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 * NOTE BEFORE YOU READ EVERYTHING. FOR THE ECONOMY OF SINGAPORE ONLY THE STUFF IN BOLD and ITALICS IS MY EDITS. EVERYTHING ELSE COMES FROM THE PAGE THE WIKI PAGE ECONOMY OF SINGAPORE.
 * Reviewing students you are ONLY to review my ECONOMY OF SINGAPORE edits, disregard everything else.

British Colonization
Singapore's economy was a major beneficiary of colonialism establishing financial and commercial hubs.

'1819: Sir Stamford Rafflles a Lieutenant-Governor of Bencoolen (1818–1824), established a post on the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. Colonization provided the foundation for capitalism in the region. Colonization led Singapore to be the "second richest place in Asia after Japan". Much of the wealth accumulated early within the region was to be accredited to it hosting one of the major seaport hubs.'

1826: Singapore was deemed the capital of the straits settlements, which were territories ruled by the British East India Company 

Trade Expansion
New traveling route brings economic opportunity

'''1869: On 17 November 1969, the Suez Canal opens, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea. This allowed for an increase speed of travel time, which resulted in a rise in trade volume. The nation saw a $32 million dollar rise just a year after its opening.'''

1879: Trade volume reaches $105 million.

Independence
'1950: The region saw social unrest which resulted in colonial powers deciding to relinquish some decision making. With spurs of race riots the colonial powers sought to empower and establish a formidable local government. With most of the unrest resulting from high unemployment, the local government was directed to solve this issue. The economic development board was the official name of the organization designed to create jobs.'

1965: Upon independence from Malaysia, Singapore faced a small domestic market, and high levels of unemployment and poverty. 70 percent of Singapore's households lived in badly overcrowded conditions, and a third of its people squatted in slums on the city fringes. Unemployment averaged 14 percent, GDP per capita was US$516, and half of the population was illiterate.

Industrialization Boom & Change
Structural change and machinery propels the economy

1965-1973: Annual growth of real GDP was 12.7%.

'1973-1979: Oil crises raised government awareness of economic issues. It slated the government to create a new forum of economic change. The government highlighted a focus in technology and education to be the new wave of economic gain. It also managed to minimize inflation and provide workers with the proper machinery to sustain growth'.

The Singapore government established the Economic Development Board to spearhead an investment drive, and make Singapore an attractive destination for foreign investment. FDI inflows increased greatly over the following decades, and by 2001 foreign companies accounted for 75% of manufactured output and 85% of manufactured exports. Meanwhile, Singapore's savings and investment rates rose among the highest levels in the world, while household consumption and wage shares of GDP fell among the lowest.

Growth in the Service Sector
With Diminishing growth rates, the country again needed to diversify its economy

As a result of the investment drive, Singapore's capital stock increased 33 times by 1992, and achieved a tenfold increase in the capital-labour ratio. Living standards steadily rose, with more families moving from a lower-income status to middle-income security with increased household incomes.

1987: Lee Kuan-Yew claimed that (based on the home ownership criterion) 80% of Singaporeans could now be considered to be members of the middle-class. However, much unlike the economic policies of Greece and the rest of Europe, Singapore followed a policy of individualising the social safety net. This led to a higher than average savings rate and a very sustainable economy in the long run. Without a burdensome welfare state or its likeliness, Singapore has developed a very self-reliant and skilled workforce well versed for a global economy. Because of the success and how it has governed itself "the late conservative economist Milton Friedman described Singapore as an example of how to do development right. If you compare the conditions of people in a place like Singapore with the conditions of people in a place like red China or for that matter Indonesia, you will see that the economic freedom is a very important component of total freedom," he said on Free to Choose, a TV series first broadcast on PBS in 1980." 

'1990's: posed a great question for Singapore, as to how they would reinvent their economy. The 1990's emergence of efficient manufacturing firms in southeast Asia challenge the nation with such a small labor force and land restrictions. Friedrich would noted how " it would be "unlikely to expand beyond the current 25% share of the economy," when regarding manufacturing firms. Despite struggling in the manufacturing sector Singapore thrived in global finance, trading, and was a industrial center in international trade.'

Singapore's economic strategy produced real growth averaging 8.0% from 1960 to 1999. Since the nations independence in 1965 Singapore GDP has amassed an average of a 9.5% increase. The economy picked up in 1999 after the regional financial crisis, with a growth rate of 5.4%, followed by 9.9% for 2000. However, the economic slowdown in the United States, Japan and the European Union, as well as the worldwide electronics slump, had reduced the estimated economic growth in 2001 to a negative 2.0%.

The economy expanded by 2.2% the following year, and by 1.1% in 2003 when Singapore was affected by the SARS outbreak. Subsequently, a major turnaround occurred in 2004 allowed it to make a significant recovery of 8.3% growth in Singapore, although the actual growth fell short of the target growth for the year more than half with only 2.5%. In 2005, economic growth was 6.4%; and in 2006, 7.9%.

'The Nation has made a remarkable recovery from the 2008 global financial crises. In 2010, the nation saw a 15.2% growth rate.'

As of 8 June 2013, Singapore's unemployment rate is around 1.9% and the country's economy has a lowered growth rate, with a rate of 1.8% on a quarter-by-quarter basis—compared to 14.8% in 2010.

'2015 and 2016 saw a downturn for the nation as the GDP growth shrunk to just 2 percent. Despite growth diminishing, the nation has yet to post negative growth rates which are a positive sign. During the same period of diminishing economic growth. Unemployment and inflation have also decreased.'

Singapore workforce[edit]
In 2000, Singapore had a workforce of about 2.2 million. With limited access to natural resources Singapore has been forced to do the only thing it really could do, invest in its people. The country has the largest proficiency of English language speakers in Asia, making it an attractive place for multinational corporations. Singapore has come along way from where it once stood. 'In the 1970's according to Tilak Abeysinghe "2.4 percent of the labor force were degree holders" By 1990 the number had only rose to 6.3%. However in 2013 the number of labor force who hold degrees has amassed to 31%. The nations directive toward high skilled labor jobs, has promoted both growth and education to the region.' The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), the sole trade union federation which has a symbiotic relationship with the ruling party, comprises almost 99% of total organised labour. Government policy and pro-activity rather than labour legislation controls general labour and trade union matters.[citation needed]

The Employment Act offers little protection to white-collar workers due to an income threshold. The Industrial Arbitration Court handles labour-management disputes that cannot be resolved informally through the Ministry of Manpower. The Singapore Government has stressed the importance of co-operation between unions, management and government (tripartism), as well as the early resolution of disputes. There has been only one strike in the past 15 years.

Singapore has enjoyed virtually full employment for long periods of time. Amid an economic slump, the unemployment rate rose to 4.0% by the end of 2001, from 2.4% early in the year. Unemployment has since declined and as of 2012 the unemployment rate stands at 1.9%.

While the Singapore government has taken a stance against minimum wage and unemployment benefit schemes, in 2007 the government introduced a Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) scheme to supplement wages of low-skilled workers. In order to support employers in hiring older Singaporean workers, Special Employment Credit (SEC) was introduced in 2011. It was first enhanced in 2012 to provide employers with support in hiring older Singaporean workers and Persons with Disabilities (PWDs). It helped the employers to cope with costs associated with the increase in Central Provident Fund (CPF) contribution rates for older workers. The 5 year SEC scheme was further extended to additional 3 years, up to 2019 to encourage employers to voluntarily re-employ older workers aged 65 and above.

The Singapore Government and the NTUC have tried a range of programs to increase lagging productivity and boost the labour force participation rates of women and older workers. However, labour shortages persist in the service sector and in many low-skilled positions in the construction and electronics industries. Foreign workers help make up this shortfall. In 2000, there were about 600,000 foreign workers in Singapore, constituting 27% of the total work force. As a result, wages are relatively suppressed or do not rise for all workers. To have some controls, the government imposes a foreign worker levy payable by employers for low end workers like domestic help and construction workers. In 2012, the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) reported that Singapore should continue to fine-tune the calibration of its inflow of foreigners as the country continues to face an ageing population and a shrinking workforce. Singapore Parliament accepted the recommendations by its Economic Strategies Committee (ESC) for the optimal ratio of the level of immigration and foreign manpower for both high and low skilled workers. The Government recognises that the current overall foreign workforce should complement the local resident workforce and not replace the Singaporean Core concept, and helps companies greatly as they raise productivity through business restructuring and workforce retraining; raise resident labour force participation rate.

The phrase NASCAR dad broadly refers to a demographic group of often white, usually middle-aged, working-class or lower-middle-class men in North America. The group received this nickname because they are men who are believed to typically enjoy watching NASCAR racing, or comparable high-impact sports or entertainment.

The term was often used during the United States presidential election of 2004, particularly in describing the efforts of Democrats to regain the votes of white southern males. The group consists of an estimated 45 million people in the USA.

History/ Term Origins
The first use of the term "NASCAR dad" originated from Celinda Lake. She coined the term in 2002 "to encourage Democratic candidates to reach out to the millions of white, blue-collar NASCAR enthusiasts, formerly known as ‘‘Reagan Democrats.’’ The term essentially became nonexistent post-2005 after poll reviews of the election.

Republican Appeal & Tying in Religion
The Republican party centered its 2004 presidential campaign to focus on the war on terror. To ensure this as a mainstay, the party emphasized the term to center around religious values and being a hard-working, blue-collar citizen. Topics were formulated to link NASCAR dads to Christian right issues. Pollsters of the Republican party noted how NASCAR’s holds a strong connection to Christianity. The most notable connection between religion and racing, as Vavus states, is NASCAR's prayer before every race.

Patriotism and Categorization
NASCAR dads were depicted by media outlets as being very patriotic and the love for the sport rolled over to their beliefs in religion. Note how articles like "The High-Octane Patriots Holding the Keys to the White House", just in the title depicts the NASCAR fan base as patriots. The media outlets construed opinion by what Vavus explains as creating demographics. The idea to create political demographic arose from MTV’s Gideon Yago, who lobbied for political parties to mimic the advertisement of large corporations. The idea focused on connecting the party to a calling. The connection would gather more overall voters to a specific party.

Democratic Party Objective
Despite the term being coined by Democrats, its use came to empower the Republican party. Democrats believed that the people were blinded by their true identity. The idea was that most people economically appealed to the Democrats approach, however minuet value topics took precedence. The "NASCAR dad" population was believed to be at the time prior to the election the most valuable swing voters. The Democrats per their political demographics realized a trend among men voters. The democratic party had primarily dominated higher earning income men. In order to appeal to all economic levels, they needed to find a way to appeal to the lower income earning male population. Thus the reason Democrats supported the population name known as "NASCAR dads". To categorize them made appeals easier.

NASCAR Family
NASCAR and several media platforms attempted to make the "NASCAR dad" a positive icon. While everyone may not have agreed with this, media and especially TV network stations stated that NASCAR was a family sport. This notion came from the idea that the main attraction to a race was the family atmosphere. Thus, the image that was attempting to be formulated, was that the "NASCAR dad" was a family man.

Opinions of NASCAR's Family Man Idea and Identity

 * "Driver Bobby Labonte, at Hardball host Chris Matthews’ prompting, agreed that NASCAR dads are ‘‘pretty much straight arrows’’ who are ‘‘loyal to their wives’’ and ‘‘don’t like their kids seeing a lot of blue material.’’ In other words, they’re ‘‘good clean guys’’ (MSNBC, Hardball, February 13, 2004). "
 * "Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (known as ‘‘Junior’’ to fans), in an interview with Mike Wallace during the September 29, 2004 broadcast of 60 Minutes, cast some doubt on Labonte’s assessment by highlighting what he called the NASCAR dads’ ‘‘aggressive Southeast’’ side, in reference to Southern fans’ persistent practice of displaying ‘‘rebel’’ flags at races. "
 * "ABCNEWS' Political Unit, they're "auto racing fan Democrats, usually anti-gun control, and tend to live in more rural areas of the country. "
 * " Professorial pundit Larry Sabato calls them "middle- to lower middle-class males who are family men, live in rural areas, used to vote heavily Democratic but now usually vote Republican. "
 * " NRA's Wayne LaPierre, they're "hard-working, average tax-paying Americans that are raising their families and putting their kids through school. They are patriotic. They own guns. They hunt, and they go shooting and they love the Second Amendment.

Swing Vote
While the Democratic party deemed the "NASCAR dad" population as the swing vote, for the most part, this is not true. Despite the fact that Bush won the race by the "single electoral votes of Ohio" as levy states in his article "United States presidential election of 2004", the wrong population was targeted. The southern white male population had been overwhelmingly Republican. Also, this specific population only accounted for 2 percent of the total population. What the Democrats missed to identify and target was the independent voters. The independent voter accounted for nearly half of the population in the United States, a much larger political demographic than "NASCAR dads".

Article Evaluation: Parliament of Singapore
The article which was created in 2017 appears to be semi reliable. I Acknowledging that quality can be better than quantity and it does stand true that the sources are indeed fact based. So, despite there only being 6 references, they are not opinion based. The major concern I had with the article as a whole is that is was created in 2017. In the view History tabs the selected revisions are pretty limited. I would there is only abut 25. Which is rather surprising for such a long article. Some of which just happen to be arguments of word usage.