I am new here. I became a lover of the Austrian school through the Ron Paul campaign. I am an American living in South Korea. As many of you probably know, Peter Schiff and Jim Rogers are big fans of Asian economies. Why? I guess it’s because they believe Asian’s save more, so things should be better in the long run. I would like your expert and amature opinions of what South Korea has done to help their economy and what result these actions might have. I tend to believe the following data is not good at all. Austrian Economic books are generally not available in Korea in English or Korean. The only books I found here was Economics in One Lesson, Road to Serfdom, and a few Adam Smith books, but that’s it. Human Action and Rothbard books are no where to be found. I think a person would be hard pressed to find an Austrian Economist who was born in South Korea. One thing I would like to say. One of South Korea’s banks allows citizens to have a paper gold account and at the 100g mark convert it into a physical USB 100g gold bar (taxed at 10% by the government at the time of transfer).
Below are the actions Korea has taken in this current crisis. http://in.reuters.com/article/asiaCompanyAndMarkets/idINSEO3482420090206?sp=true
Feb 6 (Reuters) - The following is a chronology of key measures South Korea has taken to tackle the financial crisis and boost its flagging economy:
Feb. 5 - The South Korea’s central bank cuts 2009 economic growth forecast to 0.3 percent from a previous projection of 2 percent set in December, local media reports. [ID:nSEO41965]
Feb. 3 - The Federal Reserve extends currency swap lines with 13 central banks, including South Korea’s, by six months until the end of October to keep funnelling billions of U.S. dollars to markets worldwide. [ID:nN03404937]
Jan. 20 - South Korean banks cut off credit lifelines for two firms, taking the first step in a corporate restructuring drive triggered by the impact of the global downturn. [ID:nSEO343898]
Jan. 19 - President Lee Myung-bak replaces the Minister of Strategy and Finance and the Chairman of the Financial Services Commission in a partial cabinet reshuffle focused on reviving economy.
Jan. 9 - The Bank of Korea cuts its key interest rate for the fifth time in three months by 50 basis points to a record low of 2.50 percent; troubled auto maker Ssangyong Motor (003620.KS:
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(http://in.reuters.com/stocks/quote?symbol=003620.KS), Profile,Research) files for court receivership. [ID:nSEO82504]
Jan. 6 - The government announces a plan to invest 50 trillion won ($38.2 billion) over the next four years in major infrastructure and environment projects to create 960,000 jobs.[ID:nSEO18713]
Dec. 18 - South Korea’s top regulator says the country will launch a 20 trillion won fund in January to help banks replenish capital [ID:SEO228641]. The finance ministry pledges to bolster the economy through aggressive open market operations to provide liquidity. [ID:nSEW000029]
Dec. 17 - A market stabilisation fund is launched to purchase corporate bonds worth up to 10 trillion won. The central bank initially chips in about 2.1 trillion won. [ID:nSEO223140]
Dec. 16 - Seoul announces plan to pump $1.2 billion worth of securities into three state-run banks to boost their capital and help them provide funding to cash-poor companies. [ID:nSEO121733]
Dec. 12 - The Bank of Korea signs bilateral currency swap deals with Japan and China, beefing up its credit lines to the equivalent of about $62 billion from $17 billion. [ID:nSP283370]
Dec. 12 - State debt clearer Korea Asset Management Corp says it will buy 1 trillion won of bad loans from banks in December, on top of a previous 2008 target of 800 billion. [ID:nSEO112352]
Dec. 11 - The Bank of Korea cuts its key interest rate by an unprecedented 1 percentage point to a record low of 3 percent. [ID:nSEV000545]
Nov. 11 - The Bank of Korea begins to buy bank bonds. The central bank injects 1 trillion won into local banking system via 63-day repurchase agreements with bonds issued by banks serving as collateral. [ID:nSEL000336]
Nov. 7 - The Bank of Korea cuts its policy rate by 25 basis points to 4.00 percent, the third cut in a month. [ID:nSEO51448]
Nov. 3 - The government unveils an economic stimulus package worth at least 14 trillion won. [ID:nSEV000528]
Oct. 30 - The Bank of Korea ties up a $30 billion currency swap facility with the U.S. Federal Reserve to ease a dollar crunch at local financial companies. [ID:nSP414786]
Oct. 27 - The Bank of Korea cuts its base rate by 75 basis points to 4.25 percent in an emergency meeting to stabilise markets and boost the economy. It also cuts its special rate for lending to small-and-medium companies by the same margin. [ID:nSEU000096]
Oct. 23 - The central bank raises the ceiling on low-interest loans to smaller companies for the first time in seven years.
Oct. 19 - The country’s top three financial authorities jointly announce measures to calm markets, including a plan to provide government guarantee on foreign-currency borrowings worth up to $100 billion. [ID:nSEO366228]
Oct. 9 - The central bank cuts its main interest rate by 25 basis points to 5.0 percent, joining worldwide rate cuts. [ID:nSEO278751]
Sept. 30 - South Korea bans short-selling of all listed stocks and allows companies traded on the main exchange to buy back 10 times more of their own shares from the market. [ID:nSEO281652]. (Reporting by Seo Eun-kyung and Cheon Jong-woo in SEOUL; Editing by Yoo Choonsik and Sanjeev Miglani)
I had to re-read your statement quite a few times before it struck me what you were talking about. hehe I don’t think it will hurt the starcraft scene much.