101 Bill Passed!

A nervous week it is. Finally, the US House passed the 101 bill. But not before going through a volatile,nervous and bloody week in Wall St. and global equity market. But thank goodness, the threat of Great Depression 1929 is averted. So this is historic. However market slides more than 135 points and credit spread remains tight. I think this is temporary short term reaction to the package. In the long term, $700 billion will be utilized to sweep of the "toxic mortgage" from the bank's balance sheet. This enable banks to lend again to prevent credit crunch. This is because US has been hit by "Economic Pearl Harbour" in the words of Buffet. The package will reduce the systemic threat of bank runs. In the mean time, Wachovia betrayed Citigroup to accept Well Fargo bid. Citigroup is taking legal action on this prized acquisition. Wachovia has $800 billion in deposits and 11,000 branch networks across in US. Citigroup needs Wachovia as part of his long term recovery after losing $18 billion in 3 quarters due to sub prime mortage crisis. After initial positive reaction to the acquisition, Citigroup share prices got battered 18% last night. Meanwhile, I read on NST that British whites are migrating out of their country in droves. Favourite destinations are Australia, NZ, Canada and US. Reasons given are high crime and bad weather. It looks like Chinese Malaysians are not alone in this global migration. The migration of Malaysian Chinese is widespread and across the board. The irony is some are migrating to UK when the Whites are leaving lock stock and barrel to Down Under. I bet the Aussies would be more than happy to welcome their white brothers. To the prisoners of mother england (POMEs), poetic justiec done. However, they share the same reason for leaving:- high crime. The only difference is in UK, it is the white English while in Malaysia it is the Chinese minority that migrates. As more Chinese migrate overseas, the future population ratio drops. It is a real pity as they are the most productive citizens. The long term impact is an outflow of more funds and skills to these lucky countries. This is globalization!