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Fuel Imports Send Japan's Deficit Careening To 3rd Worst On Record
USDJPY and Nikkei futures don't know what to make of tonight's data. Is it bad enough that we buy stocks (sell JPY) on the basis that Abe and Kuroda will have to do more or is it so bad that it 'proves' no matter what they do, the gig is up. It seems, by the reaction the latter as Japan's trade balance collapses to the 3rd worst on record. Exports rose 18.6% (more than expected) but it is the imports that soared higher (26.1% vs 19.0% expectations) on the back of surging fuel costs. So, Abe got his inflation - on the cost push side (crushing margins) and not the animal-spirit-competitive exuberance demand-pull side. Perhaps it is time to rename it Abe-wrong-ics. Of course, we await Goldman's blessing of the number as just wait one more quarter for the J-curve to turn up on this devaluation cycle... we wait patiently...
Seems like bad news is not good news in Japan...
As the slow painful death of nation needing energy (of course) and having to pay for it in a currency that is increasingly worth-less (or worthless)...
Charts: Bloomberg
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No nukes, no coal, no nat gas, no petrol. Printing presses...YES! Yeesh, no future.
There will certainly be "No Future" if the Reactor #4 fuel pool rod removal operation encounters any big glitches...
"...the amount of radioactive cesium-137 in the pool is said to be the equivalent of roughly 14,000 Hiroshima-sized atomic bombs, this next step is turning into a crucial test for the beleaguered utility as much as it is an engineering challenge."
But that's just the cesium-137 talking...
Radioactive waste is the PERFECT waste product. Can't see it, can't smell it, can't feel it and no pictures of cute baby aquatic mammals covered in goo. By today's media standards that means it doesn't exist. So, that much easier to ignore. Which is exactly what they are doing (and will continue to do). Even "environmentalists" who would normally jump down your throat if you drain one drop of water out of the mud puddle at the end of your street don't seem to say much about it. Can't even remember the last time I saw an article about Fukushima in the MSM.
Problem solved. Somebody press the "easy" button now, please.
Tyler, they had a tsuamni over there that knocked out all the nuclear power stations politically. That means they have to find other source's of energy and they don't produce oil and gas and they don't grow any crops to turn into fuel. Sure their citizens are going down the drain, ours are from the tsuamni of debt, at least they can pay extra for the fuel until they straighten out their problems or the world ends, which ever comes first. If you think this is news I suggest you look for another field of work, cause yours is goin down the drain hard.
No debt, you fail to relize that we too have hidden our mistakes that are not readily seen. Walruses still collect sludge in the artic from the 1989 exxon spill, and once they are done sunning themselves on the sea ice, they leave a black streak of sludge on the ice where they had been. This is common human behavior and the worse the accident, the more they hide it.
That's a silly, misleading comparison since cesium isn't a fissile material.
I don't think they meant that the Cesium-137 was going to pose a problem in the nuclear explosion sense but more along these lines...
"In March 2013, the Japanese utility that owns the tsunami-damaged nuclear power plant said that it had detected a record 740,000 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive caesium in a fish caught close to the plant. That is 7,400 times the government limit for safe human consumption.[8]"
"Deficits don't matter."
Famous Statesman, Jack Cheney, VP
<<<< Worthless bum
<<<< Free Bitcoins: http://freebitco.in/?r=25727
<Japan need strong currency (Fuck Abenomics).
<Japan evaded deflation.
"That is 7,400 times the government limit for safe human consumption."
Long John is the winning bidder.
Over.
That is 7,400 times the government limit for safe human consumption.
But on the bright side, the fish cook themselves as soon as you pull them out of the water.
Actually it's best not to pull the fish out of the water... the residual zircaloy on the fish scales may spontaneously ignite if not left submerged.
thank god for Japan. they make America look competent...for now.
see my comment below.
They can always use the fiat as an alternative energy source.
Right, and who owns U.S. nukes, coal, gas , and oil? Answer, not "us".
"as the slow painful detah of nation needing energy"
Tyler has been hitting the sauce and has a case of fumble fingers.
Send them electric cars...
/s
Print all the paper promises you want, the calories available for consumption that are required to actually do anything are what they are.
Disclaimer - calories available in your area may very, hedge accordingly.
Off topic here but....
Why not skip the expected but problematic evolution to electric cars and go back to Flintstonemobiles or perhaps pedal cars...
You say that like they're not already working on it. Electric cars is an "interim phase" of the real goal: Agenda 21.
Pack everyone into cities like sardines and you have no need for private long-distance transportation or the energy infrastructure to power it.
The crime, poverty and general loss of freedom and humanity is your problem, of course. Not theirs.
Cheaper for the NSA to keep an eye on them as well.
At some point they will realize they don't need so many people around to perform the jobs that simply aren't coming back. I expect some great sales on canned dog food when that day arrives...
Only oil has the joules to provide food.
Pack them into the cities all you want. The food grows elsewhere.
When the SHTF, the cities will empty and people will flow to Iowa. In other words, you're 180 degrees wrong.
They couldn't even find Iowa on a map if their lives depended on it... which incidentally it may...
Crash- I'm not disagreeing. I'm just stating what's coming down the pike and what the motivation is.
The fact that cities will be purpose-built death traps in the event of even a modest disruption in supply lines is completely lost on them. They're trying to optimize for a "perfect world" where nothing ever goes wrong. Therefore, no degree of self-reliance or alternative backup means is required in their thinking. THEIR thinking. Not mine.
Too many people, not enough food = Soylent Green.
"it 'proves' no matter what they do, the gig is up"
Over? Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? NOTHING is over until WE say it's over! - The Central Bank Fraternity
It was the Germans? So the Japanese were framed?
Forget it, he's on a roll.
Movie: "Animal House".
I'm guessing you're on the younger end of the age spectrum and maybe it was before your time. Still, if you haven't seen it, you really need to, regardless of your age. It is rightly regarded as one the greatest comedy movies of all time. It cemented, among other things, John Belushi his spot as one of the greatest comedic actors of his generation.
Osmium's comment, above, is another well-known quote from the movie. Just FYI, since you're not likely to get that one if you didn't get the other one.
See? I don't ALWAYS rip people's heads off. I can be educational and polite, too sometimes.
Lock and load.
South China Sea gas/oil:
http://logos.nationalinterest.in/oil-and-gas-reserves-in-the-south-china...
Japan allowed to militarize via madcap Obama:
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-11-18/japans-abe-looks-for-asi...
yes. When all else fails -- War.
War, and then all those resources go to the international oil/banking cartel. Japanese people lose either way.
Exports rose 18.6% (more than expected) but it is the imports that soared higher (26.1% vs 19.0% expectations)
Is this being measured in Yen? If so then it would indicate that exports have fallen not risen. Same with imports. This is what happens when you try to print yourself out of a mess.....
You predicted this very outcome last spring.
Those clever Japs will invent a great energy innovation and the world can finally be rid of Exxon and Saudi Arabia
One day soon, Japan will be the 34th. province, autonomous, but a province of China.
Large country, lot of people, island, High energy usage per capita, And No domestic energy source.
Hmm, do we see any long term problems here?
(How about Nuclear, very safe....)
Maybe they will perfect fusion in the next 6 months.
(the energy source of the future and always will be).
If Abenomics is successful, the Japanese will be able to burn yen notes for fuel.
No they won't. Like our currency, most of it is digital.
Well, despite this really bad news for Japan it looks like we as a world "might" end up losing them as a continental culture and be the end victims of a too closed society on their part. I could say "Go long LNG.", and make some bucks in the short term, but the outcome of Fukishima isn't over just yet.
And sooner than later, instead of us serfs being the focus of FEMA camps, maybe the long focus is irradiated refugees from Japan. It is sad to think that, but it may be possible.
35 million (according to GW) on alert for possible evacuation of Tokyo. 120 million ~ over all the islands. How'd you like to live in that city now? No power on bad days, conversions to fossil energy frantically being sought. Why my JP in me says we could revive coal exports. Technology is a real bitch when it wants to be.
So.
Do we embrace a xenophobic culture? Well maybe we do. China has eyes on those islands and the resources below. The wind blows away from China and towards us. Is it just a matter of time? TEPCO makes a mistake with the pick up sticks and we could see a holocost brought about by man, because of xenophobic ideals, which may genocide the entire Northern Hemishpere with radioactive material for 100,000 years or more.
Think about it. Think about it real hard.
Spanish anyone?
Any ideas on penguin or tern recipe's?
Beuhler? Beuhler?
Anyone?...... Anyone?
"i do not believe in the no win scenario." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z49bBPf7b4g
Little geology reminder.
It's very very very rare to find oil in earthquake prone areas. Sometimes, rarely, some shallow porous rock with oil can be found, but in general 80 million years of earthquakes will disrupt the geology that traps oil.
And so Japan has none.
Huh, California is chock full of oil, especially along the faults. I think you might mean subduction zones vs strike slip zones. Do your homework.
Calif is shallow oil.
It was the exception I had in mind.
Since you realize that Japan had to face such a major disaster so that its commercial deficit becomes really red, maybe they would deserve more leniency. I wonder if anyone could imagine what the reaction of US or EU would be if they were in Japan's shoes..