Seah Chiang Ngee said:

In a two-storey home, I saw various family members watching cable television on five 37-inch LCD sets in their own rooms. One was attached next to the dining table so that none needed to miss any programme while eating. In front of the house were parked two cars.

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "Malaysian writer comments on Singaporean middle class."

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We are going home: said:

We have been here about 2 years and have decided to go home - as it's just not worth living here anymore - true, the low tax rate is great - but we will now have to pay over SGD6,000 a month for a same place we have been paying SGD2500 for the past 2 years and our paychecks have not increased by that much over 2 years. Also with strong AUD against SGD, we are not really that better off in Singapore.

Also, the long working hours have started to cause a problem in our marriage (I was working almost 12 hours a day, almost every day at a bank).

Recommended by at82: "Even expats think that the cost of living is getting out of hand in Singapore."

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Alvinology said:

World’s most expensive cities, 2007 edition

Mercer has released its annual ranking of the world’s cities based on how expensive they are to live in. New York is the baseline, at 100 percent. Check out which puny nation is number 14 on the list (even ahead of New York *gasp*).

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "Singapore did it again. We are in the 'World Best' list again."

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Wet Calamari said:

This is an annual event that I always go for.. it’s part of the Singapore Street Fest and it’s basically a celebration of Japanese music.

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "I also went for this event on Sunday and was amazed at the quality and spirit of the participants. The photo gallery shows how vibrant it was."

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mrbrown said:

Letter from MICA: "mr brown's views on all these issues distort the truth. They are polemics dressed up as analysis, blaming the Government for all that he is unhappy with. He offers no alternatives or solutions. His piece is calculated to encourage cynicism and despondency, which can only make things worse, not better, for those he professes to sympathise with..."

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tinkertailor: Don't forget to check out the new poll.

Mercer Human Resource Consulting has released the 2006 Cost Of Living report. It ranks Singapore 34th in the "Quality Of Living" survey and 17th in the "Cost Of Living" survey.

Download "Quality Of Living" Rankings (.PDF)

Download "Cost Of Living" Rankings (.PDF)

via Sammyboy

Sab and WC said:

All the above are works of WC...no reproduction of them are allowed without permission. and if you would like to buy one, we have no qualms in selling it to you for a cheap price of US$1000. If we catch you stealing these photos, I will personally place the poison dart frogs on you. hehe

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Simon said:

We need you and your stomach in the interests of academic research.

The Economist's latest Big Mac Index has been released (follow this link for some BMI commentary). The now defunct Asian Labour News ran an alternative index, based on the number of hours a McDonalds employee must work to be able to buy a Big Mac.

Now it's time to update the index. In a joint effort with CSR Asia we're calling on volunteers around the world to help.

Please send the data to simon[at]simonworld[dot]mu[dot]nu and please help spread the word. The more data the better. Once compiled we'll publish the results.

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