If you want to spend a pretty productive hour then watch this presentation by Kyle Bass at the University of Chicago. He discusses his thinking on the inevitable collapse of Japan. Given that he’s investing in that outcome rather than simply opining renders his thoughts at the very least worthy of serious consideration. Stick around […]
Posts Tagged ‘Japan’
Japan’s Slide Continues
It’s more of the same old news for Japan. The global economy continues to savage the country. From Market Watch: Japanese data sets released Wednesday suggested the global recession continues to take a toll, showing up in both lagging and leading indicators. Japan’s current-account surplus slipped 34.2% in May from that month last year, as […]
One Green Shoot And Lots Of Weeds In Japan’s Economic Data
Japan had a green shoot amidst recent economic data. Industrial production was up 5.2% in April over March. Unfortunately this shoot was found in a field of weeds. Reuters reports the bad news: The unemployment rate climbed to a seasonally adjusted 5.0% in April from 4.8% in March, according to data from the Ministry of […]
Green Shoots And Dour Pundits
Let’s get all the economic news and opinion out of the way with one post. It’s not that dramatic and all of the pundits are beginning to sound tediously repetitive. According to the National Association of Realtors, single family home sales were up but so were inventories. Single-family home sales rose 2.5 percent to a […]
Asia Risks Much With Its Criticisms Of U.S. Monetary Policy
Here are some comments that are long over due. Ambrose Evans-Pritchard suggests in the Telegraph that the Asian nations need to get a grip on reality and stop bashing Washington over reckless fiscal and monetary policies and realize that their survival as viable economies depend on the success of those policies. Mr. Evans-Pritchard recounts the […]
Japan’s New Economic Structure
The news that this post is built around is somewhat stale, I meant to get to it yesterday but bear with me because I think there are some subtle issues worth thinking about. First, Japan announced that it was paying foreign workers to go home. Really, I didn’t know that there were many workers in […]
Deflation Spreading In Japan
It would be nice if these reports would quit popping up. Japanese wholesale prices fell at their fastest rate since 2002, March figures showed on Monday, as weakening domestic demand on top of falling commodity prices led to worries about deflation. With interest rates already nearly zero, analysts say the Bank of Japan has limited weapons to fight […]