Cliff Richard & The Young Ones

Cliff Richard is one of my favourite singers, after Elvis Presley. He was born in India (!) in 1940, a few years older than many of us. Yet he is still performing and will be going around on his 75th Birthday Tour this year. I had seen him singing LIVE in concerts Malaysia twice some years ago. On one occasion I met him walking by (in Genting Highlands) and I said to him "Great show Cliff" and he replied "Thanks!"  I can still sing many of his songs (in the bathroom).

Of interest to me is that he is a committed Christian and gives 10% of his income to charity. He has sung several original songs for Christmas, including the famous Millennium Prayer based on the Lord's Prayer (our Father in Heaven, Hallowed be thy name....) sung to the tune of Auld Lang Syne in 1999 (before the millennium).

He never married, thus the song "Bachelor Boy" sung when he was still young came true! He did have several girlfriends, including Olivia Newton John and Cilla Black. He has denied rumours that he is gay. He does have a close friend who helps to manage his properties.

Below is my version called "The Old Ones", more appropriate for us!!

OLD ONES

(Young Ones by Cliff Richard)

The old ones

Darling we’re the old ones

The old ones shouldn’t be afraid

To live, love, though the flame isn’t strong

For we have not been the young ones very long

Tomorrow, why wait until tomorrow

Cause tomorrow sometimes never comes

So love me, there’s a tale to be told

And the best time is to tell it, when we’re old

Once in every lifetime

Came a love like this

Oh I need you and you need me

Oh my darling, can’t you see

The old dreams should be dreamed together

And old hearts shouldn’t be worry

And today, while the years had flown

Darling then we’ll teach the young ones of our own

Socialism and Capitalism

Most of the European states with problems started with the "socialist" welfare and trade unions (also socialist) policies of the free lunch leaving behind the ideals of free enterprise and "supply & demand" principles. High union pay did not commensurate with productivity. High retirement benefits led to high expenses for the increasing elderly population..( In Asia many senior people are still productive.)  More benefits for single mothers in the West - so why get married then? Budgets are always in deficits.  UK was also going down that road till Margaret Thatcher rolled back those socialist policies. Of course many did not like it, human nature will not give up their " perks". Similar stories in Malaysia with those enjoying the special privileges. Will they ever voluntarily give up their privileges?

Recently, there was increase in the jobs in US. But one of the reasons was that The Republican-majority Congress voted to end the welfare unemployment benefits for those who have been receiving money for more than one year. They have no choice but to go back to work. Who wants to work if they can get paid by not working?
 
Capitalism is not perfect - it has to be somewhat, but not too rigidly, regulated to avoid abuses  and to allow incentives to NGOs involved in charity/welfare. They do a better job than govt. welfare agencies.

One of the suggestions is to provide "vouchers" for parents to choose the school rather than pouring the money direct to schools. So all schools including govt schools will try to do better by indirect competition. The parents do not get any cash. The vouchers will be redeemed by the school which the parent sent the child to.

Socialism in theory sounds good - equality in income. But as an economic system of growth, it has failed. Socialist countries are more likely to have less freedom of expression than capitalist countries.

Parallel countries eg East & West Germany, North and South Korea have shown the obvious. Former communist and socialist countries countries have stagnated. China is communist in politics but is more capitalist in economics than many Western countries. The Labour party under Tony Blair has shed many of the hard Labour policies. So has Germany.  India also stagnated under its socialist policies in the 60s and 70s and although the gap between the rich and poor may be greater now, there is less poverty now than before. There is no more famine and rationing as before (I was there in India in the 60s when there was rationing in grains, sugar,and oil). Now India is almost self sufficient in food production.

Singapore has  dropped its Socialist label and see how it has progressed.The Malays in Sinapore whose median income is more than RM10,000 are better off in general  that those in Malaysia (exclude the UMNOputras). Affirmative action is sometimes necessary but you will agree that the policies in Malaysia are "socialistic" as far as the NEP is concerned. Get the perks but no need to work hard. Like many socialist countries, there is also the privileged class ie the top government officials.

As I said capitalist system is not perfect. It is better than socialism in practice (no point talking of theory). Like in USA and UK, many NGOs and church based charities are given tax benefits to care for the underprivileged and they are more effective and efficient than government programmes to help the poor.  SK Teoh

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