Mike3113King comments

It's time for these old Korean women to move on and get a life. Throughout the history of war there have been rapes, and slavery. There are no rules in war, because the victor will rewrite history. Does Germany demand an apology from Italy from when Rome sacked the Germanic tribes and turned every conquered person into a slave? No, they don't waste their time and neither should a bunch of old whining complaining women.

Global stock markets since the new year have lost over $7.5 trillion in worth. The most ever in recorded history. The largest public pension fund in the world, run by the BOJ, was starting to panic after it had started investing billions into the Nikkei 225 since JGB's were paying a ridiculous amount of around .003% on the 10 year. So when the bubble, fueled by ever lower interest rates, increasing money supply, and devalueing your currency, started to pop, they again, like they've been doing over 20 years, decided to do about the only thing, central banks can do : devalue the currency / print more money. You would of thought, people would catch on by now. There is over $200 trillion in worldwide government debt, which can never be paid back. The only thing the central banks, particularly the BOJ, Federal Reserve, and the ECB, can do, is hope they can print enough money and kick the can down the road a few more years.

The most important component of a well run economy, where mal investment is kept to a minimum is the interest rate. That is, an interest rate set by the market. Not an artificial peg, manipulated by a central bank, controlling the rate through bond purchases, government debt, and robbing savers blind. See, the "shale oil bust "in the United States where 0% interest rates for over 84 straight months led to over investment, over speculation, and will lead to massive bond defaults because these companies produce the oil at over $70 a barrel. But who thought it would fall under $100 when the bubble vision media proclaims that Obama and the central banks can now take a victory lap: Sorry, the easy part was printing money. Now try and sell those $3.5 trillion of Treasury Bonds and over $1 trillion in mortgage backed securities.

Fundamentals be damned, the air is coming out of the bubble which was blown up, and requires more monetary stimulus to prevent it from popping. We are in a world wide recession, and central bankers can only print more money to make believe we're not. In other words, don't pay any attention to the real metrics of worldwide GDP growth, like the Baltic Dry Index, ( a measure of raw materials) shipped worldwide, at decade lows, or the price of oil, which is a measure of growth, jut pay attention to the stock market. Problem is, you're not really any wealthier when the market is up 30% but your currency is also down 30%.

The world needs to come to grips that the central bankers have no control over the real economy except to print more money. " We have to get inflation up to 2%" is the exact same line used by the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve. Why 2%? If 2% is so good, why not go for 4%? What about 1.5%? These central bankers, are all playing a game of round robin currencies devaluation robbing savers of $ trillions world wide. Of course, with over $200 trillion in world wide government debt, the only way to pay it off is to print your way out. So, unless you're getting a raise, like most government workers, who have powerful public unions that get these con artists elected, you're standard of living is going to fall, fall, and fall. Meanwhile, as you work harder, the government will be taking more taxes, and most of all, you will pay a hefty inflation tax. The devaluation of your currency, as measured against gold, is the true marker of your loss of purchasing power by simply keeping your hard earned savings in a bank. Of course, they want to steer you into the stock or bond market where you pay taxes, and take extra risk of losing more. One day, the people of the world will realize, they don't need a central bank, which allows the government to borrow money and indebt them, blow up bubbles, enrich the rich, make government bigger and more wasteful, encourage war, without the say of the people. And all they have to say is, " We need 2% inflation."

What did you expect from the largest debtor nation in the history of the world? Where the politicians force people to take Obamacare health plans, but won't go on it themselve's. It's the only country, besides a small African one, (which can't enforce the law), that if you live outside the country, and work, you still pay US income tax. People still think of America as the land of the Free. lol

It's great for pharmaceutical companies which can prevent generic, cheaper drugs for the people.

Could it be, that the " great global monetary stimulus programs" created global bubbles, through fiat debt monetization? After all, global interest rates are the lowest since 6,000 BC. Global government debt is over $200 trillion, the highest in recorded history.

I guess the only thing they got going for them, is that they're the world's largest creditor nation with over $4 trillion in foreign reserves, the largest portion in US Treasury bonds. But stealthily, they've been buying over 10 metric tons of gold per year for over 5 years, and are the largest gold mining production country in the world. So, perhaps they've foresee the currency war of devaluation for export share as a game where the winner eventually becomes the loser and the global monetary system goes back to real money, as it had been for hundreds of years, until the US defaulted on the Bretton Woods agreement and Nixon severed the dollar / gold backing in 1971.

Just like in America, the financial pundits in Japan blame China's stock market fall for their own fall, but when the Chinese market rises, and Japan or US markets go up, they never say, stocks are up because the Chinese market is up. If you're going to claim a 100% correlation, it has to work both ways; up and down.

In reality, the US, by printing over $4 trillion an keeping interest rates near 0% over 7 years, and other central banks, particularly the BOJ, have inflated a financial asset bubble in stocks, bonds and real estate. But that's just the tip of a quadrillion dollar derivatives bubble. In other words, leveraged credit over a quadrillion dollars, hinges on the repayment of credit, which has been created by debt both private and public. Private sector debt can easily be rectified through bankruptcy. However public debt, in particular the United States, can be resolved by printing more money (paper), and hoping the creditors take it.

Bubbles don't slowly deflate. They pop.

They actually claim they tested a bomb, but all evidence points to an earthquake.

Funny, there's no evidence of a bomb going off underground, however, a group of scientist confirmed that an earthquake happened.

Aren't you forgetting that the US is the largest debtor nation in the history of the world? Also, Japan has the highest debt to GDP ratio of any industrialized country in the world? I guess you're of the Keynesian mantra that debt doesn't matter.

If the goal of central bank intervention is to make the citizens of Japan feel wealthier, then just cut every citizen a check for $1000 US dollars and let them spend it into the economy. Borrowing money, printing it out of thin air, then buying the Nikkei 225, surely pushes up the price of stocks. Remember though, that the largest owners of the stocks are corporate insiders, who have options, and have gotten the stock at a much lower price than the public. So it's great if you want to distort the free market, prop up companies through artificial stimulus, and make the 1% even richer but the unintended consequences of fooling with free market forces are always around the corner. A central bank produces nothing. It redistributes wealth, from printing money.

Yesterday auto sales in the US posted their weakest print in half a year. US factory orders declined for 13 consecutive months. They've never declined for this long without the US being in a recession. The only thing up, is defense aircraft spending and parts up 46.9%. The near zero percent interest rate policy has fueled multibubbles in the US economy, auto loans being obvious. Anyone who can fog a mirror can get a loan, now extended 7 years, so the payments are lower. After losing 1 million full time high paying jobs since 2008, and being replaced with part time low paying jobs, many of these cars, in the new auto loan bubble, are coming back to the dealer in the form of the repo man. But like in 2008, the financial engineers from the too big to fail banks, have found ways to bundle up car loans and sell them as investments rated AAA. The world is awash in over $200 trillion of sovereign debt, and a quadrillion in derivatives which make the 2008 financial crises look like a Sunday picnic.

Leave it up to an old dyke looking bureaucrat to stir up exploitation hysteria in order to implant another government program that Japan would have to pay for. Once women hit 18, they can work in a bar and hit a guy up for a drink costing 800% more, so he can say a few syllables and stare at her. I say we need to stop the exploitation of stupid males who get separated from their money by pretty women. These poor old guys need to go to a government brainwashing center so they won't like young women. Perhaps they can be programmed to desire old, fat, and ugly.

The drop in the Yen, over 40% in the last 5 years, has increased tourism, especially from those holding dollars. Japan is now a cheap place to visit, compared to 5 years ago. The question is: How much will a minimum wage worker be able to afford if this trend of currency devaluation continues to $1 to 150 yen?

What do WWI and WWII have in common? They were both proceeded by global monetary crisis. Today, we have over $200 trillion in world wide sovereign debt, which can never be paid back. The dollar is the world's reserve currency, and yet the US is the largest debtor nation in the history of the world. China, Russia, Iran, India, and many others have begun trading between themselves without using the dollar. OPEC is threatened by the Syrian/Russian/Iranian pipeline because Gazprom could sell the oil and gas in whatever currency they want. You see, the US could never have become the largest debtor nation in the history of the world without anyone to loan it the money. The ability to use other currencies for trade, and oil specifically will cause a flood of dollars back to the US causing hyperinflation. The problem for Japan, is since China has dumped over $130 billion of US Treasury Bonds this year, Japan is now the largest holder of US Debt at over $1.3 trillion. Instead of dumping the debt while its still worth something, Japan must pretend that it's keeping the peace world wide. In reality, Japan is defending the US government's ability to borrow money it has no intention of ever repaying. This is why Japan will hold all the US debt for as long as Washington wants it to. Japan is a colony of the US.

I remember when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor the United States was telling everyone the Japanese were invading China and trying to take over the world. Now that they have Japan under their thumb, they can start the war and hammer down China. Too bad the US is the largest debtor nation in the world though. They might have to borrow more money from China in order to contain China. It's no wonder that China has sold over $130 billion in US Treasury bonds last month. I'd advise Japan to do the same, while they are worth anything.

The official definition of inflation, before it was changed by the US government was : an increase in the money supply. When you buy bonds with printed money out of thin air, like the US has, you've increased the money supply. That prices do not increase in things measured by the government is irrelevant. Since banks and governments get the money first, the price of financial assets and government worker salaries and benefits goes up first. The next benefit for governments devaluing their currency, is that when that government is either the largest debtor nation in the world, like the United States, or has the highest debt to GDP ratio of any industrialized country, like Japan, it makes the debt easier to pay off, while eroding the purchasing power of its citizens. In other words, its a tax, but the way its spun, is that its for economic growth. Governments throughout history, for thousands of years, have tried to print more money to become bigger, spend more, and have gone deeper, and deeper into debt. Eventually the currency loses so much value, like in Brazil in the 70's, and Argentina now, that people will spend their entire paycheck as soon as they get it, because the price of food at the grocery store might double the next day. So its no surprise that gold has been money for over 5,000 years because: it can't be printed out of thin air; it's not paper and has intrinsic value of a rare metal, can be divisible; doesn't rust and lasts forever; and can be transported easily. ( unless you have a ton)

This is the same ratings agency that rated mortgage backed securities, prior to the 2008 financial real estate collapse as AAA, even though the banks weren't checking income, credit scores, and down payments on real estate were less than 5%. This is the same rating agency that downgraded US Treasuries, but quickly reversed it's downgrade after the US Government threatened to pull their credentials for rating, and sending a team of IRS auditors to send them some serious pain. Do what is right for the people. Don't raise taxes, cut the government.

@WTF if devaluing one's currency could make that country wealthy, simply by printing up more money out of thin air, you would see Zimbabwe as the richest country in the world, where a can of coke sold for over $1 billion Zimbabwe dollars. You forget that the global monetary system was taken off a gold standard in 1971 when Nixon closed the gold window, which allowed the US to print as much money as it wanted. Because the dollar was the world's reserve currency after WWII, every other currency was linked to the dollar at a fixed exchange rate because the dollar was fixed to gold at a fixed exchange rate. The global monetary system is now on the brink of collapse as central banks have more than $200 trillion in debt and world GDP is less than $59 trillion. More tourists coming to Japan, and purchasing resources on the cheap, only makes Japanese citizens worse off. In fact a latest poll found that over 64% of Japanese are having financial hardship.

If you want to see some serious inflation, or erosion of your purchasing power, take a vacation in Hawaii and see how much the Yen can buy after you convert it to dollars.

Is the economy in Japan really in a recession even after all that money printing and debt?

I hope you all realize that governments don't give money away for free. They will either have to print it out of thin air, devaluing the Yen further, and robbing its citizens of more purchasing power, or take it from you through taxation. It's really not an act of being generous, but a way to steal money and funnel it to special non governmental agencies in the name of humanity.

The gold and silver markets are still being manipulated. There are over 200 ounces of paper gold to every 1 ounce of real gold. The banks must keep the price down to perpetuate the illusion that central bank debt monetization, world wide, is creating economic prosperity for all.

Within a couple of years, the United States will have third world living standards from an economic collapse from being the largest debtor nation in the history of the world, and most Asian immigrants will flee back to their country of origin where standards of living will have gone up because they pegged their currency to the Yuan instead of the dollar.

This guy is like an Obama clone.

We have more than enough lawyers here in America. I can see why you want to keep as many as possible out of Japan. Most politicians in America used to be lawyers. Take our President, Barrack Hussein Obama. He went to law school. Just goes to show you how many lawyers are ignorant.

Maybe, if the CIA didn't train rebels in Jordon to overthrow the Syrian government, there wouldn't be an Islamic State, driving around in US Humvees, at a cost to taxpayers of $275,000 each, creating a civil war. But, they wanted to create the perfect "enemy". An enemy that has no country, that can move to wherever we say they are. One where we can invade other countries in the name of fighting these terrorists. Funny, when Russia and China want to fight the same enemy in Syria, the US says, " wait, wait, uh, we really don't need your help." As usual, Putin is playing chess and Obama's playing checkers.

Let's not forget, that the US used the same propaganda prior to WWII in announcing that Japan was "bullying" its neighbor, China. In fact, if you watch any of these propaganda movies, the US News was calling the Asian invaders, "Japs", and it was the US that wanted to save China. Of course they had to mine the waters off Japan, stage a military invasion from Manila, and bait Japan to attack Pearl Harbor so they could enter WWII. After dropping nuclear bombs, Japan has basically been a vassal state to America. They'll use Japan as an outpost for War with China.