Over the last 40 years, our politicians have always boasted that we have had a steady growth of 5% annually. But unfortunately, this steady GDP growth is not reflected in our wages. Both the public and private sectors are paying 1970 wages in the year 2006.

Yes, there is a five percent of the population that can afford all they want. But more than 70% of the workers are one pay cheque away from bankruptcy while the rest are earning today to pay last week's debt.

Compared to 1970, all costs have gone up by at least 10 times while wages, at the most, have gone up only three or four times. Even if wages were doubled today, it will not be sufficient to make up the difference of between what we get and what we spend.

Hence today, it is not uncommon for employees to have a second job. They do this during office hours unbeknownst to their bosses.

And as we put our heads in deep sand, corruption is slowly taking its toll on the fabric of our society. Ask the man on the street and he has a story to tell you about how had to pay for services that are advertised by government as free.

Politicians should stop comparing our wages based on the exchange rate in the UK. A new doctor earns about RM2,500 in Malaysia and his counterpart earns 2,500 sterling oounds in the UK. The cheapest car in the UK is about 6,000 sterling pounds. In Malaysia, the cheapest car is RM35,000. As a percentage of wages, the doctor in Malaysia pays more that his counterpart in the UK.

It is still not too late for our government to forget about the concept of zero inflation so convincingly expounded by one of our prime ministers. Peg the quantum of wages to the inflation rate before we become a classic IMF basket case.