Job Credit scheme: False dilemmas aplenty

I was passing the playground the other day. Two kids, I think they were brothers, were arguing over who got to play with the remote control car. The older one intoned authoritatively, “You have to let me play with the car”. “Why?”, came the expectant retort. “It’s up to you. You either let me have it or we have to go home now.”

 

Ah, the beauty of false dilemmas.

 

You would think this kind of logical fallacy have no place in the country’s highest playground – Parliament. You would be wrong. During the Budget debate, it was reported that there was a feisty exchange between Worker’s Party’s Low Thia Khiang and PAP’s Lim Swee Say and Heng Chee How [TODAY, 4 Feb 2009, “Debate over drawdown”].

 

Low publicly questioned if the Jobs Credit scheme would actually stop a company from retrenching workers. Low was quoted as saying “that in the face of declining demand, the “most logical thing to do” for small businesses was to cut wage costs. “Between waiting three months for a $900 cash rebate from the Government versus saving $7,500 immediately by retrenching a worker, which choice does the Government think a struggling employer will make?”

 

In reply, Heng Chee How was quoted as saying “Given that the Government cannot guarantee the scheme would save jobs, should it then also “forget about” all other programmes that do no guarantee against retrenchments?” All Low was did was to point out the obvious – the Job Credit scheme is no use for an employee whose employer needs to cut wage costs pronto. Instead of addressing this point, Heng in return presents a false dilemma by offering Low a stark choice between praising the Job Credit scheme and not doing anything at all.

 

Lim Swee Say, that manufactured everyday-man, did no better. “It’s either you introduce a Jobs Credit scheme or you take a CPF cut – which option will the Worker’s Party go for?” Why is it ‘either or’? The heart of the issue is whether the Job Credit scheme will do what it was prescribed for – save jobs. If not, then what about other regulations that protect local jobs? Other questions could include whether or not businesses are given too much leverage in the Budget and if the government’s philosophy over local-foreign job competition has changed?

 

Instead, we are paying millions for this kind of playground tactics.