(Northern Extension of Tokyo Metropolitan Area & Shinkansen Express Train)Bye Bye Mr. Koizumi; Hello Mr. Aso and Great Depression?
Yesterday I went to an old pond nearby to take some evening pictures. When I was running back home, I found the sunset glow to be unusually impressive though not so holy, as I had seen an old couple humbly chanting some on a bench by the pond and a young, nice but humble woman walking with her dog that never bothered me when passing by.
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According to AP Radio news broadcast this morning from a U.S. military station in Japan, Mr. Barack Obama reportedly said that Mr. Paulson did not understand the policy for Wall Street and Mr. John McCain reportedly said that without deal there would be no debate.
Whether Mr. Obama can understand what is going on in Wall Street or not, it is the fact that it is under the Republican Administration that Wall Street people, since September 2001, has taken and executed the Mafia-like policy to worship money and huge money so blindly and selfishly without shame and conscience, though, under a bad influence of AlQaeda terrorists.
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In Japan, last night, former Prime Minister Mr. Jyunichiro Koizumi made clear his will to resign as national lawmaker. He reportedly said that he would not run for the coming general election. Instead, one of his sons is expected to seek the seat in the Lower House of the Diet Mr. Jyunichiro Koizumi now holds.
This is big news. Indeed, every media has been reporting and commenting on this surprise announcement. It is because in the last general election, held on Sept. 11, 2005, Mr. Koizumi could put in 80 new candidates among almost 300 then-elected LDP Lower House members. There is no denying his feat and contribution to the present superiority of the ruling parties, holding a critical two-thirds majority, in the Lower House of the Japanese national assembly.
Just before this surprise message for the planned retirement, the nuclear powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington for the first time arrived at the Yokosuka Port, situated at the entrance to the Tokyo Bay, to make it its home base, though it is exceptional for an American aircraft carrier to have an overseas home port.
Yokosuka is the main city in the electoral zone for Mr. Jyunichiro Koizumi.
It looks very symbolic, since North Korea is yet to show any sign of its policy change for releasing Japanese citizens abducted by them in these decades, though Mr. Koizumi as prime minister could take back some from Pyongyang four years ago.
Maybe the era of negotiations between Mr. Jyunichiro Koizumi and Mr. Kim Jong-Il is gone.
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Now a big focus and a spotlight are on new Japanese Prime Minister Mr. Taro Aso.
Japanese voters are also expecting the general election to be called within a month or so.
A poll rating indicates that the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has currently a little edge on its arch rival the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ).
(According to the latest Kyodo survey, LDP is supported by 34.9% and DPJ by 34.8% of voters expected to vote in proportional-representation constituencies.)
Mr. Taro Aso of LDP might lose his premiership if he resolved the Lower House at this moment; but what has drawn my attention is not Mr. Ichiro Ozawa, the head of DPJ, often described as old-fashioned and proud.
It is Mr. Richard Koo, an economist and long time friend of Mr. Aso’s.
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Richard C. Koo joined Nomura in 1984 and is now the Chief Economist of Nomura Research Institute, the research arm of Nomura Securities.
Prior to that, he was an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (1981-84) and a Doctoral Fellow of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (1979-81).
http://www.nomura.com/europe/about_nomura/bios/richard_koo.shtml
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Apart from his career and family background, his recent article attracted my attention. Mr. Koo claimed that he discovered new truth in the Great Depression of 1929.
During the Great Depression, American businesses did not borrow money from banks who were offering a huge amount of funds to those suffering companies.
American companies were busy paying back loans. They wanted to make themselves look financially sound and healthy amid the tempest of the economic crisis.
According to Mr. Richard Koo’s theory, American businesses in 1929 and 1930’s were busy getting their balance sheets back into shape while avoiding borrowing money from banks even at near-zero interest rates.
Mr. Koo found that the situation was similar to that observed in Japan in 1990’s.
( http://bizplus.nikkei.co.jp/colm/koo.cfm?i=20080311d8000d8&p=3 )
The Japanese-speaking Taiwanese economist, Mr. Richard Koo, has written that his new theory could not be easily understood by first-rate economists in New York when he first presented it to them.
Yet, Mr. Koo’s theory tells what mind-set the companies involved in the Great Depression would have.
If banks are trying to supply businesses with plenty of funds to put the economy on track for recovery, the ailing companies would not take the money while they are making every effort in payment of their debts.
Nonetheless, Mr. Richard Koo born in Japan as a child of a prominent Taiwanese clan made a mistake common to every economist: misunderstanding of true causal relation along with a time series.
Such behaviors and efforts of businesses to get their balance sheets back into shape, while a slump is going on and banks are generously offering money, are a result of a more profound factor.
As I wrote yesterday, it is a matter of consumers including the super rich, the middle class, and the poor.
The wide gap between them in terms of assets and incomes was a core of the causes for the Great Depression.
It is because being rich means making others poorer. It is because the richer you become the more you try to protect your wealth by sacrificing others and even the whole economy. It is because the poorer you become the less you can buy.
Consequently, if a big recession starts, the rich will not try to prevent it from getting into a real economic crash by sacrificing the value of stocks and bonds they must, ideally speaking, continue to possess, while the poor have no money to sustain the economy by purchasing goods.
Finally, businesses without any hope of the sale of their goods and services will start to keep their own value at least by getting their balance sheets back into shape thorough paying back debts regardless of a prospect of selling itself.
That is why American businesses in 1929 and 1930’s avoided borrowing money from banks even at near-zero interest rates just like Japanese companies did during and after the burst of the economic bubble in 1990’s.
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That is all for today.
A Japanese Prime Minister changes so often.
But, it is good for the media, since its role will become all the more important.
A minority person or a female politician will be elected as U.S. President sooner or later.
But, it is good for the media, since its role will become all the more important.
Nonetheless, the word of God never changes.
The love of Jesus Christ never changes.
EEE Reporter never changes.
And, the sun will rise again just like the first morning for mankind.
Have a nice weekend!
Choose a nice dog if to walk with.
(Since Mr. Koizumi performed well in the house of the late Mr. Elvis Presley, President Mr. Bush followed suit in the public before cameras. Did you realize it, honey?
http://www.menziesera.com/midi/cruel.mid
Source: http://www.menziesera.com/media/music_jukebox.htm)
Mat 9:26 And the fame hereof went abroad into all that land.