Let me be geeky here and add a bit of math into this to show you just how much inflation Singaporeans have had in just 30 years. Assuming a 5-room flat costs about $700,000 now, which it does.
That means that prices of 5 room flats have risen 10-fold in slightly under 30 years.
If x^30 = 10, then x is 1.08, which means we are experiencing housing inflation prices of about 8.0% a year. I am pretty sure that nowhere in the world are salaries rising that fast. To give you an idea, an inflation rate of 5% is already considered very high.
At this rate, do you have any idea how much a 5-room flat will be worth in 10 years? Let me do more math and show it to you.
Only about $1.5 million dollars. Sounds unimaginable? Well, that's what the people of 1984 thought about today's prices too.
Some people would also take potshots at the figure quoted for the PM's salary in the diagram.
$16,500 to $2.2 million is a 133 fold jump in salary. Which means that in under 30 years, the salary has been inflated at an average about 17.7% a year. If the PM's salary was to rise at the same rate as housing prices, which would be slightly more reasonable, he'd be earning only $165,000 a year. But that is okay, because he is the PM. He is the most capable person in the country, and he should earn that amount.
Doctors, lawyers, top corporate honchos and businessmen routinely earn more than that, so I wouldn't begrudge him that. For all those people unhappy with what the PM earns, the group CEO of Singtel earns double that. And last year, the CEO of DBS earned $8 million.
However, that means for the rest of us mortals and peons who want to buy a 5-room flat, you better hope you are earning enough. Take the salary of an average citizen then, and multiply it by 10. Well, you have to earn about only $10,000 a month for a 5-room flat. Any wonder why most families are dual income now?
Get cracking.