Car is King in Singapore?

Is there anything wrong with this picture?

This is an exit from a multi-level car park at Jalan Membina near Tiong Bahru Plaza shopping center in Singapore. It caught my attention during my many walks from my father's public housing apartment to the shopping center when none of the exiting cars stopped for pedestrian traffic.

Bad driving behavior of Singapore motorists perhaps? Or is it that just because Singaporean car owners pay a number of huge taxes on cars ownership that they should deserve the right-of-way more so than ordinary folks? Somehow, basic road courtesy does not apply when you cross the path of an eager driver wanting to make use of the public road systems on this little island while exiting his car park. Vehicular grevious hurt or at an extreme, vehicular homicide is likely to happen if you do not watch your way near your neighborhood car park.

Coming back to this picture..... There was not a single stop sign facing the driver when he/she should exit from the one-way ramp onto Jalan Membina. Somehow, some unintelligent worker had installed the stop sign you should see on the right of the picture in an opposite direction where no cars were supposed to enter the ramp. Naturally, as in Singapore there were many painted signed along the pedestrian walkways telling you all walkers to stop and watch out for car traffic. It does seemed like car ownership is king and the have-nots were reduced to be the second-class citizens in Singapore.

They Better Deliver Them Free and More!

I would no doubt call these sticker-price shocks when I saw the prices of Weber stainless BBQ grill and the Black & Decker 1400psi pressure water washer that I came across in a DIY store in Singapore.

The grill was tagged at a whopping $2,459.00 (with free delivery) and the pressure spray washer washer was on sale at $199.00. The same grill would have cost one-tenth the price in U.S.A. while the pressure washer would have priced U.S. 69.00 bucks or less at most Home Depots or the likes around U.S.A.

These must have been luxury goods in Singapore. Else, they should not have priced at these levels one would reasonably assumed. But wait, only liquor, tobacco and the importation of maids are taxed heavily in Singapore; Even the Gucci, Prada, and Calvin Klein are competitive priced against the originating countries - so what is the beef here?

Price gouging or simply an issue of demand versus supply in Singapore for these kinds of lifestyle/convenient products? I would tend to believe that the former is perhaps driving the gross lack of demand in the market place which in turn spirals the price-fixing upwards by the importers and retailers in Singapore. Perhaps only the rich folks living in the landed properties on the island of Singapore would have a need for these two seemingly common items in the U.S.A.

For a $2,459.00 grill, I would have more than deserved the free delivery. Does it comes with a year's supply of Omaha steaks too? The pressure washer was touted at a discount from it's original price of $249.00. Even so, I would expect it to sing me a different song each time I use it to hose down my sparkling Mercedes Benz or BMW in Singapore.