Tag - us-debt

 
 

US DEBT

BUSINESS / Markets
Apr 30, 2015
Investors seek out risky U.S. loans in throwback to pre-crisis days
Japanese investors are plowing back into the same types of risky U.S. corporate-loan investments that caused them losses during the 2008 financial crisis.
Japan Times
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Apr 29, 2015
Wife shields Greek finance minister from anarchist attack at restaurant
A group of self-styled anarchists threw glass objects at Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis and his wife at an Athens restaurant late Tuesday, but she hugged him to shield him from the attack, the Finance Ministry said.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Apr 25, 2015
College campuses studying on borrowed time
University students are taking out massive loans to pay for their tertiary education and generally end up facing a crippling repayment timetable that is impossible to service. We examine the alarming state of student debt and what is being done to improve conditions for those who are struggling to pay it back.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 22, 2015
Ex-currency chief fears BOJ exit nightmare on debt pile
Government debt twice the size of the economy will make exiting stimulus a nightmare for Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda, according to the nation's former top currency official.
WORLD
Apr 8, 2015
German official slams Greek demands for WWII reparations as 'stupid'
Germany's economy minister branded Greece's demand for €278.7 billion in reparations from World War II as "stupid" on Tuesday, while the German opposition said Berlin should repay a forced loan dating from the Nazi occupation.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 17, 2015
Japan's accounting problem
Japan's 'lost decades' were not quite as disastrous as commonly assumed.
EDITORIALS
Mar 3, 2015
The government's fiscal road map
The Abe administration's forthcoming fiscal rehabilitation plan may give clues as to whether it is serious about getting the government's fiscal house in order.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 22, 2015
Three reasons why Merkel acts so stubborn
There are three possible explanations why German Chancellor Angela Merkel seems so relentlessly uncompromising in the standoff between Greece and its euro creditors.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 17, 2015
EU hangs tough, waiting for Greece to bend as euro wilts
European Union finance ministers piled pressure on Greece on Tuesday to remain in an international financial rescue program as the euro weakened on fears of disruption when Athens' credit lines expire in 10 days.
EDITORIALS
Feb 13, 2015
Negative savings rates loom
The first-ever annual drop in Japan's household savings rate into negative territory might have been the result of people's rush to buy goods before the consumption tax hike last April. Yet, the long-term downtrend in the savings rate is forecast to continue.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Feb 3, 2015
Greece ruptures 30 years of political consensus in Europe
By catapulting to power an improbable alliance of the hard -left and nationalist far-right, Greece has shaken up Europe's political kaleidoscope and may have signaled the end of an era of centrist consensus.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 31, 2015
Greek government refuses to cooperate with 'troika,' seek aid extension
Greece's new leftist government opened talks on its bailout with European partners on Friday by flatly refusing to extend the program or to cooperate with the international inspectors overseeing it.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jan 28, 2015
Syriza win forces Europe's center-left to reconsider austerity
European politicians at opposite ends of the spectrum celebrated the election victory of Greece's anti-austerity Syriza party on Monday, but Alexis Tsipras' post-communist triumph is forcing mainstream leftists to reconsider their position.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Jan 14, 2015
Budget was no easy feat amid ¥1.5 trillion tax revenue shortfall
The Abe administration faced a daunting task to make up for a revenue shortfall from a delay in the consumption tax hike, and amid a snowballing social security bill, analysts say.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 25, 2014
How Japan's economy put itself out to pasture
Simply put, Japan is a bankrupt nation, even as gross domestic product outgrows that of the U.S. economy on a per capita basis.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 8, 2014
Economics of 'memento mori'
The primary role of taxes — the redistribution of money for social security and welfare purposes — has been neglected, hidden by the more pressing need to reduce debt.

Longform

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
In search of the ‘Japanese dream’