tradermike thought this story was kinda cute:
Sunday, October 22 10:02 AM SGT
Taiwan investors head to hospitals amid bearish bourse
TAIPEI, Oct 22 (AFP) -
Taiwanese investors are cramming hospital wards with "heartaches" as they helplessly watch their hard-earned money evaporating in a tumbling stock market.
"In the past two months, there has been a 10-20 percent increase in the number of patients at psychiatry (clinic) and many of them suffered heavy losses in the stock market," said Hsu Chen-tien, psychiatrist at Taipei's Adventist Hospital.
And up to 30 percent of the patients diagnosed as having psychiatric disorders have shown signs of deterioration, he said,
The Taiwan Stock Exchange weighted price index plummeted 3,220.61 points or 36.5 percent to 5,599.74 Saturday since President Chen Shui-bian from the Democratic Progressive Party took office on May 20.
"This is so far the biggest crash in the Taiwanese history since 1990 when the index tumbled 80 percent in seven months," said Yu Yin-kai, an analyst at Grand Cathay Securities.
Investors are complaining of physical pains, anxiety, depression, insomnia, loss of appetite, headache, dizziness and stomachache, Hsu said.
"The fact that the market spun out of control frightens them, making them feel helpless."
Psychiatrist Yang Ming-jen at Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital voiced concern over those with heavy debts.
"Some may become suicidal if not treated," said Yang, who has encountered several patients contemplating suicide.
Liu Li-chin, deputy section chief at Yung Li Securities Co., said one of her clients, a housewife, had sunk the family's savings totalling five million Taiwan dollars (155,812 US) into the stock market earlier this year and was now left with 1.5 million dollars
"She told me she wanted to hang herself because she was terrified her husband would find out," said Liu.
A 26-year-old man surnamed Chung has put his kidney up for sale on the Internet for two million dollars in order to pay off his debts.
"I had borrowed money from banks and friends to buy stocks but had no idea that the market would crash, so now I have no other ways of paying off these loans except to sell my own kidney," he said.
Chung, an employee at a high-technology company, has so far lost more than two million dollars on the stock market.
Many people are turning to telephone helplines.
"We have received more calls than usual from people with financial troubles in the past two weeks," said Wu Lee-chu, a spokeswoman for Kaohsiung Life Lines.
"Almost every player in the market is a loser at this point," said Liu from Yung Li Securities.
The biggest loser is the government, which has lost at least 100 billion dollars in shoring up the prices, according to the opposition parties.
But despite the recent rebounds, some fear the worst is yet to come and more people would require psychiatric help.
"The market could further slide below 5,000 points if the government decided on halting the construction of the nuclear power plant at the year's end," said Yu, arguing the issue caused the market to collapse in the first place.
The government, inclined to abort the controversial project, was estimated to lose some 100 billion dollars if the 5.6 billion US dollar project, more than 30 percent complete, is killed. Analysts fear axing the project may spark an exodus of enterprises fearing power shortage.
Yu also attributed the slump to the recent cabinet reshuffle, soaring oil prices, weakness on Wall Street and a slowdown of the global computer sales.
The cabinet-level Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics in August revised downward the forecast of the island's gross domestic product (GDP) growth this year to 6.57 percent from the previous estimate of 6.73 percent.
A further markdown is likely later this year after the stock market lost some 30 percent of its value since August.
The island's unemployment rate in August hit this year's high of 3.2 percent, rising 0.1 percentage point from July.
"If the economy continues to deteriorate, I am afraid people who have only been talking about suicide might actually act on their words," warned psychiatrist Yang. |
