Thing with the baht and the contagion that CRUSHED the paper tiger countries is that the whole thing was smoke and mirrors. Unlimited credit lines to phony corporations, loans that were never going to be repaid, and so on. When it came down ( were talking 25 baht to the dollar to 54 baht to the dollar overnight) the ripple effect extended so far because all the neighboring countries (and the rest of asia for the most part)had economies based on the same falsehoods. Dont get me wrong, individuals like George Soros had alot to do with what happened but as the saying goes, "you can huff and puff but if the house is brick you aint blowin shit down."