Picatho's causeries

At the like period of the preceding years, I would have started stocking up CNY groceries, changed new notes and gotten red packets, in order to welcome the CNY festival.

For this year under the new economy, I think I have to lean to tighten my belt. Why? Simply because all the while, those extra prices of petrol, cigarette, toll, fuel, those can eat and those can't eat, had have devouring my income. So there is not much left for my reserve and so in my budget.

Some more, the pricing condition of commodities is worsened this year as reported. The prices of seafood have made a double jump. Vegetables have taken the flood's reason to cost more. One thing for sure, a dollar of today would be exchanged for lessor goods as compared to the previous year's dollar.

As I could feel with all the coolness of marketplaces this year. Chinese people are not warring anymore for CNY goods like before. One of my customers was saying that business is like erectile dysfunction and he has used to "hitting housefly at his store" this time.

Looking around, the immaterial (spiritual) moods which are more important than material (fat foods) mood is aggravated.

At first I thought that the toll agreements inked between the government and highway concessionaires would be made transparent by the Cabinet so as the toll's hike be able to be seen through with clarity. Unfortunately the Cabinet had lastly said "No" and these agreements be remained as secret. That means the government's subsidies was/is channeling to whose pocket remains unclear and is under OSA.

No "tong tong chiang" music in supermarkets? That's why MCA Youth is fighting with Recording Industry of Malaysia (RIM) and Public Performance Malaysia (PPM) over the Chinese NY song royalty issue.

It's sad that the Section 16B of the Copyright Act which was amended in 2000 to confer a new right known as performers' right, had produced many blades in a synthetic manner for cash-cow mechanisms to generate income.

Under the new section, performers should be paid royalties if their sound recordings were broadcast, performed or communicated to the public. And PPM, Music Authors Copyrights Protection Bhd (MACP) and Performers and Artistes Rights (M) S/B (PRISM) were being selected as collecting bodies.

Assuming that one has paid an Astro's subscription of which loyalties had been paid by Astro to the so called collecting body, do you think that it's fare for a restaurant to be charged with fees again for showing up the Astro's program at its premises?

Another emotional disturbance is that IRB imposes tax on allowances. Thus making employees' pocket become shrinkage.

With all sorts of these elements, lets see how far one could spend during this CNY and for the rest of 2007. May the mood of this coming CNY be less festive! For me, certainly yes!