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Japan Goes Full Helicopter-Ben: Prints "Free Gift-Cards" To Spark Consumption
Since Ben Bernanke reminded the world of the existence of government printing-presses, echoed Milton Friedman's "helicopter drop" solution to fighting deflation, and decried Japan for not being as insane as it could be... it has only been a matter of time before some global central bank decided that the dropping of cash onto the populace was the key to economic recovery. Having blown their wad on QQE (and been left with a triple-dip recession), it appears Japan has reached that limit. As Japan's News47 reports, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has instructed his cabinet to develop economic measures such as handing out 'gift certificates' to the poor to "support personal consumption directly."
As Japan's News47 reports (Via Google Translate),
Following the negative growth of the gross domestic product of the July-September period (GDP), Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is to instruct the relevant ministries to develop new economic measures whereby income is handed out, such as gift certificates to the poor and to people building energy-saving housing, thought to support the personal consumption directly.
Abe also said mitigation measures for the energy price rise due to depreciation of the yen should be included.
Prime Minister in the express policy to dissolve the House of Representatives on the 18th, economic measures is expected to become the backbone of the ruling party commitment in the House of Representatives election.
The activation of consumption stimulus and regional economy and pillars, and founded the grants that local governments can use freely. Local governments to distribute the vouchers to people with low income.
Policy to revive the "housing eco-point" to grant the point in new construction and renovation of energy-saving housing.
* * *
As The Wall Street Journal adds,
A surprise announcement early Monday that the economy contracted for a second straight quarter makes it “absolutely necessary to take countermeasures,” said Etsuro Honda, an architect of Mr. Abe’s economic policy
Koichi Hamada, another close economic adviser to Mr. Abe, said in an interview the central bank should act “without pulling any punches” if the economy continues to show weakness over the coming months. Mr. Hamada said he supported cash handouts to “those who are struggling” because of a higher sales tax and a weak yen.
* * *
So it's absolutely necessary to take countermeasures against the implications of the policies you instigated in the first place?
* * *
And so while some might liken it to EBT cards in the US... it appears this is simply a hidden way to directly hand out free money to those that spend and thus... increase inflation... So no need for firms to raise wages after all!??! Well played Abe.
h/t @L0gg0l and @Thoton
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George W Bush did that also
Voucher for a house, car, bitchezzz and blow.......ok
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjeuTeApR5M
Yes.
Some reason the government couldn't have spent the money themselves? I mean, government knows better than people anyway, right?
Stop the ride, please, I gotta puke.
Have to agree with the ride part.
Unfortunately I don't think there's another handy planet to jump off to.
Please, please, Mr. Abe, would you please print us some free gift cards for Japanese bearings?* Much obliged!
*Hey, many Peruvians are poor too! We have some Nissei there as customers, they would be very thankful...
It's called EBT cards, been there, done that
"It's called EBT cards, been there, done that"
Also:
Obamaphones, Obamacare (no denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions, free contraception, extension of health coverage for students on their parents’ insurance plans well into their 20s, etc), partial forgiveness of college loan interest, loosening of lending requirements by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for higher risk borrrowers, use of welfare programs by illegals for the American born anchor babies, etc.
You forgot: WIC, Section-8 Vouchers, Free CalWorks Day-Care,....
Welfare really is the ultimate Economic Stimulus Program: Put money into the hands of people who have no choice but to spend it or become inelligible for next month's grant. (Do you think its an accident that the Food Stamp program is run by the USDA?)
After all; give money to responsible people and they might actually save it,... we can't allow that!
Wrong!
Welfare/food stamp has 2 main goals:
1) It's a subsidy to big-farm, Wal-Mart, and so on
2) People are 3 meals away to start a revolution
By the way, I found this excerpt very telling:
As Charles Mann points out in his fascinating book 1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created, one-third of the first three waves of colonists were gentlemen, meaning their status was defined by not having to perform manual labor. During the winter of 1609–10, aka “the starving time,” almost everyone died; those who survived engaged in cannibalism.
Give out your newly minted money to the poor to stave off revolution (by the starving). It's free to you cause you borrowed it from the CB at 0% interest, enriches the CB cause you're paying just slightly more than 0% on their imagined up money, helps you divide and conguer as the taxpaying envision it as their dollars and mostly goes to corporate citizens as the FSA spends it. Perfection.
I agree with this. The only actors who can act are the ones with the wealth to do so. The fed can make free money. If main street can refinance their debts with free money then the economy will not be encumbered with its overhanging debt.
we already have them in USA....EBT
So so this is exactly how the Republicans will carry the ball down the field, scoring points with the poor, ala Bush.
Yes, EBT and the other programs are a dribble when compared to the boats of gravy slathered over Wall Street.
If free money were going to stimulate the economy they should have sent $3 Million tax free to all of us, not $300.
They should have put a Trillion in Social Security. Medicare is worse off, but we spend too much on health care, Health care is not worth the money spent.
And we can't let the old people starve.
Ohh.. S.N.A.P.
Don't we do that here already?
Even our corporations have pitched in:
Olive Garden
Chic-Fil-A
Who else?
logicalman
Wrote: Unfortunately I don't think there's another handy planet to jump off to.
I beg to differ!
http://www.themarysue.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/AnotherEarth.jpg
I've got some bad news for you.....
NoDebt
Are you that sure that people known better?
Hey…. Call me out of vogue, but I question your rhetoric, illogical statement.
Too bad that understanding takes more effort than knowing.
Sarcasm doesn't seem to work as well at night or over the weekends on ZH.
If you assume 100% of what I say is meant sarcastically, you'll usually be right.
Situations are Ironic, people are Sarcastic
I find ironic, but definitely expected that, for the US to maintain its Empire (lifestyle) the government, private, and business have to live of debt, because the real economy, under the rules of capitalism, couldn't generate half of the wealth that we have now.
Why can’t some of you get it? Put your finger on the real issue? Now, I’ve been a little sarcastic.
Wrong. Debt undermines capitalism, robs wealth and steals from growth and innovation. The direct path to socialism is via private debt, backstopped/ morphed into governmental debt programs.
You're wrong.
Our debate should be about:
a) Energy and not economics
b) Reproduction and not conspiracies
c) Methane and not global warming
d) Science and not religion
e) And not about college education but survival skills
Wonder why?
Because, otherwise, our society will be vulnerable to religious demagogues (Fascists) and easy solutions (political dictators).
Introduce leveraged debt into the 'free world' rather the investment of positive assets and you cap growth and potential all the way down to the personal level. Once you stratify all of society, everything on your list goes away, and instead man serves the artificial construct, known as debt.
DP???
Japan goes full retard - never go full Krugman.
It's on like Donkey Kong vs Godzirra vs Mothra vs Ultraman.
+1 for including Ultraman :-) The greatest "man" in suit!
You forgot Gamera
I smell equal measures of fear and desperation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjeuTeApR5M
AGree. Bush did it in early 2008, right before the crash
It can't be long now
Yes it can.
EKM's right about Bush doing something similar (but using tax rebates). The Bernank and Hank Paulson walking up the Hill in Sept 2008 and demanding all most a trillion dollars to buy bad debts out of the banks (and then using it to recapitalize them instead). Then early in 2009 the Fed unleashed the origninal QE- buying government debt out of the market with poofed-into-existence dollars.
It was complete insanity. I knew it was all over. ZH was launched amidst all this and for the exact same reason.
But I was dead wrong. So was ZH's core premise (at least at the time).
And here we are.
These fuckers control the money supply. They can keep this shit going FAR longer than you and I think they can.
They've already kept the ship afloat way longer than any sane person could have imagined.
They will likely keep it going longer than even the insane could imagine.
Amen!
This Turd won't die. It's just gonna stink and rot to pieces and finally dust.
It'll take forever too.
We won't see a "collapse" on a massive scale, just lots of little ones.. Death by 1000 cuts.
Unless that Puty or those tricky chi-coms dirty deal us.
Then the Turd* Dies.
* This is not directed at Turd Ferguson, who posted here many moons ago.
Exactly, Thanatos and Logicalman. Exactly. This is going to be one twisted, ugly, unrecognizable hellhole before anything meaningful changes.
You don't think somewhere along the road they might unexpectedly lose control of the whole thing? To my knowledge, they still can't buy (or "QE") confidence: once that's finally lost, the few levers they can pull or buttons they can push aren't going to produce the desired results anymore.
I wouldn't discard the possibility of a sudden implosion.
The shit must go on but the farce is wearing a little thin around the edges these days
Japan is heading back into recession with a multitude of serious and intractable problems
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/17/business/international/defying-expecta...
This new move just additionally confirms to the Japanese public that they are in fact led by idiots
BINGO!
Kitler
If the war stays in Europe, and in land, these will be good news for the US, the dollar, and China; because Russia will become even more dependent on China.
But, if the US loses ships…..
Anyway, for whatever its worth:
The next 2008/2009 (market crash) I have it for 2016/2017
The next 1973 (oil crisis) I have it for 2019. But, this time, we won’t be able to recover.
The next 1963 (civil rights movement for equality) I have it for 2018. But it won’t matter, because it will happen on the big cities; and, it’ll be too late to make a difference.
it's fine HUD's Castro realizes it is "too difficult to get a home loan"
http://hedgeaccordingly.com/2014/11/hud-secretary-julian-castro-too-diff...
Honest Abe: Annual Gift Man come early this year. Celebrate with sparkle!
Yep... this seems eerily similar to those stimulus checks.
put me down for $5 on the krugman
whenever a match seems hopelessly unbalanced, bet the other way - call me a contrarian
Hmmmm... Maybe if Krugman wore a luchidor mask.... That's it! LUCREWHORE, a green mask with a gold $ on the face....
That's almost as disturbing as this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DI7pPVJTeSY
Hey Abe old buddy! I'll take one of those gift cards and ship me over a brand new 2015 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro while you're at it, thanks!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DI7pPVJTeSY
If the central bank is going to hand out free money, better to give it to poor people then rich assholes.
Short term demand won't raise expectations - it will just increase prices. The poor will still lose......and lose the most. What a bat shit crazy shit show.
Right, figure out what they will do with it and bang the price.
Whatever they do they better spend it faster then Abe can conjure up mon...........too late! Well that was quick.
You don't own 'stuff'
"stuff' owns you.
Food, Clothes, Roof, Warmth and a bit of time to persue my own simple pleasures.
I'm good with that.
I just hate being stolen from every second of my life.
Agreed - poor people spend money, raising velocity ...
Rich people save money, lowering velocity.
Lot more poor than rich, as inequality widens.
Poor stupid people.
Rich people spend $. A lot of it. But, they have enough $ they can save whilst spending.
So they can buy time to give yet more money to rich assholes? No thanks!
Yeah but they only spend it on stupid stuff like food instead of Lamborghinis and stocks which really make the economy hum.
Miffed
Indeed. Money injected in the real economy would be a benefit as opposed to money dissappearing into dollar carry accounts. The main argument against is inflation. So then, close the fed window to the already bloated heavily levereged banks, force them to actively seek depositors again for liquidity. That, and a per capita limit on borrowing should moderate the effect of free money driving prices higher. Imagine a middle class less encumbered by the debt service they must pay on their debts and at the same time seeing a real return on the money they keep in their savings accounts.
FSA FSA FSA!
No free phones?! Cheap ass
I'll take mine in Gold please.
<And the change in Silver if you don't mind.>
Perhaps, the deserving poor get manna from heaven in the land of the rising sun. In the the land of the free, all the gift cards go to 0.1%
Percent of income going to 0.1% in USA is 6.9%. In Japan, it is 2.2%
http://visualizingeconomics.com/blog/2007/03/14/comparing-income-of-top-...
Better QE for the people than QE for the banks (though should be applied first to debt reduction -- subprime auto and student loans). But, the real answer is to use QE funds to buy gold. Reprice financial assets (of ALL fiat currencies) in real asset terms. It is the ONLY way out of our financial asset ponzi.
A bailout for Main Street on the same scale as the bailout for Wall Street with the precondition that debts are first payed would lead to a "float all boats" improvement in the real economy.
Borrow Yen and Buy Gold
Death throes.
Yup. Knew there would be a post this week , that beats all the others for crazy ....this one may be the winner.
I know! Push through the tax increase. Then give the people gift cards to pay the tax increase!
This Prime Ministering stuff is easy!
That's what I'm talking about.
Lol if the US ever does this every cent I get will go to PMs... LOL please give me free money so I can stack more!
"Japan Goes Full Helicopter-Ben: Prints "Free Gift-Cards" To Spark Consumption"
Sort of like flapping one's arms in an attempt to fly after falling from a skyscraper.
An American, not US subject.
Honest Abe....Hiroshiming and Nagasaking the Yen and the future with gift cards to used panty vending machines!!!!!!!
Giving to the poor used to be called a 'wealth transfer'. Some Republicans still call it that. The reality is that no wealth is taken from the rich - countries just go deeper into debt to hand money to the poor.
Big government prints more money--and taxes the middle class to hand money to the poor.
The mega rich like George Soros or Warren Buffett beome cronies of big government and ensure that their wealth is never transferred.
Nikkei up 275. EVERYTHING FIXED! It was that easy all along.
Japan needs to change the 'red cherry blossom' national symbol on it's flag to a 'red balloon' exploding with yen fiats raining down on the serfs.
With a few cesium molecule spatterings in between. Olympic mascot should be a stuffed animal in a hazmat suit.
So a Nation with a Heritage of fishing the seas decides to give a man a fish.
I'm starting to think that the only thing that can explain what Japan is doing at this stage is that they've already decided a default is inevitable, that even a Keynesian must understand this to be totally impossible to ever emerge from, and so they're loading up as much as they can. Like knowing you're going to go bankrupt, so you take out 20 credit cards and try to spend it all before the jig is up.
KamiKrazy Pilot....
My mummy's chiropodist is Japanese, do i qualify for any free-shit?
This is what the best and brightest of a nation sow for the citizens that there're supposed to watch-out for? They have destroyed their economy in the name of just what salutary goal? I would submit there wasn't ever a goal and that they were just engaging in an insane form of monetary fingerpaint. These Ivy-educated imbeciles ought to ridden out of town on a rail!
They should be tarred and feathered
maybe Japan will export their helicopters to the US...
One would only wish.
Japan has tried so hard to stoke the fires of inflation, with no results.
But if they ever do get them started, I wonder whether they will be able to put them out.
Right after cleanup work at Fuku.
Next step is food stamps - for the government members.
They must be days from a full, public, default.
Their policies aren't working and they are doubling down every week now. They are like traders I have known who have imploded. They get caught in a bad trade and keep doubling down until they blow up spectacularly.
This is going to break sooner than we think. These guys are 12 steps beyond desperate.
ABE just pissed in Bernankes face, my god all that QE to the bankers was wrong? you should have given money to the lowest economic groups? sure sure! now Bernanke can say, gee we should have done that ourselves? why did we jumpstart the 1%? or wait and see how the macroeffluence of this policy follows the FUKASHIMA plume of radiation west. in a closed political system they would call this a TRIAL BALLOON, but in the closed global economic system, it functions the same way. American CENTRAL BANKERS wait to see if the Japanese solution works before they send you your Walmart vouchers. (you better know which retailers will benefit, ask Jim Cramer, booyah!)
Hory Sheet; I'm packing. Bento boxes for eberyone!
Y'all bitchez have a high credit score? You can get your own free helicopter bucks right here in the U.S.! Just apply for multiple credit cards with $100+ sign-up bonuses. Use the cards for your regular purchases until you reach the bonus threshold, then pay those sumbitchez off. Do it 10 times and you've got $1000 helicopter bucks! Do it 20 times for $2000. Then cancel the cards and start again. It's stealth QE!
Speaking about the Mudurabah (I mean "Federal Reserve" since "usury is a sin")-Hong Kong dollars are backed by teh US Federal Reserve.
Hong Kong and Shanghai exchanges linked today. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/17/hong-kong-and-shanghai-stoc....
Aussies and China just signed another trade deal. Russia just signed a nat gas deal with China. Looks like Mrs. Wantanabe has more hedging options that a Japanese housewife could ever hope for!
Desperate times desperate measures. The point of no return for Japan has arrived. Slow death of a nation brought on by a mad man.
To be expected .
Tora ! Tora ! Tora!
http://andreswhy.blogspot.com/2014/11/laundry-economics.html
i think it goes like this----first we buy all our debt. second we raise taxes. third we give everyone money to prime the economy. fourth, the economy boooooommmmssss and throws off enough taxable income to save japan from itself. hoorray!!!.
lol! good luck with that plan!
as long as the s and p keeps trucking on to the mars orbit life is good.
Isn't this like COMMUNISM???
The coming implosion in Japan could well be a visual art show for our minds to see what it will be like for us.
Could be.....and we should definitely watch and learn (to whatever extent possible). BUT.....I imagine a similar implosion here would be worse, on a scale several orders of magnitude 'worser'. One big reason is the severely divided and balkanized multi-cultural society TPTB have jammed in our faces, which will result in a nightmarish post-collapse environment.
In America they refer to that as student and subprime auto loans
On the bright side, approximately 3/4 of millenials actually plan to pay back their student loans.
'
choppa boys everyday. Spend your bank full of hundred B's in your face.
Communism has come to Japan
Karl Marx was right
It is Roddenberry's prophecy. The UFP is a society without poor. Downside: Borg. Do the Sulu Dance!
Cargo Cults - The Unintended Consequences of Helicopters dropping money or Planes dropping Coca Cola bottles.
We all await - and demand - the next humanitarian money drop. Knowing we can't survive without them - and imagining the consequences for our tribe if they don't arrive...
EBT for Japs! iPads and tattos for all! (Coke and hookers for some!)
It's good that Abe is going down this road. It will put the nail in the coffin for all of those that believe in Keynesian or MMT since they will no longer be able to argue that the QE is not working because it's not being given to the public.
Abe has it backwards. Supposed to give the free money to the RICH and TAX the poor to pay for it like they do in the U.S.
'gift certificates' to the poor to "support personal consumption directly.
Sound like food stamps to me.
So you raise taxes and then print money to give to the people to replace the money they are paying to the government? Brilliant!
it may sound stupid but it is not
it allows you to stay in control and to decide who gets what and under what conditions
Japan is steling from its people in other ways too.....
http://newworldorderg20.wordpress.com/2014/11/14/japan-credit-bureau-working-with-russian-banks-on-payment-cards-cashless-society/
http://newworldorderg20.wordpress.com/2014/11/09/chinese-investment-in-japanese-real-estate-climbs-sharply-just-like-in-the-u-s/
http://newworldorderg20.wordpress.com/2014/10/27/russia-japan-to-hold-joint-naval-drills-next-week/
http://newworldorderg20.wordpress.com
Japan should remove the ridiculous pixelated areas in porn movies and sell the full version to the West. They will make a killing. GDP should raise easily.
ABE: REMOVE THE PIXELS!
Sick and tired to watch blurry japanese snatches.
Will America Town accept these gift certificates?
With the price for "flesh" constantly droping, as we saw previously, this is great party time!