Former Chairman of Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan (L) gives an interview to Tim Russert (R) on “Meet the Press” during a taping at the NBC studios in Washington, DC. ALEX WONG/GETTY IMAGES FOR MEET THE PRESS FORBES William Pesek Senior Contributor Feb 10, 2023 In Asian economic circles, few western figures have been more
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OPINION Marcos 2.0 likely to accelerate Philippines’ backward slide Key watchpoints will be whether corruption and cronyism worsen William Pesek May 12, 2022 05:00 JST William Pesek is an award-winning Tokyo-based journalist and author of “Japanization: What the World Can Learn from Japan’s Lost Decades.” Pinpointing inflection points is hard enough in highly developed economies,
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OPINION China shows why Asia’s casino bubble was always doomed Nikkei Asia William Pesek September 20, 2021 05:00 JST The house always wins. Just not in Macao, where this gaming industry maxim is being turned on its head. A plunge in casino-related stocks has analysts pointing fingers, junket operators reeling and investors taking chips off the
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THE WASHINGTON POST Opinion by William Pesek September 8, 2021 at 11:33 a.m. William Pesek is a Tokyo-based writer and author of “Japanization: What the World Can Learn from Japan’s Lost Decades.” Over the past decade, Japan has tried a variety of strategies to restore its economic relevance. It spent trillions of dollars jolting growth. It devalued
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Trailblazing cabinet minister Seiko Noda has hinted that she might run William Pesek NIKKEI ASIA William Pesek is an award-winning Tokyo-based journalist and author of “Japanization: What the World Can Learn from Japan’s Lost Decades.” There is a favorite anecdote I share when describing the dismal state of Japan’s gender dynamics. It involves Sheryl Sandberg,
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Michael Lewis Should Write ‘Liar’s Poker 2’ Set In China FORBES William Pesek, Senior Contributor Observing the breakneck speed of change in China’s bond market, it’s hard to resist viewing this moment through the lens of “Liar’s Poker.” It’s been 31 years since this classic Michael Lewis tome sensationalized Wall Street. A memoir of sorts, the
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The Washington Post How the coronavirus is shaking up Asia’s political order By William Pesek Tokyo-based commentator March 3, 2020 If there’s a world leader having a worse year than Moon Jae-in, South Korea’s president would sure love to meet them. Even before the coronavirus arrived on Korean shores, Moon’s 33-month-old administration faced swelling protests over
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The Washington Post By William Pesek Jan. 2, 2020 The news that former Nissan Motor chairman Carlos Ghosn has arrived in Lebanon after fleeing house arrest in Tokyo jolted the international business community and the Japanese public. Ghosn’s great escape has left the Japanese authorities befuddled. They have been forced to admit that they have no record of
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Euromoney December 19, 2019 William Pesek Bailed out by the IMF to the tune of $5.5 billion, the country hopes to break free of the programme in 2020, but flaws in its financial sector mean that going it alone will be risky. Ulaanbaatar had its worst day in years when the Paris-based Financial Action Task
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Dec 20, 2019 FORBES William Pesek China’s Xi Jinping probably tops any list of people who can’t wait to see the back of 2019. These last 12 months produced the slowest mainland growth since the early 1990s, the biggest pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong’s history and mounting criticism of Beijing’s human rights record. By taking
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NIKKEI ASIAN REVIEW In power for nearly 2,886 days, he has not kick-started Japan’s economy William Pesek Shinzo Abe, center, is applauded by his party members after being elected as Prime Minister on Dec. 26, 2012: nearly seven years on, Japan is coming up short. © Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images In December 2012, Shinzo Abe surprised Japan’s political
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NIKKEI ASIAN REVIEW Tokyo offered nothing more than it had three years ago William Pesek SEPTEMBER 30, 2019 03:00 JST Donald Trump may be famous — among other things — for his book “The Art of the Deal.” But last week Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe schooled the obsessively transactional U.S. president on how a
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The Washington Post By William Pesek September 19, 2019 William Pesek is a Tokyo-based writer and author of “Japanization: What the World Can Learn from Japan’s Lost Decades.” On Monday, President Trump announced that the United States and Japan reached an initial trade deal. But don’t be fooled. As geopolitical bets go, the one that Japanese Prime Minister
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FORBES William Pesek As Japan’s economy mulls ways to boost a flagging economy, no policy lever holds more promise than empowering women. In rabidly patriarchal Tokyo, no hint of progress is too small to celebrate as a touchstone moment for equality. This explains why the Twittersphere got so excited this week about Japan Airlines finally
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FORBES William Pesek It’s become a cliché to point out that stock market rallies rarely reflect events in the real economy. Sometimes, though, surging valuations can be a contrarian indicator. Take Manila, where the Philippine Stock Exchange is on a tear. The market slumped in 2018 to become one of the globe’s worst performers. The 13% drop
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Jun 14, 2019 William Pesek Japan’s “virginity crisis” has gotten lots of attention in recent months. Anthropological sleuths are rightly fascinated by studies showing young Japanese aren’t having much sex. But two more recent data sets suggest this phenomenon may soon be preoccupying bond traders, too. The first: new government statistics showing that births fell
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FORBES William Pesek Rodrigo Duterte’s efforts to cozy up to China these last few years isn’t paying the economic dividends the Philippines hoped. It all seemed so simple in June 2016, when Duterte grabbed the keys to the presidential palace from Benigno Aquino. His predecessor drew Manila close to Barack Obama’s America. In his six
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William Pesek For The Straits Times MAY 23, 2019, 5:00 AM SGT Japan worries about being next target of US trade pressures and suffering collateral damage in US-China conflict Japan’s new emperor could be excused for feeling a bit of Donald Trump envy. Emperor Naruhito is the one who took the Chrysanthemum Throne on May
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Seoul can launch promised chaebol reforms to reboot growth NIKKEI ASIAN REVIEW William Pesek South Korea is seeing a bull market in bearish economic news. In the first 20 days of May, exports plunged 11.7% from a year earlier, signaling a sixth straight monthly drop. Unemployment rose to 4.1% in April from 3.8% in March.
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May 21, 2019, 05:30am William Pesek The Twittersphere is pulsating with theories for Bitcoin’s return from the near-dead. Explanations for its 100% rally so far this year include rising volatility in markets, decreased mining activity and a burst of good headlines. The last point includes a 60 Minutes feature from May 19. Great exposure coming right after
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May 16, 2019, 07:55am William Pesek What if the U.S. Treasury Department held a bond auction and nobody came? This highly feared scenario, one that would savage world markets, leapt to mind last week as Washington suffered its worst debt sale in a decade. And if Donald Trump is looking to assign blame, the U.S.
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FORBES The Worrisome Demographic Trajectory Of A Highly Indebted Nation William Pesek If serendipity were an economic indicator, Japan analysts would have loads of grim news to chew over this week. Consider three seemingly disparate news items making headlines. One, a new report detailing how young Japanese aren’t having much sex. Two, a Moody’s Investors Service
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FORBES William Pesek Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell speaks at the Economic Club of Washington on January 10, 2019 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images). “You’re fired!” Asians once liked watching Donald Trump yell these words at reality-show contestants as much as anyone. That, of course, was back in Trump’s pre-presidency days hosting
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NIKKEI ASIAN REVIEW Country needs more financial reforms to see full benefits of index inclusion William Pesek APRIL 04, 2019 03:01 JST Waves of fresh capital are sure to rush China’s way. © FeatureChina/AP Foreign investors already hold a not insignificant chunk of mainland Chinese bonds — around $223 billion. But this total will be
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FORBES William Pesek “The Donald Trump of Asia.” That’s how the international media labeled Rodrigo Duterte in 2016, when the firebrand won the Philippine presidency. Turns out, it’s the other way around. True, Duterte’s shock election win predated the U.S. president’s by 183 days. But the strongman rallied voters with Trumpian bluster, anti-establishment populism and
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NIKKEI ASIAN REVIEW Political upheavals will impose economic cost and deter investment William Pesek Thailand’s “Teflon” coating shows serious signs of stress after the March 24 election. The upheaval-prone Southeast Asian economy earned its nothing-sticks reputation time and again since 2006, when the latest cycle of coups and political intrigue began. The first democratic contest
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ASIA TIMES A profit warning from South Korean giant bodes ill for Seoul’s 2019 – and the entire global economy ByWILLIAM PESEK As goes Samsung, so goes South Korea. This, of course, is a play on the old adage that what’s good for General Motors is good for the US economy, and vice versa. Yet
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FORBES William Pesek Everybody is wondering what Warren Buffett will buy next. With more than $100 billion in cash, aspirations for another megadeal and an 89th birthday approaching, the Sage of Omaha says he’s on the prowl for big targets. One wonders, though, if the investment world is looking in the wrong direction. The focus on Buffett, the man
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NIKKEI ASIAN REVIEW President needs reforms to revive economy and political rating William Pesek It is hard to think of a top world leader having a worse Trump presidency than Moon Jae-in. The South Korean president took office in May 2017 with a mandate to overhaul a rigid and aging economy. Instead, his team is
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NIKKEI ASIAN REVIEW Japanese prime minister must respond to slowing growth just as key polls loom William Pesek Deja vu is making the rounds again in Tokyo as Japan finds itself back on the verge of recession. It could be there already. Japan’s biggest manufacturers say business conditions are at the worst in nearly three
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NIKKEI ASIAN REVIEW Japan automakers right to react to UK uncertainty, given industry’s growing global risks William Pesek Honda Motor‘s decision to hightail it out of Britain says as much about the company as about the U.K., and the mess that is Brexit. The smallest of Japan’s Big Three automakers — and with the smallest
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FORBES William Pesek Steve Bannon may be toxic in Washington, but the infamous Donald Trump whisperer still gets the rock-star treatment in Tokyo. Such was the case last week, when the top purveyor of Trumpism took his world tour to the Japanese capital. At stops around Latin America, Europe and Asia, Bannon promotes his “populist
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ASIA TIMES In an unusual turn for Japan’s judicial system, Carlos Ghosn left jail on Wednesday. But his fight goes on ByWILLIAM PESEK Carlos Ghosn’s 65th birthday on Saturday looks to be a sweeter affair that he might have anticipated, now that the former Nissan Motor CEO is free on bail after 100 days in a
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FORBES William Pesek It’s time to call Donald Trump’s trade war what it is: an experiment in economic torture. Only, the U.S. president is dabbling in both roles. On the one hand, his tariffs are giving China quite a wallop, delivering sadistic pain and humiliation to Asia’s biggest economy. On the other, the pain is
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NIKKEI ASIAN REVIEW Nation’s companies invest record amounts abroad, but foreign groups steer clear of Japan William Pesek Abe implored traders to “buy my Abenomics” in his 2013 Wall Street sales pitch. © Getty Images Shinzo Abe’s “Japan-is-back” pledge was much in evidence in the corporate world in 2018 as the country dominated mergers and
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NIKKEI ASIAN REVIEW Clash of egos is hurting ability to compete By William Pesek Can Carlos Ghosn escape punishment? And as the Nissan-Renault clash intensifies, can Japan’s global reputation evade conviction? One thing is clear about this clash of corporate titans: there are no heroes. Nissan looks vindictive amid the palace coup that ousted Ghosn.
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Feb 15, 2019, Forbes William Pesek If the Academy Awards gave out statuettes for best acting by a presidential spokesperson, Salvador Panelo of the Philippines would win easily. Sorry, Sarah Huckabee Sanders of White House infamy. But Rodrigo Duterte’s spinmeister just rebooted the genre with his dramatic defense of Manila arresting award-winning journalist Maria Ressa. “This
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NIKKEI ASIAN REVIEW Growth spurt offers Malaysian leader a window for economic reform William Pesek Count Mahathir Mohamad among those unhappy with the performance of Malaysia’s government. Odd, perhaps, since he is prime minister. But considering how the 93-year-old ran Malaysia the first time around, from 1981 to 2003, recent moves suggest he is not
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NIKKEI ASIAN REVIEW Failure to fix economic bottlenecks leaves country vulnerable to price pressure William Pesek What might Milton Friedman make of the Philippines today? The Nobel economist popularized the theory that inflation is “always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon.” Since the 1960s, his argument that demand for money controlled all prices won converts from
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FORBES William Pesek Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe listens to questions during a session of the upper house budgetary committee at parliament in Tokyo on March 26, 2018. Abe vowed a day earlier to press on with his controversial move to amend Japan’s pacifist constitution, undeterred by a political scandal that has dented his popularity.
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NIKKEI ASIAN REVIEW US central bank knows it cannot risk triggering shocks in China William Pesek China, as everyone knows, has empowered its economy by becoming the global factory. But is it also now manufacturing Federal Reserve policy? It is hard not to conclude as much, given the Fed’s about-face on U.S. interest rates. Chairman
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FORBES William Pesek Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte attends the ASEAN-China Summit during the 33rd ASEAN Summit on November 14, 2018 in Singapore. (Photo: Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images) As economic bookends go, a recent assertion by Philippine research group Ibon Foundation is a head-turner. It claims President Rodrigo Duterte produced the lowest number of jobs in two
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FORBES William Pesek Donald Trump has made at least one thing great again: America’s debt load, one growing even faster than doubts about the world’s biggest economy. That leaves the “Art of the Deal” president with some finessing to do with his bankers –- the biggest of which are in Asia. The U.S. built a huge
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NIKKEI ASIAN REVIEW Global construction faces uncertainty if Beijing can no longer wave the magic wand William Pesek Bad things come in threes — a superstition given new resonance for world markets as Caterpillar, Intel and Nvidia suddenly flash corporate warning signs. China, which just recorded its slowest annual growth since 1990, is at the
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FORBES William Pesek If there’s anyone who understands Jerome Powell’s pain, it’s Japan’s Toshihiko Fukui. Need to Google him? Granted, a whole lot has happened since Fukui left the Bank of Japan in March 2008 after serving five years as governor. The Lehman Brothers crisis. The Federal Reserve “taper tantrum.” Brexit. Donald Trump! One can
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FORBES ASIA William PesekI Like clockwork in Davos, Shinzo Abe touted his favorite non-accomplishment: empowering Japan’s female masses. “We have responded by pushing hard for ‘womenomics,’ encouraging more, and then still more women to work, while lessening the burden women shoulder,” the prime minister declared Jan. 23, somehow keeping a straight face. Among the many
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FORBES By William Pesek Jan 22, 2019 Davos Man’s Real Problems Are In Tokyo William Pesek As the masters of our economic universe funnel into Davos, Switzerland, their attention should be 6,000 miles away — in Japan. That’s because the most consequential bull market this year will be in the number of nations courting a
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ASIA TIMES The Japanese economy is not in a recession just yet, but its recent past holds lessons for capitals across Asia – and beyond By WILLIAM PESEK JANUARY 21, 2019 Potential crises loom worldwide. Between Donald Trump’s trade war with China, North Korea, exploding debt, European populism and Russian intrigue, 2019 is chock-a-block with things
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NIKKEI ASIAN REVIEW OPINION Even if elections clear the political air, country will struggle to reshape economy William Pesek Thailand’s leaders make it all too easy for economists on the hunt for populists. That, unfortunately, includes the current military regime, which grabbed power in 2014 to stabilize one of Asia’s most-promising economies politically and lay
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NIKKEI ASIAN REVIEW Growing concern about exposure to risky assets, not least U.S. junk corporate loans William Pesek One of the biggest economic stories in Japan last year received very little publicity overseas and only modest attention at home. Not Donald Trump’s trade war or the winter bloodbath in the stock market. Both may eventually
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