Princes of the Yen

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Mister Imperceptible
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Princes of the Yen

Post by Mister Imperceptible »

Princes of the Yen

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=p5Ac7ap_MAY

Explains how central banks create crises to control economies and lives. The Japanese asset bubble of the 80’s was intentionally inflated and deflated so US multinationals could buy distressed Japanese assets. Ditto the other Tiger economies leading up to the Asian Financial Crisis. The IMF expressly forbid the Japanese from bailing out other Asian countries and mandated that distressed assets must be sold to foreign interests and no bailouts were allowed, except from the IMF. Yet one year later the Long Term Capital Management bailout was facilitated by the Federal Reserve and Wall Street. The same thing occurred leading to and during the European Debt Crisis of 2011, around when this documentary was made. Intentional bubble inflation and the generation of a crisis then resided over by the European Central Bank which does not answer to individual European countries.

As the COVID-19 crisis unfolds, watch how the central banks and authorities are seizing upon the chaos to centralize power, increase concentrated ownership of assets, and increase surveillance of the population even further.

This is no blundering, scared gerontocracy at work. This is, and always has been, intentional.

Companion read: Grunch of Giants by Buckminster Fuller

http://www.arvindguptatoys.com/arvindgu ... giants.pdf

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fiby41
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Re: Princes of the Yen

Post by fiby41 »

I watched it in December after watching crash course which was also recommended here.
thrifty++ wrote:
Sat May 16, 2020 6:46 pm
Japan undertook a wholesale application of western systems, from democracy to the financial system to the adoption of human rights standards.
According to this video Japan retrofitted a wartime command economy that was building tanks and planes to make cars and TVs. Bank of Japan had quotas for a product. Companies producing that thing would get loans that year. That's how they've companies such as Mitsubishi producing everything between starting from pens to cars.

ertyu
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Re: Princes of the Yen

Post by ertyu »

I would rather read the book here. I’ve downloaded it as it seems it will be quite relevant in the times that come, and I want to know what’s in it. I’m not sure I want the dish of anti CB propaganda that seems to be whiffing off that youtube vid...

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Mister Imperceptible
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Re: Princes of the Yen

Post by Mister Imperceptible »

Richard Werner: The Central Bank Game Plan in Under 3 Minutes

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nSUSGbXHTiM
Mister Imperceptible wrote:
Tue Nov 03, 2020 7:49 pm
De facto MMT. Enabling distribution directly to individuals also means enabling direct taxation. You jaywalked across the street while disagreeing with your government or committed any other language violations.

Bernie Sanders suggested billionaires pay a tax on gains during the pandemic. Notice there was no thought to abolishing the manner in which a centralized system has power to control and distribute reward.....and punishment. Just a bunch of politicians competing over control over that centralized power.

Of course the IMF and other central banks are already hard at work maintaining the enslavement of everyone, as previously described here

Let it collapse. The argument that we need to keep the system propped up to keep people employed does not even hold water anymore. Everyone is getting fired.

7Wannabe5
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Re: Princes of the Yen

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

Color me under informed, but I am curious how this fits in with the notion that Robinhood investors provided net for Covid drop? The more things stay the same, the more they change?

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Sclass
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Re: Princes of the Yen

Post by Sclass »

Thanks for posting this it was an interesting video. Not too convinced this was all planned between BOJ and MOF though. Possible...so I don’t dismiss the thesis altogether. I don’t think careers or life expectancy (of old men In charge) is long enough for anyone to have this much vision.

I know two groups of Asian investors who lost a bundle on this. One group says it was an IMF conspiracy to crush Japan using reserve requirements. Another says the the stars just lined up against them and the aftermath is a result of kicking the van down the road. Either way it’s FUBAR for the last thirty years and both syndicates hold illiquid holdings in Japan today.

Covid is another story. I think the market has spoken to a great extent on the expectation of recovery already. It’s interesting when you consider most of the money in play is controlled by a very small number of people.

chenda
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Re: Princes of the Yen

Post by chenda »

Speaking of Japan this was an interesting video about Japan and immigration: 'Is Japan the perfect country ?' https://youtu.be/bhjovW-1D70

Edited.
Last edited by chenda on Mon Nov 23, 2020 1:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

nomadscientist
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Re: Princes of the Yen

Post by nomadscientist »

Japan's issues always have to be put into perspective. Their peak unemployment rate was just a normal unemployment rate in places like US/UK and actually lower than the carrying unemployment rate of a lot of Eurozone countries:

Image

The pre/post unemployment rates were extraordinarily low to the point of being almost unmatched anywhere in the post-70s Stagflation world, and that must be nice, but it's a stretch to claim that Japan's economy was being wrecked by having 5.5% unemployment instead of 2%.

This article is now old but convincingly demonstrates that Japan's economic poor performance of 1990-2010 was due to workforce contraction and not weak productivity growth.

Of course psychologically it must be harsh to think you're twice as rich as you really are, get jolted back to reality, than live in a demographically declining country from that baseline for another three decades. Especially when everyone was just telling you you are about to take over the world. But the temptation to conflate these things as one phenomenon with one cause isn't necessarily justified.

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Re: Princes of the Yen

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

One of the “realms of the future” explored by Richard Davies in “Extreme Economies: What Life at the World’s Margins Can Teach Us About Our Own Future” is Akita, Japan, where more than half the population is over 50 and over a third is over 65. By 2050, this will also be true for Italy, Spain, South Korea, and China. More than 85% of the world’s population lives in an area where the average age is rising.

The average pension income in Japan is $1700/ month, but many elderly women draw less than $1000, but social security and health care spending is now 60% of tax revenue.
A new vocabulary is appearing, and it is a long way from the respect that oyakoko demands...
...Kareishuu is the smell of aging, applied particularly to old men, and ojinkusai is to behave like an old man.
...Retired (salary) men can be described as sodaigomi (a large garbage bag that is hard to dispose of) or nureochiba (fallen and rotting autumn leaves that stick annoyingly to footwear)...
...Elderly divorce has surged over the past 25 years.
More positive note would be that many of Japan’s elderly are striving to transcend these stereotypes and maintain youthful behavior as long as possible, and many young people are finding opportunities through coming up with innovations such as care robots and nursing centers modeled on gambling casinos.

In “One Billion Americans: The Case for Thinking Bigger”, Matthew Yglesias argues that the only way the U.S. can continue to compete with Asian nations is to greatly expand immigration and offer incentives to increase birth rate towards quickly increasing our population to one billion. He notes that there is still a good deal of empty space in the U.S. compared even to other affluent nations, and this would obviously solve the sort of lack of “growth” problem currently experienced in Japan. (I do not agree, because environmental disaster, but the idea is out there.)

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Re: Princes of the Yen

Post by chenda »

7Wannabe5 wrote:
Mon Nov 23, 2020 5:59 am

In “One Billion Americans: The Case for Thinking Bigger”, Matthew Yglesias argues that the only way the U.S. can continue to compete with Asian nations is to greatly expand immigration and offer incentives to increase birth rate towards quickly increasing our population to one billion. He notes that there is still a good deal of empty space in the U.S. compared even to other affluent nations, and this would obviously solve the sort of lack of “growth” problem currently experienced in Japan. (I do not agree, because environmental disaster, but the idea is out there.)
Does he consider uniting the Americas, north and south, into one country ? It sounds crazy but demographically it would be comparable to Europe and the EU, with fewer language barriers. Although it would still be significantly smaller than China or India.

7Wannabe5
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Re: Princes of the Yen

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

@chenda:

No, although it is easy to imagine that this might be de facto result of greatly expanded immigration. I’m not entirely opposed to the idea because I liked the energy of immigrant centers where I have lived and worked. Also, it seems kind of mean spirited to reduce environmental damage by not allowing access to resources. I’m more opposed to the incentives to increase birth rate, although otoh stuff like free preschool and maternal benefits doesn’t sound like a horrible idea either.

chenda
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Re: Princes of the Yen

Post by chenda »

Yes I don't think trying to incentivise procreation is a good idea and probably won't work anyway. Climate change is going to guarantee immigrants head north regardless though so why not make it work best for everyone.

I could see it working. Turn NAFTA into a real free trade agreement, allow free movement of capital and labour. Competitive labour heads north free from exploitation and trafficking. Middle class Americans get to enjoy the affordable property and cultural of Mexico City, the new Barcelona. All participatory countries agree to have functioning democracies and guarantee human rights, what France and Germany required of Spain and Portugal back in the day to join the common market.

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Alphaville
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Re: Princes of the Yen

Post by Alphaville »

chenda wrote:
Mon Nov 23, 2020 9:55 am
Does he consider uniting the Americas, north and south, into one country ? It sounds crazy but demographically it would be comparable to Europe and the EU, with fewer language barriers. Although it would still be significantly smaller than China or India.
that was thomas jefferson’s original plan btw

chenda
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Re: Princes of the Yen

Post by chenda »

Alphaville wrote:
Mon Nov 23, 2020 11:03 am
that was thomas jefferson’s original plan btw
And San Martin's iirc...

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Alphaville
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Re: Princes of the Yen

Post by Alphaville »

chenda wrote:
Mon Nov 23, 2020 11:09 am
And San Martin's iirc...
bolívar’s “gran colombia” as well. it all fell to pieces.

free trade has been developing in the region however. there is less of an incentive for border crossing as economies develop in the continent.

china btw increasing influence in the region.

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Re: Princes of the Yen

Post by chenda »

Alphaville wrote:
Mon Nov 23, 2020 11:16 am
bolívar’s “gran colombia” as well. it all fell to pieces.

free trade has been developing in the region however. there is less of an incentive for border crossing as economies develop.
Well it certainly makes a lot of sense. You are from/live in South America Alphaville ?

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Re: Princes of the Yen

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

One note I would make is that something like assimilation but more positive could be an issue. For instance, unintended positive secondary effect of Trump’s terrible immigration policy was that it gave the school system where I used to teach that was full of refugee kids, and more coming every day, a bit of a breather. And this gave the kids who were already arrived the advantage of much more access to resources such as language instruction, preschool programs, or just teachers who weren’t constantly tearing their hair out dealing with the chaos.

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Alphaville
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Re: Princes of the Yen

Post by Alphaville »

chenda wrote:
Mon Nov 23, 2020 11:23 am
Well it certainly makes a lot of sense. You are from/live in South America Alphaville ?
i’ve lived all over the continent and a couple others :D

but today i could just move to miami and be in the capital of latin america. :lol:

seriously, that city is a massive business/culture hub.

7Wannabe5
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Re: Princes of the Yen

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

Actually, now that I think about it, the thing I wouldn’t like about United Americas idea is that it might limit immigration to the U.S. from other parts of the globe. I am in favor of whole world melting pot.

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Re: Princes of the Yen

Post by jacob »

I expect those who 1) derive a significant part of their self-worth from their group-identity; and 2) those who are less competitive on a global scale than their local scale ... will be opposed to this idea in direct proportion to their relative loss in socioeconomic status.

Those in favor of [globalism] tend to derive their self-worth/identity as individuals and be more productive than the global average. It's easy to be magnanimous or welcoming when one is largely benefiting from the arrangement.

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