Is Basic Universal Income Viable in Singapore?

Contributed By: The Big Fat Whale

The concept of Basic Universal Income could be traced back to 1796 proposed by Thomas Paine in the United States. Ever since then, there have been actual experiments in Alaska, Africa, Iran, Netherlands, Finland, etc. Most are implemented on a small scale but Alaska and Iran are on a nationwide level, they are still running the scheme.

Alaska payout is around $1000-$2000 per year to all citizens since 1982. The amount depends on the oil revenues of their state-owned investment fund. However, the population of Alaska is just 730,000 people which makes financing it more manageable.

As for Iran, there is a population of 84 million people, the universal basic income has been implemented since 2011. The amount equates to US$40 per person per month which sums up to US$480 per year.

 

Why the need for a UBI?

 

In an ideal world, everyone could be doing the things they love and yet not worry about finances with UBI. In this type of utopian environment, there could be an abundance of wealth as wealth should be measured not only by how much you have in your bank.

More importantly- your mental state, health, family bonding and living environment.

However, to accomplish this, it is an uphill task for any government. The funding of UBI would be a real nutcracker for governments to balance their budget and yet implement this scheme.

Looking at around the world now, with massive technological advancements through Artificial Intelligence and ever-increasing wealth disparity between the top 10% and the rest of the population, the call for a serious look into UBI should not be undermined.

Here is the link for the full article:

https://thebigfatwhale.com/is-basic-universal-income-viable-in-singapore-2/

 

 

Your Gateway to Digital Payments- PayPal

Contributed By: The Big Fat Whale

The digital payment industry has been on a steady climb for many years given the e-commerce revolution. The Covid 19 situation, has further led to new users who usually would not have shopped online to come onboard. All these bode well for a good runway for further consistent growth ahead.

With the coming of the new era of Metaverse by Meta, where the future could be split between your virtual and physical world, the need for a digital wallet would be essential. The digital wallet could be used for keeping your digital currency, digital assets (NFTs) and other digital-related items.

Source: Mordor Intelligence

The transaction value of the digital payments market was USD 5.44 trillion in 2020, and it is projected to be worth USD 11.29 trillion by 2026, registering a CAGR of 11.21% from 2021 to 2026

Source: Mordor Intelligence

The global payments market is expected to grow from $466.29 billion in 2020 to $517.68 billion in 2021 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11%. The market is expected to reach $735.39 billion in 2025 at a CAGR of 9.2%.

Source: Businesswire.com

The growth as predicted by both Modor Intelligence and Businesswire for the digital payment industry would be in the region of around 11% for the next 5 years. This is consistent growth rather than exceptional growth but one thing is for sure, it is still a sunrise sector. Hence, it is going to be a good place to look for potential investments.

Here is the full article on the Merits of Investing in PayPal:

https://thebigfatwhale.com/your-gateway-to-metaverse-paypal/

 

King of Internet of Things- Xiaomi

We could still remember the first exposure to Xiaomi was by ordering online their smartphones many years ago. They managed to create a cult branding as most of their smartphones are sold within minutes during those days. It is not surprising as they have most of the features of an iPhone but yet is trading at a fifth of their price.

 

Source: Xiaomi Homepage 

Xiaomi has since evolved from the early days and has now in their product catalogue, a mind-boggling amount of household appliances and gadgets, on top of their smartphone range. The household appliances are connected to the Mi Home and the data analytics from the usage of the products would be Xiaomi's edge compared to their competitors.

The more prominent products in their line-up will be smartphones, smartwatches, robot vacuum cleaners, smart tv, fridge, air-conditioners, laptops and washing machines. Their products are in more than 80 markets.

Xiaomi's vision is not to make huge profits from the sale of hardware as they have explicitly stated they would not surpass a net profit margin of 5%.

With their good value and quality products, they hope to link all the devices to their ecosystem, they would then be able to monetize from the strength of their ecosystem.

This strategy is similar to Gillette selling the shaver cheaply and earning huge margins from the sale of blades.

Here is the link for the full article:

https://thebigfatwhale.com/king-of-internet-of-things-xiaomi/

 

Riding the Recovery of the Construction Sector- Hock Lian Seng

With Covid 19 causing huge disruption to the economy, the construction sector was especially affected given the migrant workers' high infection rate. But, things are starting to look brighter, with the government getting things back to normalcy. With the live with the covid directive, most migrant workers will be able to go back to work as long as they get vaccinated. 

 

Given the BCA guidance, things are starting to be turning up based on the contracts awarded. You could find the latest Building and Construction Authority forecast appended below. This could be due to pent up demand, given news of BTO delays. Moreover, the government's initiative to boost up infrastructure spending to jumpstart the economy post covid would also provide a further tailwind.

 

 

Source: BCA Media Release Jan 2021

 

Giving some context, the total contracts awarded in 2019 was in the region of 33 billion. The general forecasted contracts from 2014 to 2019 was also higher than the current forecasted contract values for the next few years.

 

But, things are moving rapidly and any forecast could be derailed or even surpassed. Nonetheless, one thing is for sure, the figures are likely going to be higher than 2020 which bear the full brunt of the pandemic.

 

Also, the trump card would be the contracts for Changi Airport Terminal 5 and the Integrated Resorts expansion, which have been excluded from the forecast.

Click Here for the Full Article:

https://thebigfatwhale.com/riding-the-recovery-in-the-construction-sector-hock-lian-seng/

Riding The Commodities Boom- Wilmar

Contributed By: The Big Fat Whale

There has been recent talk about an inflationary spike and pressure on the overall economy. Commodities prices have been creeping up. This phenomenon is not surprising given the huge money press at work and it is still running on full steam- Biden's recent 2 trillion infrastructure bill was passed.

The current US debt is at 28 trillion dollars. We touched on the Fiat Money symptom in our article supporting Silver as a hedge against hyperinflation.

Source: Dow Jones Commodities Index- spglobal.com

Looking at the charts, the commodities prices have been on a steady ascent since mid-2020.

Looking around us, there have been new policies to increase wages of security guards to 3500 dollars by 2028. This is equivalent to or more than a fresh graduate pay in today's term. We can still remember our starting pay when we graduated ages ago was just 1800-2000 dollars.

Click Here to Read More:

https://thebigfatwhale.com/riding-the-commodities-boom-wilmar/