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

To: Zeev Hed who wrote (7750)	12/25/1998 11:56:00 AM
From: Tony van Werkhooven	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9980

Zeev- You commented:"The US changed a very simple rule in its taxation of real estate (from not at risk to at risk) and landed us the S&L fiasco. Yes, prior to the tax change, capital was misdirected to RE projects which without the special tax treatment had no economic viability, but the sudden change (rather then a graduated change over at least 10 years) did not provide enough time for capital reallocation, and we ended up with writing off half to a trillion bucks." I would like to suggest that a greater contributor to the S&L fiasco was the deregulation of the S&L industry without adequate supervision.

To: Zeev Hed who wrote (7750)	12/27/1998 12:44:00 AM
From: Jon K.	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 9980

Zeev, I respect your view point. Having said that, I think that the EURO will eventually plunge Europe into a big malaise. Mark my words: this will NOT happen. What will happen is British pound will be pounded by euro first. And then US dollar will slowly lose its power. Forget CB, Asian private companies have started to sell dollar to buy euro. This momentum will continue to grow in 1999. Let's briefly look back last 100 years. Europe was the powerhouse at the turn of the century, that power (or wind) shifted to North America after WW II(The wind has always been moving toward west) then from 70's upto now it was Asia's turn. Starting with Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China... Now that same wind is heading back to Europe, where it has started. I don't see this wind to change its direction. About taxation... as with US, they can change the tax code over night. I think the change is inevitable... we'll see. The euro will actually change European's socialistic taste. Each member has to strictly limit its government spendings; they are not allowed to overspend from their budgets (unlike U.S.) We will have to pay our debts soon or later. US is the biggest debtor country in the world. The same principle applies to all, whether you are an individual, a company or a country. Sorry, my writing is not so eloquent nor humble. hmmm.... come to think of it, maybe I should get into currency future. Buy some euro and sell pound and greenback.