Thai Billionaire’s Debt Spree Evokes Asian Crisis Memory

[Harsh Jones]

make sure you have some US$

in a safe place

ie under the mattress

What if its the dollar that falls ?

Couldn't happen could it.... ?

[Harsh Jones]

greed is root of all evil. In Thailand case rich fit the bill

Greed and money is the route to all progress. How much capital investment in machinery and industrial production that results in job creation and higher standards of living would result if every millionaire and billionaire took their money and wasted it away in the Bahamas rather then do the greedy thing and reinvest it ?

In my opinion, you have it backwards. "Wasting" their money in the Bahamas would mean that they were spending - spending being the thing that drives economic growth.

But ultra-rich people do not spend - instead, they "invest", hoarding their money in a way that benefits nobody.

You are the one who has it backwards.

So if a guy runs a successful business for 10 years and makes 20 million dollars, its better for the economy for him to go piss it away in the Bahamas or is it better for the economy for him to invest it back into his business to double its size ? (double the payroll ect)

[Harsh Jones]

History will replete itself ,as people will never learn,in this case

i think CP is just trying to regain what it had to sell off in the

last crash,through overextending itself with debit,now i believe

they would like to buy back Tesco-Lotus..

regards Worgeordie

There is a pretty big difference with regards to Thailand these days. Thailand is a creditor nation with sizable trade surpluses. In 1997, Thailand was a debtor nation with trade deficits. Now the US is the prime debtor nation with massive trade deficits. It should be interesting to watch this play out.

Is there a chance the Baht will increase more than it's current approx. value of 30 to 1 dollar ratio like say to older higher levels if this is about a repeat of history??

There is definitely a chance that SE Asian currencies will remain strong as the $ tanks. Despite the propaganda against the Euro, its very likely that Asia will turn to the Euro for a benchmark when the dollar gets weak. The Eurozone is a net creditor with no trade deficit at all. The US is not China's biggest trading partner. The Eurozone is.

[ericthai]

History will replete itself ,as people will never learn,in this case

i think CP is just trying to regain what it had to sell off in the

last crash,through overextending itself with debit,now i believe

they would like to buy back Tesco-Lotus..

regards Worgeordie

There is a pretty big difference with regards to Thailand these days. Thailand is a creditor nation with sizable trade surpluses. In 1997, Thailand was a debtor nation with trade deficits. Now the US is the prime debtor nation with massive trade deficits. It should be interesting to watch this play out.

Actually there was allot more to it than a trade deficit. Asia was having a great boom in the early 90's i was working as an electrical engineer and we had projects everywhere in Asia but Thailand more than anywhere else. What happened in Thailand was too much was invested in real estate and relaxation of the rules on the banks making it the easy to get a loan from a bank. Banks were giving out loans like candy. A good friend of mine here in Thailand owns a company. He asked for a loan sometime in 1996 to expand his factory. He asked for 20 million baht and the bank said to him are you sure you don't need more maybe 30 million baht? It was so easy. This is why you see so many unfinished buildings in Bangkok. Companies would get a loan to build the condo and get more than what was needed and never cared if it was completed or not as they already got allot of money from the bank loan. Then you also had the USD losing value. The bank of Thailand did not have enough reserves and i think they could have never had enough to keep the baht from falling. Early 1997 we had 10-12 projects in Thailand but by middle to late 1997 all those project except 1 or 2 we cancelled. Times we bad for Thailand companies late 97 and on, but the devaluation of the baht was great for visitors. Prices just about dropped in half almost over night. I was really enjoying my visits at that time. Especially the first few months when prices pretty much stayed the same but the baht was now at 38-40 instead of 24-25. i was loving Thailand at that time.

[monkey dog]

greed is root of all evil.

you must be mistaken, i distinctly remember my primary school teacher say it was Hitlary Crinton