The fundamenta​ls ‘will not change’

Dear Mr Lee Yi Shyan,

I refer to the 19 Oct 2011 Straits Times report of your comments in parliament.

You said other countries struggled with frequent changes in political leadership and policy directions. Germany has had a few changes in political leadership in recent years but continues to be one of the strongest economies in the world. Taiwan has had changes in political leadership without change in prosperity.

You said Greece is an example of the failure of the European welfare model. In that case, Germany is an example of the success of the European welfare model.

You said United States’ deep structural problems is largely due to entitlement spending. Actually, a large part of it is also due to military spending.

You gave a grave reminder of how First World parliament in US did not prevent the country from spending to the point of near insolvency. You should similarly remind us of First World parliaments in Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Switzerland that have no solvency issues.