Posted on 12/26/2014 7:09:25 AM PST by blam
Tyler Durden
12/26/2014
When about a month ago it was revealed that Japan's shadow economic advisor is none other than Paul Krugman, we said it was only a matter of time before the Japanese economy implodes. Terminally. We didn't have long to wait and last night the barrage of Japanese economic data pretty much assured Japan's transition into failed Keynesian state status.
In fact, after last night's abysmal Japanese eco data, we doubt even the most lobotomized Keynesian voodoo priests have anything favorable left to say about Abenomics: not only did core inflation miss expectations and is now clearly in slowdown mode despite Japan openly monetizing all gross Treasury issuance, not only did industrial production decline 0.6% missing expectations of an increase and record its first decline in 3 months with durable goods shipments crashing, not only did consumer spending plunge for the 8th straight month dropping 2.5% in November (with real spending on housing in 20% freefall), but - the punchline - both nominal and real wages imploded, when total cash wages and overtime pay declined for the first time in 9 months and 20 months, respectively.
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at zerohedge.com ...
I think the real story is that the negative savings trend is now a worldwide phenomenon. And I think partially engineered.
This cannot be A Good Thing if the frugal Japanese people aren’t saving, or rather, have been forced to deplete their savings...
Was it last year they were touting the success of Abenomics?
Today’s edition of static model fallacy from ZeroHedge highlights...Japan!
They’re going down hard and never coming back, says so right there in the article.
I have noticed something very encouraging at ZH lately, however.
The Great Collapse Of Everything In The USA has been moved back from “any day now” to 5-10 years away.
I guess after 8 years they are getting worn down a bit on predicting imminent collapse.
We are Japan now. Until you get rid of people who spend trillions beyond what is coming in the economy will not do better.
Paul Krugman is living in lala land
Who needs savings when you can print money.
This is more than just a flippant statement. Savings are needed to fund capital expenditures, but if the central bank provides all the money anyone wants to borrow for next to nothing, then savings become unnecessary even undesirable, for what the government wants you to do is spend more.
They’re going down hard and never coming back, says so right there in the article.
I have noticed something very encouraging at ZH lately, however.
The Great Collapse Of Everything In The USA has been moved back from “any day now” to 5-10 years away.
I guess after 8 years they are getting worn down a bit on predicting imminent collapse.”
I've read Zero Hedge over the years and I do agree with your assessment, somewhat.
They're not necessarily wrong. And they do give info on the state of the economy and do a fair analysis of gov. fudging numbers...ie, the latest GDP figures. But it does seem the end of every article posted has a “we're all doomed” feel to it
An increasing $18 trillion debt that can never be repaid can't equal anything else, eh?
The unknown is when.
“But it does seem the end of every article posted has a “we’re all doomed” feel to it.”
I think it is the realization that the central banks all over the world have pretty much done all they could. With interest rates at Zero and Trillions in QE, what is left?
Our national debt is so large we cannot afford to bail out another big Too Big to Fail bank or auto maker.
To put it in terms that most everyone can understand, the chemo hasn’t worked, the cancer has spread. All that is left is to keep the patient comfortable.
Japan Inc may finally be experiencing on a marcro level, what Samsung is experiencing on a micro level - pursuing mere market share at all costs and regardless of profits has diminishing returns that can destroy the ability to keep using that model.
This cannot be A Good Thing if the frugal Japanese people aren’t saving, or rather, have been forced to deplete their savings...
I’m wondering if this isn’t an effect of the G20 agreement that says that a person’s deposits in a checking or saving account actually belong to the bank and that the depositor can be considered to be an investor in the bank... rather than a customer of the bank.
And under that agreement investors are the last ones in line if a bank defaults and the assets have to be divvied up amongst the creditors first and the investors last.
I view the situation as one of age. The savers no longer earn money to save. The earners are not willing to forgo present good life. They spend their money
The Japanese that saved had a war loss mentality where they remember having nothing. The current earners have no such memory and no such fear.
It is wrong to continue the old myth that all Japan is a nation of savers. The savers are dieing off
That makes sense.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.