Salient to Investors: William Pesek writes: If there were ever proof that ex-PM Julia Gillard was not defeated for her performance, this election campaign is it – Abbott and PM Kevin Rudd have offered nothing new or insightful to voters, and neither have come up with a plan to redefine Australia’s economy
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: William Pesek writes: Scary drops in the Indian rupee, Indonesian rupiah, Malaysian ringgit and Thai stocks are fueling anxieties almost everywhere. Korea is a rare exception. A current-account surplus equal to 4.9 percent of GDP, a well-performing won the IMF says is undervalued, and expectations for 4
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: William Pesek writes: Another 1997-like Asian crisis is highly unlikely because exchange rates are now more flexible, foreign-currency debt is lower, banks are healthier, countries are sitting on trillions of dollars of reserves, and economies are far more transparent. The same can’t be said of 1994, when the
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: William Pesek writes: The economic challenges China faced in 1998 are eerily similar to those it faces today. Now, as then, economists worry China’s economy might collapse, a mountain of nonperforming loans might go bad, state-owned enterprises are stifling innovation, and social unrest might overwhelm Beijing. The
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: William Pesek writes: A week after Japan’s debt reached the 1 quadrillion yen ($10.28 trillion) mark, yields have actually declined. BOJ Governor Kuroda is winning bondland’s full obedience with two forms of trickery: essentially transferring money via monetary policy from citizens to the government, and outright monetization of public debt. The
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: William Pesek writes: History will judge Abe by what he did, or did not do, to end the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl. It’s mind-boggling how disengaged Japan’s leaders have been since the near-meltdown at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant, just 135 miles from Tokyo. Nuclear regulators remain more
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: William Pesek writes: China is very susceptible to Japanization, and only bold and creative action can avoid it. However, for every pledge to cut excess production capacity, audit government borrowings and tolerate sub-8 percent growth, two others assure markets that growth won’t be allowed to slow too much. Japan
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: William Pesek writes: The nightmare for Japan is that it took Abe this long to step in to help Tokyo Electric Power to deal with tons of radioactive groundwater spilling into the Pacific Ocean. Most people still have no idea how close we came to losing Tokyo in
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: William Pesek writes: Asians Indonesians, Malaysians, South Koreans and Thais have not gotten over Larry Summers’ role in forcing austerity measures on governments in the late 1990s. Asians were puzzled by the 1999 Time magazine cover heralding Summers, Greenspan and Rubin as “The Committee to Save the World” for their free-market solutions to
READ MORE... →Salient to Investors: William Pesek writes: Former George Soros advisor Takeshi Fujimaki said Abe delaying increasing Japan’s sales tax would worsen Japan’s debt profile, while Fed tapering would cause a fresh credit crunch that would slam Japan’s bond market. When Li Ka-Shing, Asia’s richest man, is turning to Europe as Hong Kong
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