HowardDollar Down and All Bahts Are Off!!
Better Go Fishing- Barretto Pt. Pk, Bronx
That's Baht in the sense of the currency of Thailand, the Baht, which has risen 14 percent against the dollar this year. Speculative money is flooding in to escape the dollar. This is killing the exports from Thailand, so it is not helping them either. It is also undermining foreign investment. The head of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce warned of a slowdown in Japanese investment in Thailand while in Bangkok. This investment is 38 percent of Thailand's Foreign Direct Investment.
Thai officials attempt to stop the bubble growing have been ineffective. They remember well when the Baht crashed in 1997, during George Soros' attack on the Baht. So this is why we need a new Bretton Woods like daddy Lyn LaRouche says. Listen to the old geezer, baby.
The fall of the Baht was a disaster for Thailand in 1997, and now the rise of the Baht is also a disaster for Thailand. It's like in New York City, with the real estate bubble. The rise of housing prices and rents from 2001 to 2005 has been a disaster for most of the population. And now the crash in prices will hit many of the people who thought they had it so good with the financial bubble, when their home is repossessed.
Meanwhile, the merger mania goes on with the possible merger/buyup by Bank of America of Barclay's Bank. With some of the hysteria around Treasury Secretary Paulson's crisis team, this could be near the last big bang. Paulson is worried about the $1.5 trillion in leveraged hedge fund equity getting out of control. And violent housing price drops are hitting Florida, Arizona and Boston area, to name a few. Anybody say realcrash?
