In case you have not noticed, American rating agencies outside of the US have become all but meaningless. Recent Examples: China, Brazil, Russia, Europe, now Japan. So this downgrade has no bearing at all on judging how successful or not Abenomics is. The issue in Japan is still on structural reforms that are not forthcoming by the way.
At least you countered my comment with well-detailed facts and concrete information, and didn't just rely on snarky repartee!
Never said it. But hardly anyone (other than of course you) makes a connection between an S&P downgrade and Abenomics per se. The downgrade has zero impact hence the market could not have cared less, meaning, even the fart of a mosquito would have moved dollar yen by more than the downgrade did. Why you blow it up to an elephant and attach the judgement of a whole economic policy set to it is completely beyond me and probably everyone else. By the way the progress of Abenomics is in most professional circles regarded as relatively successful. It's structural change part is nowhere near where I wish it would be but your constant hate hammer is entirely misplaced. If you want a list of all the progress then let me know
LOL! "Blow it up to an elephant". hahaa! This was the ginormous post I made on the subject: Wow! Look at all that fluff I've given to the event. Talk about overstating the importance! Holy shit, what drugs am I on?? Talk about making a mountain out of a molehill! What was I thinking with all that text and attention whoring?? List all the progress. Incidentally, this is a thread about the gradual, yet consistent, decline of the Japanese economy. You, yourself are arguing that in the first pages. If you wish to now state how Japan is turning around, feel free to do so. I'll continue to post my thoughts on it, and not give 2 shits to your view otherwise. Have a nice day!
Ouch the mosquito just bit us all in the arse. This little mosquito with a loud mouth and megaphone. I will post something shortly regarding Abenomics and I have to admit even I as ultra sceptic regarding structural reform progress was mildly impressed with issues I did not keep up to date with. But even mentioning the S&P downgrade only shows that you are living as removed from actual markets as eskimos from dimsum. But I am glad your local newspaper covers a bit of financial news.
Whatever this means. Mentioning it is simply mentioning news that was made. One line, one mention. Sorry it chapped your ass so much. Look forward to your Nobel winning economics study on Japan.
Straight out of the FT: The third arrow of Abenomics: a scorecard Robin Harding and Leo Lewis in Tokyo It is sometimes called the “missing arrow” of Abenomics: on top of monetary and fiscal stimulus, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe came to power promising massive structural reforms, sufficient to raise Japan’s growth rate to an average of 2 per cent over the next 10 years. Ten quarters after taking office, the economy is only 2.2 per cent bigger in real, seasonally adjusted terms, and the International Monetary Fund’s take is typical. This summer, the fund called for Abenomics to be “reloaded”, saying that “further high-impact structural reforms are urgently needed to lift growth”. However, many analysts in Tokyo give Mr Abe considerable credit, saying he has tackled some of Japan’s most entrenched interest groups. Here is a scorecard of Mr Abe’s main “third arrow” reforms. AGRICULTURE Agricultural co-operative reform is one of Mr Abe’s biggest successes to date, breaking the power of a formidable vested interest. “The political will required . . . was quite epoch-making,” says Robert Feldman, chief Japan economist at Morgan Stanley, given past political pandering to rural voters. The challenge now is to turn reform into agricultural productivity and pass the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. ENERGY Mr Abe is on track to meet his goal of a full liberalisation of Japan’s electricity market by 2016 and there are already hints it will lower some of the world’s highest consumer energy bills. After much agonising, Kyushu Electric brought its Sendai nuclear reactor back on line this August. The rest of Japan’s nuclear fleet remains idle, however, while analysts criticised this year’s new energy mix strategy as an unambitious compromise. TAX REFORM Mr Abe cut Japan’s corporate tax rate from 34.62 per cent to 32.11 per cent this year and it will fall again to 31.33 per cent next year. His goal is to get the rate down into the 20s but for now Japan still has one of the highest corporate tax rates in the OECD, and there is little sign of the aggressive assault on depreciation and other allowances called for by analysts such as Andrew Smithers. WOMENOMICS Japanese female employment has reached a record high of 65 per cent and Mr Abe has been vocal on the issue, with a new gender equality law forcing companies with at least 300 employees to fix and publish targets for promoting women as managers. Kathy Matsui of Goldman Sachs described the legislation as “a giant step for Womenomics”. There is no compulsion, however, and getting women into part-time jobs is a lesser challenge than breaking down an oppressive glass ceiling. CORPORATE GOVERNANCE For many, Japan’s corporate governance and stewardship codes are the clearest third arrow success. Pushed through with unexpected speed and determination, they have changed the atmosphere for Japan Inc. Companies are straining to raise their return on equity and boardrooms are more receptive to external directors. But, says CLSA’s Japan strategist Nicholas Smith, “the key is turning up the pressure on CEOs of return-on-equity dwarfs that undershot the 5 per cent hurdle but have the assets for buybacks”. SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONES “The general direction on special economic zones is positive,” says Daiju Aoki, an economist at UBS, “but real developments with actual impact on the economy will take longer to emerge.” There are hints of success, such as larger buildings making their way through the Tokyo planning system. A bigger change, and an example of Mr Abe’s willingness to take on cultural taboos, will be the small local zones where families can sponsor visas for foreign maids for child and elderly care. Some 68 local authorities have had such plans approved by the PM’s office. IMMIGRATION Japan’s falling population means higher immigration is one of few plausible routes to faster growth. Take-up of existing schemes for skilled foreign workers remains very low, however, with the only progress in tiny niches such as IT workers and ski instructors. Haruko Arimura, Mr Abe’s administrative reform minister, recently described immigration as a “Pandora’s Box” and warned that “the world has been shaken by immigrants who come into contact with extremist thinking”. LABOUR REFORM One crucial area where Mr Abe has shown little ambition, let alone results, is tackling the labour market gulf between permanent and temporary employees. The International Monetary Fund argues that this is crucial to raising productivity, but Mr Abe just abandoned one of the few planned labour reforms: a “white collar exemption” to working hours rules. “On labour law they’re really just not moving fast enough,” says Mr Feldman.
Indeed many of my issues that I brought up are reflected by the assessment of the author of this scorecard. I do not agree with some of the claimed progress but from what I hear the FT score card pretty much reflects how most professinals in Finance outside of Japan judge the progress under Abe. At least most everyone agrees that the situation has been and is improving and not getting worse as you claim.