WORLD NEWS 2007
Not much of 2007 is left. Beside looking at how I made it for 2007, let's look into the news of the world also. They may look like other people's business but it may indirectly affect us in some other way.
Singapore
GST, the famous Goods and Service Tax has raised from 5% to 7% since July 2007. For your information, the GST is not going to stop increasing. The target 10%. It will occur in the coming years.
Despite the increase in GST, sales of daily necessities have not gone down. It actually showed a growth in consumer buying for the year. Main reason would attribute to the bigger bonus that many Singaporeans will get in the coming year.
Property prices have also seen a boom. It had raised by 22.6% in the first 3 quarters and it is believed to max out at 30%.
Hikes in transportation fees and fare was driven to a new high. Fees for ERP have been raised. More new gates were setup and the operation hours have extended. These have set private vehicles owners if they should continue driving. The latest hike in fares for public transport will the ones by the taxis. Apart from the raised flagged down fee, the metered fare is now jumping at the rate of 20 cents instead of the 10 cents it used to be.
CPF drawn down is raised from 62 to 65. Those aged 57 and below as of Dec 31 will be affected.
The news that shook the whole world will be the one create by SINGAPORE AIRLINES (SIA). Its flown in the world's biggest airplane on Oct 17 to the uncompleted Changi Terminal 3 as the world looks on. All highlights were on Singapore on that day. The maiden flight for the A380 was on 25 Oct from Singapore to Sydney, with one of its seat auctioned off for more than S$150000.
Myanmar
The overnight price hikes for fuels have seen thousands defy military junta by staging protest in the city of Yangon. The protest were led by monks. Students and young also joined in the protest forming a ' human wall ' protecting the monks as they become the target of the military. The anti-government demonstrations saw death at more then 31.
Thailand
We have heard many about the legendary rule of Thaksin in Thailand. It was reported that he would face charges on corruptions and frauds if he were to return to Thailand. Despite these, people still supported him and his allies in the People's Power Party showed the result by winning the election. Now living in exile, he still owns a home and Manchester City Football Club in Britain.
The 24th SEA Games were held in Thailand. With the host emerging Champion in Gold medals (183) tally. Malaysia positioned second with 68 gold, Vietnam in third with 64 gold medals. The fourth and fifth place goes to Indonesia(56) and Singapore(43) respectively.
China
China reputation as exporter have suffered in the year of 2007. Goods that was made in China were recalled. Toys, the biggest export of China, were mostly affected. It was said to contain hazard materials and there were design problems.
With the Olympics 2008 coming up, the property prices in China are going up also. Though the property market is on the rise, it has not put much earnings to the income of the Chinese. The rise in interest rates have outgrow the rise of rental rates living some in the 'red' after collecting rents.
US
The subprime mortgage financial crisis of 2007, which started in the US with a sharp rise in home foreclosures, has now become a global financial crisis. The foreclosures caused several major subprime mortgage lenders to shut down or file for bankruptcy, leading to panicked selling in stock markets around the world.
The Merill Lynch which saw a more than US$7b write down as reported in CNBC.com after the subprime mortgage crisis have received a $5B fund from the Singapore Company Temasek Holdings.
Its a long long time since we last saw Berkshire Hathaway in actions. Owner, Warren Buffett, has stretch his arms and reached into his pockets to 'buy' into 2 company and setup 1 in just 1 week. The 2 buys will be the Marmon Holdings and NGR the reinsurance unit of Dutch bank ING. Berkshire Hathaway Assurance Corp started business on guaranteeing the repayment of bonds issued by governments for pay for things like schools and sewage projects.
