Henry 'Hank' Paulson

What can one say about Henry 'Hank' Paulson. He was a Wall Street 'wunderkind', enhancing the reputation of his old firm, Goldman Sachs. As Bush's Secretary of the Treasury, well, he's hardly lived up to his reputation. Look at his solution to the sub-prime mortgage mess which is sucking the American economy into the swamp of a recession. His old firm sensing the crisis, repacked faulty sub-prime loans and sold them to greedy competitors and banks worldwide. As a result, although Goldman Sachs wrote down billions, they made even more. Paulson believes in that centuries-old fairy tale that the free market regulates itself. Eyewash! His solution to the problem: a private fund of capital put up by the major banks which will not solve the ballooning write-offs which some venture to guess are inching towards a good half-tillion Yankee dollars or more. And what about foreclosures? Paulson has little to say, for as he and that other pooh-bah Alan Greenspan firmly believe unfettered free markets will settle the market one way or the other. Well, boys, the road to economic hell and collapse is paved with such pie-in-the-sky beliefs. But rest assured you have enough money in the mattress to weather the impending storm!

South Korean elections and Lee Myong-bak

December is a day away. And the presidential elections are almost upon us. Lee Myong-bak the candidate of the Grand National Party [GNP] is favoured to win. He stands with his two feet planted firmly on a pro-business platform, not unlike other presidential candidates elsewhere. Nonetheless he doesn't speak of transparency nor reform in the long time-honoured tradition of bribes, slush funds, and back-room deals. Moulded by the 'chaebols', he encourages them. Will his election propel South Korea's strong economy, among the 10 mightiest on planet Earth along the road of greater growth? Or will it sharp the fragmentation of South Korea along the fault lines of the rich and the impoverished middle and poorer classes? Mr. Lee shouts loud in saying that he will take a firm, no nonsense stand with North Korea. Can he? He hasn't the luxury to venture into uncharted territory as the American George W. Bush who after 7 years of sterile policy towards Pyongyang had to back peddle and pick up where the Clinton administration left off in dealing with Kim Jong-il. President Roh Moo-hyon's successful turn at the second inter-Korean summit met with a certain identity of views with a pragmatic Chairman Kim Jong-il. The 47 accords which they signed and are under serious discussion and implementation will do much to ease tensions on the divided Korean peninsula, as well as position joint North-South endeavours to energise the economic potential of Korea in east Asia as well as elsewhere. So pro-business Lee Myong-bak is not in a comfortable position were he to challenge what Roh-Kim have agreed upon. If anything, it may look as though he is going to embrace the summit results and so don the top hat of an economic reformer, or so he may hope!