Fisher Investments chief executive Ken Fisher described the present world economic conditions as similar to previous downturns.

He told the Forbes Global CEO Conference in Sydney, "If you read the media from 1991 it sounds just like it does today."

"We're chimpanzees with no memory.

"I believe the next 10 years will be just as good as the 1990s.

Mr Fisher, who writes the monthly "Portfolio Strategy" column in Forbes magazine, and contributes to other financial and news magazines, said the problems in this environment that "we think are so unique, abnormal" are "the same stupid old normal we've always had."

WL Ross & Co chief executive Wilbur Ross Jr, however disagreed with him, saying the current level of indebtedness among governments and consumers was much higher than before.

"Almost every government in the world is far more leveraged than it was," he said.

"Consumers worldwide... are also much more leveraged than they were back in 1990.

"I don't think those things lead to the end of the world.. but I do think they are structurally different from what we've had before."

Mr Fisher, a self proclaimed democracy despiser, argued that the "bailout concept" that led to high government debt was wrong and that many of those companies should have been left to fail.

"I believe in capitalism. Democracy just gets in the way," he said.