I' m waiting with baited breath as to how Abe will talk his way out of this one… Abenomics ..pfffff!!

For the 30th consecutive month, Japan ran a trade deficit and this time it was the biggest ever as

imports rose 16.5% YoY (missing the 19.9% YoY expectations by the most in 15 months) and

exports rose 11.5% (missing the 15.6% YoY expectations by the most in 14 months)...

Source

You get an 'F' for political savvy Ziv.

Melbourne went through a period where Indians where seen to be targeted by racist elements in society. It took a steady stream of government media releases to ease the tensions and send a signal that government took peoples concerns seriously and perpetrators would feel the full force of the law. I somehow think a complaint at the local cop shop would have produced little in the way of reassuring, not only the Indian community, but other ethnic minorities that authorities took the protection of their rights and person seriously.

Abe's reluctance simply implies that his political ambitions are more sensitive to actual voters needs (protestors) than that of non native Japanese who may be the target of prejudice. From an international perspective Abe and by default Japan repeatedly miss the point when it comes to foreign sensibilities.

I'm wary of studies like these because they can be constructed to skew results in favor of whoever is running the agenda but lets accept this study for arguments sake anyway.

From your reference supplied above:

Table 2, estimated from the JGSS, contains the percentages of respondents who

are against an increase in immigrants among 20-60 yearolds in selected occupations.

Nearly 60% of the respondents who are in agricultural/forestry/fishery, or are

laborers/operators express anti-immigrant sentiments. Incontrast, more than 60% of

the respondents in service occupations express pro-immigrant sentiments.

So it appears that blue collar and laborers perceive immigration as a threat while white collar doesn't. Antagonists within societies are those who are for whatever reason socio-economically deprived (or threatened by immigrant groups). As the economic landscape deteriorates in Japan I would expect to see this section of society increasingly vocal.

The argument is moot in my mind because even if Japan has the best intentions to make change of this nature it will take decades and will more than likely take a generational change in mind set to be implemented effectively. The reality is that immigration policy such as this has been in motion now for several decades. There's absolutely nothing substantively new about immigration. (Source)

The immigration debate is a red herring. It's a distraction that is designed to placate the populace and suggest to them their government is proactively attacking the problems when in fact it's not. It's simply doing what it's always done and pitched it as some new initiative.

The real debate is the absurd financial policy that simply replicates the failed policies of the past 3 decades.

When the nutters in charge say they will use inflation to reduce debt then increase debt exponentially faster than inflation you know you're on a hiding to nothing.

In other words you don't have a clue how this will have any impact at all.

It's pretty simple stuff Ziv. Sound immigration policy is usually focused on 4 things;

1. those who can bring capital and start businesses
2. skill to fill holes in capability
3. to create internal demand, and
4. maintain a population base capable of growing the population.

While you may not speculate I will.

1. even in countries people want to migrate to like Australia the effect is miniscule
2. Japan doesn't lack the ability to attract highly skilled individuals where necessary but this again is miniscule
3. the most likely target of immigration given Japan's shrinking population
4. just to sustain it's population your report suggests according to UN calculations that Japan needs to import 381,000/yr out to 2050.

So to summerise;

– over the last 50 years immigration policy has failed to stabilise population declines or meet the skilled/semi skilled demand for workers.

But of coarse Abe is different and he will be Japan's savior. Good luck with that.

I rarely suffer from hangovers thank God but heartburn absolutely kills me on bourbon and coke not to mention it plays Mary hell with old ticker.

Some days I wonder if things will last 5 weeks let alone 5 years. God help you if you have all your eggs tucked up in the US market

This says it all:

The Carlyle Group’s Latest Investment… Trailer Parks

• Because the cost of relocating a home is expensive, residents are less likely to move away. “Our customers have no alternative shot at homeownership, nor do they [normally] even have the credit scores and quality to seek anything better,” Mr. Rolfe said. “They never leave the park they are in, and the revenues are unbelievably stable as a result.”

I tend to adhere to the KISS principle whenever possible.

The focus should be on;

• accessing funds;
• cash flow to fund full time employee
• minimising taxes
• distribution of income

The most logical approach is however to keep both parties in employment and pay professionals where appropriate and labourers to undertake most of the reno work. The principles can be more effective as employed individuals who can share the project management tasks.

I wouldn't flip these reno's either instead with careful selection the combined buying power of two individuals could enable the growth of foundation properties that have CG unlocked through reno's (enabling further leverage for other properties) and rental income that provides a 10%+ (minimum) as the income source to progressively go fulltime at a future date.

Buy, reno and flip is not a very judicious use of capital or a efficient growth strategy in this circumstance. Income should come indirectly through equity growth enabling further leverage to expand a portfolio and a growing portfolio selected well will underpin growth through cash flows from rental incomes.

Ditto…. Extremely common occurrence.

CB's can suppress interest rates, govt's can borrow till the cows come home and banks can push the credit bubble ever bigger but at some point we will have to pay the piper.

This graphic of global GDP is an eye opener if you look at all the economies that will tank when the US, Japan, EU go tits up.

US + Japan + China + India + France + UK + Spain + Italy + Netherland + Portugal + Ireland + Brazil + Argentina + Greece =>60% of global GDP

All of these countries have high debt that is still growing faster than growth or are already in substantial trouble. This only ends one way. Economies and financial systems are now so intertwined that the collapse of one will drag the others down just like mountain climbers roped together in an avalanche.

This graphic illustrates just how precarious things are becoming. Debt (red) is now growing exponentially faster than growth (blue) and has been since the mid 80's

"At the current rate of debt increase the U.S. will pushing 130% of debt to real GDP by 2018.  This is, of course, not including the funding needs that will ultimately be required to support the increased costs of the entitlement programs of Social Security, Medicare and now the Affordable Care Act (ACA).  The reality is that debt needs will substantially increase as entitlement programs continue to consume ever larger chunks of the current budget.  By 2020 the current welfare programs alone are expected to require 75% of all federal revenues and this does not include the impact of the ACA(Obamacare).  This, of course, is unsustainable."

I will be utterly surprised if we manage to get through the next 5 years without this thing going totally off the wall.

It's rolling with the USD nothing more. I think you missed the boat. I expect to see a smack down soon, perhaps Fri US markets.

 It always amazes me that PI's think the grass is greener somewhere else. Why would anyone want to try and reno from one side of the country to another when there's ample opportunity under their feet.