Expats Leaving Due to Financial Crisis?

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?

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.

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.

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

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?

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 ?!

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/

Re Charity ... you can support CNCF by sponsoring or buying tickets to our charity ball


http://www.asiaxpat.com/newsletter/house/cncf-ball/

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.