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Japan consumer prices edge up 0.9% in March

18 Comments
By Toshifumi Kitamura

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18 Comments
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I'm sick of hearing this mantra "we need inflation, otherwise consumers will put off purchases because they think it will be cheaper next month". That's bull for most people, we buy things when we need them, because you know, life happens and waits for no man.

15 ( +15 / -0 )

But it has struggled to achieve the 2.0 percent inflation rate thought crucial to boosting the world's third-largest economy since the late 80's.

Ok, let's say 1988 to make the math easier. 30 years...30 YEARS and they still cannot get it to go. Um, if I spent 30 years trying to do something the same over and over and over again and it did not work, I think I would try something else...don't you?

Plus we do not need inflation to make people happy. It is a stupid concept especially when the population is dropping, and we have everything we need. I do not buy just to buy.

11 ( +11 / -0 )

Excellent news that prices are up almost 1%! Further proof, that Abenomics is bearing fruit. Stay on the Course, PM Abe.

-17 ( +0 / -17 )

we buy things when we need them, because you know, life happens and waits for no man...

My wife wanted to buy a special brand of shampoo a few months ago from Amazon. She did not buy then because she said the price should go down. It was over 1000 yen at that time. She waited for a couple months, and sure enough, it went down below 900 yen and and she quickly bought it. In other words, when price is expected to go down, people refrain from buying if possible. And the opposite may be true as well.

-6 ( +1 / -7 )

So my salery shrunk by 0.9%, prefer if it grew?

8 ( +8 / -0 )

"Japan has battled deflation for many years and the central bank's ultra-loose monetary policy appears to be having limited impact."

Hang on a minute while I reign in my surprise!

Phew! There.

ganbarejapan: "Excellent news that prices are up almost 1%! Further proof, that Abenomics is bearing fruit. Stay on the Course, PM Abe."

Only someone who is willing to part with their money in exchange for nothing would cheer for prices rising. And you know what they say about such people and their money... I think most of us have realized you are not at all being serious.

9 ( +9 / -0 )

Some government types are worried that the 2% consumption tax hike next year will dampen consumption appetite after the hike for a time.

But they say nothing about the 1% rise in living costs due to inflation.

Its such nonsense. If higher consumption tax is bad for the economy then higher inflation is too - and even more so because inflation keeps coming every year, not once off.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

If they want to spur consumption then instead of focusing on monetary policy they should do something about the housing market. The reason personal consumption is so low in this country is because the main middle class asset is housing that constantly depreciates in value, which is an anchor dragging down all homeowners' spending, in contrast to elsewhere where homeownership is an asset that spurs consumption.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Excellent news that prices are up almost 1%!

Stupid! It can never be good news if prices are increased.

Haha!! Brilliant! So simple, yet so true!

5 ( +5 / -0 )

I'd say that the stable inflation has made Japanese cities much more manageable to live in, the city I grew up in has become so expensive and I'm always shocked when I go back at how much higher everything is. For the most part Tokyo has not had its cost of living increase much at all and it's a great thing.

How does inflation help anyone? Especially these days where salaries often do not also compensate for it.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Rising prices will only spur growth IF wages increase and people spend now instead of in the furure. Big IF. So far, rising prices are just making most people poorer and they will stop spending.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

You guys really need to brush up on economics. Let me help again.

Q) Why is inflation good for the economy?

A) Inflation helps increase production. More dollars translates to more spending, which equates to more aggregated demand. More demand, in turn, triggers more production to meet that demand.

If consumer prices are allowed to fall consistently because the country is becoming too productive, consumers learn to hold off their purchases to wait for a better deal. The net effect of this paradox is to reduce aggregate demand, leading to less production, layoffs and a faltering economy.

So it is good news that inflation is going up. It shows that the economy is heating up and is growing.

-6 ( +1 / -7 )

Rising prices will only spur growth IF wages increase and people spend now instead of in the furure.

Even if those conditions were met, I would still say that spurring growth were a big MAYBE.

The government spends loads of money, but it hasn’t spurred sustainable growth so far.

Sustainable growth comes I believe from higher productivity, which comes from investment, which starts from savings. Japan has savings but investment... innovation... these things are what I think Japan lacks in sufficient scale to really get momentum going, against the demographic headwinds.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

If consumer prices are allowed to fall consistently

In Japan inflation has been around zero, not like, minus 3 percent.

Steady prices are good. Inflation, if it is good at all, is only good if very very low. Venezuela is horrid, Turkey not so bad but in economic trouble with high inflation.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

@econostats = spoken like a true central banker/lying career politician/lawyer/parasite

Governments & Banks love inflation to dilute the value of the ever increasing money printing & debt they create. The idea is never repay it or roll it over in ever devaluing currency. As soon as this reverses they are in very deep poop as it exposes the whole fraud of Central and fractional reserve banking. It relies on inflation or it implodes. I say bring it on !!!

Cheap debt also promotes mal investment and artificial demand. (In Japan roads to nowhere and for no reason for example)

As for Joe average inflation is theft by stealth as the purchasing power is constantly eroded. We do not need inflation only Bankers and Governments do.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

This guy wa replaced from Abe administration to the former who was against, I remember well that time. And? He follows the LDP policy and he will be there as he is a single servant to show economy going well with many problems behind(internal debt increasing?). This is circus to me.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

The idea is never repay it or roll it over in ever devaluing currency.

What country are you talking about? Not Japan. The yen remains a pretty stable, valuable currency after many years of QE and expanding deficits. The 10,000 yen note in my pocket buys more than it did 10 years ago.

It relies on inflation or it implodes. 

Japan has had many years of deflation or very little inflation, yet no implosion. On what do you base your, ahem, "Interesting" theory?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

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