Soros letter

Dennis R Redmond dredmond at OREGON.UOREGON.EDU
Thu Aug 13 20:33:51 PDT 1998


On Thu, 13 Aug 1998, Doug Henwood cross-posted:


> Letter
> From Mr George Soros.
> The best solution would be to introduce a currency board after a modest
> devaluation of 15 to 25 per cent. The devaluation is necessary to
> correct for the decline in oil prices and to reduce the amount of
> reserves needed for the currency board. It would also penalise the
> holders of rouble-denominated government debt, rebutting charges of a
> bail-out.

Ah, yes, the Czech solution. Too bad Russia's energy oligopolies aren't interested in refunding the country's industrial base so much as looting the place blind and paying the rent for the Swiss chalets of senior execs. Such a pity, that the Russian bourgeoisie is making the rule of capital untenable! But if anyone is going to bail out Russia, it's going to be the Central Europeans, not the G-7 (mostly because German banks own something like two-thirds of Russia's foreign debt). If I were in Soros' shoes, I'd be lobbying the European Investment Bank to start acting like the Eurobank it is.

Speaking of crumbling currencies, how about that mighty Mexican peso!

-- Dennis



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