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To: carranza2 who wrote (72073)	3/15/2011 11:05:34 PM
From: Hawkmoon	Respond to of 218697

In this, they may even be right, yet their position-ing may well not survive to see the great denoue-ment, for the route to a complete breakdown in the Japanese fiscal position surely lies through the Nihonbashi and the unbridled monetization powers of the BOJ. Hmm.. unproductive use of capital is a subjective perspective. Look at the "stimulus" our own government implemented. For the most part it was used to prop up the TBTF banks, with the US taxpayer picking up the tab via interest rates on a couple of trillion in deficit spending. And where was that money spent? For the most part, so far as I can see, on unproductive activities that have done little to re-employ the 15-17% of this country that is functionally unemployed. But when a disaster of the magnitude that has been visited upon Japan occurs, the need for labor to clean up and rebuild is at a premium. Deficit spending for the purpose of RESTORING lost productive capacity, as well as the damaged infrastructure (roads, homes.. etc) is a positive response for what has ALREADY diminished Japan's productive output. We're talking about well over $200 Billion in spending that will be required to rebuild. And if this spending is conducted wisely, not just rebuilding in the same vulnerable locations, and implementing newer technology enhancements (better buildings, infrastructure), the productivity gains will be magnified by the sudden demand that did not previously exist. If there is anything that Keynesian spending is required for, it's rebuilding after a disaster. But the author is definitely correct that in terms of international economic competition, Japan has been dramatically damaged. But they have a tremendous reserve of foreign assets to draw upon to pay for it. This is money they haven't been able to repatriate to Japan, for fear of causing the Yen to appreciate. And as we've noticed from the recent moves in the Yen since the earthquake, this remains the case. Hawk

To: carranza2 who wrote (72073)	3/16/2011 5:30:08 AM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 218697

Disaster may be the end of Japan as economic power. "leave the nation discernibly poorer and, by extension, to curtail its ability to make people across the world better off than they otherwise would be by offering them valuable goods and services as part of that beneficent mutual enrichment which is the international division of labour, conducted under conditions of free(ish) exchange." For a country living off capital, that capital will be drained faster, thus shortening the perid it can live off the past wealth.

To: carranza2 who wrote (72073)	3/16/2011 8:30:37 PM
From: TobagoJack	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 218697

the helicopters should be appearing soon, laden with 'cash' to drop, and to pick up folks from rooftops just in in-tray By Nachum Kaplan and Denny Thomas (Reuters) - Foreign bankers are fleeing Tokyo as Japan's nuclear crisis worsens, scrambling for commercial and charter flights out of the country and into other major cities in the region. BNP Paribas <BNPP.PA>, Standard Chartered <STAN.L> and Morgan Stanley <MS.N> were among the banks whose staff have left since Friday's earthquake and tsunami, and now a nuclear plant disaster, according to industry sources with direct knowledge of the matter. Expatriate staff at most foreign banks in Tokyo make up a small portion of the total, by some estimates less than 10 percent. But many are often in senior positions so their departure can have a significant impact. And while Japan's investment banking market is famously tough, it's an essential place for large banks to be and can produce hefty fees. "The foreign banker presence on the ground in Tokyo now is very thin and depending on how long it takes them to return there could be lasting implications of that," said one banker. "Every time there's a washout of foreigners in Japan they never quite return in the same numbers." With bankers joining the growing exodus, private jet operators reported a surge in demand for evacuation flights which sent prices surging as much as a quarter. One jet operator said the cost of flying 14 people to Hong Kong from Tokyo was more than $160,000. "I got a request yesterday to fly 14 people from Tokyo to Hong Kong, 5 hour 5 minutes trip. They did not care about price," said Jackie Wu, COO of Hong Kong Jet, a newly established private jet subsidiary of China's HNA Group.