The author has been described by News Ltd as an "iconoclast", "Svengali", a pollie's "economist muse", and "pungently accurate". Fairfax says he is a "Renaissance man" and "one of Australia’s most respected analysts." Stephen Koukoulas concludes that he is "85% right", and "would make a great Opposition leader." Terry McCrann claims the author thinks "‘nuance’ is a trendy village in the south of France", but can be "scintillating" when he thinks "clearly". The ACTU reckons he’s "an enigma wrapped in a Bloomberg terminal, wrapped in some apparently well-honed abs."

Monday, January 24, 2011

George Soros said it best on China...

The problem is Soros said it in 1994. But what Soros said then (I just came across it now) echoes my own view that I published here, albeit he will probably be off by a couple of decades:

"I formed a hypothesis soon after the Tiananmen Square massacre that communism in China will be destroyed by a good old-fashioned capitalist crash. Five years have passed and my hypothesis is about to be tested."

Yep, a massive downturn in the Chinese economy will eventually compel change. What that change begets is, however, rather uncertain. It could be good, but it could be very, very ugly. Risk is not a one-sided coin.