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Hatoyama lays out growth strategy

Earlier today, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama unveiled his economic growth strategy, which is intended to…

…never mind, Hatoyama’s plan is a complete and utter farce, a sick joke with no punchline delivered to a nation of people who need real leadership. Here’s the first paragraph of the Kyodo article:

The government unveiled Wednesday a basic policy for its growth strategy through 2020, aiming to achieve an average economic growth of 3% in nominal terms by boosting demand in the environmental, health and tourism fields and creating a total of 4.76 million jobs in related industries.

The rest of the article is there, but the first paragraph already tells you how stupid, short-sighted and disconnected from reality this government is, and there’s not much need to read the rest. But if you’re in a masochistic mood, here you go: Bumbling fools reveal idiotic policies Gov’t seeks nominal 3% growth through 2020 by demand in key areas.

Massive Fiscal Stimulus Spending Project Proposal #2: Changing Lanes

Back in May, I laid out a plan by which the Japanese government could waste tremendous amounts of public money by simply issuing brand new bank notes of radically different sizes and shapes, while outlawing the use of current bank notes.

While the previous plan could potentially pump billions of yen into the economy, the next plan should cost much more. To do this, Japan simply has to switch driving from the left to the right side of the road. Of course, other countries have pulled this off without spending huge sums of money, such as Sweden, but Japan can avoid falling into this trap by ensuring that the process be as expensive and wasteful as possible. Here’s how it works: Read more

Asia is now the biggest market for Japan’s nonfinancial listed firms

According to Tuesday morning’s Nikkei, Japan’s nonfinancial listed firms earned greater sales from Asian markets than from the US for the first time ever in the six months to September 30.

Let’s take a look at what they mean by “earnings growth.”

It’s helpful to look into the factors behind the Nikkei’s numbers. The Nikkei appears to be cheerleading for future sales to Asia by stating, “With Japan, the U.S. and Europe mired in a prolonged economic downturn, companies are likely to grow even more reliant on Asian markets for earnings growth.”
Read more

Government sponsored mortgage discounts coming in 2010

It has been projected that in 2009, Japan’s housing starts will fall below the one million mark for the first time in 42 years. In response to this, and in a seeming attempt to spur economic recovery, the government has revealed plans to roll out a mortgage-reduction program for 2010.

From a report in today’s Nikkei:

Under the program, homeowners taking out 35-year loans from an affiliated lender will have the mortgage rate reduced by 1 percentage point for the first 10 years.

The offer will be available only for homeowners taking out such loans next year. Also, homes purchased with the loan must be one of the following: energy-efficient, handicapped-accessible or quake-resistant.

The government intends to put 260 billion yen into the lending program, which will use the Japan Housing Finance Agency to issue mortgages. Currently, rates on mortgages taken out from the Japan Housing Finance Agency stand at 2.6%, which means those taking out new mortgages under the plan in 2010 will pay 1.6% interest for the first ten years of the loan.

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