Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Asia Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Stitch who wrote (7314)	10/26/1998 11:27:00 PM
From: George Papadopoulos	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9980

In today's Wall Street Journal piece on Malaysia. Last paragraph stated that there will be no taxes in 1999. Starting in the year 2000 taxes would be paid based on the current year's income (instead of paying a year's taxes sometime in the next year). If they did not do this there would have to be tax payments Twice in 2000. What the article did not specifically say is if this is corporate or individual taxes or Both? Maybe that could have something to do with the cancellation of your visa fee? Take care, George

To: Stitch who wrote (7314)	10/27/1998 4:58:00 PM
From: Z268	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 9980

Steve, Stitch, It looks like a long (and I mean LONG) climb out for the Asian economies. As an anecdotal example, an article in WSJ in the last few days mentioned that PT Astra, the biggest car company in Indonesia, will have to default on their interest payments on their corporate debt of $2B. The primary reason: in 1997, they sold 197,000 vehicles; in 1998, they forecast to sell 22,000 (yes, that's right) vehicles. Some simple arithmetic: $2B in debt at say 7% means annual debt servicing costs of 140M. Spread over 197,000 cars, that's $710 apiece, not too bad. Spread over 22,000 cars, that's $6,360 per vehicle sold!! In trying to imagine how this problem would look like from the Asian perspective, I thought of it this way: imagine the impact on the US economy if 50% of the S&P 500 companies see 80-90% of their revenues disappear overnight..... On the subject of Indonesia's problems, another article in the WSJ mentioned that corruption in Indonesia is now actually harder to check, since the old centralised Soeharto-style corruption has been replaced by unmanaged decentralised corruption. The concept of "free market corruption" as a economic concept is an intriguing thought, I must say <ggg>.