Posted on 02/04/2009 9:08:11 PM PST by TigerLikesRooster
2.7 million may lose jobs in Japan as economy contracts
Business Desk
The Yomiuri Shimbun
Publication Date: 05-02-2009
The Japanese economy will contract by 3.8 per cent in fiscal 2009 from the previous year, which may cause 2.7 million job losses in the yearlong period to December, former Bank of Japan Deputy Gov. Toshiro Muto said Wednesday in Tokyo.
"A drop of 3.8 per cent is a grim forecast among think tanks," Muto, who is the chairman of Daiwa Institute of Research, said at a lecture meeting of the Yomiuri International Economic Society. "However, I'm afraid there's a possibility we'll have to revise it further downward."
Domestic exports in December plunged 35 per cent from the same period a year earlier. It is likely exports will further decline in the days ahead, Muto added.
According to Muto, it is difficult for him to predict a scenario in which the Japanese economy will recover by itself.
"Basically, current difficulties were caused overseas," Muto said. "Japan doesn't currently have serious [internal] problems."
Because of this, the government has to rely on external factors for its economic recovery, such as the United States recovering from its financial crisis, or China maintaining its high rates of economic growth, Muto said.
Muto also cast doubt on the effectiveness of the government's economic stimulus measures totaling 75 trillion yen.
"Only a few public works projects have been incorporated into public-spending packages," Muto said. "The measures aren't heading in the direction of holding back this economic free-fall."
"If people place too much hope in the measures, I'm afraid they'll be disappointed," he added.
The only halo around Obama and America is the fact that there is no where safer to park your dollars than here. Obama and the Dems could, of course, ruin that.
The rest of the world should have developed their OWN middle class by rejecting corruption and crony capitalism, instead of poaching ours and creating an unsustainable situation (as much of the Third-World did--the rebuilding of Japan/Europe was a special case).
They did not GROW the pie, they merely siphoned off some of ours -- and the "globalists" and "free traitors" merely siphoned off huge administrative fees for helping them do so.
Hint: if competitive advantage really worked, why was it always the US who had the trade deficit?
Shameless plug: See my latest vanity.
Cheers!
That’s nothing. According to Madame Pelosi, 500 million jobs will be lost every month until we agree to BO’s porkulus plan.
>>The only halo around Obama and America is the fact that there is no where safer to park your dollars than here. Obama and the Dems could, of course, ruin that.<<
More and more people have absolutely no faith or trust in these disasterous b******s. And that alone is enough to hinder the recovery. Couple that with the wrong policies at the wrong time and we’re in for a world of hurt. They want to relegate the USA to Third World status.
"THERE HAS NEVER BEEN DATA THIS BAD FOR ANY MAJOR ECONOMY – EVEN IN THE GREAT DEPRESSION. December industrial production came in down 9.6%, worse than the METI forecast. It is now down almost 21% year over year. METI forecasts a further 4.7% decline in February. The inventory to production ratio soared again. Maybe METI will be correct."
"IT’S A DEPRESSION IN JAPAN – ALREADY – PURE AND SIMPLE."
Protectionism probably isn't helping either.
Big deal, if I believe Nancy Pelosi, that’s what, a day and a half here?
LOL!
I don't think so. The dollar is on the extreme edge of diving board. Nobody's parking any money in US dollars right now.
Obama's spending will nudge it over the edge, because there is no where for Obama to borrow the money he's spending. Do you think China or anyone else is going to buy treasury bills to cover that debt, which is going to hit 16 trillion or more? That's WAY way past the 10% of GDP safe limit, and with unemployment rising from massive daily lay offs, our GDP is shrinking rapidly, which raises that percentage number.
Spending another Trillion is the absolute WORST thing Obama should be doing when revenues are shrinking, and debt rising out of control.
Who and what country would be crazy enough to park a trillion in USD's that are about to explode into freefall?
Obama's already lit the fuse, it's only a matter of time now. As soon as those printing presses start up, it's all over.
Are you saying Depression?
I think we’re definately headed there.
The answer is obvious. Holding on to cash which is about to become worthless is even worse.
They are betting on companies they are reasonably sure will survive, and holding on to those shares will get them their money back eventually when the economy recovers some time in the future.
Obama is convinced that recycling tax revenues is somehow going to generate revenue. Welfare is welfare no matter what you want to call it. It is tax negative. He can print all the money he wants to pay these welfare recipients ( a nation of contractors "weatherizing houses it appears) but all that does is devalue the dollar, sending it into a free fall.
But freaks putting on Santa Claus suits and wiping out whole families as fast as they can reload, then torching the place with a home made flameflower before offing oneself a few miles away in a renta car? Nope. Not in Japan.
Layoffs in Japan generate SHAME and LOSS OF FACE based on self-blame. Which means one bears it with extreme patience w/out complaints, or if one even goes to extremes and "snaps", one perhaps just checks out the scene, maybe with a solemn goodbye note before the train jump or isolated area hanging or carbon monoxide.
In the USA, it seems to generate almost uncontrollable, outwardly directed HATRED and RAGE, causing people to take out as many people as they can first-even sheer strangers, before offing themselves in very public ways.
Generalities of course.
This will get interesting.
I just moved up my “Depression countdown, so I think I’ll hold off for now.” But yes, all indicators are “depression” ahead.
At least ten times worse than the last one. The Government is broke. Obama cannot get that through his head. With rapidly shrinking revenues, we can't even pay the interest on the national debt we already had.
Where is he going to get the money to pay all these welfare contractors, what is he going to pay for all those windows doors and insulation with?
Taxing the window and door manufacturers, and the people that work for them, then turning around and paying them with the money he just taxed them just isn't going to work.
Firstly, that money doesn't exist. Tax revenue goes to pay all the government workers and the costs of running all those government social programs, and agencies, the military.
Government workers should just be paid with warrants like welfare people. Government workers paychecks should be thought the same as welfare checks, it makes no sense to tax tax revenues. Think of all the paper, office space and payroll offices that could be reduced 99% of their current size.
What left of those tax revenues goes to pay the interest on money the government borrowed to cover over spending, ie budget shortfalls.
So, these window and door, insulation making companies have to be paid with NEW money that comes from an outside source. But if the government borrows the money, these companies and workers have to pay it back through taxes. There is no "stimulus" there. The government cannot "buy" economic activity with taxpayers money. It just cannot work. But Democrats just can't understand that. Socialism needs a healthy, vibrant capitalist system in order to collect revenues via taxation in order to pay for all the social programs they think we need them to manage and provide for us. Taxation in this relationship a one way street. And if private industry gets sick and can't generate enough taxation , then government has to reduce it's demand until the private industry and consumerism that drives it gets better.
Thank you very much for your excellent reply. You show proof that liberalism is a mental disease.
But my question has been: Where is their “lifeboat”? Where do they go if things collapse?
I guesss they will be insulated and survive comfortably.
But they don’t seem to realize their policies are going to get a bunch of us killed and they might be among the dead.
I don’t believe they have souls.
SIMPLE!!!! I'm truly AMAZED you still haven't figured that out, and go blame free traders and outsourcing for all your woes. Truth is that's all you can do because you just don't understand the problem.
We BORROW too much! That's what causes our deficit. And all this borrowing is what has caused this whole problem we are facing today. Massive unpaid debt. SOMEBODY has to pay for all those defaulted loans and all the massive debt people are carrying.
That's why Obama spending MORE isn't going to solve any problems. We have to stop spending and save, pay down all this debt, and save money to buy the stuff we need and want. We wouldn't have a trade deficit if we paid cash for all our goods.
That's not how it works. Take Germany for example. They always have trade surpluses, yet they have huge debt. Why? Because the spend too much!
What we need is to make more MONEY on the apples we sell to the neighbor, it doesn't matter where we get them from either. As long as we have the money to buy more apples than we sell, trade deficits don't matter. Offshoring still results domestic GDP growth, because the company's base of operations is in the USA. In fact all the growth we had up till last year for the past ten years was BECAUSE of free trade, not despite it. If it were not for free trade, we wouldn't have had any growth since Clintons first term.
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