Japan logs ¥1.84 tril current account surplus in August

Japan's not importing enough Mercedes from Germany, Teslas from the U.S. ( or from China pretty soon ) or cheese from Denmark.

If these figures keep coming I can see DT imposing tariffs on Japanese goods

When you make the law you make the numbers look anyway you want.

So we should all expect a pay rise? And a functioning retirement fund? Starting at 60?

@Serrano, importing Tesla cars to Japan you say--is this the same company that is losing hundreds of millions of dollars every month by not selling enough cars in its home market? That just kicked their founder Elon Musk out of the CEO role? That needs X number of more years to start resembling a successful, profitable company? How is their service in Japan currently better than the established automakers? Get on back to the brewskis.

@TorafusuTorasan, doesn't sound like the same company. this one still has Elon as the CEO, and they can't make enough to fill demand.

@natsukii--good catch, he is remaining as CEO but forced out of being chairman, the result of shareholder lawsuits and SEC investigation into his Twitter proposals to take the company private.

This in the wake of yesterday’s UN report on climate change reminds me of a great cartoon that I wish every economist could see - a group of hungry kids sitting around a campfire with the caption -

“Yes the planet got destroyed, but for a beautiful moment in time, we created a lot of value for shareholders.”

@Serrano

Japan's not importing enough Mercedes from Germany, Teslas from the U.S. ( or from China pretty soon ) or cheese from Denmark.

Japanese wage is so low in 2018 that average full time workers cannot afford a Honda Fit much less a Mercedes or Tesla. If you want to sell those, try China or Korea instead.

"If you want to sell those, try China or Korea instead."

Yeah, they should sell all of them in China.

After all a monthly salary of $270 (in dollars worth, 2018), enjoyed by the vast majority of the employed in China is, precisely why that country is better to live than in poverty stricken Japan.

The economy has done well under Abenomics, defying all the doomsayers (who never included me). The challenge is to get these successful and profitable exporters, investors and service providers to share more of their income with their workers.

The economy has done well under Abenomics, defying all the doomsayers (who never included me). The challenge is to get these successful and profitable exporters, investors and service providers to share more of their income with their workers.

Done well? Real income down, taxes rising, among other things. You are wrong here, Abe has done little for the economy other than put the country into more debt. Not to mention, his being in bed with major corporations and using the tax payers money to budget totally unnecessary public works projects and continuing to throw money at reconstruction.

His policies are a carbon copy of the bubble era.

The challenge is to get these successful and profitable exporters, investors and service providers to share more of their income with their workers.

It's not a challenge, it's just something Abe is loathe to do.

The easiest way to get companies to increase the income of their employees, increase corporate taxes to the point where it makes it profitable for the companies to pay their employees more, rather than pay it in taxes.