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Open Markets and the “Deflation Spiral” in Japan

testosteronepit's picture




 

Wolf  Richter   www.testosteronepit.com

Ever since Toyotas and Hondas were forcing Detroit to shape up the hard way, the US government has pushed Japan to open up its markets, particularly its automotive market, and the fact that it’s still pushing shows how little success it has had. Back in the 90s, the cited reason for the near non-existence of US-branded cars in Japan was that they weren't of the quality Japanese consumers wanted. OK, but today?

"The US government urges Japan to address the full range of barriers in Japan's automotive market," pleaded the Office of the US Trade Representative in its just released 2012 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers. Indeed, the Japanese automotive market remains largely sealed off to US automakers through nontariff barriers such as lack of transparency, standards and certification issues, and impediments in building distribution and service networks.

It’s not just cars. The racket to protect Japan’s pork producers is almost silly—and very costly to the hapless Japanese consumer. Imported pork whose price exceeds the government-set reference price will get away with a 4.3% ad valorem tax. Any pork imported at a price below the reference price is slapped with an additional duty that brings its price up to the reference price. Hence, there are no lower-priced imports of pork, and pork is expensive in Japan.

And beef. The base tariff is 38.5%. But it jumps to 50% when import volume rises by more than 17% from prior year. Japan also uses health concerns as fig leaf for blocking imports entirely. In December 2003, a cow in the US that had been imported from Canada was discovered to have Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE or Mad Cow Disease). Japan immediately blocked all imports of beef from the US. December 2005, under intense US pressure, Japan reopened its market to US beef, but with strict safeguards. When one single exporter violated one single rule a month later (it had shipped a forbidden vertebral column), Japan closed its market to all US beef for seven months.

The arm-wrestling continued. February 2011, Japan blocked beef imports from a packer in Nebraska that couldn’t prove, as the rules required, that the intestines in one shipment were from cattle no older than 20 months. It took till today, to get the ban lifted. Beef jerky, which has quite a following in Japan but doesn't have much of a lobby in the US, and other processed beef products are still blocked. Meanwhile, Japan had 26 BSE cases so far in its own herds (compared to 3 in the US). And now some of its cows are radioactive.

Tariffs impact a whole slew of items: citrus, apples, wine, cookies, wheat, wood products, shoes, leather, shredded mozzarella.... In addition, nontariff restrictions and entanglements, such as legendary customs processing, keep imports out or make them more expensive. However, fear of imports does not translate to luxury goods for which Japan used to be—until China jumped into that slot—the world's number one market. Cognac, dresses, handbags ... Ferraris. (Life, even for Ferrari owners in Japan, goes on in its own manner: a convoy of 20 supercars sped down the Chugoku Expressway, entered a left-hand bend at 90–100 mph. Speed limit was 50 mph. The highway was wet. And the rest was very expensive.... Superlative Supercar Pileup, with video of the aftermath.)

And then there is rice, the sacred crop. Of the 1.63 million farmers in Japan, 80 percent are part-timers who make 90% of their income from other sources. Farmed on small plots, rice is Japan’s most inefficient crop and absorbs most of the agricultural subsidies. And it’s expensive in grocery stores—a 5 kg (11 lbs.) bag of the cheapest rice costs ¥1,650 or $20. A 5 kg bag of Koshihikari from Niigata Prefecture will set you back ¥2,299 or $28. And now that fears of contamination are added to the price, imports have become very popular.

Alas, imported rice gets whacked with a tariff of ... 778%! Ouch! Only 682,000 metric tons of rice may be imported tariff-free, most of which is acquired by the government for stock and released later for animal feed. Only about 100,000 tons can be imported tariff-free as food—merely 1.25% of domestic production of 8 million tons. Hence, even imported rice is outrageously expensive.

The latest excuse for blocking imports: Takeshi Nakano, associate professor at Kyoto University and ex-finance-ministry official, one of the media poster boys of protectionism, said that cheaper imports would aggravate deflation.

Ah yes, there it is, the reason for deflation—though he used it in a twisted manner. In 1996, when I went there the first time, Japan was a shockingly expensive country, even in mundane things. Trade liberalization gradually opened up the market to imports and forced domestic producers to become more efficient and competitive. Eventually, this will even impact rice farming: some people will give up their hobbie to make room for more efficient farms. As doors are being pried open, prices will ease further to approach international levels. And in the mayhem of Japan’s unspeakable fiscal woes and tough economy, this is a bit of good news for the consumer.

While the Japanese were already struggling with their nuclear energy conundrum in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, new revelations seeped out about how Japan’s nuclear industry squashed regulations that would have prevented numerous casualties. For a debacle that shocked even the Japanese, read.... A Revolt, the Quiet Japanese Way.

 

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Sun, 04/08/2012 - 08:34 | 2325941 keep the bastar...
keep the bastards honest's picture

Expensive? Japan has been prior to Fukishima a really cheap skiing and snowboarding destinaiton wiht the best powder snow in the world. Quality serivce quality everywhere and honest people and safe. 

Sun, 04/08/2012 - 07:08 | 2325860 ebworthen
ebworthen's picture

We are Japan.

Agricultural subsidies out the wazoo.

Except, we don't protect a majority of families, only big Ag. and big Corporations because they kiss ass to big banks.

Kind of like the big churches, and God forgive me but they are one of the big reasons Gub'mint looks the other way when allowing millions of illegals to stream across the border and provide cheap labor for Ag., Housekeeping, Service Industry, etc., etc.

Those bodies filling the low slave-labor jobs and schools and hospitals also fill the pews at the churches and the donation boxes. God bless the downtrodden.

God bless China, Latin America, and Japan too; just get those "old school" Americans from Europe and Africa on the Kleptoligarchy train will you?  We don't have all decade.

Idiocracy forward.

Sun, 04/08/2012 - 05:45 | 2325822 AmCockerSpaniel
AmCockerSpaniel's picture

Come on; You all know what "free" trade really is.  Ross Perot said it all, and the MSM crushed him. The one percent (that have dual passports) don't care what happens to American children. They used their supper great wealth advantage to control the government, and the MSM. They will use it to have American blood spent to keep them in power over lesser ones (not just the Philistines, but just about everyone. We can not vote them out because they have the MSM lies. So buy GOLD, and hide it. They will have there bought and paid for militia (money can buy loyalty) take everything you have. The truth is; It's every man for himself these days.

Sun, 04/08/2012 - 11:45 | 2326174 WAMO556
WAMO556's picture

Conspiracy theories aside - this is just a load of horseshit. Boo F@#$ING Hoo. American Blood this, Dual passports that! Rants!!! You don't like the laws - well change them, you don't like the place becuase someone is richer then you - then get the hell outta here! I read your piece initially with an open mind, but then it dawned on me, your flipping crazy. Like some cop is going to come to your house to take your gold, yeah right - when pigs fly!

And by the way - SUPPER - is what you do in the evening when you sit down to eat a meal with the people that didn't believe in the "every man for himself" mantra that you just posted!!!

Super is the meaning for something that is greater then yourself!

Sun, 04/08/2012 - 04:13 | 2325774 besnook
besnook's picture

while picking on the auto and farm businesses in japan may resonate with westerners those are the two most sacred businesses in japan. i mean sacred in the religious sense.  the protectionist policies exercised by japan are the primary reason why japan's unemployment rate stays low, it's manufacturing sector remains strong and it's trade balance is positive(until now).  japan's biggest mistake in the past twenty years was it's cultural "obligation" to support the failed banks and construction industries supporting family ties dating back a coupla hundred years. the protectionist policies helped mitigate the damage. the japanese are, in large part, happy to support fellow japanese jobs by paying higher prices, especially for rice and cars.

Sun, 04/08/2012 - 03:02 | 2325717 AnAnonymous
AnAnonymous's picture

Subsidizes against subsidizes.

US citizen Japanese do not look very confident. They dont seem to believe they are able to take on the US of A heavily subsidized farming sector.

Maybe a reasonable assumption as the US of A subsidizes its farming sector through the USD, that tax on any USD holder and which is backed up by any tradable good around the world. It happens well, most coveted US made goods are non tradable.

US of A do not put much of their wealth on the table to back the USD, huh.

Situation looks grim for Japan. They subsidize their farming industry through schemes that diminishe the Japanese contribution to US farming industry subsidizes.

By adopting the US of A demands, they will have to cope with a Japanese subsidized US of A farming sector.

Ah, free trade, that good US citizen thing.

Sun, 04/08/2012 - 02:40 | 2325219 suteibu
suteibu's picture

There is little doubt that the Japanese government has not been beneficial for Japan for quite some time.  It is corrupt and protective of politically favored industries.  In that respect, it is little different from the US government (automakers, beef, Hollywood, etc).

This article seems to advocate that Japan would be better off if it fell in line with the US desires in matters of trade.  But that would require one to believe that the US is in any way concerned about Japan above its own interests in these trade deals.  In fact, the US wants the Japanese government to force the sale of more US vehicles in Japan because it is good for the US automakers.  They want more lax restrictions on US beef because it is good for the US beef industry (BTW, Australia is the major importer of beef to Japan which, quite frankly, can only import so much beef.  A gain for the US would be a loss for Australia or Japanese beef farmers.) 

In other words, the incompetence of the Japanese government and its policies on trade with the US are two different subjects altogether.  To insinuate that the Japanese government would become smarter or less corrupt - or that the Japanese economy would be any better - by allowing the US to dictate its trade policies is merely taking advantage of Japan's weakness.  While it will certainly help US industries, it will do nothing to resolve the bigger problem for the Japanese which is their government.

Japan and the US are currently negotiating for Japan's entry into the TPP free trade agreement and all of these issues are on the table.  Yet, the Japanese government's own estimates show that Japan's GDP would only grow from this all-inclusive deal by 0.05% per year, well within the statistical margin of error for such things.

The author of this article is merely talking the USTR book.

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Sun, 04/08/2012 - 03:11 | 2325724 AnAnonymous
AnAnonymous's picture

or that the Japanese economy would be any better - by allowing the US to dictate its trade policies is merely taking advantage of Japan's weakness.

______________________________________________

Ah, extorting the weak, farming the poor. Dawai, dawai.

US citizens have risen from the ranks to become the most efficient extorters of the weak, farmers of the poor in human history.

Too many US citizens, not enough Indians.

So now, that is the time to decide who is a true US citizen, who is true member of the US citizen gang.

Not so much room left to expand in the usual suspects' territory, they are already occupied.

So expansion in fellow US citizen territory is now fully on the table as a very wished opportunity as it is one of the only left.

Destruction on farming sector, a speciality of US citizen economics. As a nation loses its capacity to feed itself, it makes food such an efficient bargaining chip. It smoothens so much the wealth extraction process.

Just sit down and watch, it is going to be an entertaining sight as much as US citizens can be entertaining.

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 16:37 | 2324992 bugs_
bugs_'s picture

Mercantilists have always failed.  One day we will say that Keynesians have always failed.  Japan is both.  It is apparently incurable until it ends.

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 18:31 | 2325140 JustACitizen
JustACitizen's picture

"Mercantilists have always failed." Who says? How long do they need to be successful and reap huge profits before they fail do they need to operate to be considered successful or a valid strategy?

I daresay that the Germans and the Chinese are not in an especial hurry to get in on all this free trade goodness. They seem to be pretty rational people by and large. They take what is being given to them by a bunch of dummy purists/idealists.

Seriously - is this like "War never settles anything."? It is a collection of words that sounds good - but means nothing. In a war - if you end up dead and the other guy is alive - it is safe to say that war settled something.

As for John Maynard Keynes - it doesn't look good - but he's dead. His ideas were his ideas - only politicians give them force.

Let's talk about that idiot Arthur Laffer - the intellectual godfather of our current idiot political system. Last time I checked - he's still alive and providing the intellectual support for a bunch of dummies in office.

Sun, 04/08/2012 - 09:24 | 2325944 slewie the pi-rat
slewie the pi-rat's picture

when you say "take what is given to them" i take that to mean the mfg and export business

but not by purists and idealists, imo

by cunning, militarized, international "capitalists"?  yes, but at the same time, japan, germany, china, russia, gBrit, and so on are all pretty much cunning, militarized, etc too

we've all been doing the fightClub thing;  for centuries

we're not very good at producing stabilty and security;  whether you blame the rich, the bankstes, the warriors, doesn't matter, we produce inventiveness and inventions and ideas and children and food;  plus, we hunt and gather; and fish;  and drink!

so we keep inventing things:  catapults and seige engines; hattoriHanzoswords

cannon were big!  napoleon graduated from jrCollege with a degree in artillery which he parlayed into his own empire and legal/admin system;  plus, i think he had a horse like Silver

generals grant and lee, with engineering degrees from westPoint, perfected the wholesale battlefield slaughter and maiming of men-as-cannonfodder;  hitler put the cannon on a hi-speed track suv, and attached large exploding warheads to rockets;  the allies dropped artillery from the air; and from the enola gay; now we have drones acting as forward observers relaying strike coordinates via satellite;  boomers have been very inventive!  L0L!!!

even in the hood:  things get tense, everybody goes shopping for rifles, shotguns and handguns; and ammo! have you seen the new "daisyDuke" arrow that holds the dynamite stick? 

not to mention that the entire fuking finacial world is mined with weapons of mass destruction

we are doomed, BiCheZ! 

so, i'm gonna have some bean and ride my bike into the sunrise

it is a good day to un-die

Sun, 04/08/2012 - 09:34 | 2326004 i-dog
i-dog's picture

 

"it is a good day to un-die"

...as is every day...

Sun, 04/08/2012 - 12:06 | 2326195 slewie the pi-rat
slewie the pi-rat's picture

no, not for me

not this

i may be able to go to lunch w/ bill tomorrow and a casino on Tuesday, but i can only do this today
there is no other day for this but today

tomorrow never comes and every day is irrelevant if i don't do this today

but then again, i can only speak for myself

but i know what i wrote

i do appreciate that advanced adepts who can do this other than today must think i'm a total jackass, and probably nuts too, but i'll stick to what i put up there if you don't mind too terribly much, ok?

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 16:21 | 2324972 Peter Pan
Peter Pan's picture

A tariff of 778 per cent is understandable given the Japanese governments crappy finances. How many other tariffs and barriers does this xenophobic and demographically doomed country have?

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 16:07 | 2324947 GMadScientist
GMadScientist's picture

It's not a scam...they're just a wildly xenophobic bunch of little freaks.

 

Sun, 04/08/2012 - 09:58 | 2326026 i-dog
i-dog's picture

... as opposed to the US bunch of wildly xenophobic obese freaks?

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 21:25 | 2325359 Ropingdown
Ropingdown's picture

Yes, they will succeed so long as they prevent the importation of Japanese-size houses.  Should Americans become used to such small houses the housing and related-goods markets would launch us into massive deflation.

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 14:44 | 2324818 q99x2
q99x2's picture

Throw the globalists out of the country. Close the borders. Execute those guilty of treason.

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 13:53 | 2324710 JustACitizen
JustACitizen's picture

Not that US is really a bastion of "free enterprise" or anything (see farm subsidies, corporate welfare, etc.) but:

Isn't it lovely that we preach in favor of the bullshit free-trade and yet everyone who exports to us protects their home markets?

None of that Ricardian "Comparative Advantage" crap for Japan, Germany, China, Korea etc. Mercantilism can and frequently does win.

What do we get out of this other than more cheap crap and an admission ticket to bankruptcy?

Of course we have spawned more blood sucking multi-nationals than anyone else...there is that...

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 20:43 | 2325309 Vendetta
Vendetta's picture

exactly.  Europe has VAT taxes which is an import tax essentially.  From what I've read China has a 17% import tax...the only country not protecting itself is the US it seems and it shows.  Given some politician in Australia has recently said the US seems ungoverned and "profoundly dysfunctional", I couldn't agree more.  With the current crop of republicans and democrats just like the last 30 years crops of politicians, there really isn't much hope till the whole ponzi collapses. 

Sun, 04/08/2012 - 11:36 | 2326150 Non Passaran
Non Passaran's picture

How is VAT an import tax?

Sun, 04/08/2012 - 03:38 | 2325746 ffart
ffart's picture

I think engaging in protectionism of this type would pretty much destroy the US at this point. No textile manufacturing left, most electronics made overseas. Even a lot of food comes from over seas now. It'd be like living in a third world country.

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 13:42 | 2324678 Marginal Call
Marginal Call's picture

Would lower food prices cause deflation in Japan?  Doubtful.  We are experiencing a similar situation here where rising expenses on necessary consumables (food/fuel) are impeding any possible growth by eating into discretionary income.  They could experience a small stimulus boost by removing the tarrifs-they really shouldn't be eating anything from Japan for a while anyways.

 

But they've got a system where the farmer is subsidised by artificially high prices passed directly on the consumer, and we've got a system where the farmer is subsidised by the government directly  and will be passed onto the bag holder of US debt. 

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 16:08 | 2324951 GMadScientist
GMadScientist's picture

And the ensuing deflation in domestic pork producers when their sales drop?

TANSTAAFL

 

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 17:52 | 2325068 Marginal Call
Marginal Call's picture

The pork producers are eating a free lunch.  Pork is about the easiest livestock to "produce", that's why pork is still $3 pound here when beef has tripled.  Hogs will eat anything and grow anywhere.

 

How many pork producers are there in Japan?  I can't imagine it's many, and they're clearly a drag on the Japanese econoomy.

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 13:40 | 2324647 i-dog
i-dog's picture

Hmmm ... let's see: The argument in the US is to "fix" the trade imbalance by raising tariffs on imports ("tariffs are good") ... while the argument here against Japan is to lower tariffs ("tariffs are bad"). Which is it?

It seems to me that the reason Japan has been [barely] able to juggle its debt problems for 20 years is because the government has protected local industry and the people have supported their local industries. The US, not so much....

Also, the thought that 30 million Japanese are yearning to fill the narrow streets of suburban Tokyo with gas-guzzling Escalades and self-immolating Volts is laughable!

VERY poor article.

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 13:44 | 2324687 Marginal Call
Marginal Call's picture

GM had it's highest sales ever in China last report, steady growth.  They are a popular over there.  But they also are an entirely different line of vehicles for foriegn markets.  Heck, even the Fords in Europe get 50 mpg and are sporty little cars. 

 

It's what they sell us that is crap.

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 16:13 | 2324957 GMadScientist
GMadScientist's picture

And the last time I measured my dick it was bigger than ever too. So what?

They like a few US brands (Hummer, for example), but they have tariffs too...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/dec/15/china-taxes-us-car-imports

"General Motors faces the greatest impact, almost 22% extra on some sports utility vehicles (SUVs) and other cars with engine capacities above 2.5 litres. Chrysler faces a 15% penalty, while a 2% levy will be imposed on BMW, whose US plants make many of the cars it exports to China.

Existing taxes and duties already push up the cost of US imports by 25%, and the new levies make it even more expensive for Chinese consumers to buy American. "

 

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 13:59 | 2324704 i-dog
i-dog's picture

China is different to Japan ... their 1,400 million people are hungry for any vehicles and would probably also buy Trabants in decent volumes, if they were still being made!

Japan has no need for US manufactured vehicles in any meaningful numbers ... they have their own designed and manufactured vehicles. If they want to keep others out, then let them.

Full disclosure: I'm personally against protectionism of any type and would not live under a protectionist regime without protest, but I recognise the right of others to choose their own style of governance.

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 20:45 | 2325311 Vendetta
Vendetta's picture

good luck finding a place to live

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 16:15 | 2324962 GMadScientist
GMadScientist's picture

Well said. Protectionism has a short end-game. Scary that the world seems to be titlting that way as this depression wears on. I hope they don't get stupid.

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 13:04 | 2324607 gdogus erectus
gdogus erectus's picture

We have always been taught that there were free markets and that protectionism wasn't needed. Let capitalism reign free! They cried. Let America figure out how to be more competitive! Were (are) the chants. What an utter farce. We are hoodwinked once again. We buy shit from fucking slaves in other countries to protect our thinking that we still have free trade and real capitalism. Riiiight and I have some MBS to sell you.

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 21:39 | 2325372 Ropingdown
Ropingdown's picture

It is remarkable that people take the public cover storty about trade, when they would immediately discern such deception in a relationship where they work.  The Free Trade story, in spite of enduring trade barriers in Asia, is simply a story to cover the desires of large capital equipment makers and very large banks, together with consumer goods manufacturers who wished to maintain US prices while substituting cheap-labor Asian manufactures.  See, e.g., Wilson Tennis Racquets, many brands of hand tools, most plastic goods.  The scheme has worked: Apple thrived on the plan.  Boeing and IBM sold lots of big hardware.  Big equities grew.  How to keep the masses happy? Grow lots of government jobs here and give away lots of "free" but very expensive  healthcare...and pay for these on the cuff.  It worked.  Who are the fools? Laugh. The usual fools, those who weren't paying attention, the marks, the middle (confused) class ex government employees.  The high and low income groups both benefited.

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 12:57 | 2324588 dalkrin
dalkrin's picture

Simply allowing American cars to reach the selling lot in Japan is no reason to expect them to sell.  This is as silly as trying to sell ice to the eskimoes.  

 

The agricultural debate is more reasonable, but again, even when there is a wide price advantage, some people will still support their local farmers out of sheer loyalty.  More to this life than dollars and cents.

Sun, 04/08/2012 - 09:43 | 2326018 Lucius Corneliu...
Lucius Cornelius Sulla's picture

I was in Tokyo in 1988.  Went to a supermarket where a cantaloupe was on display with a pretty bow ribbon around it.  I checked out the price and converted it to dollars.  It was $25 for one cantaloupe.  And that was over 20 years ago!

Sun, 04/08/2012 - 09:10 | 2325973 Stuck on Zero
Stuck on Zero's picture

Lets add $30K to the selling price of a Toyota and see how many sell here.  The nice mercantilists of Asia coupled with the kleptocracy in Washington are decimating the economic landscape of the U.S. 

Sun, 04/08/2012 - 11:40 | 2326164 Non Passaran
Non Passaran's picture

And that is going to make your income higher how?

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 12:55 | 2324584 steve from virginia
steve from virginia's picture

 

One can argue both sides here:

 - inefficient Japanese farmers are paid to farm rather than being given welfare checks.

 - The high prices for rice and other goods have to do with captive distribution channels rather than production costs: Japanese food marketing is an obviious monopoly. Farmers would sell rice directly to customers for what the market would bear. Instead they sell to 'kombinators' who add a stiff markup and control distribution.

 - Japan and the rest of the world need to kick the car habit before it bankrupts the entire world. Nobody seems to 'get it': unliess you drive a taxi or a truck driving does not pay. It's a dead-loss that must be debt-financed to the tune of trillions in all currencies per year.

Where does all that debt come from?

Why is there a big government? Why is the US a police state? Why are there stupid wars everywhere that cannot be paid for? Why does real estate suck? A handful of auto executives get rich, the rest get the shaft.

Japan is stuck because it has to sell cars and make money (borrow against its customers'- and customers' countries' accounts) in order to 'deal' with its rotting reactors.

Japan 'earns' money, what it must do is shut down and 'decommission' its 54 reactors. This is a generational task requiring the entire efforts of the country!

It won't occur: Japan will take the money and perpetuate the reactor business. Worst possible (likely) outcome? A spent fuel fire or a fast neutron chain reaction, Either (both) would have the fallout equivalent of a very dirty 15 megaton hydrogen bomb going off in the center of the country.

Japanese are smart ... are they smart enough? So far ... no.

Sun, 04/08/2012 - 06:33 | 2325839 BeetleBailey
BeetleBailey's picture

+10. Well said sir. Indeed.

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 23:36 | 2325504 StychoKiller
StychoKiller's picture

Godzira ain't so bad, who else is gonna save us from Rhodan?

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 15:09 | 2324856 OpenThePodBayDoorHAL
OpenThePodBayDoorHAL's picture

I used to believe like everybody that free trade was an unalloyed good thing, now I'm not so sure. Seems to me that free trade mostly benefits corporations and stockholders, not employees/people.

For big diversified economy with a large consumer base, Buy American might be quite beneficial. So long as barriers are not just for goods but also for labor.

Glad to hear the other side of the debate, just questioning the received wisdom that's out there...

 

Sun, 04/08/2012 - 09:28 | 2325992 KickIce
KickIce's picture

It is, to bad we've never come close to experiencing it - that would require the rest of the world to be subject to all the 3 letter agencies that we are.

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 12:43 | 2324548 God Bless The V...
God Bless The Virtuous's picture

We have the same deflation as Japan, it is a deleveraging cycle we find ourselves mired in. Bernanke has been so "piss your pants" afraid of this he has been tempting fate with all this insane, dollar debasing digital printing! His disastrous and reckless policies are a result of his fear of deflation. Why else would someone so brilliant(open for disagreement) risk the wrath of run away inflation down the road if the money he has loosed on the world ever starts to turn over,(Velocity super spike),ala Weimar!

This is a massive "Super Cycle" we are in and short of all out global war,(Radical Islam?),it will take decades to work off the excess debt we as a nation of "Must Have the Newest Iphone" raised fools of our own making! The young of today are being indoctrinated into the Progressive / Fabian Socialist Society worship preached and administered at our once noble institutions of higher learning. The revisionist history starts in grade school and reaches its peak in college where you leave with no hope of anything even remotely resembling"Critical Thought", mindless zombies who want and expect not an entry level job, but a career straight out the door of mindfuck of, pick your school!

Anita Dunn, Van Jones, Mark Loyd, Cass Sunstein, Valerie Jarrett and the list goes on. You cant make this stuff up. The leader of the free world has more communist and socialists surrounding him than at a Cuban Rally. Lets not forget the wonder boys like Richard Trumka, Andy Stern, Stephen Lerner(the brains behind Nancy Pelosi's "God Bless them" O.W.S.) and the good old radicals from the '60 Bill Ayers and his old lady Bernadette Dorn, and good old granny, Frances Fox Piven!

Yeah they were so much fun in the '60's, The Weather Underground" S.D.S etc...Such crazy and innocent bomb throwing radicals, sure whats not to love?

Did you know among themselves their chosen greeting was "The Four Finger Salute", yeah you know like in the four tines on a dinner fork, the same dinner fork that was used to kill and cut out Sharon Tates unborn BABY!

This is the filth(O.W.S.) we are dealing with, this is the moral hating venom that worships "BA AL" and proudly shits on Police cruisers and empties garbage cans full of human waste in the lobby of banking A.T.M. machines in N.Y.C.!

Deflation is the least of our worries America, this is an abomination!

America is great because Americans are GOOD!

Get back to the values and the "Law's of God" this country was founded on.

Obama and the progressive "Law's of Man" have no place here! It is "Equal Justice" NEVER "Social Justice"

Individual liberty, "Individual Salvation" NEVER "Collective Salvation"

On this eve of the resurrection, give thanks, ask for forgiveness and pray for the strength to vanquish this darkness that is so prevalent in our society!

May the good lord watch over this fragile little experiment in freedom we call America.

God  Bless  The  Virtuous

Jerry

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 18:56 | 2325182 dynomutt
dynomutt's picture

Their's no fixin' u, Jerry.

 

Gud Luck and G-d Bless

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 13:24 | 2324639 SeattleBruce
SeattleBruce's picture

"it will take decades to work off the excess debt"

There's not enough income in the developed world to pay off the current debt, let alone the massive increases being foisted on us each month, quarter, year...we need to deleverage from debt based money...we need accountable money that is connected to real economic metrics that are collected by impartial parties, under penalty of prison for any corruption.

http://economicedge.blogspot.com/2009/12/freedoms-vision-outline.html

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 12:01 | 2324470 Bicycle Repairman
Bicycle Repairman's picture

You should mail this article back to 1985, when it would have mattered.

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 11:32 | 2324431 Uchtdorf
Uchtdorf's picture

The Japanese themselves say: baka shinanakya, naoranai. A fool can't be cured unless he dies.

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 17:53 | 2325071 WmMcK
WmMcK's picture

Yeah, and Ron White says:
You can't fix stupid.
There's not a pill you can take; there's not a class you can go to. Stupid is forever.

Sat, 04/07/2012 - 11:28 | 2324426 bank guy in Brussels
bank guy in Brussels's picture

The gangsters in Japan have long liked American cars - symbolising the great gangster country.

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