3/21 http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/21/international/21GLOB.html
Globalization Proves Disappointing
"The trend of globalization is that surplus capital is moving
from the periphery countries to the center, which is the
United States," said George Soros, the financier and philanthropist
who has become a leading critic of globalization.
\_ I don't find this at all disappointing. --American
\_ Guess what, globalization was not a new thing. First wave of
globalization happened 200 years ago. The nations which benefited
from the globalizations today happend to be nations benefited from
globalization 200 years ago. Was that a pure coincidence? or there
is a correlation which we don't want to admit? Mind you that
even Opium War was declared in name of free trade and remove
"illegal trade barrier" set up by then Chinese government. What
make *YOU* think globalization in the 21th century is being
pushed with heavenly intention this time around?
\_ Perhaps you should consider E190.
\_ OK. I know this a blatant troll, but do you know who Soros is and
how he made, and continues to make, his fortune? Soros the global
social reformer is just about the most blatant hypocrisy you could
find. (Though the Bushies admonishing other countries on election
fraud comes close). Some argue (though I'm not one of them) that
Indonesia has a great deal of its woes from a couple of years ago
to blame on Soros' currency speculation.
\_ Wow talk about trolling. Bush = election fraud? Not even your
beloved leftist media could make that claim after the zillionth
time they counted everything. Let it go, move on, try prozac.
kept selling Thai baht to the Thai government until
\_ That just makes Soros someone who truly understands the dangers
of globalization. Given the pathetic financial conditions of
the banana republics of SE Asia, if Soros didn't do it, someone
else would. Any evidence of the "continues to make" part?
\_ Some articles in the Nation and such no more recent than 1999
so you have me on the present day. Does it really matter
though?
\_ I am not as ready to judge Soros as a buy guy. It's
arguable that what he did was no worse than say shorting
keep selling Thai baht to the Thai government until
a stock. He is just the guy who gave the final kick
to a rotten house. The main thing that he did was to
figure out that Thailand's currency peg to the dollar
would not hold since the Thai baht should not be as
valuable as the official rate, so essentially he just
kept selling Thai baht to the Thai government until
the Thai government depleted its US dollar reserve.
\_ Yeah, except he shorted a whole country.
\- in related news [see tobin's tax] james tobin is
recently dead. --psb
\_ Thanks! I didn't know about tobin and his
tax before. Sounds like a good idea.
\_ Once that happened there was a fast and furious
devaluation of the baht, but Thailand's
companies' debt were all in dollars. How did
Soros profit from it? He borrowed Thai baht
to sell to Thai government in exchange for
dollars. While the Thai government was still
able to defend its dollar peg, Soros is paying
the spread and losing money, but once the
Thai government ran out of dollars, and the
baht quickly devalued, Soros used a small
portion of the dollars he just got from the
Thai government to repay all his baht debt
on the cheap. The remaining dollars were
his handsome profits - lovely! Did he bother
to say "Thank you!" to the wonderful people of
Thailand? It's not that much anyway, just a
few billion dollars. I am sure the Thai girls
in Chiang Mai and Pattaya can earn it all back
in a few years. Sorry if this sounds harsh but
that's globalization for you.
\_ I love the 15 yr old Thai girls.- keithyw |