In South Africa were actually pretty okay. You can see strains in the economy and things have been better... but things for us have been much worse in the past. Luckily our government issued tough credit laws a while back so our banks are completely healthy. Petrol has come down and a lot of us swopped to more economical cars and bikes a while back so its not all bad there. Personally... I am glad the price of housing is coming down because that pricing was getting stupid. I suppose things do have to balance out. Luckily our industry and economy was made robust and independent by sanctions during Apatheid. Are things bad elsewhere as what the media is making it out to be? I read that the Russian economy is in a real bad shape and unemployment is up 20%? How are you and your country doing?
A bit slower in India, in the financial markets, however we had a great crop this year and its expected to go alright on the whole. I noticed Tata is cutting jobs in its foreign wings. http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/economy-may-witness-moderation-rbi-survey/18/48/53637/on
I seriously wish Tata would sell the Nano here... its ideal for this part of the world. Tata has become popular here.
ING cut 7000 jobs yesterday. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! I also remember reading this: http://www.forbes.com/feeds/afx/2008/12/08/afx5792195.html
My department went from 5 to 3, of these my boss will have to relocate and my 1 college's contract will stop pretty soon. I gues they will announce my transfer to some other part of the compagny pretty soon ... The closest likly place is around 100 km away Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I honestly have not been affected at all in the US. Sure we are taking the brunt of it, but what's nice about living here is that we can take that kind of damage without breaking a sweat.
Here in Florida the used housing market has picked up, over 17 percent in sales last month, so things must be improving in at least that area of the market.
Its killing us here in MI. My job went from 3 shifts to 1. My boss was also let go. I'm now looking for another job. My husband's job went from 3 shifts to 1. He is out on medical leave due to knee surgery. He is very worried. My son can't find a job to save his life. Who wants to hire an 18 yr old when they can hire a responsible 30 yr old with a college education. http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/personal/01/22/family.economic.survival/index.html?iref=newssearch
she works for a pest control company. I'd guess that job (if full time) has insurance where his doesn't. But since the medical bills were so high, maybe neither had insurance.
Brazil has strengthen its internal market a lot in the past decade, and Brazilians are traditionally responsible with credit, most of them at least. Last year it was granted investment grade. On top of that, there have been lots of oil discoveries lately. We're doing pretty well considering everything that is going on.
The cost of living has gone down here, including fuel costs. Property market slumping in most cities. Major job losses in the mining sector, in some cases affecting entire towns. Chinese demand is the big impact here. Unemployed contract workers from the mines will no doubt be forced to sell their McMansions on the coast(s), as well as V8 utes and SUV's, so the market will be flooded. Education sector, where I work, is looking good: pushed by the drive to upgrade qualifications in the search for work. Cheers, Bric
Then put the fan down before you hurt yourself again! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I think that it's all to do with the price of property. I own my own home, and it doesn't matter to me whether it's worth Five dollars or Five Million Dollars. I have to live in it. It is not an asset that I can use. If I sell it, I've got nowhere to live. Some people borrowed against the increasing price of their property, and are now in a lot of trouble.I could never see how that was a sensible idea.
Let us say your daughter needed 40,000.00 to attend a good college and you weren't making enough or didn't have savings of that amount where else would you get the tuition from?:shrug: Let us say your son was involved in a criminal offense and needed 100,000.00 for the best defense lawyer he could get, where else can you raise that kind of money quickly other than your house? There are other examples as well that could be cited but I think you get the picture , or I hope you do.
If you mortgage a property against its increased value, you will have to pay that mortgage back. Its not free money. If the price of your home increases, the only time that the asset will be translatable into money is when you are dead. When you don't need it. I can understand what you are saying about using the increased value of your property if a family emergency occurred, say a lack of college funds for a child or an operation. If you have done the same yourself, I'm not criticising you. There was a problem, and you used an available solution. But when banks were giving out money for these purposes based on property values, they were giving out imaginary money. It was a bubble. That's what's caused the whole problem.
