interesting article from "Focus Malaysia", a serious contender to "The Edge",

Curse of the skyscrapers

Empire State Building (1953) - this iconic building was completed against the backdrop of a city and nation in the grip of the Great Depression

Sears Tower (1974) - the oil shocks that rocked the US and the dropping of the greenback's peg to gold were marked by the completion of the Sears Tower

Petronas Twin Tower (1997) - The Asian financial crisis was heralded by the completion of Malaysia's Petronas Towers

Taipei 101 Taiwan (2004) - the building stood tall but Taiwan followed Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore into recession and saw the end of the technology bubble

Burj Khalifa Dubai (2009) - the current tallest building was completed just before the dramatic crash that nearly bankrupted the tiny emirate

The Shard (2012) - it was completed just in time to witness the worsening of the eurozone debt crisis

Freedom Tower (2013) -the completion of the World Trade Center's replacement will come smack between the US fiscal cliff and the debt ceiling as the world's biggest economy slides towards an impending recession

Menara Wawasan (Malaysia) - expected completion in 2015 ....will a recession follows ????

This post has been edited by Oracles99: Feb 11 2013, 10:38 PM

Bishop Ng is correct. This time around voters are more aware and wise. They would not simply give 2/3 majority either to BN or Pakatan

The present BN government does not have 2/3 majority. Hence, Malaysia is not a country anymore ????????? Bear in mind 2/3 majority is a double edged sword. It is easily open to abuse and this has been going on for the past 55 years.

This post has been edited by Oracles99: Feb 16 2013, 11:46 PM

Most of the voters now assume BN would win due to electoral roll revelations, Sabah RCI etc. So, it is not hard to guess how the voters would vote. So they say, a few more opposition won't hurt such BN is still the government.

I agree. The ruling party hopes to remain status quo, having the freedom to do whatever it likes. Unfortunately, this is the age of the internet where it is difficult to hide scandals. Most people now are aware of what is actually happening. But, old habits die hard. Politicians find their habits hard to change.

Years back, the Middle East with its rich oil wealth struck me as a very wealthy region. Today, after what happened in Egypt, I realize that the wealth is in the hands of a few with lots of hungry people that is not well looked after the government.

If the government takes the initiative to close the income gap, then economic prosperity would emerge. But all we heard is lip service. ..."high income nation"... But how to achieve this when trade unions fighting for a decent wage have their leaders sacked by the GLC. Mind you, the CEO of GLCs are appointed by the government. If you look at the number of members of the unions in the GLCs alone, they could easily be the king maker.

I am seeing the scenario of a hung Parliament. Thus investment in the stockmarket is only for the long term.

If minimum wage is the same for locals and foreign workers, is it worthwhile to hire foreign workers? Bosses should now think twice. Not long ago, oil palm estate workers are mainly Indians. Then, the government quietly let in Indonesian workers who agrees to work for low pay. With this the Indians are displaced and have lead to a lot of problems e.g. Hindraft etc.

This post has been edited by Oracles99: Feb 22 2013, 07:54 PM

Japan's problem is what economic textbooks call "fallacy of composition". Everyone doing the same things at the same time. At the time of the property bubble, most Japanese companies are highly geared. By the time the property bubble burst, all these companies started repaying their debts. As a result, there is no demand for credit even when interest rates fell to zero percent. This went on for the last 15 years and one can see how highly geared are the Japanese companies.
Now, statistics shows that most Japanese companies have finished paying their debts & are now in a more comfortable zone. Thus, they can start borrowing again but the trauma of debt for the past decade has make them cautious about borrowing. In fact, it took the USA 30 years from the time of The Great Depression to the post war period to 'forget' the trauma of debt. It is only by 1959 that USA interest rates return to the pre-depression average rate of 4.1 percent.
What the Japanese government can do? The only way is take up the spending slack caused by the recession. Hence, its debt to GDP ratio is like 250% like Britain at the end of WWII. The British economy did not collapse.

With no borrowers of funds, banks would have no business. Thus the Japanese government borrowed these surplus funds (issuing bonds) from debt repayment by companies. Even so, interest rate did not rise.

It would certainly take a long time to heal the wounds.