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

To: MikeM54321 who wrote (3617)	5/15/1998 12:38:00 PM
From: tom	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9980

I guess not having a legal system causes international banks a few headaches too. The borrowers have no incentive to come to an agreement because they can just default instead knowing that there's nothing the international banks can do. Steady Safe Taxis is a good example as their business carries on as normal and the stock keeps trading even though they have defaulted on US$250m dollars of loans (bear in mind this company has US$20m of revenue - in Rupiah. Why did anyone lend them money??!?!?). At least the US have the tools + laws to bail out the economy.

To: MikeM54321 who wrote (3617)	5/15/1998 6:15:00 PM
From: Mark Myword	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 9980

>>> Can you imagine the Indonesian debt holders sitting across the table from the big Japanese bankers, "negotiating" the terms of repayment? I bet it wasn't much of a negotiation. <<< Mike - this is my first post on this thread - hello everybody - I couldn't resist a few comments. First , although the "big bang" reforms are now underway , I wouldn't look for too much candor from Japan under the present circumstances. They have lied to the world for years , lied to their own people , and now things are extremely dire for the Japanese economy. Their bad-debt problems are enormous , and getting worse all the time. The whole framework of their economy is being exposed as a sham and an elaborate house of cards. See the latest Business Week , or any number of other sources. They are rumored to have huge derivative losses hidden in their maze of phony accounting , and that problem hasn't even been rolled into the already bleak assessment so far. They aren't about to reveal the true numbers , if they even know them , because that would surely incite a mega-collapse that would disrupt the world economy. That's why they keep flying one joker after another over here to have a photo op with Clinton , Rubin , or other pillars of support. Second , it is comical that the Indonesians were even pretending to negotiate a deal. They have no money to pay now , and can only beg to put the debts far off into the future , to be somebody else's problem. On top of that , why would you expect the representatives of the thieves in the Suharto crony camp to part with any of the money they have stolen ? It's either already been spent , or tucked away in untraceable accounts somewhere in a foreign bank. I guess the meetings must have been pretty hilarious , with a bunch of corrupt debtors talking with a bunch of corrupt lenders. The sad part is that the majority of Indonesians are still dirt poor , and now the dreams of a better future will have to be put on hold for awhile.