Japans GDP Unexpectedly Shrinks in Q3

[Aepsilons]

Jesus H. Christ. I had no idea China was #90 on that list! China needs to fix that ASAP as its rising labor costs erode its competitive advantage.


"This isn't rocket science. Abe knows what he needs to do. It's time for him to be a statesman and do what is best for Japan, even if it costs him his career. History will judge him kindly"

Therein lies one of my gripes with the democratic system. (not saying it's all bad, btw). Politician Abe will take over and he'll do whatever he can to salvage his career, country's future be damned. And it's not just Abe. We see this all to often in other democratic systems when election time rears its ugly head.

Ok, I'll stop derailing the thread now.

You're absolutely right tho @AgentOrange , that's the nefarious part of a democratic system. I think that it will only be wise to consider a more effective successor to Abe. I like Tanigaki Sadakazu, he looks promising.

 

[LeveragedBuyout]

Jesus H. Christ. I had no idea China was #90 on that list! China needs to fix that ASAP as its rising labor costs erode its competitive advantage.

This is part and parcel with the economic reforms and market liberalization. Protectionism of domestic industry is a double-edged sword: you can build industrial champions, but unless those champions are exposed to global competition, they will become inefficient and impose an unnecessary cost on consumers. I have no doubt that Chinese entrepreneurs can compete with the best in the world (as manifested by the exceptional success of the overseas Chinese community), so it's time to move forward with some more trade deals and open up the Chinese market to competition. It's not convincing to say that Baidu and Tencent are world-class when Google and Facebook are banned.

"This isn't rocket science. Abe knows what he needs to do. It's time for him to be a statesman and do what is best for Japan, even if it costs him his career. History will judge him kindly"

Therein lies one of my gripes with the democratic system. (not saying it's all bad, btw). Politician Abe will take over and he'll do whatever he can to salvage his career, country's future be damned. And it's not just Abe. We see this all to often in other democratic systems when election time rears its ugly head.

Ok, I'll stop derailing the thread now.

I'm of a different school of thought on this. I think the public is so starved for leadership that it will reward risk-taking that it knows will benefit the country long-term. The left-wing media has an in-built populist and progressive bias, so it will always oppose such critical measures as reform of the welfare state, but just as with China, if the reforms are successful and result in economic growth, the left-wing media will fail in its sabotage efforts.

It gets down to the question of why a politician runs for office in the first place. For the power (and in some cases, for the salary)? There are far easier ways of achieving those things in the private sector. If one is running because one hopes to help the country, then whether it's one term or several, the politician should do his best and then move on. If anything, a politician is more likely to be remembered by history for making radical decisions, not for playing it safe and getting re-elected countless times.

Abe was already prime minister, and now he's calling for elections again. He has a good precedent with Koizumi, who enacted some unpopular and painful reforms, but was rewarded by the populace for showing rare leadership in Japan's colorless political world. If Abe dares, I believe he will succeed. But does he have the stomach for it? (Sorry, I couldn't help myself on that one, but I don't doubt his medical condition is a serious one).

 

[bolo]

You ask why he raises tax? Japan's debt to GDP ratio is already astronomical, and Abe is ordering his minion Haruhiko Koruda to print money like a manic and purchase ever more debt from the Japanese government, with Paul Krugman dancing in the background like a teen cheerleader.

If Abe doesn't raise tax, Japan's fiscal account will simply implode, which will be catastrophic.

If Abe does raise tax, Japan's economy will implode, which is also catastrophic.

Abe Shinzo has opened a Pandora's Box and built a sand castle on top of an economic fantasy.

Japanese yen is not the world reserve currency and they are not #1 military power or economy so it cannot print money indefinitely like US.

 

[tranquilium]

Jesus H. Christ. I had no idea China was #90 on that list! China needs to fix that ASAP as its rising labor costs erode its competitive advantage.


"This isn't rocket science. Abe knows what he needs to do. It's time for him to be a statesman and do what is best for Japan, even if it costs him his career. History will judge him kindly"

Therein lies one of my gripes with the democratic system. (not saying it's all bad, btw). Politician Abe will take over and he'll do whatever he can to salvage his career, country's future be damned. And it's not just Abe. We see this all to often in other democratic systems when election time rears its ugly head.

Ok, I'll stop derailing the thread now.

There are indeed processes that can be ironed out to increase the efficiency. However, this "ease of doing business" list is not actually equal to "attractiveness for business". For attractiveness for businesses, the first and foremost factor is the supporting infrastructure. Then comes the work force availability. After that is the policy and only a small part of the policy is covered by this list.

The world bank's standard for the list is "A high ranking (a low numerical rank) means that the regulatory environment is conducive to business operation." A key factor in this standard is that regulatory environment that is beneficial to the country or long term development doesn't necessarily coincide with the ease to conduct business. For example, environmental regulation are pretty entirely contradictory to the ease of conducting business, but they are beneficial to the country in the long run. Another example is business such as real estate or finance. Without many regulations that inevitably makes these business harder to conduct, it is very easy for them to lead to a disaster like the 2008 wall street crisis or 1997 southeast financial crisis.

 

[Beast]

Raising taxes does not seem to play a role in stimulating the economy.Such contradictory policies , how can the economy turns for the better.United States to use currency transfer risk,This is America 's unique ability.

You really think Abe can print money? If he don't raise tax where he's going to get the money to suppress rising national debt?

 

[kawaraj]

I would say this is in the line of the mentality of some old fashion politicions. And you can only hate them.

Unlike their collegues in Korea and China and even in the US, these jingoists still haven't seen the new economy landscape. This is a global world and global economy composed of all competitive advantages. The need is of world scale and the supply are in that scale too. Their inward looking will just bury the vigor of any recovery attempt.

Geopolitics is hamping the efforts of all stimulas packagse. Now this region has the Korea-China FTA and Japan is slowly losing all its edges and some guys are just posing their butt out of sands.

Abe should just step down as Japan need a PM with open mind and broad views of the future. As important as the insight of real world economy.

FTA with China now, before seeing Korea is overtaking Japan in GDP per head. And it's soon a reality and a shocking fact generations of Japan will regret and hard to digest, unimaginable fact.

 

[ChineseTiger1986]

I would say this is in the line of the mentality of some old fashion politicions. And you can only hate them.

Unlike their collegues in Korea and China and even in the US, these jingoists still haven't seen the new economy landscape. This is a global world and global economy composed of all competitive advantages. The need is of world scale and the supply are in that scale too. Their inward looking will just bury the vigor of any recovery attempt.

Geopolitics is hamping the efforts of all stimulas packagse. Now this region has the Korea-China FTA and Japan is slowly losing all its edges and some guys are just posing their butt out of sands.

Abe should just step down as Japan need a PM with open mind and broad views of the future. As important as the insight of real world economy.

FTA with China now, before seeing Korea is overtaking Japan in GDP per head. And it's soon a reality and a shocking fact generations of Japan will regret and hard to digest, unimaginable fact.

Blame Abe and his right-wing pals.

 

[terranMarine]

Blame Abe and his right-wing pals.

Abe's foolish decision 2 years ago did gave us a benefit, our own ADIZ. His attempt to portray China as a threat in the region didn't come to fruition it rather made things worse for Japan's economy instead. Miscalculated policies can have devastating effects

 

[ChineseTiger1986]

Abe's foolish decision 2 years ago did gave us a benefit, our own ADIZ. His attempt to portray China as a threat in the region didn't come to fruition it rather made things worse for Japan's economy instead. Miscalculated policies can have devastating effects

The right-wings were foolish, and they always tend to underestimate China.

Every time against China, Japan always thinks that they still have the luck from 1894/1931/1937.

In fact, they should start to realize that they have already running out of luck against China next time.

 

[Aepsilons]

Abe's foolish decision 2 years ago did gave us a benefit, our own ADIZ. His attempt to portray China as a threat in the region didn't come to fruition it rather made things worse for Japan's economy instead. Miscalculated policies can have devastating effects

The right-wings were foolish, and they always tend to underestimate China.

Every time against China, Japan always thinks that they still have the luck from 1894/1931/1937.

In fact, they should start to realize that they have already running out of luck against China next time.

 

[terranMarine]

The right-wings were foolish, and they always tend to underestimate China.

Every time against China, Japan always thinks that they still have the luck from 1894/1931/1937.

In fact, they should start to realize that they have already running out of luck against China next time.

Japan should know better not to go against the big brother , when will our foolish neighbors wake up?

 

[ChineseTiger1986]

Japan should know better not to go against the big brother , when will our foolish neighbors wake up?

It is up to them, not us.

When they will stop this foolish act? I don't think any time soon.

 

[Keel]

This is the one of hardballs that Abe is trying to play against us during his reign:

Abe's plot to contain China is doomed to fail
Xinhua, June 14, 2013

​

[By Jia Qiang/China.org.cn]

Since taking office as Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe has been launching frequent diplomatic blitzes targeting China, apparently in a bid to put up a ring of encirclement to contain and guard against China.

On the one hand, Abe and his cabinet members have paid visits to nearly 30 countries surrounding China. On the other hand, over 10 countries' leaders including those from India and Myanmar have been invited by Tokyo to visit Japan.

As the Diaoyu Islands issue keeps escalating, Abe's diplomatic activities were interpreted by many international media as an attempt to rope some countries in to contain China and then re-establish Japan's dominant position in Asia. However, no matter the construction of "arc of freedom and prosperity," or the building of "security diamond," Abe's plot to contain China is doomed to fail.

First, China's economic and trade relations with its neighbors have been developing rapidly, which can hardly be changed by Japan.

Taking the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for example, although Japan is the second largest trade partner of ASEAN, it is China that occupies the top position. Since the Free Trade Area between China and ASEAN was launched, the two sides' bilateral trade and investment have been rocketing. Trade between China and ASEAN reached a record high of 400 billion U.S. dollars in 2012, with two-way investment amounting to 100 billion dollars and personnel exchange coming to 15 million persons.

Second, China's neighbors, especially Southeast Asian countries, are victims of Japan's aggression in World War II and are still vigilant against Japanese militarism.

Moreover, instead of reflecting on Japan's history of aggression, Abe put the blame on the victims and attempted to challenge the post-war order, which will not get support in the long run.

For example, during a recent visit to Sanya of China's Hainan province, Myanmar President U Thein Sein said his country treasures its traditional friendship with China and expects China to continue giving support to Myanmar. Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr told his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida, that Australia does not hold position on the Diaoyu Islands issue.

Although some exceptional Southeast Asian countries collaborate with Japan due to their territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea, the majority of the countries in the region agree to solve the problems by negotiation, and no country has given public support to Japan over the Diaoyu Islands.

What's more important is that China is no longer the weak and poverty-stricken country in the first Sino-Japanese War in 1894, nor the disunited nation in the September 18th incident in 1931. With its national power greatly promoted, China can by no means be contained by Japan.

Raising taxes does not seem to play a role in stimulating the economy.Such contradictory policies , how can the economy turns for the better.United States to use currency transfer risk,This is America 's unique ability.

Yeah, the purpose of raising tax is to increase the government's income and $flow. It does not have a stimulation effect. Japanese like many East Asians prefer to save than to spend let alone to spend on credit - thus the "paradox of thrift" sets in. So its culture is different from USA on top of oher differences

Another disadvantage for the Japanese to relieve their stressful economy is they have a very negligible amount of inward remittance and this has a considerable impact on household spending

Remittance - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Japanese yen is not the world reserve currency and they are not #1 military power or economy so it cannot print money indefinitely like US.

USA is also the no 1 trading currency in the world and the petrodollar
It also has by far the largest stock exchange by market cap and trade volume
Contrary to the Japanese, the Americans will max-out their credit cards for personal consumption
There are also many other factors which make the American economy more resilient

 

[bolo]

This is the one of hardballs that Abe is trying to play against us during his reign:

Abe's plot to contain China is doomed to fail
Xinhua, June 14, 2013

​

[By Jia Qiang/China.org.cn]

Since taking office as Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe has been launching frequent diplomatic blitzes targeting China, apparently in a bid to put up a ring of encirclement to contain and guard against China.

On the one hand, Abe and his cabinet members have paid visits to nearly 30 countries surrounding China. On the other hand, over 10 countries' leaders including those from India and Myanmar have been invited by Tokyo to visit Japan.

As the Diaoyu Islands issue keeps escalating, Abe's diplomatic activities were interpreted by many international media as an attempt to rope some countries in to contain China and then re-establish Japan's dominant position in Asia. However, no matter the construction of "arc of freedom and prosperity," or the building of "security diamond," Abe's plot to contain China is doomed to fail.

First, China's economic and trade relations with its neighbors have been developing rapidly, which can hardly be changed by Japan.

Taking the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for example, although Japan is the second largest trade partner of ASEAN, it is China that occupies the top position. Since the Free Trade Area between China and ASEAN was launched, the two sides' bilateral trade and investment have been rocketing. Trade between China and ASEAN reached a record high of 400 billion U.S. dollars in 2012, with two-way investment amounting to 100 billion dollars and personnel exchange coming to 15 million persons.

Second, China's neighbors, especially Southeast Asian countries, are victims of Japan's aggression in World War II and are still vigilant against Japanese militarism.

Moreover, instead of reflecting on Japan's history of aggression, Abe put the blame on the victims and attempted to challenge the post-war order, which will not get support in the long run.

For example, during a recent visit to Sanya of China's Hainan province, Myanmar President U Thein Sein said his country treasures its traditional friendship with China and expects China to continue giving support to Myanmar. Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr told his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida, that Australia does not hold position on the Diaoyu Islands issue.

Although some exceptional Southeast Asian countries collaborate with Japan due to their territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea, the majority of the countries in the region agree to solve the problems by negotiation, and no country has given public support to Japan over the Diaoyu Islands.

What's more important is that China is no longer the weak and poverty-stricken country in the first Sino-Japanese War in 1894, nor the disunited nation in the September 18th incident in 1931. With its national power greatly promoted, China can by no means be contained by Japan.





Yeah, the purpose of raising tax is to increase the government's income and $flow. It does not have a stimulation effect. Japanese like many East Asians prefer to save than to spend let alone to spend on credit - thus the "paradox of thrift" sets in. So its culture is different from USA on top of oher differences

Another disadvantage for the Japanese to relieve their stressful economy is they have a very negligible amount of inward remittance and this has a considerable impact on household spending

Remittance - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



USA is also the no 1 trading currency in the world and the petrodollar
It also has by far the largest stock exchange by market cap and trade volume
Contrary to the Japanese, the Americans will max-out their credit cards for personal consumption
There are also many other factors which make the American economy more resilient

The real Chinese know that democracy create bad leaders. How many good leaders has democracy produced? The main reason democracy has been successful so far was that western powers had the best tech for at least two hundred years. There were no challengers for them. They could have used practically any form of governance they would still be successful.

But China's current system is baffling them.