TL;DR – It should have been $1,888/hr so that everybody HUAT!
On December 7, 2020, Singaporean blogger/ influencer Xiaxue, whose real name is Wendy Cheng, put up a “Ask me anything” Q&A on her Instagram Stories to engaged with her Instagram followers via submitted questions.
In one particular question, the local influencer was asked:
“In your opinion, what is an acceptable minimum wage Singaporeans should earn?”
To which, the blogger queen responded with an 800-word reply.
Singaporeans should be allowed to make their own choices of what’s acceptable and not
In a series of Instagram stories, the influencer pointed out that Singaporeans should be allowed to make their own choices for what’s considered an acceptable payment for their work, and if it’s deemed as unreasonable, do not accept it.
Nonetheless, she believes that the state should step in to help the disadvantaged in the society with financial aid – which the current Government is already doing.
A lil of minimum wage, PWM and a lot on Workfare Income Supplement and Workfare Special Payment
To prove her point, Cheng then compared Singapore’s homeless rate to that of Seattle, which has the highest minimum wage in the United States of America.
She further reasoned that forcing business owners to pay a minimum wage will only kill small businesses and make conglomerates prosper, resulting in the rich becoming richer and the poor to become poorer.
She also asked her followers to not cite her with their “flawed studies” as there are plenty of studies that validate what she had said.
Companies are in it to make money, not make losses but look virtuous
In her subsequent reply, she pointed out that while other countries extend their minimum wage to anyone working in the country legally, Singapore does not want a minimum wage for foreigners but only wants it for locals.
She then questioned, “Since we are virtue signaling that a low wage is basically slavery, doesn’t this indicate that it’s ok for us to treat foreigners as slaves?”
The blogger explained:
“Say this law gets passed. What will happen is that for the low wage jobs, biz owners will get foreigners to do it, and for the higher paying jobs they will hire locals, because companies have a quota for the number of foreigners they can hire. Makes economic sense? What happens then is that the poor old aunties and uncles, the truly disenfranchised people with low skills or low education… they will not be able to get jobs because those jobs now are all given to foreigners. There will be more jobs for middle class Singaporeans, but they are not the group of people who need desperate help.”
She added that the gas station attendants will very likely be the first to be fired as people can pump their petrol, hence it is not a “necessary” job. More so if companies are forced to pay more than the benefits these attendants give, they will just let these attendants go.
Because after all, “companies are in it to make money, not make losses but look virtuous”, she continued.
Preposterously stupid to propose this law during COVID-19 pandemic
Calling it “preposterously stupid” that the law is proposed during the COVID-19 pandemic where people are already losing jobs, the influencer also asked sarcastically if the law is meant to force more businesses to go bust.
Cheng then boldly “proposed” that the minimum wage should be $1,888 per hour so that everybody can HUAT together.
“And btw if an economic plan is shitty during a recession, it is a shitty plan full stop. If our economy is booming and we introduce a minimum wage, then do we remove it during a recession? Minimum wage NEVER goes down. It only ever goes up. And what’s a good amount? Why not say $1,888/hr? Everybody Huat!!! Oh right because it causes job losses? So $1,300/month is the sweet spot where it doesnt cause damage but also helps people? How about propose that you only pulled that magic figure out of your ass to make yourself look virtuous?”
No point fighting over minimum wage – it is an argument that’s already lost
Cheng also opined that the problem with an argument against the minimum wage is that one would have already lost the argument even before starting it.
For people who are against it, they would be branded by others as someone evil and cruel since it is for compassion, kindness, equality, and for helping people – even if logic and common economic sense dictate that this law will make poor people even poorer and the rich even richer.
She challenged those who are for minimum wage and asked if they are willing to put their money where their mouth is and pay whoever loses a job due to the minimum wage law.
Cheng then concluded her post by asking the ones pushing for a universal minimum wage to “insure it” since “he loves to pull out studies to show it won’t cause job losses”.
SMU Lecturer asks Workers’ Party’s Jamus Lim about Redundancy Insurance and Minimum Wage
In case you didn’t know, the Workers’ Party’s (WP) has been pushing for full-time Singaporean workers to be paid a minimum wage of $1,300 a month.
You may read her full response in the text below:
Imagine if you were my friend and you are at my house. I tell you “hey I have cupboard I need to throw away it’s a bit heavy. Help me carry it downstairs I treat you Macdonald’s.”
And so you agree to this arrangement. Why should the govt be allowed to step in in this situation and tell you “NO! Your friend has to pay you minimum $xxx then it’s considered humane.” It’s ludicrous. You should be allowed to make your own choices for what’s acceptable payment for your work. If you don’t think it’s reasonable, don’t accept it
The state should step in and help the truly disadvantaged in society, such as the mentally or physically disabled or elderly etc, with financial aid. They already do. Singapore’s homeless rate is something we should all be proud of. In all my 36 years living in Sg, I’ve not seen more than 5 of them. I can see twice as many walking down a street in Seattle (highest min wage in USA) in 5 mins.
Forcing business owners to pay a minimum wage only serves to kill small businesses and make conglomerates prosper. The last checked, nobody wants the rich to become richer and the poor to become poorer. Don’t cite me your flawed studies, there are also plenty of studies which validate what I said.
Continued next story I have a lot to say about this
The argument for a minimum wage in Singapore is also unique in that the proponents of it do not want a minimum wage for foreigners, only for locals. Other countries extend their minimum wage to anyone working in the country legally.
Since we are virtue signaling that a low wage is basically slavery, doesn’t this indicate that it’s ok for us to treat foreigners as slaves?
Say this law gets passed. What will happen is that for the low wage jobs, biz owners will get foreigners to do it, and for the higher paying jobs they will hire locals, because companies have a quota for the number of foreigners they can hire. Makes economic sense? What happens then is that the poor old aunties and uncles, the truly disenfranchised people with low skills or low education… they will not be able to get jobs because those jobs now are all given to foreigners. There will be more jobs for middle class Singaporeans, but they are not the group of people who need desperate help.
The gas station attendants will be the first to be fired. It’s not a “necessary” job, people can pump their own petrol. If companies are forced to pay more than the benefits these attendants give, then they will be let go. It’s just logic. Companies are in it to make money, not make losses but look virtuous.
Has anyone asked these people if they would rather earn a pittance or earn nothing at all?
What’s even more preposterously stupid is that this law is proposed during COVID, when, 20,000+ people already lost their jobs since the pandemic started. I suppose now is a good time to force more businesses to go bust amirite?
And btw if an economic plan is shitty during a recession, it is a shitty plan full stop. If our economy is booming and we introduce a minimum wage, then do we remove it during a recession? Minimum wage NEVER goes down. It only ever goes up. And what’s a good amount? Why not say $1,888/hr? Everybody Huat!!! Oh right because it causes job losses? So $1,300/month is the sweet spot where it doesnt cause damage but also helps people? How about propose that you only pulled that magic figure out of your ass to make yourself look virtuous?
The problem w an argument against minimum wage is you already lost before you start. It’s for compassion, it’s for kindness. It’s for equality it’s for helping people. How can you be against it? There is no point fighting because people already brand you as evil and cruel before you say anything – even if logic and common economic sense dictates that this law will make poor people even poorer and the rich richer.
So don’t say you are against minimum wage. Say you are for the freedom and liberty of people to make their own choices without the tyranny of government.
Say you are for low wage workers not getting fired because small businesses cannot afford their new wages.
Ask the person who is full on FOR minimum wage whether he is willing to put his money where his mouth is and pay whoever loses a job due to this law a minimum wage salary. He loves to pull out studies to show it won’t cause job losses right? So you insure it why not? You bet your ass he won’t.
Workers’ Party MP Jamus Lim insults union leaders, calls them folksy. Watch them fight back