In response to an FT article by Henny Sender on 27th June 2016, entitled ‘It’s time for investors to admit it: Abenomics has failed’
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f1adc838-3c3b-11e6-9f2c-36b487ebd80a.html#ixzz4CmcWAnDV
Amidst the mountains of Brexit coverage, the FT ran an important article on Japan on Monday - one that seems to have gone largely unnoticed if the number of comments is anything to go by - three.
Henny Sender delivered a judgement on the state of the Japanese economy - she said 'Abenomics has failed'. After giving you a moment to have a thought like 'tell me something I didn't know'...I think this acknowledgment of the blindingly obvious is significant:
1. The FT is a fully paid up member of the so-called 'elite' - to call it the establishment's UK PR department would not travel very far down the exaggeration curve...The NYT has been granted the franchise in the US
2. The FT now has a Japanese owner - Nikkei
My point is this: if the FT is printing stuff like this, then Japan is approaching the end game of the Ponzi scheme it has been running for 25 years - one that went into hyperdrive when Shinzo Abe was elected in 2012.
My other thought is that Henny Sender (Henny not Henry, lady not man!) is a refreshing voice at the FT (fingers crossed). Apart from her straightforward, relatively frank style, she seems to be one journalist not bucking for a seat at Bilderberg when Martin Wolf eventually hangs up his saddle and his address book.
Anyway, here we are: (My sincere apologies to anyone who thinks Professor Larry Summers and/or Professor Paul Krugman deserve better treatment...no not really :-))
“It’s time for investors to admit it: Abenomics has failed...Abenomics was never about real reform. Instead, it was merely meant to weaken the currency, undercutting competitors like Korea and China and allowing Japan Inc to more easily export its cars and other manufactured goods to the rest of the world...Rather than reboot Abenomics, it is time to replace it. Investors should not bet on Japan any longer” - Henny Sender
Thank you Ms. Sender - I am glad that someone at the FT finally got the courage to say this.
One reason that Abenomics has gone so far past its sell-by-date (day zero) is the lack of accountability of the 'economists' who produce the bunkum upon which such policies are based. If history is any guide, your realization will not penetrate either the reputations of the bureaucrats responsible for the implementation of these policies, and especially not the academics who give them intellectual 'credibility'.
So let me say what you either can't or won't - economics Professors like Larry 'Mr. NIRP' Summers, and Paul 'The answer is more stimulus, what’s the question?' Krugman give credence to these policies, and the sooner that their half baked theories and political scams are utterly discredited, the better it will be for Mrs. Watanabe, and also for Joe Sixpack, who is just a few years behind.
Your admission that Abenomics is a 'dead duck' is positive - for the FT to print this is surely a sign that this ridiculous charade is nearing the end game. In the meantime however, governments around the world, not to mention FT and NYT readers, will continue to be dished up with regular helpings of 'crap' from these charlatans.
However, and to finish on a bright note - I sense we are getting closer to the day when these failed academics discover that their hubris has consequences - even for them.