Showing posts with label Japan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Japan. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

In The Fight: Episode 50



The Defense Video and Imagery Distribution System produced Episode 50 of In The Fight. Here's their description of this half-hour show:
On this episode, Marines launch Operation Rawhide II in an effort to stop illegal activity on the Afghan-Pakistan border, as the government grows and operations against the Taliban continue, the city of Marjah looks to have a bright future, a USAID team completes its search and rescue mission in Japan, two Airmen who participated in Operation Odyssey Dawn receive a heroes welcome, and Afghan communities come together to save the life of one little girl.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

The Japanese Disaster and the Bond Market

Over at The Daily Reckoning they're asking: Who Will Buy the Bonds Japan Needs to Sell?:
The world seemed to hold its breath yesterday. People watched videos of the tsunami…of the earthquake…of the nuclear reactors. Japan’s nuclear reactors were on the verge of a meltdown.
The answer to DR's original question: no one will buy the bonds Japan needs to sell. Japan will have little alternative except to print money. The issue is that the world is awash in debt and Japan more so than most countries. The scale of the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster is such that it might unmask the face saving that they've been doing for the past generation by issuing more debt. With government debt twice as high as GDP and a chunk of that GDP either destroyed or idled, it seems they have some introspection ahead of them. For comparison, US debt is almost as large as our GDP.

Please donate to the relief effort in Japan.