Japan

The great Lebanese poet Kahlil Gibran once wrote that sometimes the mountain is clearer from the plane than the summit.  This insight may be applied to the foreign exchange market.   Currencies in the modern era, not backed…

On a number of occasions, I have pointed to the sectoral balances model of finance to help demonstrate what happens when the government sector runs a deficit or a surplus. A recent article in the Financial Times by Martin Wolf on Japan’s…

Given the fact that I have just finished writing two articles on Wien’s predictions for 2010, I thought it relevant to look back at the last three years of Wien’s surprises to just before the housing crisis.  I posted the 2009 predictions…

Last night on CBS’ 60 Minutes, President Obama attacked Wall Street as “fat cats,” saying he was not elected merely for their sake. Obviously, the President is now keenly aware of how his political capital is being lost due to the bailout…

A friend Scott caught this article on Bloomberg about the latest economic figures out of Japan: Japan’s economy expanded less than a third of the pace initially reported in the three months to September as companies slashed spending.…

As I indicated earlier today, I generally see protectionism not as a second-best argument like Paul Krugman, but as something to avoid entirely.  Nevertheless, calls for more protectionism are being heard everywhere.  Gregory…

"This is definitely a threat on the horizon," said Blaise Ganguin, the agency's European credit chief. Some 75 companies large enough to be rated face likely default in 2010 as the slow-burn effects of the crisis hit home.…

The motivating factor?  this article in Politico: President Barack Obama plans to announce in next year's State of the Union address that he wants to focus extensively on cutting the federal deficit in 2010 – and will downplay…

Hong Kong’s leader Donald Tsang has come out with a scathing criticism of U.S. monetary policy, comparing it to Japan’s which he believes contributed to 1997’s Asian crisis. This is the most direct and strident criticism of the U.S. Federal…

In the video below, Marshall Auerback gives a even-handed analysis of the parallels between the US and Japan on Fox Business with Brian Sullivan. Demographic trends, GDP trends and deleveraging trends are all similar. But, Marshall goes…