Miroslav Antic
Wed, 23 Jul 2003 14:46:18 -0700
"A menace to his own country." I would say he has been a menace of Europe too. Boba ======== http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/98/0529/sr8.html#a12 12 George Soros INVESTMENT BANKER, PRESIDENT, SOROS FUND MANAGEMENT CO. BORN 1930, in Budapest, Hungary EDUCATION London School of Economics graduate FAMILY Married to second wife Susan Weber Soros, two children ADDRESS Soros Fund Management Co., 888 Seventh Ave., New York, N.Y. 10106 POWER POINTS Accused by some of trashing the "tiger" economies through currency speculation and profiteering. The hedge fund manager has the capital - more than $12 billion - to move markets. Admits he bet against the Thai baht initially but claims he lost money overall in Southeast Asia currency meltdowns. Recently invested heavily in South Korea and Thailand. Demonized by Malaysia's Mahathir - whom Soros called "a menace to his own country." xxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT GEORGE http://www.thainews.com.au/past29.html#3 American financier George Soros was due to give a speech in Thailand this month but has had to cancel due to threats made against him by Thai activists. The activists blame him for the collapse of the Thai baht and subsequently the Thai economy in 1997. Invited by the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand, he had already confirmed his attendance, but the growing controversy about his visit and even a threat from the Bangkok governor that he would like to hit Soros, made him re-think the move. Although internet message boards were alive with accusations of Soros being Satan, the antichrist, and a thief, since his trip was made public, Soros has denied responsibility for Thailand's economic collapse. And rightly so too. George Soros is a businessman and freely admits to currency trading for profit. The Thai Rath newspaper ran an editorial under the heading "When will we ever learn?" saying it was fortunate that George Soros had cancelled his trip to Thailand because it averted possible violent protests by nationalists. It went on to say that although the nationalists have the right to express their opinions, they seem to have glossed over or forgotten the real reasons for the economic meltdown. In a report submitted to the Chuan government but a fact-finding committee headed by former Bank of Thailand governor Nukul Prachuabmoh, causes of the crash were quite clearly spelt out. It stated that Thai authorities allowed cheap foreign loans to flow into the country to be invested into non-productive areas prior to the crash. Exports started to fall and the country's current account deficit started to climb. Authorities at this stage had the option to float the baht but did nothing. Currency traders, of which George Soros and his finance group is only one, seeing an opportunity started to short sell the currency. The Bank of Thailand then used some US$30 billion in national reserves to protect the baht against the relentless attack. It did nothing and businesses and banks with huge offshore loans went into virtual bankruptcy. The rest is history. For the activists to blame one man for all their woes is simplifying things just a bit, in a similar vein to Malaysian Prime Minister Mahatiar Mohammed claim that Malaysia was also brought down by Soros. As the Thai Rath editorial points out, Thailand has still not really understood the causes of the crisis and therefore doomed to repeat the process. ALSO: http://www.capitalresearch.org/news/news.asp?ID=83 Serbian News Network - SNN [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.antic.org/