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"Mr Lee said that Singapore should look beyond immediate problems to discover new opportunities and tackle longer-term challenges. He listed three challenges - develop the economy, reproduce Singapore's population and keep evolving Singapore's system to stay in touch with the changing world." Extracted from The Business Times, Singapore.

1.

The first challenge is the transition of our existing growth engines to more value-added engines of technological innovation etc. The basic source is innovation. It is the value adding element to enhance our economy with a limited population, land space and a lack of natural resources.

To do that, the government created A*Star, a program to enhance Singapore's major resource - human resource. These value-adding personnel are the key drivers for the next boost in innovation in the path of physics, chemistry and biology.

It is realistic because quality is needed, not quantity. As long as they continue to innovate, the potential multiplier effect they produce will enhance our economy.

The risk involved includes attrition in A*star personnel to the private sector. However, as long as they continue to be in Singapore, our economy will still benefit in an indirect way.

2.

Next reproducing Singapore's population is key to our economy. Why? Because it simply creates demand in our country. The demand may span from the demand for our talent, demand for goods and services resulted from a population boost, demand for land space.

3.

We must continually adapt to our environment and must not be complacent. In my opinion, complacency will be a major problem after the baby boomer leaves in industry. The problem would be a widening divide among people in economic terms and social status.

Siao Liao

Suddenly, looking at financial statements and reading accounting books excites me. It's probably little related to the large sums of money, but the complexity of what a business is, and can be broken down into quantitative figures.

I wonder the difference in business between sectors and of the same sector but different magnitude of their business in financial terms.

This is the next interesting subject after economics, although both are related, but are of different discipline.