Why Singapore Is So Rich 🇸🇬

Hey you Singaporean,

It’s 1840.

You’re Queen Victoria of England.

Okay, Vicky.

So what’s the 1 thing you love?

Right.

Imperialism with a side of ______.

Exactly.

Vicky loves tea – specifically, Chinese tea.

But that means, she’s gotta go to China.

Which is far…

Ya, that’s what I said.

So she sends others to fetch it.

Who?

Who’s that?

Jesus.

The British East India Company (EIC) is a JUGGERNAUT.

Because the crown gave it a 200-year monopoly over all trade in Asia.

So it became one of the biggest companies in history.

Don’t believe me?

Peep these insane EIC facts:

• Biggest army in the world – 260,000 soldiers

• 2x the profit of all Britain

• ⅕ of world lives on its private land

Today, EIC would be worth more than Apple – over $3 trillion.

Okay, cool.

So let’s look at how you get to China.

You want to go from point A to B.

But wait.

To get China to give you tea, you need to give them something — it’s called trade.

What’s a good, healthy thing to trade?

Yes! Great idea, your majesty.

(Great = great at destroying a country. England’s illegal import of opium led to 2 wars and 20% of the Chinese zooted in opium dens like this👇)

So…let’s trade opium ;)

But we don’t have any.

So let’s pick some up here:

India.

That’s where they grow, boil, and dry poppy into our addictive sticky resin.

Basically it’s just this:

Awesome.

Now let’s plan out our route.

Take out your crayons.

How do you get from point A to point B?

No, Vicky.

That’s the Silk Road.

Land is expensive – because you use freakin’ camels. Plus each country charges you troll tolls. So we limit land to luxury goods.

Water is cheap – you can ship tons of big, heavy cargo.

So wanna try again?

Good.

Now how about B to C?

Perfect!

You just designed your first trade route :)

Now let’s zoom in on B to C.

Now as you’re traveling through, you’ll wanna make a pitstop.

Here are your options:

So just stop at any random port?

No.

Batavia (aka Jakarta, Indonesia today) is annoyingly far.

So maybe Malacca or Penang?

But see, ports wanna make a buck – so they charge a fee.

For example, Malacca charges you 15% of all your goods to stay – regardless of if you’re even selling them there. Meaning if you have $10,000 of opium, they charge you $1,500.

No thanks.

So you get fed up and open your own EIC port.

Where?

SINGAPORE.

But you don’t wanna be the only one using the port.

So you give a killer offer to other boats:

Singapore was a FREE PORT – meaning no troll tolls & taxes on businesses.

Suddenly 80% of boats stop in Singapore.

Which becomes a BIG deal in 1869.

Why?

Because a crazy shortcut opens:

THE SUEZ CANAL.

Now your trade route looks like this:

It’s super fast.

You save 4,500 miles and 2 months of travel.

Or 30% off your journey…and tea.

And people love a deal.

So overnight, trade between Europe and Asia skyrockets 500%.

Which means for 100+ years, Singapore makes BANK.

But then, something happens.

The Japanese.

See in WWII, the Japanese are on a sneak attack spree.

But wait…that’s Peal Harbor.

Their sneak attack in Singapore looks like this:

Seriously.

Instead of 330mph Mitsubishi Zero fighter planes…they have…bikes.

23,000 bikes.

Which scared the shit out of the Brits – so for 3 years, the Japanese occupy Singapore.

And they trash it.

So Singapore is screwed:

• Poor – 70% of the country lives in shacks with no plumbing

• Resourceless – No natural resources like oil, metal, or even water

• Small – It’s an island the size of NYC

But then its friendly neighbors come to help.

Ya, they give Singapore the boot.

Because it's 60% Chinese – and Malaysians just want Malays.

Now Singapore’s screwed…again.

But one man comes to save the day – Lee Kuan Yew.

Prime Minister Yew had enough of this shit.

He makes himself DICTATOR…but a good one.

He basically treats Singapore like a giant company.

Kinda like if Elon Musk and Kim Jong-un had a baby.

Now Singapore has no natural resources. But what does it have?

PEOPLE.

They’re the most valuable resource.

So he invests in 3 areas:

1. Homes

2. Hospitals

3. Schools

This makes for a safe, healthy, and smart workforce.

But its still not enough to draw in foreign investment.

So he returns to Singapore’s roots…

Aka LOW TAXES.

So Singapore goes hyper capitalistic. Right when China does the opposite…COMMIES!

Plus Lee ends corruption.

How?

He pays government officials fat stacks – so there’s little incentive to be bad.

Just look at their politician pay today:

FAT. STACKS.

Which attracts good politicians – who run their state-owned companies (e.g. airlines, steel, and chemicals) like good businesses.

Aka profitably.

Now Singapore is a financial superpower.

GDP per capita:

• Singapore – $81k

• United States – $72k

• England – $46k

• China – $16k

(Qatar is #1 with $128k – but they cheat because oil is $110k of this.)

Today, Singapore looks like this:

And with da boys:

Sometimes dictatorships are good, I guess.

Get jiggy,
Dylan & Henry 🌈

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P.P.S Still here?? Click below to watch the Singapore video 👇