I do not see housing finance as the prime problem. The fact is that the mortgagese were given to those who are and were financially unable to pay the instalments throwing away sound banking principles. The same is true with regard to Credit Card financing. You can indefinitely extend the Credit card debt charging interest and ask for minimum payment and book the profit while the capital extended would eventually would become bad debts. The whole mess is created selling to the consumer to live for today and accumulate debts payble by your kids and grand kids and many more generations. Well the the days has come for accountability and it has not waited for your kids and grand kids.
Kris Chari
SPONSORED BY:
Goodbye to the Bulls?
Email To A Friend
Please fill in the following information and we'll email this link.
SPONSORED BY
On the market's prospects: Japan's stock prices have been overvalued, with a P/E ratio higher than the United States and other developed countries. That was justified until the 1980s, but then Japan's economic growth got much worse. We saw a normalizing of stock prices, until Junichiro Koizumi became prime minister [in 2001]. People started to get back to the old theme—"Well, Japan's potential growth rate might have changed." But now the illusions are all gone. We are in a correction phase, but the P/E ratio is still almost equivalent to America's and Europe's, and if people believe Japan's growth rate will remain far below the United States' and Europe's, then Japan's stock price needs to come down. That is the basic market sentiment. I think the rationale is very strong.
Kanno is chief economist at JPMorgan in Tokyo.
'Optimistic'
Rupert Stadler
My personal view is optimistic. There have been market adjustments before. Our incoming order numbers are strong, and we haven't seen any signs of a slowdown. German industry has worked very hard in recent years to gain technology leadership, hold down costs and raise productivity. We've worked on diversifying our export markets away from being dependent on just one major region. German companies are more robust and better prepared than ever. We have a lot more room to breathe today than just a few years ago. Like many German companies that concentrate on the premium segment, our business is by nature not as volatile as the mass-market end of production. Our export markets are much more diversified today, and that holds not just for Audi but for all of German industry. We're no longer dependent on one or two major markets. For us, growth in the emerging markets is going to compensate for slower regions elsewhere. If there is a U.S. recession, American companies will be in a more difficult position, since they're more dependent than we are on the domestic market.
Stadler is chief executive officer of Audi.
© 2008
Discuss