There is an old Malay saying, ‘When elephants fight, the mouse deer gets trampled’. This is similar to the African saying that when elephants fight, the grass gets trampled. But a cynic will also say that the grass also gets trampled when elephants make love.

Marc Faber, the famous market analyst based in Hong Kong, has a very graphic way of explaining macroeconomic conditions, money and financial markets. Think about the world's money like water in a giant half spherical tank (like a rice bowl without a foot) sitting on a field that represents world markets. Into the tank go the world's savings, and the central banks control the tap that lets the liquidity (monetary savings) go out. The world's investors are like elephants pushing on different sides of the tank of water. If the tank tilts, the water flows out, and in the areas where water flows, the market will rise, whereas in the areas where no water flows, it will be dry and the markets will fall. If a lot of water falls in one spot, there may be a bubble. When one day the investors push in a different direction and another market rises, the old bubble will collapse for lack of liquidity.