For quite a while various economic crises have been off the stage and we were getting a sense of normality but here comes Japan with a different form of economic crisis

Japan's economic revolution rocks the world (http://www.smh.com.au/business/world-business/japans-economic-revolution-rocks-the-world-20130122-2d3w2.html)

We all know that stimulatory spending is a real problem but while we have been worrying about Greece and debt at 100% of GDP, Japan has quietly slipped away and combining this with a new militarism which will have to be backed by more than talk by the US we have the recipe for the next economic meltdown

So what will we call this one, the JC crisis

New militarism ? More like defending sovereign territory. Why should they rely on the US to defend their interests ? That appears to be a cra*p shoot these days;,even with the US talk of a 'pivot east ' .
They are not the only nation that will need to make a decision .

As for the economics... you know what I think of that path of pump priming and devaluing currency to flood liquidity... show me where it has worked without a World War being the instrument of dragging the economy out of it. Give me a strong predictabe currency every time .

Give me a strong predictabe currency every time .

How predictable do you want that Tom? I see US currency as fairly predictable and the Yen hasn't been doing well, the Wan on the other hand can only rise

The operative word was strong . I don't like this rush to the bottom with pump priming QE nonsense .

Well yes your currency value has declined here by about 20% over the past few years, but that wasn't all your own work. I don't see that it has enabled you to sell us much except some rather questionable aircraft.

I think it might be time for you to allow interest rates to rise since low interest rates have not been an incentive to invest. You know Tom, you have two choices, you can stop all the pump priming and fall back into recession, unemployment, etc or you can modestly push the economy a little. Find a few nation building projects for heaven sake. Build some nuclear reactors, wind farms, solar farms, just do something more than talk

Well yes your currency value has declined here by about 20% over the past few years, but that wasn't all your own work. I don't see that it has enabled you to sell us much except some rather questionable aircraft.


but I see an appreciable rise in the price of formerly cheap Aussie wine. What a shame !


I think it might be time for you to allow interest rates to rise since low interest rates have not been an incentive to invest. You know Tom, you have two choices, you can stop all the pump priming and fall back into recession, unemployment, etc or you can modestly push the economy a little.
Yeah pump priming has worked so well.. .

What can I tell you, we were undervaluing the product, but we drink all the good stuff, actually it has got a lot cheaper here and the French wine you wouldn't believe the price

Tom when you prime the pump you have to be sure there is something to pump. I think you have been very poorly advised in recent years, no doubt about it, in fact there is a long history of it. You can get away with anything while there is growth, but, a little recession, a little bubble burst... you have been living beyond your means. Mortgaging your future and the remedy is very hard to take

Well I have been saying that for years... but it is a 'conservative ' notion to restrain spending .
I don't get you . First you post an article critical of ''Keynesian'' deficits ,and then you argue in favor of them.

Tom, I'm not for wastefull spending, heaven knows we have had some bad examples here. But I am against a general expansion in government largesse. If you have the Tax equation right you can do a lot. Don't think that because I am on the side of helping out the unfortunate or a little nation building this makes me a socialist. I live in a country that has been short of capital in the past and it needed government to do what the private sector was too fainthearted to do. My views are on the conservative side of politics here. Great pity you didn't have real socialists to deal with. I am for balanced budgets and sensible programs

I don't like Thatcherism or Reaganism, economic rationalism often can be very destructive

Back to the theme of the thread, I wonder do you get to see articles like this there

Shun US and Japan, Chinese colonel warns Australia (http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/shun-us-tiger-and-japanese-wolf-chinese-colonel-warns-20130122-2d52d.html)

Eventually I see them because I subscribe to foreign policy and Intelligence journals. Most times I see them before the US press decides it's worth our attention. You see ; they think that we are more concerned with a football player's fantasy virtual girl friend than the East at the brink.

I don't believe our colonels would be permitted to speak as bellicose . I certainly believe he was speaking with the official nod of the PLA.
Yeah ;it doesn't surprise me at all that they would think the US is in decline. We have a defense pact with Philippines, and yet we allowed China to take Scarborough Shoal with barely a whisper of protest from the US.
In fact ;that is one of those inconvenient facts that the US press has deemed us unworthy of knowing . It's one of those situations the President doesn't want to deal with as he transforms America.

Transforms american? Tom I think it has already happened. The home of the brave has become the home of the blowhard and China has realised it. You cannot afford a war with China Tom, your economy would shrink overnight and apart from inventory on the shelves there would be nothing flowing, your industries such as they are would grind to a halt overnight. Your job creators have outsmarted themselves this time. You need a national initiative to rebuld the industries your capitalists have given away

Before you throw this comment back at me I realise we are all rowing in the same boat trying to outrun the tsunami

Trickle down economics makes the few rich, and the rest very poor, very fast, and when its tranfered to the global stage, there can be no growth, just a huge vacuum filled not by investment by those that benefit the most the few, but more debts by the governments.

The lesson from Reagan, raise taxes when you need to. But modern conservatives have taken that and morphed it into starve the government and never raise taxes, but keep lowering them for the few. The results is great capital reserves for a few, and governments with nothing to manage but high debts. That is the modern capitalist dream, exported to the world stage.

Waiting for governments to tax the few the same way we get taxed, through every transaction we make. Oh wait some countries have already recognized that. A transaction tax instead of flat taxes.

Bill Gates backs financial transaction tax to aid poor | Reuters (http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/23/us-g20-development-idUSTRE78M64Q20110923)

Two Democrats try for long-shot financial transaction tax - Chicago Tribune (http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-01-22/news/sns-rt-us-usa-tax-financialbre90l153-20130122_1_transaction-cents-tax-joint-tax-committee)

EU Approves Financial Transactions Tax (http://www.cnbc.com/id/100395362/EU_Approves_Financial_Transactions_Tax)


The levy, based on an idea proposed by U.S. economist James Tobin more than 40 years ago but largely ignored until now, is symbolically important in showing that politicians, who have fumbled their way through five years of financial crisis, are getting to grips with the banks blamed for causing it.

Trickle down economics makes the few rich, and the rest very poor, very fast, and when its tranfered to the global stage, there can be no growth, just a huge vacuum filled not by investment by those that benefit the most the few, but more debts by the governments.

The lesson from Reagan, raise taxes when you need to. But modern conservatives have taken that and morphed it into starve the government and never raise taxes, but keep lowering them for the few. The results is great capital reserves for a few, and governments with nothing to manage but high debts. That is the modern capitalist dream, exported to the world stage.

Waiting for governments to tax the few the same way we get taxed, thru every transaction we make. Oh wait some countries have already recognized that. A transaction tax instead of flat taxes.

]

Well Tal I can tell you it is a path that brings government revenue from unexpected sources but big concessions have to be made to implement such a tax, you can't just add another layer of taxation because the impact falls on everyone. When we implemented it, sales taxes had to go, a banking transaction tax had to go and certain pension and welfare payments had to be increased. The great difficulty will be that it becomes an attractive vehicle for future tax increases