The booby trap Pakatan set in its budget
“As more and more Hongkies pump money, these cities will see an influx of local Chinese businessmen seeking opportunities and benefits. Before long, cities like Ipoh, Malacca and regions around Gelang Patah and Pasir Gudang would become densely populated with Chinamen who Kit Siang will make sure are registered as voters towards GE15. Now, do you have any idea where the Malays will end up? In the dumps, of course.”
THE THIRD FORCE
What’s the difference between a mathematician and an economic strategist?
Well, a mathematician will tell you one plus one always equals two. An economic strategist, however, will add value to the two and try very hard to have it perform like a four. But a magician can do what neither two can ever do – he can add absolutely nothing to the four and have that four turn into an eight.
In Pakatan Harapan, we actually have magicians capable of performing such tricks. They can pull money from out of nowhere and put that money onto your hands. Yes, the guys at Pakatan are wizards in every sense of the word. They are going to turn stuff you dislike into money before giving you that money to spend.
And we’re talking stuff like the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and toll charges. Under Pakatan Harapan, the rakyat will no longer need to pay anything for quality education or worry about making road-trips to Perlis or Johor. According to its leaders, the less you spend on stuff you hate, the more the economy gets revitalised as you spend on stuff you truly like.
But here’s the catch.
The more you spend, the greater the need for businesses to supply the stuff you demand. But because businesses aren’t going to be able to cope with your demands overnight, the prices of goods you seek are bound to increase. Now, common sense dictates that the higher these prices, the lesser the value for money you will get each time you purchase something.
Of course, Pakatan will tell you that the depreciation in value is temporary, that given time, businesses will expand and better regulate their supply chains to meet demands. But we have seen over and again how prices in Malaysia never fall once they have risen. In other words, you’d be a fool to think prices will eventually drop once businesses are able to cope with demands.
So tell me, who will suffer in the end?
The consumer, of course. And while you console yourself by thinking the guys at Pakatan did not see it coming, people like Dr. Mahathir Mohamad and Lim Kit Siang will milk every dime they can out of tycoons whose companies register sky-high returns. They will continue to do so until such a time that businesses begin to suffer. Over time, consumers will refrain from spending too much money as prices of goods inflate disproportionately.
And when the spending drops, so will the ability for businesses to sustain their bullish revenue streams. Such businesses will resort to tax evasion tactics to compensate the increase in overheads and costs. When that happens, Mahathir and Daim Zainuddin will tell you that the country needs to impose GST to prevent businesses from robbing the nation of its wealth. By 2020, you’ll probably see the return of the very GST Pakatan promised you it will abolish.
