Mark,
"They better have cash. I can't imagine loans in Asia to build disk drive expansion right now."
Somehow, these guys always seem to get the money they want. I couldn't imagine why people kept throwing money at the semiconductor fab companies two or so years ago. But they did. That is the problem. They see a key industry with good growth prospects, they target it, and it doesn't seem to matter how much money they lose if they want it. And then when the shit inevitably hits the fan, they say, "We don't need lectures, we just need some cash" (quote from the Korean Finance Minister a couple of weeks ago), or "Don't blame us for this mess, blame the bigger guys that we're trying to displace."
I find it just a little ingenuous. If they paid their people decent wages, if they had policies that actually encouraged a stronger and larger middle class rather than the formation of a few obscene fortunes, or if they didn't seem to have just a slash and burn take-it-all mentality, I wouldn't be as pissed.
Note: I am not trying hold up the US as a model in all respects in this regard. But at least we usually let companies fail, Chrysler and the S&Ls nothwithstanding. That is the political point to having a "private" sector--renewal is built in the system when companies fail; and the point to govt regulation is to try to see to it that the whole system doesn't just clinch up and freeze, either through too much corruption, cupidity, or stupidity.
Nevermind. Apologies for the rant.
Sam |
