Japanese banks scare rocks Nikkei (THERE MAY BE TROUBLE AHEAD...)

The Daily Telegraph ^ | September 4, 2002 | George Trefgarne and Colin Joyce

[Nuke'm Glowing]

They had the apple in their hand and kept calling it a pear. Like we had a diamond and ended up with Klintoon and two diamonique earrings. When Japan's economy and banks falter this time, we won't just catch a cold, we'll have the flu or worse.

[nopardons]

Of course it scares me. Why do you think I used that term ?

I don't " look to Wall St. " ... I , unfortunately depend on it ; in a way. :-(

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

They had the apple in their hand and kept calling it a pear.

Well, with any bad luck, we will all have apples in our hands, and will be selling them.

[Nuke'm Glowing]

LOL, no we won't. The health nuts will sue you for alar poisoning and put your stand out of business, LOL. Besides with all the regulatory impediments, you wouldn't get the stand up for a year!

[Lion's Cub]

Quite correct. But I don't think that the Feds will allow "C" to tank. They will adopt the Japanese model and funnel free money to them to stay afloat. So that Citigroup never has to eat all of the bad loans nor disclose the shady dealings they have been involved with for over 20 years.

I agree. There are too many skeletons there--and the US market would plummet, as would the dollar.

This Japanese fellow knows what he's doing. By moving the cash balances (which probably don't really exist anymore) into Citibank, he's awarding himself a US taxpayer bailout. Citibank's books look better on paper, so it's a win/win shell game for everyone but the US taxpayer...

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

LOL, no we won't.

That is OK. I'm in Florida, and I will sell oranges out of my backyard, to snowbirds.

[Quick Shot]

LOL, and you won't be able to get a loan to pay the impact fees to start the business.....

[altair]

because Koizumi had a "funky" hair style the voters thought

Japan has a parliamentary system and the Prime Minister is not elected. Koizumi was selected by the LDP members in the lower house after PM Obuchi died.

[altair]

This made the front page head lines in this morning's Japan Times.

The morning session closed down. I haven't seen any updates on what's happening in the afternoon session.

[Odyssey-x]

Already, the government has said it will not guarantee deposits worth more than £75,000, but this ceiling will be lowered further next March.

Well Well Well. If I had more than $75,000 in the bank in Japan I would start buying gold bars with that extra money.

[AndrewSmith]

Fear not! War is coming to revamp the economy, and kill off a nasty thug. Put your investment money in military contractors.

[AndrewSmith]

So much for the wonders of central planning.... 3 posted on 9/3/02 10:26 PM Pacific by Mulder

Notice how hard it has been to find Mr. Greenbucks Greenspan?

[Timesink]

If you have been reading the financial news, Citigroup (parent of CitiBank) has been tanking, may be involved in the financial scandals. Looks like the Japanese retain their bad judgement.

Citigroup is involved in all sorts of sleaziness and illegal activities, but the company is so big that it doesn't mean all that much to its overall health. They're currently making a profit of ~$16 billion per year. Even if every single one of the lawsuits and potential fines related to all their dirty Enron dealings and Grubman moneygrubbing were to go against them, it wouldn't be more than a black eye to the company. It'd wipe out a couple quarters' worth of profit, but it certainly won't happen all in one quarter if it does occur. They would have to be involved in some far more serious illegal activities, on a much more massive scale, before there would ever be a real risk of it bringing down the company.

[BlackJack]

they are buying gold big time, japanese housewives

[MadIvan]

Japan has a parliamentary system and the Prime Minister is not elected. Koizumi was selected by the LDP members in the lower house after PM Obuchi died.

I thought the LDP chose Koizumi because they thought he was the most voter friendly, and certainly had the best ratings in the polls.

My memory on this is sketchy, but hasn't he gone to the country yet in an election?

Regards, Ivan

[altair]

My memory on this is sketchy, but hasn't he gone to the country yet in an election?

So is mine. They held a national election on the anniversary of PM Obuchi's birth, but as I recall, the LDP did not do as well as they expected, though they retained leadership. I forget whether this was before or after Koizumi.

I think he was chosen because the party needed to distance itself from Mori (who screwed up bigtime for a Japanese politician). His platform of serious reform certainly puts him at odds with the powers-that-be of the LDP.

There are currently plans being considered to elect the Prime Minister by direct election, but who knows when or if they will end up selecting one.

[MadIvan]

I checked it out - Upper House elections in Japan were in July of last year. The LDP led by Koizumi won 80 out of 121 seats.

Regards, Ivan

[altair]

O.K. and Koizumi was selected Prime Minister the previous April so there has been an election during his watch. It must have been a previous election where the LDP lost seats. The New Komeito party joined the ruling coalition for a reason.

[Nuke'm Glowing]

It's easy to make a profit when you can pick up the phone and tell the Fedcorp to loan money to the countries which are defaulting on you so they can make payments to you. There's a lot of smoke and mirrors going on with Citigroup, and you and I know we'll never know the full story.

[stilts]

As much as the party is a problem the bigger issue is the triangle formed by business, ministers and politicians. By having all three headquartred in Tokyo, there is an old boy network among these three that starts in "preschool" and has continued for decades. Too much incest among these factions!

The result is that as a group they strive to maintain the power structure as long as possible and do not want any reformative change.