10% of Electronic Arts staff got layoff notices today. It was kind of EA to wait until after Christmas. They are also amalgamating there 3 facilities into just one. How many ancilliary jobs go with those? Isn't the economic effect something like 3-1?

Further afield

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/03/business/worldb…

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That depends pretty strongly on a turnaround for the Western consumer, who is tapped out and is likely to remain so. The vast Asian wealth accumulation came from selling the labor of the poor very cheaply to allow the west (primarily the US consumer) to accumulate more debt. The western middle class hasn't seen an increase in income in decades and only financed the past 10-15 years on credit cards and home equity withdrawals. They're done.

It will turn around? Tell that to Japan. It doesn't have to do anything.

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http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/090102/as_singapore_econo…

I have lots of friends in business there. The news from real people with real jobs and business intrests is that things are not rosy and getting a lot worse region wide. You are probably just a lot smarter than all the people there to know something they don't. Good for you.

Of course there were a lot of people out last night , it was New Years Day. I was out, and I hate going out. But even so, my many friends in the Chinese community here are seeing off 10-20% in the quarter.

As far as investing in the stock market there (China) I quite agree if you can keep a three to five year time frame in mind. Stocks are cheap, buy there are getting cheaper, daily. No bottom in China yet, the market is off more than 54% this past year. But there is no doubt that the entrepeneurial zeal that exists in that region of billions of smart people will turn around at some point. But, remember they are TOTALLY dependant on the fortunes of the Western Markets in N.AM and Europe. Chindia and the other Bric markets are export driven, period. That includes NE Asia, SE Asia and Japan.

Probably a good time to buy a CHINDIA or BRIC ETF. This isn't a stock forum so I won't start making recs.

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Fung estimates that 10,000 of the 60,000 factories in China owned by Hong Kong interests have closed or will close in the coming months.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/01/01/business/e…

Tell me some more about Asian financial brilliance? A lot of AZNs have developed a very high opinion about themselves, resting mostly upon exploitation of the gross wage disparities which result from Asia's teeming billions of poor folk. Japan is out of that picture of course – they've been getting poorer for decades now. China is now hitting the skids. It was all an illusion.

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#73 realpaul, you say that you cannot get a 25 year mortgage beyond 40 years old; are you sure of that? Because that implies that 0 down 40 year mortgages are (um, were) only available to those under 25 years old. How many 0/40 mortgages can there be out there, I wonder, and for what average amount?

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The Olympics will give the condo market a boost as people will be scrambling for rental units.

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#83 Stevee , you would only have to take out a second ( or come up with some serious mommy cash like a Supraboy) if you had zero equity in your property as in the example you refer to. Key concept, zero equity, NONE OF YOUR OWN MONEY IN THE PROPERTY.

In the example the First Mort was written for $400K. Three years later the prop is appraised at 300K. You put 5% down originally ( 20K) . The differance is $80K. This 80K is the negative equity.

Adversly if you had a 400K 1st and put 25% down (100K) then when the appraisal came in at 300K you would still be optionable. This would not be zero equity (even though it appears that way) , in this scenario the bank does not have a negative balance sheet. But, sadly you've lost 100K, the upside though is you're still in your home at bank rates.

Hope this helps

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Banks never go through re-appraisal unless you switch over your mortgage with other banks even if some one chose to change bank or other mortgage company then rest of comment from paul goes to America because he knows VANCOUVER REAL ESTATE NEVER GO DOWN

Arit,you have to go through your family doctor to disscuss dementia which show you unreal things b.c. medical does not take action unless your doctor refer you to next step.

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Thanks for your insight re Arit's question. Now if you, or anyone else for that matter, has a moment, I would like to clarify something (for my own personal education). Do you mean to say, in your example, tht if the person taking out the mortgage sees their home drop by $80,000 in value, that when refinancing they would have to take out a second mortage, likely at a much higher interest rate, to cover that loss ($80k)? Thanks in advance.

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