Washington Post on A16

[Brad De Long]

>Brad De Long wrote:>
>
>
>
>Shouldn't the Koreans be allowed to choose whether they want to deal
>with the IMF or not, rather than having you decide it for them by
>zeroing it out? If there is such a fundamental conflict between the
>IMF's policy and the interests of the countries it lends to, why
>haven't borrowing governments realized it?
>
>****
>
>They have, but one of their solutions--an Asian Monetary Fund--was 
>resolutely squelched by the United States. Even if borrowing govt's 
>have realized the conflict of interests between themselves and the 
>IMF, what's the use if the US and IMF dismiss them out of hand? Do 
>you really think this was a choice in any meaningful sense of the 
>term?
>
>
>All best
>Christian

I heard it differently. An Asian Monetary Fund would be a 
Japanese-run monetary fund. It could be a fine thing if we had 
confidence that the people running it would have a clue as to what to 
do. But I, at least, have no confidence in either the Bank of Japan 
or the MOF.

Brad DeLong