Gloom, boom and doom
A SNORT of disrespect for the reverend visitors — disbelief, even — comes from the gravel-voiced, pony-tailed, motor- cycling Marc Faber, alias Doctor Doom. The markets, he says, distrust governments' attempts to plan and run economies, but trust in Alan Greenspan as the inventor of a perpetual motion machine that drives the biggest economy of all: 'What most investors seem to believe' (so he writes in his Gloom Boom & Doom Report) 'is that for the last 150 years or so, recessions were due to policy mistakes by the central banks — but that now, suddenly, central bankers have discovered a magic formula to prevent any future economic downturns.' If Hong Kong is to get over its flu it must certainly hope that America does not catch cold, but the Doctor prefers to take the long view. He once rated Hong Kong a worthy succes- sor to Nineveh and Tyre.
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