--- Michael Perelman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Korean workers' resistance has been relatively > strong. Other than that I > don't know of how the country has been > resisting the IMF. > > As I understood it, Korea wanted to join with > the "big boys" so it > "reformed its financial sector" in the mid 90s, > leading to all kinds of > trouble. > > On Mon, Oct 07, 2002 at 12:50:45PM -0400, Doug > Henwood wrote: > > Sabri Oncu wrote: > > > > >It appears that Korea is not doing well in > these days. I remember > > >that my first exchange on PEN-L was with > Brad DeLong. I just > > >casually wrote, without giving any reasons, > at the time that > > >Korea was at risk and he said, without > giving any reasons other > > >than quoting the Economist, that the IMF > bailout of Korea worked > > >fine. I wonder if he can say the same now. > > > > Joseph Stiglitz says Korea's doing well > because it ignored the IMF's > > advice. Does anyone really know what's going > on there? > > > > Doug
The IMF is not monolithic. They come in swarms and put forth all sorts of proposals. Then they negotiate with the government, the bureaucrats and the captains of industry. Then some IMFers will say it's too little too late. Others will say they are pleased with the progress that has ben made. Others will say nothing is being done. I think Stiglitz has been weak on the follow through with Korea. Initially, the IMF planS met with a lot of resistance. But the current US yes man in office has really worked to give the US and the IMF what it wants. For example, ways into the banking system and complete control of the auto production. As for Japan, the key word out of the mouths of the investment bank 'analysts'/myrmidons is 'recapitalization'. Just as US private equity is 'recapitalizing' Korean banking, the same process must be alllowed to happen to Japan. How ironic. The reason these banks have so many bad loans as a % of their loan portfolios is they can't make enough good loans. Which means they can't use all the savings they have (their liabilities). They don't need recapitalized. They need a new economy. Recapitalization just means foreign--often US private equity--interests get control. But you can't manage a bank through shareholding (I say), nor is it really realistic to expect 20-40% per annum on such investments from retail banking in a very competitive market such as Japan. C Jannuzi __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Faith Hill - Exclusive Performances, Videos & More http://faith.yahoo.com
