Jim, On top of that, our government helped bail out Korea while they were dumping RAM chips on us and killing Micron.
You're right. That was a great demonstration in stupidity. Our government is hostile towards domestic businesses. If Micron had needed help, the IMF would have replied with: Sorry, we're busy.
Below is an excerpt from a Barron's interview with Milton Freidman regarding the IMF.
Q: And you would get rid of the IMF today?
A: The IMF was created for one purpose and one purpose only. In 1944 or '45, it was created to supervise, to run, a system of fixed exchange rates among a specified number of countries. That system was really officially declared dead in 1973. So in the ordinary and reasonable course of events you would think the IMF would disappear. But there is nothing so permanent as a government agency, especially if it is international. So the IMF, instead of disappearing, went into a different business. It went into the business of providing advice and counseling. But unlike private consulting agencies, which charge people for their services, the IMF not only didn't charge -- it brought subsidies. So it was very popular as a consulting agency. And it gradually changed from being an overseer of short-term balance-of-payments problems to being a junior World Bank and a lender of last resort. And in the process, in my opinion, it has done tremendous harm. |
