Budget 2006

I realise that I am not so much interested in Budgets ex ante, but much more so ex post. Declarations of how money is going to be spent or distributed is somehow less interesting than how money has actually been spent.

So, while I am feeling quite ok lar about the big GE dole-out this year, because I'll (not-so) suddenly get a nicely sized ang bao from the government, I'm not hugely excited lor.

I prefer to look at the accounts at the end of the year, to see the possible manifestation of Okun's leaky bucket.

With cash giveaways and no newfangled Singapore shares nonsense, and indicator testing instead of means-testing, I would expect less public money spilling out of the bucket this GE year.

Well, that's what this inept and rusty economist thinks anyway.

Of course some people are complaining over the choice of indicators to determine who should get what amount of $$$$.

This is entirely expected, just look up the Relative Income Hypothesis. People don't only get utility from having more income to spend on consumption. People also get utility from getting more than others to spend on consumption. So if others get more, sure not happy one what. Then blame the indicator, scream unfairness.

But hey, we can complain until the cows come home, belch and produce enough smelly stuff to douse the whole world in greenhouse gases.

Me, I rather have simple (though simplistic) indicators instead of complicated, possibly stigmatising and costly means-testing, at least where the sum involved per person is not really that much lar.