Quantitative easing at work.
– Japanese Inflation Holds Near 23 Year Highs As Food, Energy, & TV Costs Soar (ZeroHedge, July 24, 2014):
Japanese CPI printed 3.6% in June, modestly down from May’s 3.7% YoY, but hotter than the expected 3.5% YoY analysts predicted. If you don’t eat food or use energy then inflation merely bit 2.3% of your income this year but if you did then you may have noticed that energy costs are 9.1% higher YoY, TVs +8.0%, and Food +4.1% (both showing no signs of making Japan’s Misery Index any less, well, miserable). PPI also printed at 3.6% (23 year highs). So when the Japanese politicians say “Abenomics is well on its way to achieving its goals…” they must mean ‘of lowering living standards for all Japanese people’.
Charts: Bloomberg
These poor people! I don’t mean the ones keeping the truth about Fukushima a secret, and destroying my world with their silence. I mean the average people who used to have a decent leadership. Like us, their leaders were pretty good, but like us, something bad happened.
Now, they are being destroyed by Fukushima, and high prices. This last aspect is new to the Japanese shopper, and makes hardship for many. They are going to die, but suffering with financial pain as well is not good.
They have already joined with Russia and China in dumping the dollar……the US gave them a pass, whatever that means……..but they dumped the dollar over two years ago. They also cannot loan money to the US at low interest rates any longer, so the US has been printing to make up the difference……….and now, the US sits on piles of paper more than half the world won’t use.
By the end of another year, 75% of the world won’t touch the dollar. It is too empowering to use your own currency, and thanks to technology, the need for a world reserve currency is obsolete.
When the EU joins with the rest of the world, the dollar will collapse. I wonder if Japan will still be an ally by then……