Singapore's Poor.

Article on Little Speck.

Some points of interest:

According to official statistics, at least 40% of Singapore's households saw their real incomes decrease from 2000-2005 - while the overall economy posted some of the world's highest growth rates, surging by 7.7% last year.

"The question is, who is all this growth for?"

Notice: because it is REAL income that has fallen, and not RELATIVE income, the usual arguments that "a rising tide floats all boats" (that is, economic growth benefits everyone) and "widening income gap does not mean lowered income for the low-income groups" do not stand. Indeed, where is all the growth going to?

"It is essential for us to tilt the balance in favour of lower-income Singaporeans, because globalization is going to strain our social compact," Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a speech last fall.
...
The country's mixed population of Chinese, Malays and Indians has accepted decades of the PAP's often authoritarian rule in exchange for phenomenal economic growth that has transformed this former British trading outpost into one of the world's most prosperous states.

That is, the transaction or contract - I (citizen) give up some of my freedom, you (the PAP as ruling party) deliver jobs in return - is breaking down.

"But what we're trying to do is to make sure that the widening income gap doesn't necessarily translate into a widening social gap."

What the hell is he talking about? Some other minister once said, in response to grumbles about the transport price hikes, the people will get used to it, and the grumbles will stop. Is that what the poor are supposed to do? Get used to being poor?

...consumption taxes, such as the sales tax, "are generally regressive and likely to compound the underclass problem.

Because the demand for necessities is inelastic, while the demand for luxury items is. -- You'll have to explain "demand elasticity" in a GP essay, though.