Why bid for the car COE?

Dear Mr. Tan
I spoke to numerous people, but did not get an answer that is acceptable. I have been struggling to understand the rationale for the COE bidding exercise. Surely, a balloting for the COE could achieve the same objective of limiting the no. of COE. That is, if the government fix the COE price at a reasonable amount (which could be adjusted periodically), and use balloting for the no. of COE, the same quota would be achieved as well. 

Why is there a need for Bidding, which for whatever reason result in the sky rocketing of the price. In other words, the control of the car population do not have to result in the people paying exhorbitant prices for a cars. Unless the government is all out to make money, which I thought that is not the intent.

REPLY
my personal preference is to have a balloting exercise, instead of bidding for the COE. But our Government believes that bidding (and money) is the best way to allocate scarce resources. I do not agree with their approach, but they are the Government!

If we go on the balloting exercise, there is still a problem. Many people will ballot for the COE and resell the car to the highest buyer. So, the Government decided that the best way to prevent this "black market" is to go bidding in the first place, and let the market decide on who gets the COE.

Visit to Sri Lanka

I plan to visit Sri Lanka next month. I searched Youtube for a video of Sri Lanka and found this excellent video. This is the marvel of Youtube and the internet.

Learn mobile development

If you have a diploma in I.T. and wish to have the chance to learn development on Android or Apple (IOS) without paying a fee, send an e-mail with your resume to inbox@tankinlian.com.  You will be given the facility to learn the platform at our office, projects that you can do, and a mentor to guide you. You need to spend at least two months on the learning, but you have flexibility to spend half of this time at your home.

Spreading work and reducing unemployment

I read a report that in USA, some workers are putting in  70 hours a week. They work hard, so that they can keep their jobs. But, when those with jobs work long hours, there will be less jobs for the unemployed to take up. This is the problem about the free market system.

Countries with caps on working hours (beyond which the employer has to pay premium overtime rate) allows the available work to be spread to more workers. They also have controls over their immigration. A good example is Australia.

How do small business survive in a competitive world, when they have to pay adequate wages to their workers? They pay less for their premises (and avoid the inflated property prices in countries like Singapore and Hong Kong). They also compete in areas where they have competitive advantage, such as the resource and agriculture sector in Australia. By giving adequate wages and employment to their workers, they have an economy that is more sustainable.

My friend, who developed property in Australia previously, told me the restrictions on property development in Australia. 50% of new developments can be sold to foreigners, but these foreigners have to sell their property only to Australians. This helps to control the inflation of property prices due to the influx of foreign funds.

Other countries, such as Singapore, compete by depressing wages.  This is why the situation in Singapore is rather bad.

Occupy Wall Street Protests Goes Global

The protests against corporate greed and failure of government goes global. See http://www.cnbc.com//id/44913817

Except in Singapore. The people are frightened by the strict laws against protest.

Dove | Uncontrolled women

BRAND: Dove

BRAND OWNER: Unilever

CATEGORIES:FMCG, Toiletries/Cosmetics

REGION: Argentina

DATE: May -May 2011

AGENCY: Initiative

MEDIA CHANNEL: BrandedContent, Digital,Online, PR

Dove wanted to re-launch its hair care range in Argentina and earn credentials amongst consumers as an expert hair care brand that women would trust. Dove wanted to refresh the promise that women who chose the Dove Damage Therapy range could reclaim control of their hair.

This re-launch featured new product formulas, new packaging, a new brand positioning and a fresh new tone in Dove marketing messages. But to achieve a successful re-launch, Dove needed to develop and distribute content to help generate awareness of the new 'control or uncontrolled messaging.

A series of videos were created that explored the idea of 'control and uncontrolled'. Well known female comedians discussed the things in their lives that bring chaos and stress, in a series of comedy monologues that tackled issues of control for women at work, at home and in their relationships.

Dove wanted to get involved in the online conversations of its consumers by providing them with some entertaining content they would feel compelled to share. Viewers are more likely to share content that engages them, which meant that Dove had to take advantage of the earned media potential of relevant, shareable content by ensuring that it was distributed effectively.

The resulting video series 'Stand Up Descontroladas' was seeded across multiple online platforms. Dove enlisted the support of key opinion formers in the blog space and launched a robust PR campaign on Facebook, Twitter and fashion aspiration sites. The key opinion formers spread the videos by posting entries on their blogs and Twitter feeds that discussed the difference between '#stable women' and '#uncontrolled women'. By the end of the first day, '#uncontrolled' was a trending topic in Argentina. Most of the tweets were linked to one of the Dove branded videos. Videos were hosted on a branded YouTube channel.

Descontroladas - Maria Freytes from CSquared on Vimeo.

Results

'Stand Up Descontroladas' achieved more than 500,000 views during the nine week campaign. 30% of visitors came from Twitter, Facebook, Dove.com.ar and paid media initiatives. 70% of views were counted in Youtube, coming from YouTube search or related video suggestions.

The mix of earned and paid media investment was split 10 % earned + 90 % paid.

The campaign contributed to a 10% increase in Dove's market share. (Source: CCR)

This campaign was shortlisted at the 2011 Festival of Media Latam Awards in the 'Best Use of Digital Landscape' category.

External links

Dove Argentina Twitter

Dove Facebook

Bankrupcy law change could help consumers recover: Experts

Some experts have recommended a change in bankruptcy law in the USA to forgive the debts of consumers (i.e. student loans, mortgage loans and consumer loans) and help the economy to recover, as stated in this report.

This is a dangerous suggestion that has moral hazards, but should not be written off entirely. Already, matters have become very difficult and bad! Anyway, the banks will not agree to write off the loans and will fight hard against such a law.

But I like to suggest this way out. If we study what is happening in Greece, the solution is for the banks to take a haircut and be paid say 50% of what they are due. In the case of consumer loans, the bankruptcy law could allow them to apply for a special fund from the state to pay off the loan at a 50% discount. The money borrowed from the state will have to be repaid in the future, but at a low rate of interest (instead of the usury rate charged by the banks). This will give consumers time to pay off their loans gradually and to rebuild their lives.