Stability in the Japanese government bond market is “extremely desirable,” said Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda in a sign of just how frazzled he was after the turmoil and craziness that his over-the-edge experimental monetary policy has unleashed. But as stability eludes him, he might resort to ever more desperate measures to just hang on.
Japan
The Quiet Triumph Of Oil And Gas In Obama’s Policies
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The Quiet Triumph Of Oil And Gas In Obama’s Policies
Japan’s Vacant Houses: Visions of Detroit
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Japan’s Vacant Houses: Visions of Detroit
Unlike Detroit, which will run out of cash next month, Japan prints its own money, so bankruptcy in the Detroit sense is not in the cards. But they do have two things in common: depopulation and a ballooning stock of abandoned houses. For Japan, it’s an issue that even the most prodigious money-printing binge cannot resolve.
Abenomics Tries To Make Sure Japan Is Going Down Swinging
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Abenomics Tries To Make Sure Japan Is Going Down Swinging
Anecdotal evidence has been piling up. Lamborghini sales hit the highest level in 14 years. Ferrari sales jumped 40%. Luxury retailers forecast fat profits. They ascribed it to Abenomics. “The sudden improvement in the stock market led to a big rise in sales at our department stores for luxury brands,” one of them said. But there is a price to pay.
Potential Cost Of A Nuclear Accident? So High It’s A Secret!
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Potential Cost Of A Nuclear Accident? So High It’s A Secret!
Catastrophic nuclear accidents, like Chernobyl or Fukushima, are very rare, we’re told incessantly. But when they occur, they’re costly. So costly that the French government, when it came up with estimates, kept them secret. But the report was leaked: an accident at a single reactor in a thinly populated part of France could cost over three times France’s GDP.
What the Japanese Trade Deficit Says About the Fraying Fabric In China And Europe
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on What the Japanese Trade Deficit Says About the Fraying Fabric In China And Europe
European talking heads are reassuring us on an hourly basis, lest we forget, that the worst of the debt crisis is over. The Japanese trade deficit, a measure of reality, not words, tells a different story about the crisis in Europe. And about troubles coming to a boil in China. But neither can be cured by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s plan to decapitate the yen.
The Currency Wars: Now US Automakers Are Squealing
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on The Currency Wars: Now US Automakers Are Squealing
Japan’s LDP went all out last year to re-grab power. Its platform: print and borrow with utter abandon to create asset bubbles and inflation, and to demolish the yen. Phenomenally successful! So far. But now, US automakers are squealing; they want President Obama to fight back—though the US has been printing and borrowing with utter abandon for years.
Corruption At “Decontaminating” Radioactive Towns In Japan
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Corruption At “Decontaminating” Radioactive Towns In Japan
On Friday, the mayor of Futaba, a ghost town of once upon a time 7,000 souls near Fukushima No. 1, told his staff that evacuees might not be able to return for 30 years. Or never, for the older generation. He spoke in Kazo, Saitama Prefecture, where the town’s government has settled. It was the first estimate of a timeframe. But it all depends on successful decontamination. And that has turned into a vicious corruption scandal.
Japan’s Export Debacle: Revenge In China, A Crash In Europe, Offshoring All Around
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Japan’s Export Debacle: Revenge In China, A Crash In Europe, Offshoring All Around
One of the pillars of the Japanese economy has been its exports. That pillar has been crumbling for years, but the deterioration this year has progressed at a phenomenal pace. At fault: China and Europe. But beyond the noise, Japanese companies have been investing their valuable yen overseas, and it’s making the deficit structural. An ugly combination.
Japan’s NO EXIT Strategy
by Wolf Richter • • Comments Off on Japan’s NO EXIT Strategy
At a yearend Bonenkai party, an official from the Ministry of Finance, the most powerful entity at the core of Japan Inc., let slip that the Bank of Japan wasn’t doing its job; it was just giving money to the banks which bought Japanese government bonds instead of channeling it into the economy. “That’s why the Ministry of Finance is trying to gain control over the Bank of Japan,” he said.