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Why is Singapore no longer "cool"?
- stevetron 9mo agoI'd say it lost it's coolness when it started public flogging.
- yanhangyhy 9mo agowe call it the rich version of north korean
- Supermancho 9mo agoWho is "we"? While the ugliness of Taiwanese justice (or lack thereof) makes it unappealing to me, from the other issues mentioned in these threads and the recent 3 year sentence for killing a little girl - https://jakartaglobe.id/news/sixyearold-indonesian-girl-killed-in-singapore-crash-laid-to-rest-in-jakarta https://jakartaglobe.id/news/sixyearold-indonesian-girl-kill..., I'm not sure it rises to the most troubling qualities of NK. eg The population doesn't starve en masse, no familial dynasty, and there is no alternate-fictional history.
- yanhangyhy 9mo ago> Who is "we"? many chinese people, it's kind of joke but still..also true on many levels. > I'm not sure it rises to the most troubling qualities of NK its run by a dictator from the begining, with many strange laws to tell the people not to do this and not to do that. the major difference is that Singapore is pro-west (and pretend to be neutral) so no trash talk from the western media and its portrayed as a 'democracy'
- snowpid 9mo ago" so no trash talk from the western media and its portrayed as a 'democracy' " Please provide sources
- yanhangyhy 9mo agoplease give me a link said singpore is not democary and its run by a dictator
- snowpid 9mo agohttps://freedomhouse.org/country/singapore https://freedomhouse.org/country/singapore Now your turn
- yanhangyhy 9mo agoah shit.. i foget the essence of free world and free speech: you can speak and express, but we can make sure nobody hears you and your voice doens't matter.. you win! this website must make a huge diffrenece for the people all over the world or the western world so people think of singapore as non-democracy sometimes.
- lazylizard 9mo agosingaporeans can read that. in singapore. we can access the rsf.org website too.
- notahacker 9mo agoThis is the "dictator" that you're allowed to run for election against and the "no chewing gum" bylaws Singaporeans sell T-shirts joking about the system to foreigners, right? Try doing that in mainland China...
- yanhangyhy 9mo agoso is USA and Trump, why people call Trump a dictator?
- notahacker 9mo agoTrump tried to reverse the election last time he lost and enjoys suppressing protests with military units. But yeah, he isn't literally a dictator, just would like to be
- yanhangyhy 9mo agoi failed to understand the enthusiasm for politics memes.. it's a good point, i just dont undertand the fuss. in the end, you want to something changes in your life, not only something like 'i can joke about our system'. if it can change the system and the policy, i totally support them. but i dont see many cases. If i have to choose one, i will always choose the gum. i read so many pepople complain the ICE on rednote and on reddit complain Trump and jokes about him, i just don't see the changes. Does Trump retreat any of his major polices? If not, are people just lives in the bubbles?
- Saline9515 9mo agoThere are many ways to keep yourself (and your son, after, like in SG). You can use arbitrary force and secret police, as it is the case in DPRK or China. Or you can use the fact that you basically own the State to pit everything against your political opponents. There are various ways to do this, and at different intensities. SG's PAP is famous for using lawfare against political bloggers, newspapers and political opponents who question their rule. Western democracies, where the selectorate is currently fearing for a populist takeover has started to do the same: German politicians filed more than 4,000 defamation cases, vague "hate speech laws" allow to selectively try your opponents, the State funds compliant press and NGOs, and so on. The EU functions in a way that democratic oversight and popular will is so dilluted that it isn't a real constraint, while keeping the "democratic" varnish and some legitimacy. At least in SG, DPRK or China, things are clear and not hypocritical, maybe it's better for everyone.
- sthkr 9mo ago[flagged]
- Octoth0rpe 9mo agoMan, imagine the biggest complaint that people can come up with re: a country is that you don't like the local english pidgin's politeness marker.
- budududuroiu 9mo agothis kinda comment damn jialat sia. come outside settle
- ifwinterco 9mo agoI think Singapore's immigration policy is still interesting and relevant to western countries, but it's true it's also kind of similar to the UAE. Essentially it's (relatively) easy to get work visas for areas where there's a genuine shortage but difficult to get permanent residency and almost impossible to get citizenship. That's still a very different policy to what most western countries have right now. The UAE has the most extreme version of this so the milder Singaporean version is less interesting as an example.
- snowpid 9mo agoThe UAE still murders gay men just for beeing gay. Besides the lack of morality this affects 7 % of all men worldwide. Im not sure if UAE really be an exciting place and thus would someone migrate to it if you care about culture and stuff.
- marcosdumay 9mo agoYes, Singapore will execute people for different reasons, not for being gay.
- notpushkin 9mo agoYes, mostly for drug trafficking and murder. You could in theory argue that drug trafficking is kinda comparable to being gay [1], but the capital punishment is only for huge amounts: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Singapore#Misuse_of_Drugs_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Singapor... [1]: I mean, in my book consensual trade between two grown up people is closer to consensual sex between two grown up people than it is to murder. That said, there is still some difference.
- pydry 9mo agoThey also applied the death penalty to somebody with the mental capacities of a child who was being exploited as a drug mule.
- 9mo ago
- chillacy 9mo ago> Singapore’s free speech restrictions, whatever you think of them, no longer seem so far outside the box. Trump is suing plenty of people. The UK is sending police to knock on people’s doors for social media posts, and so on. That too makes Singapore more of a “normal country" That seems like it should make Singapore _more_ cool, at least my personal theory is that this changed a lot of perception of China (at least in some parts of gen z social media, "it's a very Chinese time").
- thisisauserid 9mo ago[flagged]
- moffkalast 9mo agoYoghurt will not give you a decade in prison for littering or chewing gum.
- jmclnx 9mo agoI think it is due to China. I remember Singapore was a large financial center for Asia, but China's rapid growth overshadowed Singapore. I also think Hong Kong is going through the same thing, plus I believe China is trying to make Shanghai into its main Finance Center, letting Hong Kong's center fade away.
- ergocoder 9mo agoIt's hilarious that we think of Singapore as competing with China where China has 1000x more people. Singapore is pretty impressive.
- badc0ffee 9mo agoWell, 230x.
- ergocoder 9mo agowell, ok, less impressive
- woooooo 9mo agoLook at the map, all ocean travel between East Asia and India/Europe basically has to go past Singapore. They've been a trade and financial center with a substantial chinese population for a long time.
- miyuru 9mo ago> Look at the map, all ocean travel between East Asia and India/Europe basically has to go past Singapore. Same can be said about Sri Lanka.
- woooooo 9mo agoIts less funneled although most straight lines will approach the southern tip of India. Singapore is one of 2 possible ways through Indonesia and its the shorter one.
- alephnerd 9mo agoIt hasn't been cool for a long time. My dad was offered Singaporean citizenship in the 1990s despite then being an Indian national but decided to immigrate to the US to work in tech in Silicon Valley instead and raise us. This is a pretty common story among Bay Area Chinese and Indian Americans who immigrated during that era. In the 90s and 2000s, Singapore's value add was that it could act as a door into China, India, and ASEAN due to expansive trade and investment treaties, but why would I want to build an R&D center in Changi staffed with PRCs and Indians when I could just hire them directly in Shenzhen or Bangalore. After China committed to being hands-off on HK business and contract law in the 2000s, SG lost some value as it didn't have the same connections that HK had legally speaking to enter the Chinese market. SG continues to remain the best place to incorporate a business in Asia, but just because your lawyers and holding company is in SG it doesn't mean your operations, operational headcount, and capital expenditures is there.
- lostmsu 9mo agoThis changed back to the advantage of Singapore when China cracked down on HK.
- alephnerd 9mo agoFor the average HKer - absolutely. Most of my HK native friends and colleagues who could immigrated to London, SG, NYC as a result. For a business - it depends on how dependent they are on ExChina capital markets or customers. If you were a company that was primarily and overwhelmingly operating within China, after the changes there was no incentive not to shift most of your operational and executive staff to Shanghai. If you weren't one of those, then shifting to Singapore makes sense. The issue for Singapore is Indian companies have started making the same decisions as those China First companies, so Singapore has lost it's comparative advantage within Asia, as Western FDI remains prominent but is increasingly either routed directly or (in India's case) through challengers like the UAE or London.
- lostmsu 9mo agoJane Street moved a lot of people out.
- budududuroiu 9mo agoTIL detention without trial is a thing in Singapore [^1], ministers love to brag about increasing the severity of detention without trial [^2], and that the longest someone was held in detention without trial in Singapore was 23+9 years [^3]. That person was never charged. [^1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_Law_(Temporary_Provisions)_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminal_Law_(Temporary_Provis... [^2]: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/politics/my-views-on-laws-about-detention-without-trial-have-evolved-coordinating-minister-for-national https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/politics/my-views-on-... [^3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chia_Thye_Poh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chia_Thye_Poh
- 46493168 9mo agoThere’s a reason William Gibson called it “Disneyland with the Death Penalty” https://www.wired.com/1993/04/gibson-2/ https://www.wired.com/1993/04/gibson-2/
- budududuroiu 9mo agoWell, to get the death penalty you have to be charged. I actually think Singapore laws on what could get you the death penalty are pretty clear, and you'd be stupid to violate them. Being detained without trial seems scarier imo
- ivell 9mo agoYou need not violate them knowingly. Just having drugs in your bag placed clandestinely by someone else could get you in trouble. Along with being held without trial and risk of death penalty, this is scary.
- FatherOfCurses 9mo agoYes and whenever I see anyone gushing about Singapore that's the first place my mind goes. You can keep your 1000 different Instagrammable spots, I'd rather go some place that is a little more into democracy and reasonable policing.
- LiquidSky 9mo agoI'll take "begging the question" for $500.
- arduanika 9mo agoCool? Out of all the major world commercial hubs, wasn't it always the hottest and muggiest?
- axus 9mo agoIronically, UAE and Qatar have nicer weather in the winter than Singapore.
- lisper 9mo agoSingapore is on the equator, so winter is not even a well-defined concept there.
- notahacker 9mo agoEverywhere you need to be is air conditioned, which is pretty cool I guess... (Humidity's high but peak temperatures aren't particularly extreme; it's just never cold)
- ergocoder 9mo agoThat's just south east asia in general.
- GCA10 9mo agoOP's critique feels like a celebrity economist's variant of those travel magazine pieces that tell us why Zermatt, Phuket or Nantucket is no longer a "cool" vacation spot. On some sort of momentary buzz meter, sure. But the factors that help Singapore be an Asian or often global hub in so many respects are still running strong, no? Worrying about whether a couple dozen X/Twitter legends are hyping you today feels silly.
- alephnerd 9mo ago> celebrity economist's That is what MarginalRevolution is. It's fairly heterodox by most standards, but not in the good way. > the factors that help Singapore be an Asian or often global hub in so many respects are still running strong, no Nope. If I can now IPO in China or India with Singapore level valuations and attract Singapore level deal sizes, why would I as a Chinese or Indian want to dedicate significant capital in Singapore beyond what is needed to build an operating shell to interface with western capital markets? Similarly, if I'm GS, JPMC, Citadel, etc and I'm seeing significant dealflows in China and India, I should concentrate on building an organization within their borders as much as possible - which is what they have been doing since the mid-2010s. Singapore will remain a major financial hub, but it is losing it's relative advantage to other hubs within Asia.
- tim333 9mo agoIndia and China don't have the low tax stable capitalist system thing that Singapore has. In some ways it's advantage has increased now Hong Kong is part of China.
- alephnerd 9mo ago> low tax stable capitalist system thing that Singapore has I can say from personal professional experience that historically businesses are domiciled in Singapore primarily for us investors in Western capital markets to enter China, India, and ASEAN. For capital that is already located in China, India, and parts of ASEAN (primarily Vietnam), that becomes less attractive, especially because China, India, and Vietnam all operate SEZs that have aligned with western corporate law or have BITs signed with major western financial hubs (eg. Pudong SEZ, GIFT City SEZ), so we don't need to route via SG to the same degree we did 20 years ago. Additionally, if we want to exit our investments in China or India, we have no choice but to list on a Chinese (including Hong Kong) or Indian stock exchange because no other Asian market has comparable trade volume, which makes exits difficult. Finally, what differentiates Singapore from the Dubai or London? Depending on where you are investing in Asia, you may end up getting much more preferential access from either of those two instead of Singapore. This is why Singapore has lost it's mojo - it can't differentiate itself as a financial services center and Singapore never really had a strong innovation sector.
- deleted 9mo ago[deleted]
- somenameforme 9mo agoThere's an extremely low fertility rate paired with a rapidly aging population. When I visited there were endless advertisements for geriatric type care / end-of-life type planning / etc, and a notably older population working quite low wage jobs in a place where everything was crazy expensive, especially relative to its northern neighbor. It felt depressing. It seems like one of those places that is probably quite nice if you're loaded, but it seems like a pretty rough place if you're not already well off. I was also surprised that many of the stereotypes about 'one fine city' were not quite on the mark. Jaywalking, crossing against a cross-walk light, and various other little infractions were ever-present which left me feeling a bit odd as when in Rome do what the Romans do, but yeah... not gonna risk that.
- antonymoose 9mo agoYour commentary has me reflecting on my own hometown. I grew up in a wealthy resort and retirement island, the kind of place that is now so expensive I could not afford real estate anywhere on or even near to. Very aged population relative to the rest of the nation and so during the Great Recession a wave of retirees found themselves owning a home but otherwise impoverished and working service jobs out of desperation. Always was a sad interaction, and working alongside them was often worse. You would never hear the end of their misery, understandable bitterness, and regret. Nowadays, thanks to the same demographic shifts, those jobs are back in the hands of the youth. Except now it’s all folks who grew up on the island that seemingly will live at home with their parents for the rest of their lives working those jobs. They otherwise would not be able to live anywhere close. I have to ponder what the next shift in staffing there will look like.
- browningstreet 9mo agoThis is actually the whole developed world at the moment. Every place is a retirement community now.
- typon 9mo agoEven though it feels depressing right now, I think the post-boomer world is going to be an amazing place.
- moffkalast 9mo agoSingapore was never cool, they were always the most authoritarian place on Earth without an actual dictator in charge.
- thomassmith65 9mo agoAccording to the Travis Bickle clone army who are leaving comments here today, that's a wonderful thing.
- lbrito 9mo ago>Yet today’s American political right is not very interested in technocracy. That is a deeply weird statement to make in 2026.
- wk_end 9mo agoI think you're (understandably) interpreting "technocrat" differently than what the author intends and what it's historically meant. Technocrats form the foundation of the so-called "deep state" that Trump rails against: unelected bureaucrats - scientists, economists, doctors, researchers, engineers, statisticians - controlling low-level government policy (ideally) on the basis of data and knowledge of their particular field. What it doesn't mean is "a government run on the insane whims of coked-up techno-utopian billionaire tech CEOs", which is what the current right seems to be interested in.
- voidhorse 9mo agoRight, authoritarian oligarchy is much closer to what certain parties desire here in the States. Is unfortunate that the prospective oligarchs chose technology as their vehicle (of both oligarchy and authority, via surveillance, of course), and it's even more unfortunate that we let them do so.
- jpgvm 9mo ago> Singapore is a much more democratic country than most outsiders realize Yeah no. In Singapore you have a single party which has used it's constitution, laws, courts and media control to enforce a defacto one-party state for 60 years. Singapore citizens can (and do) vote but those votes have absolutely zero chance of changing anything. Is it technically democracy? Well they vote so yes? Is there any chance at all of peaceful regime change through voting? Technically yes, in practice? Probably not. I would expect extreme suppression and HK style riot crushing. They have been doing it quietly for decades, targeting and legally destroying/bankrupting any opposition to the PAP. So the only real difference vs say China is that while both are authoritarian regimes the Chinese didn't bother with a mechanism to pretend you can throw them out. To be clear, I don't object to their form of government. I think it works for them and thus it's completely ok. If anything I find Singapore a really safe and efficient place and visit frequently. I do object to people pretending it's somehow a liberal democracy though, that just ain't the truth.
- Saline9515 9mo agoPeople also voted in USSR. DPRK has a 99,9% voter turnout that modern OECD countries could only dream about. Voting is only a part of the democratic process, but is meaningless taken alone. To add to what you say, Singapore is not a democracy, Lee Kuan Yew's son ruled the country for 20 years after his death, and his successor was chosen by him.
- lazylizard 9mo agothose votes have every chance of changing everything. its a first past the post system. but fact is they always have majority of the popular vote. i dont think it ever declined below 55%. and at best they get 60+%. there's always a large proportion of singaporeans who want the change. just never enough of them, yet. and maybe there might never be, if most singaporeans are happy with things as they stand.
- marssaxman 9mo agoWhat a strange premise. Aside from the brief period of infamy around the Michael Fay case (mid-90s, a teenager caned for acts of petty vandalism), when were Americans ever paying attention to Singapore? The author keeps referring to "right-wing" this and that, so presumably he is buried too deep in some weird political subculture to realize that his question makes little sense to the rest of us.
- jpadkins 9mo agoTyler Cowen used to blog about Singapore monthly, and now he does not. He reflected on why he doesn't. He admitted that he doesn't because its not cool to people in power. I find that a funny admission because I long suspected that academia's basic function is to suck up to power and justify whatever decisions the elite make.
- directevolve 9mo agoAcademia is a huge place, and no, its basic function is absolutely not to suck up to power. Every academic I know sees their function as the opposite, even if few take advantage of the limited protections afforded by tenure to speak truth to powers But Tyler Cowen’s calling in particular is ABSOLUTELY to suck up to power.
- marssaxman 9mo agoThanks, that's helpful context about the author.
- ineedaj0b 9mo agoOccasionally, you can read a comment and realize you can skip evaluating it and instead enjoy the sultry writing of the NYT itself.
- janpeuker 9mo agoI think the UAE point is crucial - in many things, including freedom and basic rights, they are worse than Singapore. Now that most of the west (as the article says) treats civil rights and press freedom more like Singapore does, the right shifts right. I am not in the US so can't comment on the immigration point but I perceive it exactly the other way around with heavy handed immigration enforcement being worse than most expected.
- nicbou 9mo agoThe West, or just the USA?
- maxglute 9mo agoSingapore was never "cool" as long as I remember in Asian expat circles since 90s. It's like the nice clean manicured places where boring expats who enjoys boiled potatoes and chicken breasts without spice settle. Dubai without all the high quality sin.
- deleted 9mo ago[deleted]
- badc0ffee 9mo agoI thought Dubai was Dubai without all the high quality sin.
- maxglute 9mo agoTame Orchard towers and four floors of whores never produced dubai chocolate tier of memes. Singapore is Disney with death penalty. Dubai is Disney with Minnie Mouse scat play. Hilariously, both great places to raise kids if you stick to the main attractions.
- deaux 9mo ago> Hilariously, both great places to raise kids if you stick to the main attractions. I haven't heard of many examples of people having profoundly positive impacts on the world being raised in either of those two countries. Of course, this will be impacted by their size and in the case of Dubai, it's recent ascendancy. Still, it makes me very wary of that claim.
- virtualritz 9mo ago“Disneyland with the death penalty” [1] —William Gibson [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disneyland_with_the_Death_Penalty https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disneyland_with_the_Death_Pena...
- JCattheATM 9mo agoYes, still spot on - there's a reason that description lives on so many years later. Barbaric city states like Singapore should be abolished or taken over and reformed.
- HighGoldstein 9mo agoI love how you're opposed to the death penalty for provably societally damaging criminal activites, but violent imperialism on those that don't agree with you (which would almost certainly entail many deaths)? Completely OK.
- eli_gottlieb 9mo ago> "Perhaps", he speculated, "Singapore's destiny will be to become nothing more than a smug, neo-Swiss enclave of order and prosperity, amid a sea of unthinkable ... weirdness." I think, reading this today, it probably describes what people like about the place.
- booleandilemma 9mo agoI don't think Singapore was ever cool. In fact I'd say up until a few years ago most Americans didn't even know Singapore existed. Why would they? Now maybe that's changed with Crazy Rich Asians, Tiktok, and the "Senator, I'm Singaporean" meme. For SEA, Thailand was always the cool kid on the block.
- ineedaj0b 9mo agohmm. I would say for most Americans it was Japan. Sushi did numbers. Thailand was for sex tourism. Singapore was cool to government/political types because Lee Kuan Yew really did pull off a miracle.
- booleandilemma 9mo agoIf you read to the end of my comment then you'll see I was only considering Southeast Asia, but if we talk about Asia in general then yeah, we gotta mention Japan ^_^
- deleted 9mo ago[deleted]
- noobermin 9mo agoThis article is so strange. It's interesting, but all he seems to care about is what right-wingers think. Who cares what they think? I guess that's all to whom Tyler Cowen wishes to appeal.
- paintbox 9mo agoI used to be an occasional MR reader, but stopped visiting lately because of this. When it became obvious how the US presidential race will end (basically after assassination attempt) Cowen's tone heavily shifted. Even the facade of objectivity went through the window. Now most of his writing is spent on defending the indefensible. Shame, his early takes helped shape my world model.
- SanjayMehta 9mo agoSingapore was never "cool." It was always a shopping mall masquerading as a city.
- chvid 9mo agoI think Singapore will always scare (in particular) Americans. Rule-following, restrictive, collectivist, inclusive, intellectual, anti-corrupt, high-functioning ... A politician like Donald Trump would never come out of Singapore. And also Singapore is very much an inspiration for modern day China.
- noobermin 9mo agoI think the only thing you're wrong about is modern China is a lot more about face which also is part of Singapore's psyche but nowhere near as much. While there might be some book-cooking, it's nowhere near as bad as the blatant kpi fudging that provincial governments do in China. The CCP also is far more authoritarian than (yes) even the PAP. You do not have random ministers getting disappeared after they fall out of political favour with Xi Jingping.
- maxglute 9mo agoOP likely just pointing out Singapore used to train a lot of CCP officials something like 50k (I think slowed last 10 years). One of the SG uni governance program is colloquially called "mayor's class", joke is it's overseas branch of central party school. LKY met every PRC leader in some sort of mentor relationship. Obviously national scale between PRC/SG different, hence SG more of model of mayor/municipal level.
- shell0x 9mo agoAs a German expat who lived in Singapore for 3 years, it’s still the best country I ever lived in and I’ve also worked in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan HK, and Germany. Everything works, it’s very efficient, public transit and internet is good and it’s extremely safe. It also has great food and has low taxes. Most Western countries just can’t compete and while the UAE is pretty well run in some aspect, there’s always the religious part which makes me uneasy when I’m there. As a single person without kids, there is no better place than Singapore.
- rschachte 9mo agoThat’s a lot of places to live. Moving to the UK from the US for me was already mentally draining logistically so curious how you balance that
- shell0x 9mo agoWhen I was in my twenties, I didn’t really buy stuff and apartments in Asia are mostly fully furnished. All my stuff fitted in a 32kg luggage until 2022 or so.
- red-iron-pine 9mo agowhere in asia is fully furnished? in Japan and China the apartments I was in didn't even come with washing machines, dishwashers, and in one case, AC
- shell0x 9mo agoSingapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan was all fully furnished. Most property sites have an option to filter for that. Also there are a lot of service apartments available too!
- seanmcdirmid 9mo agoMost Chinese apartments come furnished, at least in Beijing. You have to negotiate with the landlord if you want to use your own furniture. I’ve never had an apartment in Beijing that didn’t have a washer machine. No dryer of course, and these are cheap washer machines, you could buy one yourself for 1k RMB or so, well 20 years ago you could.
- burnt-resistor 9mo agoUh, it was never "cool" to me because of its brutal and unreasonable authoritarianism like caning people for trivial infractions.
- JKCalhoun 9mo ago"Especially in light of some of the burgeoning anti-Asian sentiment, for instance from Helen Andrews and some others." Huh? I had to look up Helen Andrews. From Wikipedia: "She wrote that wokeness is fundamentally female, as it prioritizes 'empathy over rationality, safety over risk, cohesion over competition.'" (And coincidentally you have "Rice Theory: Why Eastern Cultures Are More Cooperative" on the front page and I can see how in her mind there is a line between "wokeness" and "cooperative".)
- JCattheATM 9mo agoIt was never 'cool'. It's a barbaric totalitarian state that hides it well. It's one of the few countries I truly don't want to ever support by spending money as a tourist there.
- shell0x 9mo agoIt’s still a significantly better place to live than America or Europe though. > It's a barbaric totalitarian state that hides it well. The same can be said about the Us which stirs up wars in other countries, kidnaps other countries presidents and has ICE arresting kids. I’d pick Singapore over the US any day of the week.
- JCattheATM 9mo ago> It’s still a significantly better place to live than America or Europe though. They keep a small, 'racially pure' population, ban any negative press, kill any undesirables....sure it is. > The same can be said about the Us which stirs up wars in other countries, kidnaps other countries presidents and has ICE arresting kids. The US under Trump has changed a lot, this is true, but in most states it's not putting people to death for minor reasons and actually allows enough freedom to make love worth living. You'd have to be an NPC to be happy living in Singapore IMO.
- namlem 9mo agoThat's a matter of opinion. The US has its faults, but overall it's quite easy to have a very high quality of life here, and to live a huge variety of different lifestyles if that suits you.
- acd 9mo agoI think low fertility rate is related to high Internet use. You could argue its about high education.