Do not lose family in times of unemployment and finalcial loss

The financial crisis emotional support hotline set up by volunteer organizations with government funding received more than 1,000 calls for help in its first two weeks of service. Social problems caused by the global financial tsunami have continued to surface. Hong kong people have to understand that the adversity is a global phenomenon. Further, no matter how desperate the situation is today, there will be sunshine after rain. Other than money and wealth, there is much to admire and treasure around us.

The brunt of the financial tsunami has been borne by investors who suffered great losses in the stock and financial derivative markets. Of them, Lehman mini-bond investors aroused most concern, although the losses suffered by people who brought stocks during the peak of the hang seng index last year have been no less than that suffered by the lehman mini-bond investors. On Monday, the HIS fell 1600 points, losing 15 trillion in market value over last year’s high. It involved the capital of many small investors. Even citizens who have not directly traded in stocks but who hold mandatory provident funds and childern’s educational funds will find that their wealth has diminished considerably.

At the beginning of the financial storm, small investors suffered losses and they still had hopes of regaining their money. But the stock market continued to fall. Until the financial tsunami this month, the HIS had dropped more than 60 percent from its historical high. Many of the stocks fell drastically. Even the traditionally strong good quality stocks suffered the same fate. Some small investors began to call it a bottomless abyss. They no longer wanted to regain their money. And they also didn’t want to continue to lose money, or lose a little more. Unfortunately, as they pull themselves out of the market, they are paying for their expensive lessons.

In the 70s, the HSI dropped by more than 90 percent, from 1700 points to a little over 100 points, turning stocks into wall paper. The fall made some small investors commit suicide. Although the current financial tsunami is not as severe, it has been an in the number of people emotionally disturbed by their financial losses. Those who called the hotline for help include the middle class and owners of small-and medium-sized enterprises. Some have even lost the savings of their family members. These pesple are neither professional speculators nor gamblers, and yet the effects of the financial crisis have spread to them, causing family and social troubles.

Sign of life after destruction

Sign of life after destruction

Compared to the SARS period five years ago, the current crisis has hit the middle class much harder than it has the grassroots. The spate of closures caused by the shrinking market and the credit crunch in banking under the financial tsunami has created unemployment, which will in future affect people. When credit freezes up at the year end, enterprises will find the rest of the year especially hard to pass. If the conditions worsened with rising unemployment and shrinking job opportunities, everything can go wrong for the poor couple. Family disputes and violence may rise.