|
Expats Leaving Due to Financial Crisis?
Posted by meiji (378 days ago)
Due to the financial tsunami.... are you as an expat or know of many other expats leaving Hong Kong because your company no longer has offers expat package to you and your family in HK?
Find what you are after in our Hong Kong A-Z Directory
Need a Moving Quote? Click Here
Posted by dadda (377 days ago)
I work for a bank, and as with almost all expat families I get no expat package. I get a salary & if I am lucky I get a bonus. I pay my own schools, rent, & expenses. I do not know of any families that have left ior are thinking of leaving...
Posted by Aaron Bleasdale (377 days ago)
I'm leaving. This place is too expensive to live with no income.
Posted by lucybrown (375 days ago)
I think this will be a good question to ask in Spring. You'll get a lot more response throughout 2009. I think a lot of companies that employ expats will be embarking on cost reductions, which have not been officially announced yet. And Asia will be hit. There is no doubt about that. Whether it is getting rid of housing subsidies or international medical benefits, cuts are likely to come, and some people may find that it is no longer worth being here unless the cost of living makes sense relative to their compensation and opportunities. Foreign companies in Hong Kong no longer have to give attractive benefits to attract workers. Not in this environment where there is growing layoffs in Western countries. So those who would have been here regardless of their packages will stay, but the ones that rely on attractive benefits (including tuition support) will no longer find Hong Kong compelling. And imagine if countries like Britain, Australia and the rest start taxing all citizens, including those who work abroad...I would leave this place if I lost my job or see a big reduction in my benefits package.
Posted by meiji (374 days ago)
interesting..... my husband keeps telling me how "bad" it is out there, and wait until after Chinese New year..... for me, as a housewife, I am not feeling much of it, except for noticing in general, yes, stores are a little quieter and so are restaurants. Housing and real estate prices have gone down, but other than that I thought it's not as bad as what I read in the news or hear from the news.
Just curious what's it like out there in reality hence the question.
Thanks.
Posted by Ed (374 days ago)
I don't think it is prudent to dismiss what is happening - the US is being clobbered and there is no way we will not be caught up in this - consumer demand has dropped off a cliff in the US and Europe and that will impact China and Hong Kong...
Former Goldman Sachs Chairman sees slump worse than Depression
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The economy faces a slump deeper than the Great Depression and a growing deficit threatens the credit of the United States itself, former Goldman Sachs chairman John Whitehead, said at the Reuters Global Finance Summit on Wednesday.
Whitehead, 86, said the prospect of worsening consumer credit woes combined with an overtaxed federal government make him fear that the current slump is far from over.
"I think it would be worse than the depression," Whitehead said. "We're talking about reducing the credit of the United States of America, which is the backbone of the economic system." Whitehead encountered plenty of crises during his 38 years at the investment banking firm and was a young boy during the 1930s.
Whitehead warned the country's financial strength is at risk due to the sweeping demand for tax relief and a long list of major government spending plans.
"I see nothing but large increases in the deficit, all of which are serving to decrease the credit standing of America," said Whitehead, who served as chairman of the Lower Manhattan Development Corp after the World Trade Center was destroyed during the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Whitehead, who helped make Goldman a top-tier Wall Street firm and led its international expansion, left in 1984 to become a deputy secretary of state under Ronald Reagan.
He warned that the country's record deficit is poised to balloon as the public calls on government for more support.
"Before I go to sleep at night, I wonder if tomorrow is the day Moody's and S&P will announce a downgrade of U.S. government bonds," he said. "Eventually U.S. government bonds would no longer be the triple-A credit that they've always been."
There are at least ten "trillion dollar problems," facing the United States, he said, including social security, expanding health insurance, rebuilding infrastructure and increased spending on green energy. At the same time, the public does not want to pay for it.
"The public is not prepared to increase taxes. Both parties were for reducing taxes, reducing income to government, and both parties favored a number of new programs -- all very costly and all done by the government," he said.
Large deficits can weaken the country's credit and increase its borrowing costs, which already constitute a significant part of funding to cover expenses. Whitehead said it could take "several years" for the current problems to be resolved.
Whitehead said he is speaking out on this topic because he is concerned no lawmakers are against these new spending programs and none will stand up and call for higher taxes.
"I just want to get people thinking about this, and to realize this is a road to disaster," said Whitehead. "I've always been a positive person and optimistic, but I don't see a solution here."
http://www.reuters.com/article/Finance08/idUSTRE4AB7HT20081112
Posted by Ed (374 days ago)
This thread is going in a direction I am not comfortable with - I am deleting these inflamatory comments....
Let's please stay with the topic rather than debate where people do their groceries.
And let's all be friends - because friends help friends ya?
Posted by meiji (374 days ago)
Thanks Ed for the reuters article... now I am really quite worried.
Friends and husband says, the worse is yet to come in 2009, probably in March ?!
Posted by forthiscause (374 days ago)
The best thing we can do during this financial crisis...is to depend more on God than our bank accounts. I believe that His ways is higher than our ways, and His thoughts higher than our thoughts. Let us pray and trust him more.
Posted by ethank (374 days ago)
Depend on God? Is that what you say when your bank account is empty and school fees are due? Sorry, but this forum is not the right place for this. Praying and trusting doesn't help the economy. My husband lost his job and we don't want to go home, so are looking for alternatives (like another job).
Posted by goofie (373 days ago)
Thanks Ed for the reuters article !
Posted by Ed (373 days ago)
All due respect to God, Allah etc... but wouldn't it have been nice if one of them would have had a word with the people who kicked all of this off...
As for the article, it is troubling to read something like that - the purpose of posting it is not to be pessimistic (as I have been accused for sending that to some people) - it is to be realistic - we need to be aware of what exactly is happening so that we make the right decisions to cover ourselves as best we can in the event of the unthinkable.
There is some very solid advice and info on this thread http://hongkong.asiaxpat.com/forums/living-in-or-moving-to-hong-kong/threads/120744/coping-with-the-crisis/
Posted by IslandHopper (372 days ago)
"All due respect to God, Allah etc... but wouldn't it have been nice if one of them would have had a word with the people who kicked all of this off..."
I've often heard a theory that money making is the main religion in HK and when I saw that candle light vigil in loving memory of lost investments, I finally started to believe in that theory.
What comes to God, Allah etc. (by the way Allah is God in Arabic language and also Arab Christians use this word), I think that holy books and scripts of all major religions warn people against greed, so may be that "God, Allah etc" has had the word with people who kicked this off.
It's up to you to believe whether this is divine wisdom or wisdom that mankind has acquired through cultural evolution but it seems to be so that greed is not good.
And the criticism is not only limited to "big bad" bankers and polticians but to the average consumer who wants more than he can afford and takes 125% mortgage loans and also borrows money for everyday (unnecessary) consumption.
Posted by flashback (372 days ago)
Yes... as Islandhopper says... all the theory (good words from the good books from the Good Source) in the world isn't going to help unless one puts it into practice.
This was all very avoidable. Was reading "Fooled by Randomness: the Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets" by Nassim Nicholas Taleb before this crisis hit, and it practically describes the blue print for what has happened. It was predictable, and those who knew it was were so caught up in making money that they didn't care what the consequences were for others. Greed pushing everyone on to demand higher and higher prices for real estate and stocks that were just not worth the value of the investment. You don't have to be a financial genius or even God to know that house of cards was going to crash.
In the end, the poor will suffer the most. So, while we lament our losses, it is important to try to continue to alleviate the suffering of the severely disadvantaged and continue to support our charities as much as we can.
I don't think God caused this at all. It was simple cause/effect, but we can learn something from it... perhaps that we don't really need to overdo those luxury diversions which separate us from the rest of humanity, and which don't really bring us happiness... that perhaps we can live on a lot less, and provide for the needs of others... that the most important things in our lives are our relationships, preserving and enjoying the environment, having meaningful work to do and creating a community.
Wealth can separate us from suffering in so many ways... leading us not to appreciate the simple things, and the lives on which it is built. The American Free Market model needs to be reviewed. Nations must address the question of social harmony and justice while promoting wealth acquisition to responsible levels. Greed is a will to power. There is, afterall only so much one really needs.
Wealth shouldn't be desired as a way to avoid work, or reduce value in our labour or the things we sell. Everyone has a role to play in creating a healthy society. If wealth is only channelled into self-centred hedonism, it ultimately corrupts. We need a new model for the goals of wealth acquisition, which surely should be to improve not just our own lives, but the lives of others, and the health of our communities.
Posted by helloalex (321 days ago)
I am looking for an expatriate who fears to lose his job or who has already lost his job due to the financial and economic crisis. Kindly send me your phone number or email address. I am a journalist for a large newspaper.
|
