Stitch,
Have to say I feel a lot of sympathy for anyone living in Asia right now. I lived thru the severe economic collapse here in Alaska in 1986-1990 when oil prices tanked. So much real estate was foreclosed that for a while the few remaining banks gave away a free house or strip mall with each new account! <g>
Our economy was revived in several ways. First, the state government and its interventions in the local economy were greatly reduced. After a year or two of paralysis, a great deal of real estate was foreclosed and sold off at bargain prices. Then, Exxon spent a couple of billion up here in 1989-90 cleaning up its disastrous Prince William Sound oil spill. Finally, the recovery took off when a lot of major discount retailers like WalMart, KMart, Eagle Hardware, Costco, etc. bought up cheap raw land and went on a major building and hiring spree.
I think the biggest single factor in the recovery was that people had to get over the denial phase and live under the new realities.
Now, here is another Asia-related piece from one of the semi threads. It's quite a rant... exchange2000.com |
