Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Some Economic News

Mighty Toyota hits Speed Bump

I was shocked when I read that Toyota reported a loss in North America.

Toyota is the most-studied car maker in any MBA program. The Japanese firm is known for its lean production. Toyota is the second largest car maker in the world, behind Detroit’s General Motors. However, Toyota enjoys a far better profit margin.

Even so, the Japanese car maker could not escape the economic downturn. It reported an operating loss of 34.6 billion yen in North America. Globally, Toyota’s second-quarter net income fell 69%.

When the mighty Toyota is reporting loss, you know how bad the economy is.


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Singapore’s Casino Faces Uncertainty

Las Vegas Sands, which is building a casino in Singapore, is facing a cash shortage problem.

Singapore has an “interventionist economy”. The economy of the island republic is largely driven by the government. The two casinos under development, one by Las Vegas Sands and the other one by Malaysia’s Genting, were brainchild of Singapore’s government.

In the last few years, the government wanted to woo wealthy foreigners to migrate to the Lion City. To this end, it has built many luxury homes, such as those in Sentosa Cove. Lee Hsieng Loong’s administration is naïve to think that if they build the houses, foreigners will come. It has failed to realize that, in the 21st century, Shanghai has replaced Singapore to become the magnet for expatriates.

Now, with the world economy heading towards recession, the casino by Las Vegas Sands is in jeopardy. I am not optimistic with the market for luxury homes too.

12 comments:

  1. KS--could karma have anything to do with all this? Just wondering...

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  2. peter
    I call it ignorance, LOL...

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  3. on a different note...
    wat i read is that the fast food business is catching up in the West!
    business at McD and its counterparts are growing ~ ^_^

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  4. 迷迭香
    Fast food is cheap in the US. As the economy is bad, more people frequent McD. Same for Wal-Mart.

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  5. Frequent McD?... no I frequent Giant for my supply of instant noodles. Wukaka...

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  6. neo
    Wow... so thrifty...

    monica
    Ouch!

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  7. Agreed. When Toyota reports a loss, that means it's badddddddd....

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  8. gallivanter
    So I am getting worried...

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  9. Everywhere also not good actually.

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  10. When I first heard AIG suffering from financial problems, I already got worried. A company so famous and stable financially can get to this level? So not surprise about Toyota. Starbucks not doing well also. Many banks not doing well. Bad times are here.

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  11. keeyit
    Everywhere is not good, but how many of us are prepared?

    foongpc
    Correct, AIG's plgiht was scary too. But Starbuck's shrinking sales is expected.

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