As predicted, naked hate prevailed at the opening debate of the CSFB investor conference. The pairing of Larry Summers and Allan Meltzer was a masterstroke.
It is not often in Asia that two people say unabashedly what they think in a public conference. Issues of face normally intervene. But the debate between the former Secretary of the US Treasury and the head of the Congress-appointed Meltzer commission, was very lively indeed.
Both men had publicly criticized each other in the past, with Summers, for example, accusing Meltzer of poisoning the well of economic debate. And as Summers took the podium to make his speech, he belittled Meltzers prior keynote speech as at best...
