Hikes..

With the booming economy, pay rises are not the only increase come July.. Alright, I know I've lamented on this issue and whined like a pussy. But things have seriously hit me again and again, and I have to let it out, somewhere..

GST hike is well known to all, with the garment trying to squeeze out more little dollars we the poor citizens have. But it's all done so that we'll have bigger reserves, more investments, more revenue and more benefits for the citizens! Hooray! Fair enough. And also, more school rebuilding projects, with a relatively new school going under the PRIME project, getting rebuilt totally. It's quite lame and to me, wasteful. I don't see why a school slightly older than a decade needs to be torn down and rebuilt!!! I was totally aghast to find out this fact.. If you wonder which school I'm talking about, it's one of the top 5 secondary schools, when all schools were still taking O Levels..

Now, the big 4 has ganged up to earn even more, much like the big 4 in EPL or the G-14 group in Europe football.. That is, if you haven't realised, the hike in NETS fee.. It's been on the papers for a couple of weeks now. Now, in my opinion, the big 4 is really a big bully.. Today's Sunday Times: There was this shoe shop which passed on the extra levy that NETS imposed to the customers. Ok, fact is the levy hike has been postponed to July and the shop should not have charged the levy, though they claimed to be ignorant of the postpone-ment. Anyway, why I say the big 4 bullies is that they claim that the charges incurred should not be passed on to the consumers, which is us.. But anybody spare a thought for the retailers? Is it fair for them to shoulder the charges? Now, think about this.. Would you rather retailers tell you outright they are gonna charge you extra if you pay by NETS, so that you can decide to use NETS or cash, or would you rather have one standard price, be it payment by cash or NETS, but the cost have already been included in the price of an item (meaning a price hike)?? I would prefer to have a choice, seriously.. But if the big 4 are going to demand charges not to be passed on to us, then the latter choice will happen. So whatever it is, we are more likely to lose. Unless having the option of paying by cash or NETS is implemented, the consumers will always be on the losing end. Coming from corporations that earn hundreds of millions per quarter, now if that's not bullying, it must be extortion.

I'm contemplating if I should buy what I want all before July to beat the hike. Like getting presents for people whose birthdays are coming now, rather than later. Still thinking.. I wonder if price hikes or tax hikes are like mountains. If it is, I'm glad. Because however tall the freaking mountain is, there'll be a peak. But how many of us can make it to see the peak still in one good piece? I wonder again...