Baloney Mr. Chan! What the Western World most needs is to free their banks of their stupid regulations.

Sir, I know that the current crisis, and that has until now mostly affected the Western World, was primarily caused by the bank regulators who innocently thought they were doing us a favor, by creating artificial incentives for the banks to generate dangerously excessive exposures to what they officially perceived as “not-risky”, like the triple-A rated securities and “solid” sovereigns, while, equally dangerously, hindering the banks to attend to the credit needs of the “risky”, the small businesses and entrepreneurs. This the regulators did by means of their silly capital requirements for banks based on ex-ante perceived risks of default of borrowers. 

That is why I truly feel upset when, silencing my voice, you allow Ronnie Chan the space to argue that “The west is now in many respects too free”… and that perhaps the United States might be better off leaning more towards China’s ways, “The west is in danger of frittering away its freedom” November 15. 

What a baloney! What the west most needs is to free their banks from their current regulations. If the United Sates does collapse and therefore China does not collect it investments or can export more to it, I wonder where Mr. Ronnie Chan would prefer to be… in the United States or in China? I know for sure where I would like to be and I also hope those in the Financial Times are clear on that too.