The 4 stages of a country according to Ray Dalio. Which stage are we in?

The 4 stages of a country according to Ray Dalio. Which stage are we in? 

Some Singaporeans say we are very rich. We have such huge reserves, they say. Trillion, some say. Enough already. We can afford to spend more. Shockingly, academic Donald Low asked 'who or what are we saving for'. 

Reality check! 

We are but a very, very small country, so small that a former Indonesian president described us a just a tiny red dot. You can drive from one end of Singapore to the other end in a very short time. 

We have a very open economy and it's not a choice. Therefore our economy is very sensitive to global development and changes, more sensitive than others. 

That is why during the global financial crisis in 2008, Singapore was the FIRST East Asian country to slip into a recession. 

Are we rich? 

We have no natural resources. We have nothing under the ground or in the sea. No huge land mass either. Compared to resource-rich countries, no matter how much money we have, we in fact have nothing. 

In a crisis, if a country has no money, they can at least sell their natural resources for money. Singapore? All we have is money. We have nothing to sell for money. We only have money with which to buy what we need. 

Can anyone predict the future? Can anyone tell how long a crisis can last and if we will have enough to sustain the population of Singapore throughout a crisis? 

This tiny piece of land we have is 720 sq km.

Sell land, WP Pritam Singh suggested in Parliament, and use the proceeds for spending. 

This just gives you a glimpse of the kind of government you can expect from WP if they are in the driver's seat. 

In case you do not know, land is part of our reserves.

The more you have, the greater the effort you need to put in to defend what you have, or it will be gone.