People have a preconception that investing in bonds and stocks is dangerous, and that’s correct. Half a century ago, all students knew that real estate and brokerages were dodgy. Most of my classmates

Income from investments in bonds and stocks should be VERY highly taxed.

Most of my classmates who went into securities companies were doing what basically amounts to a scam

Says a lot about Aso's background. And he managed to scam his way into politics and high office through a sheer sense of entitlement.

Wow. This from a minister of finance? Yeah, stocks and bonds are potentially risky, but not doing anything with your savings is also risky. There are such things as moderate and lower risk investments though. Yes, there will be troughs in the market, but there will be peaks also. Time in the market is the old adage spouted by many successful investors. Over time, a well balanced portfolio will generally come out making a profit. I've heard loads of Japanese people say the same as Taro here. There are times when risk avoidance is beneficial, but when it comes to finance, risk management is an essential part of the process. This "avoid all risks" mentality that pervades society here is really damaging to the country's well being.

A very interesting way to encourage and cheer up those that you supervise.

If anyone needed any further proof that this man is a clown and needs to be pensioned off to the home for retired clowns, here it is. He wears a nice hat, I'll give him that, but unfortunately there is no discernible activity below it.

JGBs and Japanese stocks are especially dodgy, given the former are only valuable to the extent that the BOJ will buy them, and the latter to the extent that the yen is kept weak.

But yes 50 years ago there probably were a lot of scams (even this century in some sectors) but these days with all the regulations in place you generally have to be daft to fall victim to a scam, although there is still the odd special case.

Isn't there also a connection to organised crime somewhere in the mix too???

kurisupisu,

More or less ANYTHING connected with banking is connected to organised crime. Good or bad, organised crime is running this planet.

Whitewash only hides the surface dirt.

The "Boiler rooms" and "bucket shops" of old have become negative interest bonds and day-trading.