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

To: Jyoti sharma who wrote (610)	1/8/1998 8:25:00 PM
From: Tom Markowski	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9980

Asia is tanking again tonight. Japan and Singapore are down significantly. Should be another down day tomorrow.

To: Jyoti sharma who wrote (610)	1/8/1998 8:36:00 PM
From: Rational	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 9980

Jyoti: I agree in toto that the arrogant bureaucrats must learn from their mistakes and that the corruption must stop and so on. I have very lengthy experience with bureaucrats in India as well as in the USA. Quite frankly, I cannot distinguish the bureaucratic species, whether they are Americans or Indians. I have many American friends who are pathologically disposed towards the American bureaucracy; this is not the standard hatred toward Federal officials which many common Americans have; it is rather the completely irrational attitude of many of these officials who submit to rationality only when threatened. I am pathologically opposed to corruption and irrationality here and everywhere. Coming back to the economic policy, I find the IMF prescription as completely naive and irrational, lacking an understanding of the economic situation, and so on. Demanding transparency and removing corruption is very critical and must be enforced through this unique opportunity of bringing the arrogant SE Asian bureaucrats to submission; I want to see this done. But, choking fundamentally sound economies is a very grossly mistaken and highly irrational policy, IMO. Just imagine when IMF entered to solve Indonesia's problem (Indonesian economic policy received very high praises from IMF and others even after the Thai problem!), the rupiah was at 2000-2500 per US$. Since IMF entered the rupiah has plunged to 10000 per US$. Is it a solution? It is a disaster wrought by the IMF. The IMF basically made the markets psychologically impaired, bringing down the rupiah to 10000 per US$. Yesterday's plunge was mainly due to the IMF comment that the Indonesian budget failed to meet IMF expectations -- which IMF is now (today) rethinking to retract!! What a joke!! The IMF bureaucrats are more evil (IMO) than bureaucrats elsewhere. I know this personally from friends at IMF; and when the WB made me an offer of a Principal Financial Economist (which I did not accept because that was a dead-end for me). I really feel very sad about these so-called free-market champions preaching garbage, completely oblivious of rationality and ruining peoples!! Sankar