Last week Hiroko Tabuchi's article in the NYT, Rising Debt a Threat to Japanese Economy, painted a pretty grim picture of Japan's significant debt and what that could mean to the future of Japan. What many may not have seen is Paul Krugman's comment on his blog, Is Japan on the fiscal brink?, where he basically says that the market does not see any problem in Japanese bond yields being low- that the market expects this. If you were concerned by Tabuchi's article, which is more speculative, it's important to look at the market itself, as Krugman does, to see that that this issue is not much of an issue at present.
After the GLOCOM event on Oct. 20th, I'm headed to the Good Ideas Salon, Tokyo, where three people I know are speaking. I've known Peter Rojas since the early days of Gizmodo, where I was an early contributor. Danny is also a good friend as is Mark Dytham. Should be an interesting evening.
Just a quick note to mention that I will be attending the GLOCOM Forum 2009 event, as Kevin Werbach (who I know via Jerry Michalski) is speaking.
Japansubculture has an interview with Jake Adelstein, who was previously a police beat reporter for the Yomiuri Shimbun (one of the major national daily papers in Japan), which is remarkable because Adelstein is obviously not Japanese.
I'm definitely looking forward to "Tokyo Vice" and may do a review once I've read it.
For those of you who are watching or reading about the upcoming election in Japan, please ignore that crazy Op-Ed, A New Path for Japan, in the FREAKING New York Times by DPJ leader Hatoyama. If you try to read it, you'll see it makes no sense because it was written in Japanese and not intended to be translated or as MTC says:
"Just-ignore-what-the-essay-says-it-is-only-meant-for-domestic-consumption-and-contains-a-lot-of-code-phrases-that can only be understood-in-the-context-of-Japanese-election-propaganda-and-in-Japan-nobody-believes-anything-printed-especially-when-the-author's-stringing-together-of-platitudinous-utterances-makes-him-sound-like-he-is-stoned"
Instead, read Tobias Harris' piece in Foreign Policy: Japan's New Shadow Shogun. Silly title, but I'm sure Tobias didn't write that.
Now, Yukio Hatoyama is the DPJ's leader and the presumptive prime minister. But [Ichiro] Ozawa remains kingmaker: the DPJ's chief election strategist with the fealty of a band of party members in the Diet who could ultimately number up to 100. Thus, he and his supporters will be critical to the success or failure of a DPJ government, especially leading up to Japan's upper house elections next summer.
I look forward to seeing the results of this election next week.
Gorgeous vocal track. Sort of reminiscent of the 80's but in a good way.
the Diogenes Club: 'Do You Know How To Feel It?'
Following a string of wonderfully idiosyncratic and freshly skewed instrumental EPs and remixes, the Diogenes Club have now been bolstered by the addition of song-writing vocalist Paul Giles. The combination of the Clubs quirky take on 80s funk and synth-laden melodies and Pauls sweetly melancholic vocals make a resounding match. The startling effect has not gone unnoticed; and Pete Tong has already made "Do You Know How To Feel It?" one of his Calm before the storm tracks on his Radio 1 show. This EP pioneers the way ahead for the reinvigorated Diogenes Club, trailblazing along a path of emotionally-charged melody-driven electronic song.
the Diogenes Club are Matt (or Dob) and Paul Giles. Matt writes song-based electronic melodies and Paul sings and writes lyrics. Before the two met, Matt produced a number of EPs and remixes as the Diogenes Club for Urban Torque. "Do You Know How To Feel It?" is the first release to feature Paul's contributions.
Very much enjoying this deep house mix by Denzil:
Karol XV11 & MB Valence - Somewhere In Abha (Loco)
Ross Couch - A New System (Karol XV11 & MB Valence Remix) (Body Rhythm)
Jay Leblone - Alma (Urbantorque)
Terry Lee Brown Junior - Soul Digits (David Alvarado Remix)) (Plastic City)
Francois Dubois - I Try (Scope remix) (Urbantorque)
Scope - Strung Out (jay leblones groove mix) (Urbantorque)
Karol XV11 & MB Valence - Who Am I (Petersky Remix) (Loco)
Jacksonville - Super 8 Motel (Galvanic)
Quentin Harris - House (Danny Howells re-edit) (Strictly Rhythm)
Daniel Kyo - Naikrovek (Scopes Noche Urbana Remix) (Elevation Recordings)
Danny Howells - Moonage Dream (Sudbeat)recorded 01.07.2009 @ love bunker
Up until recently I had an image of Warren Buffett that I think is the mainstream one: simple man from Omaha who is single-minded about his investments such that he is very successful.
However, that image has changed for me. Rolfe Winkler from Reuters has compiled some amazing information about the fact that Buffett would have been wiped out if not for the Federal Reserve's TARP program.
A good chunk of [Warren Buffet's] fortune is dependent on taxpayer largess. Were it not for government bailouts, for which Buffett lobbied hard, many of his company's stock holdings would have been wiped out.What's crazy is that so many people have been turning to Buffett for guidance on the most recent financial collapse and while he makes the rounds of Charlie Rose and whatnot he's doing his best to profit from the US Government's bailout of the companies that he's invested in.
Berkshire Hathaway, in which Buffett owns 27 percent, according to a recent proxy filing, has more than $26 billion invested in eight financial companies that have received bailout money. The TARP at one point had nearly $100 billion invested in these companies and, according to new data released by Thomson Reuters, FDIC backs more than $130 billion of their debt.
To put that in perspective, 75 percent of the debt these companies have issued since late November has come with a federal guarantee.
Then there's the fact that many of the companies he invested in were significantly to blame for the global financial collapse.
Conveniently, he neglects to mention Wells Fargo's toxic book of home equity loans, American Express' exploding charge-offs, GE Capital's awful balance sheet, Bank of America's disastrous acquisitions of Countrywide and Merrill Lynch, and Goldman Sachs' reckless trading practices.
And what of Moody's, the credit-rating agency that enabled lending excesses Buffett criticizes, and in which he's held a major stake for years? Recently Berkshire cut its stake to 16 percent from 20 percent. Publicly, however, the Oracle of Omaha has been silent.
I was too naive in my impression of Buffett. That ends today.
