Its not a bad recession, though, as recessions go. Anyone still working except CEO's is losing ground, but at least all are at least somewhat employed in low pay jobs. What would be bad would be if China stops lending us the money. Then, we'd be dead meat within a few months. The problem really is we have been consuming more than we produce for decades, and when the boomers try to retire, we are going to find out those savings we thought we had aren't real, and we will either need to reduce living standards dramatically or run it up the wall till it collapses .
our politicians have no true incentive to solve long term problems until they've blown up in our faces
I have to disagree; one of the major trading partner; China has always subside its export to Japan with both political and economical reasons; therefore Japan has experienced some of deflation on import goods; and China has absorbed the raising cost of raw materials; while Japan has booming export to the rest of world.
I dunno if I buy that 10% number, but how the heck can a doubling of gas prices in a year not be worth a couple points of inflation alone? Of course, that impacts food the most, and the whole save your corn to make the Earth green ethanol thing can't help food prices either. Rather than invest in the equities market, go buy Corn Chip Futures
Unlike the U.S. Japan imports 100% of it's energy and much of it's food. Also, like the U.S. Japan is paying for imports with a cheapened currency that's lost a great deal of purchasing power the past few years. Sure Japan is buying cheap shit from China. So are we. If Wal-Mart was the inflation benchmark then Fed Funds would be 1%, eh? Unfortunately televisions and toaster ovens are not the essentials folks are most nervous about seeing rise in price....
Japan and U.S.have a greater deal of owning interest of foreign natural resources than China; mining rights and processing capacity; therefore; it seems like paying to your right hand from your left hand. It doesn't have the bigger impact as it does to China. Isn't that the reason US official inflation number has been kept in check for the last ten years?