'Can do' attitude

Whoa, Mr. Agrawal! You are going too fast with your 'can do' attitude (Dec. 27, 1997, A "we can" attitude). How come no one blamed free trade and open borders when goods were flying out of those factory gates? Could it be that the 'moral support government extended to industry', you mentioned in your letter, supplied the padlock that in the end closed those gates?

Does Mr. Agrawal really believe that every Monday morning a group of people sit together in a foreign land and throw dice to choose which currency they are going to attack? I don't buy that one.

The end of last year, CNN showed a newly constructed overpass in Bangkok closed to traffic, regardless of the city's known traffic jams. It wasn't opened because politics got in the way. I didn't need to see more than that to conclude that the Thais had it coming.

I have made up the following scenario. A fund manager planning to invest in Thailand's infrastructure watches the above news on CNN. The guy thinks, "Wait a minute! We are planning to invest there, implement the project and by time we are ready to start making money it can't be opened?" That's right, sir! No way, Jose! Might as well invest in a pizza parlor in Peoria, Illinois, and a game arcade in Bethesda, Maryland! Investors 1, emerging markets O.

OSVALDO COELHO

Jakarta