Washington Post :
Japan, a nation that rode exports to become the world's second-largest economy, posted a highly unusual trade deficit in August.
It was an alarm signal for the country's already shrinking economy and yet another worrisome indicator for troubled global markets. The August figure was Japan's first monthly trade deficit in 26 years, excluding the atypical month of January, when exports here always drop for the holidays.
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http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=JaKkuJVy2YA
This is a great opportunity for some savvy American entrepreneur to use our expertise in the field of debt accumulation. Develop and market a tutorial coaching the commoners on why they need not worry. Debt accumulation can be sustained forever and ever. Moreover, if you can accumulate debt, who needs drugs. Praise Be.
Welcome to the pity party.
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If Japan's economy becomes unstable again it could be very disconcerting for that country politically. Already there is a resurgence in the Right Wing of Japanese politics and economic problems could offer the hard liners the opening they need to expand their power to the detriment of the region. Yet another Prime Minister recently stepped down, which speaks of Japan's political instability as well.
Years ago there was a Marine who was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who inferred that American Bases in Japan weren't there primarily to defend Japan, but as a defense against would could happen in Japan. I recall it was a controversial statement at the time, but not all of Japan's past is settled.
I live in Japan, and the number of marches by the Nationalists, right wing groups in this country is on the rise. So I would agree. A bit scary.
people we managed the great depression, we will manage through this! Now maybe you understand trade/w/countries a little better, and how America is/not only about America/but the world! We will need a leader who can pull us up by our boot straps, who's been down and out before!
I take it you didn't live through the great depression? Some people "managed" it and a lot of people died. Well, Mr. Gould, you now have the privilege of trying to live through and manage The Greater Depression.
Yes. It's a pity that so few people are named Adolf any more. Perhaps we must find our leader with a different name.
It's the price of OIL.
That has to be a huge part of it.
If the Japanese government has any Samurai spirit left, they will double down on their alternative energy initiatives.
Maybe Japan should do like China. Make cheap products loaded with lead and dangerous chemicals and sell them at walmart. I don't recall China saying anything about a trade deficit. I am, however, taking my money out of the bank tomorrow before the run starts. I just hope it doesn't start till Tuesday. I won't be able to get to the bank before tomorrow afternoon.
NEW YORK CNNMoney.comm) -- Morgan Stanley agreed to sell up to a fifth of the company to Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), one of Japan's largest banks, the companies announced Monday.
The Tokyo-based financial institution said it had entered into an agreement to acquire anywhere between 10% and 20% of Morgan Stanley's common stock.
The deal, which could be worth $6 billion for Morgan, comes a day after firm converted to a bank holding company.
http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/22/news/companies/mufg_morgan_stanley/index.htm
Whatever that Japanese trade deficit was, I am sure it was not with us.
Just wait until Sunday night-Monday morning.
the cards come crashing down.
they will.
Could it be that a house of cards can collapse in the wind created by a boomerang of you had a chance to get it right now pay the price for getting it wrong?
No way, the market is self-correcting and everything is going to be fine -- we hope -- Gulp!
That queasy, uneasy feeling in the pit of your stomach is coming from the rumbling of schemes of greed that sway in the wind of ignored need over long stretches of time as tyrants and vultures sucked blood and sought to extract every single dime. Maggots on a corpse or is it more of a torch job, where opportunity for the masses of people to exist -- burned down?
Too much Dylan.
I grow to appreciate Dylan and all poets every time I attempt to wax eloquently in prose. My primary objective is always to deliver the feeling and the message that a given story or comment invokes in me. The style thing comes from the fact that early in life I had so little I had to learn how to make the simple into gold, how to take a patched pair of pants and wear them like they were Versace originals. Lastly, the wind and the sea were metaphors for me long before I heard about Dylan. The properties of the two allow me to draw direct parallels to life lived.
Peace and love but above all else may we be one and then we will be at peace and loving it day and night at rest or in flight
The glorious benefits of Globalization just continue to roll in, don't they? Light a candle at your shrine to Grover Norquist.
“Exports to the United States dropped 21.8 percent from a year ago, the steepest monthly decline on record, ----- said this week that global demand was falling, especially in the United States.”
The World economy is slowing down and the U.S. economy is falling off a cliff.
“a prolonged trade deficit would --- and limit the vast amount of money that the Japanese have for decades pumped into U.S. Treasury bonds and other dollar-based accounts.”
“About $860 billion of a $1 trillion reserve that is controlled by the Band of Japan and the Finance Ministry is invested in U.S. government securities, most of it in Treasury bonds.”
This means we lose a customer to finance our worthless debt and our former customer gets bankrupted by our collapse. Our debt is held by everyone and we’re going down with a Global thud.
Who'll be the next to fall? Indonesia, South Korea...India?
The jig is up, kids. Game over. We lost.
And we did it to ourselves.
ErnestineBass
Are you a billionaire speculator, or global bank CEO?
Unless you are, it was done to us, not by us.
And if you haven't noticed, we are still getting screwed without a kiss.
Despite emails and letters running 100-1 against the bailout, our thieving one party,
two-headed, Dem/Repug Congress is about to push it through anyhow.
Last month Cheney gave Georgia 1 billion!
I am not taking the blame for this. We have been under a coup since (at least) 2000 when the SCOTUS installed King George, when it was a fact that Gore won. The system is rigged.
The article is both ominous and alarming.
Japan may not be so happy holding on to those treasury notes when the dollar plummet is accelerated by the bailout induced inflation.
The US is sinking in quicksand, both China and Japan are getting pulled in too.
They each have hold of one foot of Uncle Sam and won't let go because he owes them too much money.
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First Posted: 09-27-08 06:53 PM | Updated: 10-28-08 05:12 AM