World's Most Expensive City

• CNN Edition: International (04 Mar 2014) - World's most expensive city is ...

So we have now become the world's most expensive city  according to the Economist Intelligence Unit's Worldwide Cost Of Living Index 2014 Report.

Essentially, it is an aggregate score of a basket of items, one of which is the price of a car.

So that kinda got me thinking.

WHAT IF.......

...we are to take the price of a car out of this aggregate score calculation?

The way I see it, the price of a car in Singapore is ridiculously expensive to the extent that it doesn't, imho, offer justifiable utility to own one.

Good thing we are a small island country where in time to come (soon), our subway system would be able to cover almost every corner of this land, sans the occasional breakdown here and there and here and there and here and.....

I am sure our Gahmen are already on hand to tackle the issue of frequent breakdowns for we, the voters will have a say in getting the right guy for the transport ministry. We will replace any incompetent minister with our vote and we will continue doing it every 5 years until we get the right guy.

With the ruling party getting only a mere 60% of the popular vote in the 2011 General Elections, the day where we have the option to pick an alternative candidate from the opposition pool may just be sooner than we think.

If the ruling party cannot find the right person for the job, then perhaps we should try someone else from alternative parties.

But I digress.

So coming back to the topic on hand. I was thinking since the average Singaporean CAN do without owning a car due to our relatively awesome public transport, sans breakdowns, why not take that out of the equation?

Oh. Some may say that owning a car gives you the freedom to go anywhere, anytime in comfort. Well, if you wallet allows it, take the taxi which would still be cheaper than owning a car.

Wait? What's that you say? No cab during peak period especially during thunder storms or near midnight? Well, if you can't sit back, relax and wait for the peak period to be over i.e. you die-die-money-no-object must get to a certain place, a certain time, there is always UBER Singapore.

• The Straits Times (21 Feb 2014) - Singapore Budget 2014: Duties On alcohol, Tobacco And Gambling To Rise
  

While we are cutting back on luxuries, perhaps we should also take into consideration giving up alcohol, tobacco and gambling, given the tax hike as announced in the latest budget recently.

When one is living on meager resources, one should be able to forgo the able three items that are already expensive even before the latest tax increase.

A dram, a shot, a glass or a mug is nice to have but not essential. Tobacco is bad for the health which will cost you even more when your medical bills start coming in later in life. And then there's gambling where it is well, just bad.

So, if we are to take out these items from the calculation, would we still rank No.1?

I would like to believe that we won't, albeit we'd probably still be in the Top 20.

My point in this entry is this.

There is no need to panic right now. Singapore is NOT THAT expensive to the extent that you can't survive.

You'll live. Trust me. Just need to keep your material pursuits in check and you'll do just fine.

Image Credit: http://i2.cdn.turner.com (CNN Edition: International); http://www.bloomberg.com; http://www.straitstimes.com

- Voxeros