Enough is Enough

I've had it with all this talk about emerging markets and how great they are and how nothing can go wrong. Everyday these markets make new highs. Everyday some other talking head is on TV regurgitating some Groupthink on the Emerging markets.

I lived through a previous era where pundits said the same thing about a different market. When I first started working on Wall Street, the Japanese and its markets were like gods. Nothing could go wrong. They were like Supermen destined to take over the world economy. They made marquis purchases of our domestic assets - Rockefeller Center and Pebble Beach, etc. The Japanese Stock Market hit a new high everyday.

I was working in Fixed Income at the time at Chemical Bank in New York City, selling short term money market products. All you needed was a Letter of Credit from a Japanese Bank and it was like gold to a customer. We had another unit at the bank that sold only two funds to retail customers - the GT Global Asia Pacific and the GT Global Japan Fund. Want to guess how those funds did once the boom ended in the late 80's?

Oh I know, it's different this time. I forgot.