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Strategies & Market Trends : Asia Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Worswick who wrote (3372)	5/5/1998 1:19:00 PM
From: Sam	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9980

Worswick, "...the problem here kids is that the Japanese have almost the total liquidity of the world tied up in their banks, savings plans and financial accounts. As Japan sinks the Japanese save more and more and more..." But where is that money? Didn't it get loaned out to build new [now empty?] office buildings and [non-productive?] "factories" throughout Asia, to buy "art", to build golf courses, to buy real estate, to purchase stock [on margin?] and US Treasuries (at least they are ahead here--but what happens when they really sell?] and gold? As the yen continues down, won't those vaunted reserves melt away rather quickly? Especially if they ever have to be marked to market (i.e., when Banker One takes his hand out of the pocket of his creditor and notices that the note has goopy mildew all over it)? A note on our beloved Ron: Maybe we should ask Ronny for an explanation of his payoff. What exactly was the crooked bent deal. At least back there in the mists of time we could say...'here it began.'" If you haven't read it yet, read David Stockman's book, The Triumph of the Political. A better name would have been something like The Triumph of Mindlessness, but perhaps he used the former as a way of saying the same thing. His account would have been hilarious if it hadn't had such deleterious effects. Well, it still is hilarious as long as you don't think about the fact that if the US didn't have term limits on the presidency, the man would probably still be president. His handlers not only told him what to say, they laid out footprints on the stage so that he knew how to walk to the podium. No one had a clue how big the deficits would run until Stockman finally figured out that they were giving the military even more than they were asking for, and then built on top of that, and (what a surprise!) our patriotic military never made a peep about how they didn't really need that much money. And when he tried to tell Reagan and his friends, they of course didn't believe him, didn't even check his facts, cause they weren't interested. Only Democrats spend money that they don't have, don't you know that , Dave? An amazing tale. Also, Michael Reagan's book. One tale: Ron spoke at Michael's college graduation. He went up to Ron afterward in a receiving line, shook his hand, Ron gave his famous oh-so-fatherly smile, and said, "And who might you be?" Michael sighed, "I'm your son, Dad." "Oh, oh, yes, blah blah blah." Family values indeed. I know, I know, he was "just" adopted, after all, how can you expect the most "powerful man in the world" to remember such details? Curling up, Sam

To: Worswick who wrote (3372)	5/6/1998 4:49:00 AM
From: Thomas Haegin	Respond to of 9980

I fully agree with your assessment. Could it be that the public in Japan is so completely fed-up with politics that they just don't actively participate anymore? While this is the wrong attitude, IMO, it's the easiest way and they may have enough trouble to cope with overcrowdedness, no living space, high prices and rising unemployment... So the tenor of "who needs government in all this" is understandable. Maybe the Japanese society is an apolitical one, as a matter of history and culture, in contrast let's say to the French who demonstrate all the time for something. Of course, an apolitical attitude is not helpful for Japan these days. I don't know what impulse they need to protest the status quo, where will it come from? Thomas