Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Dell Technologies Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: BGR who wrote (81117)	11/18/1998 1:23:00 PM
From: Lee	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 176387

Hi Apratim,..Re:.net creditor nations holding about $800 Billion in US treasuires. In your last post, you stated that foreign holders of US treasuries totaled $800 billion. According to the Bond Market Association, for '98, the total amount in foreign holdings is around $442 billion or approximately 14.3% of total outstanding. This is an 'estimated' number. bondmarkets.com I only brought it up because it is often repeated that if Japan sells their holdings of US treasuries, the US will be in deep do do. But the UK has a larger holding than Japan, so there is some misconception here. The post you made was interesting and although it attempts to explain the current failures in the context of money flow, the explanation doesn't hold for Japan. I realize the yen hasn't been attacked by speculators, but the point is Japan is a root cause of some of the regional problems. Indirectly anyway. (IMHO) Regards, Lee

To: BGR who wrote (81117)	11/18/1998 2:20:00 PM
From: Mohan Marette	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 176387

<--OT-->You mean blame Soros? Apratim: I don't know what The Economist is saying but I think I know what they are driving at-blame the 'foreigners'. I don't agree with their assumptions that the S.E.Asian economies were doing just fine and there weren't any problems with their systems. I believe there was something structurally lacking in their economies,such as non-transparency in the financial system and lax (corrupt) lending practices of their financial institutions.On top of that their complete and full adoption of Western style capitalism without making adequate changes in the financial system made the situation even worse.For one thing when you allow complete access to your financial system by foreign institutional investors there tend to be a massive inflow of funds which creates some sort of a temporary nirvana and complacency but the trouble starts when the funds leave the country at the first sign of a problem.In the absence of a thriving domestic economy such massive outflow of funds could create havoc in the economy as evidenced by the recent fiasco.Unabated borrowing practices of the government and private entities won't help any under these circumstances either as it makes the situation even worse. Of course I could be wrong but this is what I am thinking.