Don't Slay The Goose That Lays Golden Eggs

In my opinion, I think that the writer is correct in saying that Singapore should not make hasty and risky actions in hope of bringing instant but unstable wealth to the nation. For the past few years, Singapore's economy has already been considered one of the top few in the world due to our carefully planned out economic system, good international relations which were developed through time and a suitable governing system contributed by Lee Kuan Yew which removed all corruption from reeking in our country causing lost of government funds which were collected from the tax payers. However, if the government were to allow the Intergrated Resorts to be built, were gambling would be greatly held, it would waste all the works and achievements Singapore have obtained so far.

Firstly, if gambling were to be encouraged to the public, the people would be addicted to gambling, wasting their money into a risk and hence, have no motivation in putting in effort in their own proper jobs. Who would not want to hit the jackpot if they have the chance rather than to continue their usual lives working for years, hoping to get promoted one day. Hence, This would then lead to low productivity and effeciency of Singaporean workers and thus, lack of supply in the Singapore economy. As you know, for an economy to be successful, demand and supply have to be high so that there is a liquid flow of cash. However, if the supply were to be low, the economy which was developed after all these years would be totally ruined and wasted.

Secondly, Singapore has a very small but open economy. Hence, maintaining a good image in the globalised world is a very crucial point in having close and good relations with other successful counrtries, especially developed countries, so that there would be more international trade and thus, maintaining a healthy economy in Singapore. However, if Singapore were to be to built casinos around the country making it the main attraction and icon of Singapore, it would be just like blatantly shouting to the world that Singapore has become a country with people addicted to gambling and risking money. Thus, foreign businessmen would think twice before deciding to trade alongside with Singapore tradesmen as they would have less trust on us. This would then lead to a bad image portrayed by Singapore's businessmen and thus, lead to less growth in our economy due to less international tradings.

Lastly, Singapore's current legal system which is very effective in solving corruption and crime within the country is also one of the factors why Singapore is able to control and account the movement of its currency within the country accurately. This helps a lot in avoiding government funds from being taken away illegally by officers or the citizens not paying their taxes. It is not new that whenever casinos are built in a city in large numbers, the crime rate of the area would increase due to more people going bankkrupt and the large sum of money readily available to be stealed in the casinos. This is why tv shows such as CSI:Miami was inspired. Thus, casinos would thus affect the integrity of government officers and also the citizens, leading to a downfall of the governance in Singapore.

However, I think that this article's argument is slightly biased as it does not show that in this stage, the world is in a economic crisis which affect our country greatly. To compensate for that, the government has no chioce but to boost the attraction of Singapore persuading more people to invest in tourism in Singapore which would give us an economic advantage. But the govenrment would have to ensure that these casinos do have a great significance and uniqueness to it so as to be different from other cities such as Los Angelas which is already very successful in this field. this is so that people would decide to come to Singapore's casinos instead of those of other countries.