Letters

摘要

Having been in Asia during the financial crisis a decade ago, I am struck by the similarities between then and now ("Capitalism at bay", October 18th). A property boom gone wild; opaque financial systems (if bank executives can't grasp the complexities of their business, they must be opaque); central banks supporting for years a policy of easy money; rampant short-selling.rnThe only ingredients missing are the snide voice of the imf denouncing bank nationalisations and the American trade representative demanding that weak banks go bust. Whatever happened to "let the markets decide", which in 1998 was sold as economic truth to Asian countries? Is the medicine of shock therapy, so liberally handed out to South Korea, Thailand, etc, too bitter for the doctor?