Page 7 - Tiny Singapore News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

>> tanya: maids, as in helpers. >> sudhir: helpers. >> tanya: i think you'll find that actually, if you look at singapore, a lot of woman are in the workforce. and the reason why that is so is because everyone's got a maid looking after their child at home. so maids are kind of like the opiate of the masses. >> anthony: wait, opiate keeps you slothful and laying on the couch. >> tanya: exactly! >> anthony: but if you have a maid, you're saying it frees you up to join the workforce. >> tanya: it frees you up, but it also means that my husband now, he doesn't know how to service himself water. h...

The country's public housing policy provides an astonishing 80% of singapore's 5.6 million people with affordable homes, with 90% of the population owning their own home. >> donald: singaporeans would be hard-pressed to name a neighborhood that they would describe as a slum. they would be hard-pressed to name a neighborhood where they say of the people here are living relatively deprived conditions, with poor schooling, and poor amenities. and most of singapore feels, i mean even though economic inequality is high, income inequality is high, you don't see it in the public housing estates. it's...

Have to follow the rules and regulations, that's the reason singapore is very good. same time, singaporeans are very hard working. as human beings, what we need? food to eat, clothes to wear, a place to sleep, you can get in singapore. so in other words, we have to continue work, you see. if you're working, you'll get something, once lazy, you're out. >> anthony: by some measures, singapore is a welfare state, taking care of the less fortunate, but at its heart, it's a cold blooded meritocracy. you follow the rules -- and there are many, work hard, and you will have a good life. that's the mes...

Pragmatic understanding that free trade is good for everyone. this is place is, after 50 years, is deeply imprinted in singapore. it's remarkable how open and welcoming of diversity singapore still is. >> anthony: we are now living in times where globalism and globalization are bad words. we are seeing a rise of -- >> donald: yeah, i know, populism. >> anthony: -- of populism, of nationalism. >> donald: which is why, you know, i'm concerned about singapore's future. this is a place that has been a main beneficiary of globalization. and as the world turns against globalization, as the world bec...

Singapore has fully embraced globalization. and that's proved in their case very rewarding. >> donald: singapore is an outsized economic port primarily because it's so attractive to foreign entrepreneurs primarily in the form of multinational corporations. so right from the start, the economic strategy was always to attract foreign capital. >> anthony: donald low is an economist who spent over ten years researching and writing about singapore's unique financial policies. >> donald: you know, this place is almost contrary to the founders' original expectations. this place was this multiethnic m...