crime and punishment and as a result there is almost no crime here. When my girl would be out and come home late I never once worried for her safety. The city is perfectly safe. It is also blessed with the most efficient and competent government on earth and a majority population that values education, hard work, family and respect to a great degree.
Singapore is a major target for muslim terrorists because of dar el islam, or the idea that states that were once muslim must become muslim again. It takes muslim terrorism very seriously, and as a result there has not been a terrorist attack. When you have a 15% muslim minority that sees the state is belonging to one "race" (the Malay's) and one religion, everything changes. Everything.
Hippies have absolutely no power in Singapore. It is much better for it. |
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thepeel
Joined: 08 Aug 2004
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| Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2008 6:32 am Post subject: |
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| BS.Dos. wrote: |
Singapore owes its success to two things:
Location - central to both India and China
Thomas Raffles
I know this because the Discovery Channel said so. |
Indonesia and Malaysia have the same geography, and Raffles did not have anything to do with the post-occupation (Japanese) miracle. It is only the past 30 years that Singapore has really taken off.
LKY's From Third World to First is an excellent history of the city. They were not dogmatic or ideological but pragmatic. 90% of Singaporeans live in government built housing but the island is hyper-capitalist. Singapore is wealthy because the government and governmental institutions are so damn well run.
And trade. But they had no choice but to trade. |
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luvnpeas
Joined: 03 Aug 2006
Location: somewhere i have never travelled
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| Posted: Sun Mar 02, 2008 8:12 pm Post subject: |
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| thepeel wrote: |
Singapore does not have a hippie approach to crime and punishment ....
Hippies have absolutely no power in Singapore. It is much better for it. |
You should have said up front that you're a fascist. It would have prevented the waste of time of trying to reason with you. |
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