Word: dollarization
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...zombie firms - they appeared to be living but were actually dead, too burdened by debt to do much more than live off further handouts. One economist called Japan a "loser's paradise." The classic zombie was retail chain Daiei, which limped along for years, crushed by debt and multibillion-dollar losses, as banks kept bailing out the firm. Daiei, with nearly 100,000 employees at the time, was considered by politicians too big to fail. It was only after Japan began solving its zombie problem, rather than perpetuating it, that the country's financial crisis was finally resolved. (Daiei eventually...
...does its best to impose order on what would otherwise be the disorderly bankruptcies of the two companies, but in many regards it just passes the buck to Obama. To be fair, Treasury had but a week to address an incredibly complex problem and come up with a multibillion-dollar aid package - no small achievement, however lacking in teeth. (Read "In the Nick of Time: Bush Announces Auto Bailout...
...Japanese consumers, there is some benefit to a stronger yen: walk into a local supermarket and one might see imported items that are specially marked down, giving new meaning to a "yen appreciation" sale. But a major concern for the Japanese economy is that currency rates, the dollar-yen in particular, are pummeling Japanese exporters as their products lose competitiveness abroad. Coupled with a general decline in global demand, the weak dollar-yen is dumping ice water on corporate profits at titans like Sony and Honda...
With the exchange rate hovering just below 90 yen to the dollar, and having risen to 87 on Wednesday after the U.S. cut interest rates, the Bank of Japan decided on Friday to cut its benchmark rate to 0.1%. The move was done on a near unanimous vote among policy makers. However, with its overnight rate already at 0.3%, it is unclear what such a small rate cut could achieve...
...here's a challenge. Start a new tradition in the New Year: a regular Sunday-night Scrabble smackdown; a spring clothing drive; a rule that every time Mom or Dad swears, they put a dollar in the charity box that gets distributed on New Year's Eve. At their best, traditions make us better; at the very least, they remind us how far we've come and how lucky...