Sunday, December 28, 2008

'Gloomy Economy' !

So bad has been the economy off late, that every leading news dailies are carrying such diastrous news day after day.  Some  really intimidating/worrying ones that happened to catch my eye recently were
  • 4 million job cuts, since past 4 months, in the U.S. One of the articles in 'The Hindu' carried this news under the title 'U.S economy hasnt been that bad, but worse'.  Another noteworthy point  - The retail sector, has just been waiting for the holiday season and once thats over, foresees a lota job cuts.
  • As if to prove the above said news on Retail industry, the famous WoolWorth Uk closes , not 1 or 2 but around 200 stores. 
  • U.S people have started using credit cards to pay back their housing loans.  If the current economic situation remains bleak for yet another year, then therez a very good chance that 'credit crunch' is going to be the  next villain , thats gonna boomerang and hit the ppl of U.S hard.  Huge questions loom over payment of credit card bills.
  • Leading automotive industries including Hyundai, Maruti, Ashok leyland, TVS -cutting production and reducing their number of shifts, thereby adding to the unemployment woes.
  • EU as a whole fears that this is one of the worst recessions since 1937-38, with UK facing the brunt of the situation and finally declaring Recession 'officially'. 
  • People in many countries queue up for Ration and free meal, after years. Berlin seems to have gone a step above in showing concerns not only to their ppl but even to their PETS, by reopening pet food centers after a epoch !
  • Zimbabwe releases 1 million dollar note in a measure to tackle inflation.
  • People in haiti have started eating 'Mud Cakes'/  'Dirt Cookies'.  Spare a thought !  The current world economy and rising poverty have really amalgamated well to achieve one of their gory successess - Making people eat MUD.  Not able to  'Digest' this piece of news.
  • The bailout money that is being offered to the market giants, are being misappropriated.  Looks like instead of using this bail out money to help people, some of the companies have started giving pending bonuses!!!! Now this is cruel ..

Well, the above said are a few that i could recollect. Most of the people that i have been talking to  refer to this as a 'slowdown' optimistically, rather than a recession.  Some even say this as a opprtunity to seize and act smart, learn from  mistakes. Whatever be it, but with the way this is progressing, looks like worse times are yet to come. Not sure when the current economy is going to reach its nadir yet, to commence a resurge, but then lets all sincerely and whole heartedly hope that its gonna happen soon.

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