Asian Markets Fall; Nikkei Down 3.1 Pct (Shanghai -5.7%, HK -3.5%)

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Asian markets fell Monday after Wall Street tumbled late last week on concerns over a slowdown in the U.S. economy and the outlook for corporate profits. Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 3.1 percent to close at 12,917.5, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down 3.5 percent at 23,797.4 in afternoon trading.

The region's biggest declines came in China, where the Shanghai Composite Index plunged 5.7 percent by midafternoon to 3,294.0.

Disappointment over a lack of market supporting moves by Beijing also dampened buying sentiment on the Hong Kong and Shanghai exchanges, analysts said.

On Friday, poor first-quarter earnings from General Electric Co. sharpened worries over both corporate profits and the wider American economy, a vital Asian export market. The Dow Jones industrials fell 2.0 percent to 12,325.4.

Elsewhere, the stock market benchmarks in Australia, Indonesia and South Korea were down around 2 percent. In Singapore, the Straits Times Index was down nearly 3 percent at 3,035.9.

Symbol	Name	Last Trade	Change	Related Info
^AORD	All Ordinaries	5,410.90 2:10AM ET	94.30 (1.71%)	Components, Chart, More
^SSEC	Shanghai Composite	3,296.67 3:00AM ET	196.22 (5.62%)	Chart, More
^HSI	Hang Seng	23,811.20 4:52AM ET	856.59 (3.47%)	Components, Chart, More
^BSESN	BSE 30	15,807.64 Apr 11	112.54 (0.72%)	Chart, More
^JKSE	Jakarta Composite	2,272.48 5:07AM ET	31.45 (1.37%)	Components, Chart, More
^KLSE	KLSE Composite	1,246.79 Apr 11	1.40 (0.11%)	Components, Chart, More
^N225	Nikkei 225	12,917.51 3:00AM ET	406.22 (3.05%)	Chart, More
^NZ50	NZSE 50	3,470.96 1:31AM ET	17.88 (0.51%)	Components, Chart, More
^STI	Straits Times	3,042.80 4:59AM ET	84.07 (2.69%)	Components, Chart, More
^KS11	Seoul Composite	1,746.71 5:03AM ET	33.00 (1.85%)	Components, Chart, More
^TWII	Taiwan Weighted	8,892.68 1:45AM ET	16.90 (0.19%)	Chart, More

Here is a YouTube report from September, 2007. The Korlin Economic Report interviewed Congressman Ron Paul. He predicted exactly what is happening right now. Raul also quoted Ludwig Von Mises on the dollar . . . He castigated Bernanke for taking away all transparency by doing away with M3 reports.

Dr. Paul was frankly upset by members of Congress who still believe the USD is backed by gold!. . . Can you imagine that? How can Congress maintain its 'oversight' responsibilities when they are that 'Out of Touch' _____________ ?

The Truth Revealed by Ron Paul in 2007

There is nothing new here. Adam Smith wrote in 1776:

THE STOCK which is lent at interest is always considered as a capital by the lender. He expects that in due time it is to be restored to him, and that in the mean time the borrower is to pay him a certain annual rent for the use of it. The borrower may use it either as a capital, or as a stock reserved for immediate consumption. If he uses it as a capital, he employs it in the maintenance of productive labourers, who reproduce the value with a profit. He can, in this case, both restore the capital and pay the interest without alienating or encroaching upon any other source or revenue. If he uses it as a stock reserved for immediate consumption, he acts the part of a prodigal, and dissipates in the maintenance of the idle, what was destined for the support of the industrious. He can, in this case, neither restore the capital nor pay the interest, without either alienating or encroaching upon some other source of revenue, such as the property or the rent of land.

The stock which is lent at interest is, no doubt, occasionally employed in both these ways, but in the former much more frequently than in the latter. The man who borrows in order to spend will soon be ruined, and he who lends to him will generally have occasion to repent of his folly. To borrow or to lend for such a purpose, therefore, is in all cases, where gross usury is out of the question, contrary to the interest of both parties; and though it no doubt happens sometimes that people do both the one and the other; yet, from the regard that all men have for their own interest, we may be assured, that it cannot happen so very frequently as we are sometimes apt to imagine. Ask any rich man of common prudence, to which of the two sorts of people he has lent the greater part of his stock, to those who, he thinks, will employ it profitably, or to those who will spend it idly, and he will laugh at you for proposing the question. Even among borrowers, therefore, not the people in the world most famous for frugality, the number of the frugal and industrious surpasses considerably that of the prodigal and idle. ....

When interest was at ten per cent, land was commonly sold for ten and twelve years purchase. As interest sunk to six, five and four per cent., the price of land rose to twenty, five and twenty, and thirty years purchase. The market rate of interest is higher in France than in England; and the common price of land is lower. In England it commonly sells at thirty; in France at twenty years purchase.

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