Uno de los líderes espirituales de este blog, el despiadado "broker" Gordon Gekko, volverá a las pantallas si el proyecto de la Fox sale adelante:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/05/movies/05movi.html?ex=1336017600&en=64f8ac17912072b8&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss
domingo, 21 de septiembre de 2008
viernes, 19 de septiembre de 2008
lunes, 15 de septiembre de 2008
The Japan Lesson: U.S. Must Own Up To Its Bank Crisis
The Wall Street Journal
By JUSTIN LAHARTSeptember 15, 2008;
When Japan was mired in economic crisis, the U.S. urged it to take decisive action to deal with its ailing banks. Japan didn't follow the advice and the crisis dragged on for years. Now, it is the U.S. that is mired in crisis and facing the prospect of swallowing the bitter medicine it once proffered.
Japan's stock-market bubble began rapidly deflating in 1990 and its property bubble followed suit shortly afterward. Many borrowers were unable to make payments on their debt and bad loans piled up on bank balance sheets. A long period of lackluster economic growth made a tough situation worse. With the financial system saddled with bad debts, Japan desperately needed its banks to acknowledge the severity of their problems and for some banks to shut their doors. But the banks, unwilling to take steps that might render them insolvent, refused to acknowledge their problems, extending the crisis.
"One of the lessons we took from Japan was the hesitation and refusal to own up to the problem was a disaster," says University of Chicago Graduate School of Business economist Anil Kashyap.
U.S. financial firms, too, have struggled with owning up to the extent of their credit losses, partly because those losses are a moving target. A year ago, Bear Stearns Cos. was reluctant to sell mortgage-related credit at a loss. That decision came back to haunt the firm as declining home prices continued to pummel mortgages, and Bear ended up in a government-backed fire sale to J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. Meanwhile, Merrill Lynch & Co. Chief Executive John Thain said in a January interview that the firm's troubles were "for the most part behind us" -- but in July the firm agreed to sell more than $30 billion in mortgage-related assets at a large loss.
Still, U.S. financial firms have been much quicker to acknowledge losses than their Japanese counterparts were. While the slicing and dicing of mortgages into tradable securities played a part in the mortgage mess, accounting rules make it difficult for firms to ignore losses on those securities, says Princeton University economist Hyun Song Shin. In contrast, by continuing to extend credit to bad borrowers, Japanese banks were able to put off recognizing the extent of their debt problems.
"The denial strategy is harder to pull off -- it will catch up to you in the accounting," says Mr. Shin. "That's one of the more encouraging and hopeful signs in the U.S."
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two giant mortgage companies that the U.S. government seized a week ago, operated under rules that made the extent of their woes much more difficult to assess. But Treasury officials took a tougher line getting Fannie and Freddie to own up to their problems than Japan's Ministry of Finance did with ailing Japanese banks. Just as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has been intent on not repeating the Fed's Depression-era mistakes, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is intent on not repeating Japan's mistakes in the 1990s, says Brad DeLong, an economic historian at the University of California at Berkeley.
One last problem the current U.S. situation shares with Japan in the 1990s may be a financial sector that is far larger than it should be. "If you have an unsustainable lending boom, then by definition the lending has to shrink," says Adam Posen, a deputy director at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.
In Japan, that didn't happen. Rather than failing, troubled banks merged with healthier ones. But even though the combined bank would often end up with branches that were within steps of one another, few bank workers lost their jobs. Mr. Posen worries that concerns about the systemic risk to the financial system will prevent the U.S. from allowing enough firms to shut their doors to make the necessary capacity cuts.
In that regard, the tougher line with Wall Street that U.S. officials took over the weekend is encouraging. Refusing to financially backstop a takeover of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. with government money, as they did for J.P. Morgan's hasty acquisition of Bear Stearns, they showed they were far more willing to let a troubled firm fail than their Japanese counterparts were. Also, many financial firms have already begun cutting operations in a way Japanese banks balked at.
But while the U.S. has been decisive where Japan was not, it is worth remembering there was a reason Japan was hesitant to deal with its problems. Recognizing the financial sector's problems quickly increases the possibility of a run for the exits that could seize up the credit markets, putting the overall economy at greater risk. Quickly shrinking the financial sector could have a social cost, as well, putting tens of thousands of people out of work. Where will they go?
By JUSTIN LAHARTSeptember 15, 2008;
When Japan was mired in economic crisis, the U.S. urged it to take decisive action to deal with its ailing banks. Japan didn't follow the advice and the crisis dragged on for years. Now, it is the U.S. that is mired in crisis and facing the prospect of swallowing the bitter medicine it once proffered.
Japan's stock-market bubble began rapidly deflating in 1990 and its property bubble followed suit shortly afterward. Many borrowers were unable to make payments on their debt and bad loans piled up on bank balance sheets. A long period of lackluster economic growth made a tough situation worse. With the financial system saddled with bad debts, Japan desperately needed its banks to acknowledge the severity of their problems and for some banks to shut their doors. But the banks, unwilling to take steps that might render them insolvent, refused to acknowledge their problems, extending the crisis.
"One of the lessons we took from Japan was the hesitation and refusal to own up to the problem was a disaster," says University of Chicago Graduate School of Business economist Anil Kashyap.
U.S. financial firms, too, have struggled with owning up to the extent of their credit losses, partly because those losses are a moving target. A year ago, Bear Stearns Cos. was reluctant to sell mortgage-related credit at a loss. That decision came back to haunt the firm as declining home prices continued to pummel mortgages, and Bear ended up in a government-backed fire sale to J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. Meanwhile, Merrill Lynch & Co. Chief Executive John Thain said in a January interview that the firm's troubles were "for the most part behind us" -- but in July the firm agreed to sell more than $30 billion in mortgage-related assets at a large loss.
Still, U.S. financial firms have been much quicker to acknowledge losses than their Japanese counterparts were. While the slicing and dicing of mortgages into tradable securities played a part in the mortgage mess, accounting rules make it difficult for firms to ignore losses on those securities, says Princeton University economist Hyun Song Shin. In contrast, by continuing to extend credit to bad borrowers, Japanese banks were able to put off recognizing the extent of their debt problems.
"The denial strategy is harder to pull off -- it will catch up to you in the accounting," says Mr. Shin. "That's one of the more encouraging and hopeful signs in the U.S."
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two giant mortgage companies that the U.S. government seized a week ago, operated under rules that made the extent of their woes much more difficult to assess. But Treasury officials took a tougher line getting Fannie and Freddie to own up to their problems than Japan's Ministry of Finance did with ailing Japanese banks. Just as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has been intent on not repeating the Fed's Depression-era mistakes, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is intent on not repeating Japan's mistakes in the 1990s, says Brad DeLong, an economic historian at the University of California at Berkeley.
One last problem the current U.S. situation shares with Japan in the 1990s may be a financial sector that is far larger than it should be. "If you have an unsustainable lending boom, then by definition the lending has to shrink," says Adam Posen, a deputy director at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington.
In Japan, that didn't happen. Rather than failing, troubled banks merged with healthier ones. But even though the combined bank would often end up with branches that were within steps of one another, few bank workers lost their jobs. Mr. Posen worries that concerns about the systemic risk to the financial system will prevent the U.S. from allowing enough firms to shut their doors to make the necessary capacity cuts.
In that regard, the tougher line with Wall Street that U.S. officials took over the weekend is encouraging. Refusing to financially backstop a takeover of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. with government money, as they did for J.P. Morgan's hasty acquisition of Bear Stearns, they showed they were far more willing to let a troubled firm fail than their Japanese counterparts were. Also, many financial firms have already begun cutting operations in a way Japanese banks balked at.
But while the U.S. has been decisive where Japan was not, it is worth remembering there was a reason Japan was hesitant to deal with its problems. Recognizing the financial sector's problems quickly increases the possibility of a run for the exits that could seize up the credit markets, putting the overall economy at greater risk. Quickly shrinking the financial sector could have a social cost, as well, putting tens of thousands of people out of work. Where will they go?
Spanish Conquest Squeezes Italian Olive Oil
Family-Owned Labels Are Struggling to Compete With SOS Cuétara
The Wall Street Journal
By DAVIDE BERRETTASeptember 15, 2008;
By DAVIDE BERRETTASeptember 15, 2008;
Over the past five years, Italy's biggest olive-oil brands have fallen steadily into Spanish hands. SOS Cuétara SA's July purchase of Bertolli, one of the world's best-known olive-oil labels, gave the Spanish food company control of half the Italian market and made it the world's undisputed leader in olive-oil sales.
The Spanish conquest has left small olive-oil companies up and down Italy in a fix. Once synonymous with the olive-oil business around the world, family-owned Italian labels like Monini, Farchioni, Filippo Berio and Pietro Coricelli are now struggling to compete against the pricing power, marketing heft and distribution breadth of SOS. "It's not an easy path," says Roberto D'Auria, an analyst at agrarian research institute Ismea, who predicts that some of the brands may end up closing down or being put up for sale.
Massimo Gargano, chairman of the Italian olive grower association Unaprol, says Italy's small players face a "long entrepreneurial agony" amid competition from SOS.
Maria Flora Monini, co-owner of Olio Monini SpA, one of the largest Italian-owned labels, says she has received offers to buy the company, which sells 30 million bottles a year. For now, though, she says the family plans to hold on, sticking to its strategy of marketing Monini as a trendy "lifestyle" brand.
Most of Monini's nine varieties of olive oil are sold in supermarkets at moderate prices ranging from €4.50 to €7 ($6.40 to $9.95) a bottle, but the company is nonetheless working hard to enhance its brand. It sponsors some of Italy's largest music festivals, photo exhibitions at New York's Museum of Modern Art, and a magazine that is distributed to 100,000 subscribers three times a year. In 2003, it opened an olive-pressing factory, or frantoio, near the town of Spoleto, in Italy's central Umbria region, where it produces small quantities of olive oil and organizes olive tastings and cooking courses.
Pompeo Farchioni, chief executive of the 250-year-old Farchioni olive-oil brand from Umbria, says he has dabbled in the higher end of the market. He sells six "protected origin," or DOP, olive-oil varieties whose production is traced and certified. But those high-end bottles account for only 2% of Farchioni's overall yearly sales of €100 million. Most of the 20 million bottles Mr. Farchioni sells each year are priced between €4 and €6.
For the bulk of his business, Mr. Farchioni says, he is trying to get more space from retailers. But if that doesn't work and Farchioni starts losing money, "we might end up having to sell too," he says.
The olive-oil business conjures up romantic images of pungent green olives being squeezed through presses, and many olive-oil companies harvest some of their own olives. But the industry is mainly involved in bottling and marketing, and most bottles available in supermarkets are blends of Italian olive oil and oil made from Spanish, Greek or North African olives.
Most of Monini's nine varieties of olive oil are sold in supermarkets at moderate prices ranging from €4.50 to €7 ($6.40 to $9.95) a bottle, but the company is nonetheless working hard to enhance its brand. It sponsors some of Italy's largest music festivals, photo exhibitions at New York's Museum of Modern Art, and a magazine that is distributed to 100,000 subscribers three times a year. In 2003, it opened an olive-pressing factory, or frantoio, near the town of Spoleto, in Italy's central Umbria region, where it produces small quantities of olive oil and organizes olive tastings and cooking courses.
Pompeo Farchioni, chief executive of the 250-year-old Farchioni olive-oil brand from Umbria, says he has dabbled in the higher end of the market. He sells six "protected origin," or DOP, olive-oil varieties whose production is traced and certified. But those high-end bottles account for only 2% of Farchioni's overall yearly sales of €100 million. Most of the 20 million bottles Mr. Farchioni sells each year are priced between €4 and €6.
For the bulk of his business, Mr. Farchioni says, he is trying to get more space from retailers. But if that doesn't work and Farchioni starts losing money, "we might end up having to sell too," he says.
The olive-oil business conjures up romantic images of pungent green olives being squeezed through presses, and many olive-oil companies harvest some of their own olives. But the industry is mainly involved in bottling and marketing, and most bottles available in supermarkets are blends of Italian olive oil and oil made from Spanish, Greek or North African olives.
Still, olive-oil names from Italy generally hold more cachet than those from other countries. That's why SOS -- a food conglomerate that also sells crackers, coffee and rice -- began its major foray into the Italian market by buying Olio Sasso in 2004. SOS then took over Carapelli, a renowned olive-oil brand from Florence with strong sales in the U.S. And it bought Bertolli, which, according to data research firm Euromonitor, is the leading olive-oil brand in the world with 6% to 7% of global olive-oil sales. (When it bought Bertolli, it also acquired the Dante brand.)
It's a good time to be the market leader. Demand for olive oil has been growing nearly 10% each year over the past five years, in step with the increased focus on healthy eating, says Euromonitor. SOS is also moving into the actual production of olives and oil. It owns Todolivo, a company that specializes in intensive olive growing, along with more than 400 hectares of land in Portugal. The goal, SOS says, is to exert even more control over the entire chain of production and distribution.
To finance its growing olive-oil empire, SOS plans to spin off its four Italian olive-oil brands into a new company that will then be listed on the Milan stock market, says SOS Chief Executive Jesús Salazar. If the IPO, which is planned for sometime in the 2009 first half, is a success, SOS could be on the prowl for more Italian olive-oil brands, Mr. Salazar adds.
Pietro Coricelli SpA, a smaller Umbrian bottler, exports 65% of its olive oil to the U.S. and Northern Europe. CEO Lorenzo Coricelli says he doesn't plan to sell his company any time soon. He notes that revenue have nearly doubled over the past two years, helped by new business from selling olive oil to catering companies, which makes up about a quarter of his company's revenue.
But he is convinced change is afoot. In today's Italian olive oil market, he says, "there are about 30 companies. We should have seven or eight."
It's a good time to be the market leader. Demand for olive oil has been growing nearly 10% each year over the past five years, in step with the increased focus on healthy eating, says Euromonitor. SOS is also moving into the actual production of olives and oil. It owns Todolivo, a company that specializes in intensive olive growing, along with more than 400 hectares of land in Portugal. The goal, SOS says, is to exert even more control over the entire chain of production and distribution.
To finance its growing olive-oil empire, SOS plans to spin off its four Italian olive-oil brands into a new company that will then be listed on the Milan stock market, says SOS Chief Executive Jesús Salazar. If the IPO, which is planned for sometime in the 2009 first half, is a success, SOS could be on the prowl for more Italian olive-oil brands, Mr. Salazar adds.
Pietro Coricelli SpA, a smaller Umbrian bottler, exports 65% of its olive oil to the U.S. and Northern Europe. CEO Lorenzo Coricelli says he doesn't plan to sell his company any time soon. He notes that revenue have nearly doubled over the past two years, helped by new business from selling olive oil to catering companies, which makes up about a quarter of his company's revenue.
But he is convinced change is afoot. In today's Italian olive oil market, he says, "there are about 30 companies. We should have seven or eight."
miércoles, 10 de septiembre de 2008
La proyección exterior de España
Primo González
Estrella Digital 10/09/08
El presidente Rodríguez Zapatero se ha reunido con los embajadores españoles en el exterior para, entre otras cosas, pedirles que prediquen en el exterior la buena nueva de la economía española. Una tarea en la que el sector empresarial ha predicado abundantemente con el ejemplo en los últimos años, de modo que el máximo representante del Ejecutivo casi debería haberse reunido con los empresarios multinacionales españoles para expresarles una petición de este tipo, porque si algo se conoce bien en el exterior de las capacidades de los españoles son las habilidades de empresas y bancos, que han escalado en los últimos años a posiciones de relieve en la clasificación mundial de los negocios.
Es mucho sin duda lo que pueden hacer los embajadores desde sus sedes diplomáticas predicando las bondades del Gobierno de Zapatero en la cosa económica, pero mejor haría el presidente del Gobierno en aleccionar a los representantes diplomáticos españoles en el exterior para que presten un apoyo mucho más decidido a la actividad de las empresas nacionales, que rara vez acuden a las sedes diplomáticas españolas en el exterior para recabar una colaboración que saben de antemano que no se encuentra entre las prioridades que emanan del Palacio de Santa Cruz hacia la tupida red exterior española.
Más que convertirles en apóstoles y propagandistas de una verdad que ahora mismo cuesta trabajo hacer entender a los extranjeros, sobre todo porque hay que competir con rivales de la potencia del Financial Times, que se empeñan casi a diario en mostrar nuestras debilidades económicas (algunas con razón, aunque en su país de origen las padezcan en grado bastante superior), el jefe del Gobierno español debería haberles instruido con un manual práctico de apoyo a las iniciativas empresariales, ya que de ellas se derivarían importantes avances para una aún mayor internacionalización de las empresas españolas y, a la postre, para reducir el alarmante déficit comercial y de pagos con el exterior. Otros países nos podrían servir de ejemplo en esta tarea de activismo diplomático, empezando por Francia y siguiendo por algunos otros países desarrollados, auténticos maestros en el arte de abrir caminos a sus empresas nacionales. Las empresas españolas han logrado, sin embargo, importantes éxitos en el exterior sin que los apoyos diplomáticos hayan servido para desatascar ni allanar dificultad alguna. A pesar de ello, a pesar de la pusilánime acción exterior del Gobierno, las empresas españolas ocupan hoy posiciones muy destacadas en el exterior.
Nombres hay más de medio centenar capaces de encontrar un puesto de honor entre las empresas mundialmente más reconocidas. Hace poco, un estudio realizado sobre las empresas del Ibex 35, es decir, entre las principales empresas españoles con proyección pública importante, ponía de relieve que alrededor de la mitad de la facturación de las principales empresas del país se genera ya en los mercados internacionales. Hay algunas empresas que incluso rozan el 90% de sus ingresos procedentes del exterior y no se trata de empresas pequeñas, sino de compañías mundialmente reconocidas, como la siderúrgica Acerinox, una de las primeras del mundo en el segmento del acero inoxidable.
No sólo la procedencia de sus ingresos mayoritariamente procedentes del exterior denota la importante participación española en la globalización de la economía. También es preciso recordar las importantes compras que algunas empresas españolas de primera fila han realizado y siguen realizando en el exterior, incluso en países de primera fila como Estados Unidos, Gran Bretaña o Alemania, además lógicamente de Latinoamérica, que fue por donde comenzó la extensión exterior de las empresas españolas a finales de los años 80.
La proyección empresarial española en el exterior está muy por encima de la de algunos países que superan ampliamente el PIB español y todo ello a pesar de la escasa relevancia que tiene la diplomacia española más allá de nuestras fronteras. Hay una más que evidente desproporción entre la presencia empresarial española en el exterior y nuestra presencia diplomática, una desproporción que con el Gobierno Zapatero se ha agudizado de forma alarmante. La arenga que Zapatero acaba de realizar a los diplomáticos españoles, no para que rectifiquen su pasividad en su actitud de apoyo a las empresas nacionales sino para que ensalcen la labor económica del Gobierno, coincide además con un cerrojazo a los presupuestos públicos que durante los últimos años han empezado a prodigarse en apoyo de la inversión española en el exterior y de la imagen económica de España. Mientras Zapatero predicaba estos días hermosas palabras para adornar los oídos de sus embajadores, con la otra mano les dejaba prácticamente sin un euro para desarrollar su trabajo. Ironías de la vida.
Estrella Digital 10/09/08
El presidente Rodríguez Zapatero se ha reunido con los embajadores españoles en el exterior para, entre otras cosas, pedirles que prediquen en el exterior la buena nueva de la economía española. Una tarea en la que el sector empresarial ha predicado abundantemente con el ejemplo en los últimos años, de modo que el máximo representante del Ejecutivo casi debería haberse reunido con los empresarios multinacionales españoles para expresarles una petición de este tipo, porque si algo se conoce bien en el exterior de las capacidades de los españoles son las habilidades de empresas y bancos, que han escalado en los últimos años a posiciones de relieve en la clasificación mundial de los negocios.
Es mucho sin duda lo que pueden hacer los embajadores desde sus sedes diplomáticas predicando las bondades del Gobierno de Zapatero en la cosa económica, pero mejor haría el presidente del Gobierno en aleccionar a los representantes diplomáticos españoles en el exterior para que presten un apoyo mucho más decidido a la actividad de las empresas nacionales, que rara vez acuden a las sedes diplomáticas españolas en el exterior para recabar una colaboración que saben de antemano que no se encuentra entre las prioridades que emanan del Palacio de Santa Cruz hacia la tupida red exterior española.
Más que convertirles en apóstoles y propagandistas de una verdad que ahora mismo cuesta trabajo hacer entender a los extranjeros, sobre todo porque hay que competir con rivales de la potencia del Financial Times, que se empeñan casi a diario en mostrar nuestras debilidades económicas (algunas con razón, aunque en su país de origen las padezcan en grado bastante superior), el jefe del Gobierno español debería haberles instruido con un manual práctico de apoyo a las iniciativas empresariales, ya que de ellas se derivarían importantes avances para una aún mayor internacionalización de las empresas españolas y, a la postre, para reducir el alarmante déficit comercial y de pagos con el exterior. Otros países nos podrían servir de ejemplo en esta tarea de activismo diplomático, empezando por Francia y siguiendo por algunos otros países desarrollados, auténticos maestros en el arte de abrir caminos a sus empresas nacionales. Las empresas españolas han logrado, sin embargo, importantes éxitos en el exterior sin que los apoyos diplomáticos hayan servido para desatascar ni allanar dificultad alguna. A pesar de ello, a pesar de la pusilánime acción exterior del Gobierno, las empresas españolas ocupan hoy posiciones muy destacadas en el exterior.
Nombres hay más de medio centenar capaces de encontrar un puesto de honor entre las empresas mundialmente más reconocidas. Hace poco, un estudio realizado sobre las empresas del Ibex 35, es decir, entre las principales empresas españoles con proyección pública importante, ponía de relieve que alrededor de la mitad de la facturación de las principales empresas del país se genera ya en los mercados internacionales. Hay algunas empresas que incluso rozan el 90% de sus ingresos procedentes del exterior y no se trata de empresas pequeñas, sino de compañías mundialmente reconocidas, como la siderúrgica Acerinox, una de las primeras del mundo en el segmento del acero inoxidable.
No sólo la procedencia de sus ingresos mayoritariamente procedentes del exterior denota la importante participación española en la globalización de la economía. También es preciso recordar las importantes compras que algunas empresas españolas de primera fila han realizado y siguen realizando en el exterior, incluso en países de primera fila como Estados Unidos, Gran Bretaña o Alemania, además lógicamente de Latinoamérica, que fue por donde comenzó la extensión exterior de las empresas españolas a finales de los años 80.
La proyección empresarial española en el exterior está muy por encima de la de algunos países que superan ampliamente el PIB español y todo ello a pesar de la escasa relevancia que tiene la diplomacia española más allá de nuestras fronteras. Hay una más que evidente desproporción entre la presencia empresarial española en el exterior y nuestra presencia diplomática, una desproporción que con el Gobierno Zapatero se ha agudizado de forma alarmante. La arenga que Zapatero acaba de realizar a los diplomáticos españoles, no para que rectifiquen su pasividad en su actitud de apoyo a las empresas nacionales sino para que ensalcen la labor económica del Gobierno, coincide además con un cerrojazo a los presupuestos públicos que durante los últimos años han empezado a prodigarse en apoyo de la inversión española en el exterior y de la imagen económica de España. Mientras Zapatero predicaba estos días hermosas palabras para adornar los oídos de sus embajadores, con la otra mano les dejaba prácticamente sin un euro para desarrollar su trabajo. Ironías de la vida.
viernes, 5 de septiembre de 2008
New Candidates Emerge to Replace Japan's Premier
ASSOCIATED PRESSSeptember 5, 2008
TOKYO -- Two new candidates indicated Thursday they would join the race to replace Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda after his resignation this week, but a poll suggests voters want their say in national elections.
The Asahi, a major newspaper, said 56% of Japanese are in favor of dissolving parliament and holding general elections "as soon as possible," according to a telephone poll of 1,069 people conducted Tuesday and Wednesday. It didn't give a margin of error.
Speculation over which party members would enter the race began immediately after Mr. Fukuda made his surprise announcement, and Thursday several put their names forward.
Taro Aso, an outspoken and popular former foreign minister, has indicated a strong desire to run and is considered to be the favorite. Nobuteru Ishihara, the son of Tokyo's governor, said Thursday he would run against Mr. Aso if no other candidates emerged as challengers.
"I'm on the opposite end of the political spectrum from Secretary General Aso," Mr. Ishihara said. "So I have to create opportunities to speak from that stance."
Yuriko Koike, a former defense minister and TV anchorwoman, was widely reported to be considering entering her name, and said Thursday she was consulting with political allies. Economic Minister Kaoru Yosano also said Thursday he will seek the position.
The Liberal Democratic Party, which has been reluctant to call new elections, effectively picks the prime minister from within its ranks because it holds a majority in the powerful lower house of parliament.
The party has announced that it will choose a new leader on Sept. 22, and parliament was expected to install its choice as prime minister after it reconvenes on Sept. 24.
None of the ruling party's candidates were expected to stray much from the economic and diplomatic policies that Mr. Fukuda pursued, although Mr. Aso's nationalist stance could affect international relations.
Copyright © 2008 Associated Press
TOKYO -- Two new candidates indicated Thursday they would join the race to replace Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda after his resignation this week, but a poll suggests voters want their say in national elections.
The Asahi, a major newspaper, said 56% of Japanese are in favor of dissolving parliament and holding general elections "as soon as possible," according to a telephone poll of 1,069 people conducted Tuesday and Wednesday. It didn't give a margin of error.
Speculation over which party members would enter the race began immediately after Mr. Fukuda made his surprise announcement, and Thursday several put their names forward.
Taro Aso, an outspoken and popular former foreign minister, has indicated a strong desire to run and is considered to be the favorite. Nobuteru Ishihara, the son of Tokyo's governor, said Thursday he would run against Mr. Aso if no other candidates emerged as challengers.
"I'm on the opposite end of the political spectrum from Secretary General Aso," Mr. Ishihara said. "So I have to create opportunities to speak from that stance."
Yuriko Koike, a former defense minister and TV anchorwoman, was widely reported to be considering entering her name, and said Thursday she was consulting with political allies. Economic Minister Kaoru Yosano also said Thursday he will seek the position.
The Liberal Democratic Party, which has been reluctant to call new elections, effectively picks the prime minister from within its ranks because it holds a majority in the powerful lower house of parliament.
The party has announced that it will choose a new leader on Sept. 22, and parliament was expected to install its choice as prime minister after it reconvenes on Sept. 24.
None of the ruling party's candidates were expected to stray much from the economic and diplomatic policies that Mr. Fukuda pursued, although Mr. Aso's nationalist stance could affect international relations.
Copyright © 2008 Associated Press
lunes, 1 de septiembre de 2008
FUKUDA RESIGNS
Prime Minister Fukuda abruptly announces resignation
Kyodo News
Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda announced Monday that he will step down from the post due to difficulties in implementing key policies such as one to address the nation's slowing economy, a step that will put an end to his government launched only in September last year.
"It is necessary to try to implement measures under a new framework...I thought now is the best time (to resign) to avoid a political vacuum," Fukuda, 72, told a hastily convened news conference.
Fukuda, who doubles as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, also said he instructed LDP Secretary General Taro Aso to prepare to hold a party presidential election to pick his successor, who will thus become prime minister.
Fukuda denied he has any health problems as he announced his resignation.
Fukuda, who took over the government from ailing Shinzo Abe, has been struggling with dismal support rates, despite a major Cabinet reshuffle he implemented in August.
Fuente: Japan Times
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