You don't want to be contra trend. That's the view of economist Feinberg who spelled it out for us in America's monument to wishful thinking, Las Vegas. Well, there are a lot of similarities between casino and private capital markets. And that, says Feinberg, is exactly what happened in East Asia. In a casino, Feinberg spotted another phenomenon common to global financiers and Las Vegas gamblers.
People move in where they see a lot of optimism, where it's positively contagious.
Well, this table is going dead. Let's quickly get out. Let's pull out our money. They wanted to be part of the action. And it's, in that sense, a self-fulfilling prophecy.