I refer to the article which appeared in Sunday Money on November 15, in which Nobel Laureate Merton Miller was reported as not being impressed with the HK$30 billion gain in respect of the intervention in the stock market by the Hong Kong Government. If Mr Miller was to see things from the 'real world perspective', his opinion might not be so coloured. Few can doubt that since the intervention, the level of confidence in Hong Kong has gone up and a semblance of stability has returned. Hong Kong has never officially deviated from the path of free markets. This move must be treated as an exception in light of the extreme circumstances prevailing then. Mr Miller cited the case of the Federal Reserve intervention for Long-term Capital Management but again the Fed argued that this was in the best interests of the stability of the markets. The issue is not whether the US can make its own rules and Hong Kong cannot as Mr Miller suggests. Sometimes it is essential to save the system first and then take on the worthy free market arguments of intellectuals like Mr Miller later. SAMIR KUMAR Discovery Bay
