Yahoo! Retrenched 1,400 Staffs

I just read in the press that an internet giant like Yahoo! has recently retrenched 1,400 employees, about 10% of its staff strength. Perhaps Jerry Yang should have accepted the USD45 billion bid from Microsoft's offer a few months back and not end up like this. But who could foresee the future? He could have retired or work from the back ground a very rich man, but alas, he rejected Microsoft's generous offer stating that it was too low. That's what pride does to someone like him and it is now the downfall of Yahoo! As more companies and banks join in the fray to retrench workers, there is going to be more gloomy times ahead in this financial meltdown. We should pray for a miracle now.

Belt Tightening Times

With thousands of people being retrenched from their jobs and more will follow suit, it is time to sit back and ponder how to save money in whatever little capacity available. Therefore, it is good to save money in good times to tide over the bad time like this. In America, many people could not afford to pay their mortgages, causing the subprime crisis that lead to the economic crunch. Many big US banks have failed and declared bankrupt. With US$700 billion rescue package, it this sufficient to save market sentiments? Retrenched Wall Street executives have to go to the roads to perform tricks in order to earn money. Maybe it is a time where more people will turn to the Bible and church for spiritual answers to their economic woes. Let's hope this will not last too long and the share market will recover soon in a few years time.

Time to change spending habits

With the economic crisis looming in USA that started from subprime mortgage loan problems, it is time to herald new austerity measures and change our spending habits. Singapore is in a technical recession with many other countries following suit. US has been in a recession months ago and just last month, 160,000 jobs were cut with thousands being jobless. The financial carnage and rot is just getting worse and won't recover until at least 2010 or beyond. Wall street executives are jobless and resorted to performing tricks on the roads to earn money. Shares take a dip and tumble successively for the last few days. It is now bear run and the mood is sombre. But some opportunists are buying up cheap shares in the hope to make a quick buck when the share market starts to pick up. There is always a silver lining in every dark cloud.

Anti-ISA Gathering on 17th October

My local church has announced that there will be an anti-ISA Gathering on 17th October for the congregation in front of Dewan Sri Pinang at about 9:00pm. Every Friday night since the arrest of Raja Petra Kamarudin (RPK), Teresa Kok and a journalist from Chinese Press, Penangites have held Candlelight Vigil for the detainees with the latter two already released while RPK is detained for 2 years. ISA is a repressive system meant to detain the Communist insurgents during the British occupancy in the 1950s. They are detained without trial for as long as necessary. It is too bad that our Malaysian government under Badawi sees RPK as a threat to local security from his very popular blogging about the government and issues at large on politics. In my opinion ISA should be abolished by all means and RPK is just a harmless blogger exposing the wrongs of the government like detailing the dinner together of Deputy Prime Minister Najib with murdered Mongolian Altantuya.