estments that could be removed easily. One example of the sort of quick investments that were being made in Asia can be seen in the Japanese. In Japan the interest rates were very low, so investors would borrow at 2 percent and then convert their currency into Thai baht. Due to the interest rate differential, they were able to make a lot of money off simple currency conversion. Other Asian economies were quick to follow suit, and soon there was a movement of huge amounts of capital into the region. In just one year, more then $93 billion was invested in five Asian countries. One must, however, concede that Southeast Asia became very receptive to the changes being imposed on them by the United States. Eventually, foreign investment came to be seen as a miracle cure for underdevelopment. It was seen as a quick fix that could, in a short period of time, bring countries to the same level of development as the West.
             The trouble started in 1995, when the United States inflated the dollar, and hence also inflated the Thai baht and other Asian currencies that were pegged to the dollar. This caused their exports to become expensive compared to Chinese exports. The Thai deficit rose to such an extent that all their foreign currency reserves started to drain in order to pay it. This is the first time that investors got to see the weakness in the Thai financial market.
             It is not possible to place the entire blame for the crisis on the United States. As was mentioned before, Asian countries were more than happy to accept the capital coming there way. It is important to evaluate the different internal weaknesses in these economies that led to the eventual crisis. Enough stress can
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