Tuesday, March 11, 2008

THPAROOAT *

Over AJISS - Commentary, Koizumi economic supremo Takenaka Heizō offers what are initially some solid but dull observations regarding the sub-prime loan nightmare.

Sober reading, yes, but not inspiring

He redeems his brief review essay, however, with a neat suggestion for a swift way to broaden and internationalize the asset base of the postal savings bank:

This leads to my final suggestion. Japanese institutions should actively help American and European banks bolster their capital. Capital injections to this end may open up new opportunities for Japan's financial institutions, which have finally almost cleared up their accumulated non-performing loans. Of course, decision-making must be based on cautious management plans. Yet given the current situation in which American financial institutions are considering turning to sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East, they might well appreciate help from Japanese private institutions. Wouldn't it be symbolic if the new Japan Post Bank, the world's largest bank created as part of the privatization of the Japanese postal services, could take the lead and lend out the vast pool of its under-utilized postal savings? I think this is at least worth considering.
Now, I have no idea what he means by "symbolic" in this instance, but the proposal seems rather clever, no?

Why go to all the trouble of messing around with the establishment of a sovereign wealth fund when you could have the Yūchō Ginkō providing the nation's international capital contribution?

Heck, why not have Kampo dive in too?

* * *

Over at Japan Econony News, Ken Worsley offers his two yen's worth on the sovereign wealth fund idea.

I am not sure what point Adachi Masamichi is trying to make (text inside the gray box). Pretty much all currency reserve accumulation actions are sterilized, meaning they are backed with government debt.

Someone needs to set me straight on this.

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* = "Takenaka Heizō Pulls A Rabbit Out Of A Hat"

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Takenaka has no shame. Instead of helping Japan prepare for the coming crisis with the decline of the US, he's out trying to help the financiers with cushy deals for the likes of Citigroup. Very symbolic. And I thought the sellouts in the US were bad.

Obviously, I'm not the biggest supporter of the idea. Perhaps those who do support this can give me some logic behind such a risky idea.

MTC said...

anonymous -

I myself am trying to determine where the implementation of this suggestion intersects with the privatization schedule of the yūbin chokin and Kampo.

Ken said...

I myself am trying to determine where the implementation of this suggestion intersects with the privatization schedule of the yūbin chokin and Kampo.

It doesn't.