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

To: Rational who wrote (137)	12/25/1997 6:25:00 PM
From: Tommaso	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9980

As various people have said in thepast, it is very stimulating to read your commentary and discussion. I wish it were possible for you to invite other of your peers to contribute to this discussion. Wonder if Milton Friedman does e-mail.

To: Rational who wrote (137)	12/26/1997 4:27:00 PM
From: Worswick	Respond to of 9980

Going back over the 150 odd posts on this thread - a huge congratulations to you Thomas - I wanted to ask you Sankar from your "insider's" perspecive of economic policy in the US do you view the current Asian malaise as: (a) creatively deflationary with long term benefits to the Pacific Rim? (b) alarmingly deflationary? (c), alternatively, is there a threat to worldwide economic stabliity if the Nikki sinks to, say, 12,500? That having been asked I'd like to reply to Zeev's (#139) marvelously timed post on Xmas: The question, "Are there similar sizable underground economies in other Asian countries?" When last looked at the Indian world of "black underground off-the books money" was somewhere between1.5 X to 4X the size of the entire Indian economy. Thus, one imagines, you could have the whole Indian economy crater into a giant depression but everyone would still have money. Sankar correct me if I am wrong. The visible benefits of keeping money under the mattress and not believing in banks. Luring the black money into the "real world" is in fact the challenge, if you will, of government. So far the Indians with real money don't seem to trust the government. Is this a signal to the foreign investor??? Sankar you wrote in one of your posts that "the British robbed as much as they could like the diamonds from India." I really thought better of you. Thinking things like this is unworthy of your intellect. First, the Nizam owned most if not all the diamond mines in the Deccan and most of the diamonds in India. Second, the Nizam's dominions were not part of India because the political construct of India didn't exist. Hyderabad was one of 567 "Princely States" on the Indian subcontinent. In fact India geographically never existed as a country until 1947. So to say "the British robbed as much as they could like the diamonds from India" is not accurate. They didn't control the diamonds. They didn't steal the diamonds. In reality, since you were educated in India you must know this, the Indian government judicially "expropriated" the Nizam's diamonds... after they had solemly promised to guaranteed the princes their rights and priveleges in return for giving up their powers. Recently, in Mussorie I had a talk with a man of sixty who owned an antique shop. About the British period he said, "I wish the British were still here." I explained that he was not politically correct, that he was out of step with the times and he had an antique way of thinking. He looked at me in the darkness of his shop and said, " We are all beggars now, sir. Our own Indian politicans have done this to us. In 1947 we had a positive account surplus. We had a rail system which was the envy of the world. We had civil servants who are honest and the ICS which is probably the best qualified bureacracy in the world. In the courts there was fair minded justice. What have we now? " So. How do you answer that man Sankar? By saying that the "British robbed India as much as they could.... like the diamonds from India..." You repeat these calumnies about the British by rote. Then, you talk about "Indian values, or Asian values". I'd like to ask you if you think India has any problems? If it is a good place to invest in, and if not will it ever be a place to invest in? Recently, I spent a considerable almount of time riding Indian trains and buses. On three different occassions -on different buses and trains - there were violent fist fights between passengers because of the terrible crowding and general decline in available space. India used to have the most civil people on earth. You just never used to see this. I don't mean to go off on you personally Sankar. However, when I hear about "Asian values" I am always reminded of the Indian tax collectors who used to take business men and roast them above a fire a little bit.... to find out where their money was. Never forget it was the government who empowered the tax collectors. At that on this thread we have a cabalist who thinks that American business men are going to sneak in and take over the world while the locals aren't watching. Well, buddy I'll tell you one thing... one Indian is smarter than ten of you. Dear boy. They'll just change the law and say you can't speak English anymore, you'll have to be able to tie a dhoti in 10 seconds and if you can't do both simultaneously guess what? They'll confiscate your insurance 100% American owned company.