Earlier today the US Treasury Department announced the latest government’s economic stimulus package and bailout plan. However, instead of reviving confidence in financial markets, the move caused US stock markets to fall again.
The Dow Jones industrial average (DJIA), for instance, plummeted 4.62% to close at 7,888.88. It was the biggest drop for the Dow since December 1, when the blue chips fell 680 points, or 7.7%.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 4.91% to 827.16 while the NASDAQ fell 66.83 points or 4.20% to 1,524.73.
Interestingly, this public reaction is no different from a story in a Calvin and Hobbes comic strip published several years ago. Here’s a copy of that cartoon.
More job cuts in Panasonic, Macy's
The end — of job cuts and job layoffs — is nowhere near.
Just last week, we wrote about a potential 126,000 people around the world who are set to lose their jobs following company announcements in the last week of January 2009.
This week, two more global companies announced they will terminate a total of 22,000 employees, in an attempt to cope with the effects of the current economic recession.
Philippine green passport validity and expiration date
Earlier this week, we wrote about getting the new, maroon-colored machine readable passports (MRP) because the old green passports will soon become unusable.
There are a lot of rumors going on about the validity date of the current green passports (including the email currently circulating saying by January 2010, they cannot anymore be used) but unfortunately, we have not heard any official word yet from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
I asked my friend working at the DFA to confirm, once and for all, what the actual rule is. I also called the DFA office in Manila and this is what we found out:
Job losses in the Philippines
More than 2.6 million jobs in the US disappeared in 2008 and around 11 million Americans are now unemployed, according to this news report. The grim scenario is not yet over as companies last week announced more than 126,000 job cuts worldwide in the coming months.
The Philippines is not also spared from the effects of this economic crisis. The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported that since October 2008, a total of 23,485 Filipinos here and abroad have lost their jobs as a direct result of the global economic crisis.
126,000 more workers worldwide to lose jobs
More than 126,000 workers worldwide are expected to go unemployed in the next few months, based on several company announcements made last week alone.
We compiled news reports published on Yahoo News, Inquirer.net and Bloomberg from January 21 to 28 and summarized below the information about the jobs cuts companies are planning to implement as a result of the economic recession.
In just that one-week period, expected job layoffs, according to company announcements, totaled 126,000. That is a really scary figure but what’s more scary is the fact that these announcements were made in just the first month of the year. We’re almost certain more companies will announce layoffs in the coming months.
Brace yourselves.
List of biggest bankrupt companies in 2008
Aside from the words “subprime,” “financial recession,” and “job layoffs,” “bankruptcy” seems to be a popular, infamous word these days. Bankruptcy is simply the inability of an individual or company to pay its creditors. At present we hear news reports almost everyday about a certain company filing for bankruptcy.
What were the major bankruptcies in 2008? The list below identifies companies with the biggest assets involved in a bankruptcy filing last year.
Getting Philippine ePassport or Machine Readable Passports (MRP)
Maroon is the new green. For Philippine passports, that is.
The new maroon-colored passport is machine-readable, in compliance with the International Civil Aviation Organization’s requirement. Green passports, however, will still be valid until their validity date according to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), but there might be a catch.
Read it here: Green passports OK until validity date but…
Jail the Pangandamans!
You’ve probably heard it by now. Members of a clan of political elites are involved in an alleged mauling incident last week at the Valley Golf and Country Club in Antipolo City.
The suspects: Masiu, Lanao del Sur Mayor Nasser Pangandaman, Jr. and his 5 bodyguards. Father Nasser Sr., Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) Secretary, reportedly just watched while the victims, a 56-year-old and a 14-year-old boy, were beaten up.