Abe tells OECD 'Abenomics' has yielded great results

I still don't see it. And what the heck happened to that last "arrow?"

'Abenomics' has yielded great results. For whom? Maybe for corporate thugs, definitely not for me. I am not sure about raise of 2% in salaries but I am feel paying at least 3% more for everything since April.

Hahaha.. what a joke!

I still don't see it. And what the heck happened to that last "arrow?"

in order for that last arrow to work Abe is asking for FDI, that is rather too risky for foreign investors, at this stage !

He wasn't "Elected for a second term" he quit his first term so it was never a term. Let's not mislead the public.

Sillygirl: broken.

Article saids: "Japan’s unemployment rate in February and March was 3.6%—the lowest level since July 2007, the year before the financial crisis."

Well, stats are misleading. Most prefer a full time job, but one-third of ones that are working has part time job without a raise and barely making a living, and one-third of the women in Japan do not work. So what is the real unemployment or poverty level in Japan?

Keep feeding the public random and outdated statistics Abe, See how far you get trying to fleece your country OR you could actually tell the truth and work towards fixing the problem and not just your numbers.

Great results!

Sure, wages stay the same and prices go up.

I wonder if this is the result that Abe was going for.

I'm sure he believes it's true. He breathes nothing but nonsense in his traveling bubble, like all politicians since the beginning of time.

To be fair, Abenomics has made some good progress in terms of pro-growth fiscal policy and economic revitalization so far, but claiming it as a great result/accomplishment may be a bit overblown.

Further, without needed structure reforms, those so called great successes of Abenomics can be easily stalled and even evaporated. So don’t brag and focus on the third arrow, please.

Daaaaa hahaaahaaahahahaaaahahaaaahaaaa

“The Japanese economy is back.”

Yup, and Fukushima is under control, and the check is in the mail.

EthanWilberMay. 07, 2014 - 08:10AM JST To be fair, Abenomics has made some good progress in terms of pro-growth fiscal policy

Good progess at half a percent increase in GDP over the last 6 month? This is one percent GDP a year? It's more like stagnent growth. Japan's GDP expanded pity 0.2 percent (2/10th of one percent) in the last three months of 2014 and expanded 0.3 percent (3/10th of one percent) in the last three months of 2013.

A good thing about Abe is he is not a worrier. Today's Japan need an optimistic person like him.

Abenomics merely serve to shift the tax burden from the rich to middle-class and poor citizens. A moderate recession, increase in energy costs, bout of inflation or any downturn in consumer spending could create a budgetary nightmare as Treasury income would certainly dip. Are we really willing to link our national revenues to such unstable economic factors?

“I believe it would be fair to say that Japan is now truly on the verge of pulling out of deflation,” he said. “The Japanese economy is back.”

Smoke and mirrors Mr. Abe! Most companies did NOT increase salaries and domestic spending is down, which makes your sales tax hike a burden on the economy. All you have is a few positive figures and the economy is still sitting on a knife edge. You should not be bragging and making false claims cos the economy is far from recovered.

I don't see Japan's economy turning for the better when the leader is greatly in denial.

Big results to construction companies.... everyone else pay cuts via increased taxes and utilities.

Abenomics merely serve to shift the tax burden from the rich to middle-class and poor citizens.

All taxes burdens are shifted, and their cost is spread throughout the economy. As the rich are the main employers, producers, and service providers, rasing their tax results in them employing less, and/or charging more for their services and goods, which passes on the cost to the middle and poorer classes, right? Any tax on the rich automatically transferred to the other classes, always and every time. You cannot isolate a tax to any class of people, it is not possible. A tax on any part of the economy is paid for by every part of the economy. If the taxes are raisd on the rich, you are the one who will pay. This is the most inconvenient truth which politicians must deal with, yet most people are too ignorant to see it.

Abenonmics so far has been nothing but the government spending money which it doesn't have, and must borrow at interest from a shrinking pool of taxpayers. There have been no structural reforms, and it looks more and more like there will never be any. Public spending on everything from infrastructure and entitlements has exploded, while the population continues to fall quickly,

Abenomics is going to have to be much more than simply borrowing, printing, and spending money.

Yeah, money printing always feels great.... for the short term moment. That said, voodoh economics based on QE and Keynism on steroids is also practised in the US and Europe, so he is probably preaching to the choire. When this race of currency devaluation hits the wall, the resulting crash will be very, very ugly.

sfjp330, Your question regarding Japan's seemingly low GDP is valid, but if you look at Japan’s GDP numbers closely, you would notice that because unexpected larger trade deficits for past six month due to accelerated fossil fuels import combined with weaker yen has made a huge negative impact, which in turn translated into weak overall growth in the gross domestic product. However, I would expect that Japan’s trade deficit numbers will improve in medium term so does GDP.

We are all about 30% poorer. That's a greeeeaaaat result.

Man o man the BS meter is off the scale on this blurb...........someone sure has a lot of gall to be putting out those numbers !!

Did he add, "...until the end of March", and that his third arrow was never drawn from the quiver?

the third 'arrow' will never be fired.... its basis is the structural reforms which will affect the usual entrenched interests... without this Abe's 'reforms' are simply short term window dressing

Some people like me hope that the nationalist Abe will hit vested interests over the head with patriotism so that they will make changes that are not in their interest but in the interest of Japan. I wonder if he can.

The only thing that Abe says which might be correct is the time of day. On economics, Bubbles the chimpanzee at Ueno zoo has a better understanding than Abe.

He can continue to say that Japan is back but my paycheck has not increased so that's less money in my wallet. Can't say Abenomincs is working for me.

If there has been any increase, it is the use/value of 1-yen!! It's a definite necessary to pay that extra 3-yen!!

I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today

We will be hearing a lot more nonsense about "recovery" and how "Japan is back" in the next few months from Abe. It's the only option he has left to try and trick Japanese away from severely cutting back on their purchasing following a ridiculously dumb consumption tax hike in the midst of a decades-long slump. (Of course, this cheerful rhetoric is just not going to get it done without the reforms Abe promised but never planned to deliver, however, as all economic indicators independent of the LDP and its lapdog NHK clearly indicate.)

Abe knows full well (as do the IMF and other sober international economic analysts) that the present quarter's growth is going to take a nose-dive following the tax increase and that for all his monetary easing and profligate public works spending, the Japanese economy looks set to return to historically low levels of growth and stagnation. Little wonder, then, that he's spreading his "happy days are here again" propagandist pap every chance he can get~the clock is ticking and reality is inexorably closing in!

The "best" part of Abenomics is over. What a ride, right? Riiight. The results: so much spent for a not so-amazing uptick in economic growth (most of which was spurred on not by Abenomics, but by the looming tax hike). Yet try what he might, neither Abe nor anyone else can keep Japan from its Impending and Unending Demographic Trifecta! (1. Aging population 2. Shrinking workforce/taxbase, and 3. Institutionalized basket-case-levels of government Spending on useless pork and bureaucracy.)

Nippon-clap-clap-clap (?)

Didn't he also tell the world that Fukushima was under control? The guy is delusional and what does it say about the electorate that gave him authority?

Blah blah blah blah! Raise your hands if you've had a pay rise in the last year!

All this fool had to do was let things continue as they had been. Japan wasn't doing that great, but it wasn't doing too badly either. The employment rate was better than in the US and Europe; consumer prices were either stable or slightly declining, meaning that our standard of living rose slightly each year. And the consumption tax wasn't as bad as it is in a lot of other places.

The high yen meant that we could have afforded to buy fossil fuels and reduce nuclear energy dependence, but he torpedoed that with his ridiculous 30% devaluation of everyone's currency.

And his overt support for inflation and "easing" (in any other context, this is called "dilution") means that the rich will profit and Taro Q. Salaryman will bear the burden.

Which is what the LDP had in mind all along. Rob the public blind while convincing them that they're benefiting. What a joke.

sfjp330, Your question regarding Japan's seemingly low GDP is valid, but if you look at Japan’s GDP numbers closely, you would notice that because unexpected larger trade deficits for past six month due to accelerated fossil fuels import combined with weaker yen has made a huge negative impact, which in turn translated into weak overall growth in the gross domestic product. However, I would expect that Japan’s trade deficit numbers will improve in medium term so does GDP.

What is left unmentioned is that the "growth" which occurred last year was mostly the result of increased government spending via stimulus programs. Of you subtract this so-called growth from the equation, GPD probably shrunk last year. 2013 has seen increases in stock values, but the bottom lines for many companies were written in red ink. I took a look at the numbers Japanese companies posted last year, and most numbers I saw were negative. The few positives were small, and not nearly enough to compensate for previous losses.

“This spring, a large number of companies took the decision to raise wages,” Abe said.

i hope this coincides with reality, and hopefully this wage increase is not only for those top executives but more importantly people receiving the very minimum salaries and doing hard labor part-time jobs..i hope Abe consider increasing the minimum wage for the sake of the many, not the few..

Hahahaha... then when everyone stopped laughing, then what'd he say?

“This spring, a large number of companies took the decision to raise wages”

Too bad the company I work for wasn't one of them.

".. then when everyone stopped laughing, then what'd he say?"

They haven't stopped laughing...

This spring, a large number of companies took the decision to raise wages...by more than 2%

Yes, when you threatened to name and shame companies that didn't. And a 2% raise. Geez! Thanks! Yes, that's a comfort to people to know that they still make less than the 4% they need to keep up with inflation and the 3% sales tax increase.

There's no spinning the truth here -- without serious reform, this economy is unfixable. Simply printing money and pouring concrete won't suffice.

Even for the few who get a raise of 2%, how are you better off when prices are up by 3% or more ??

Abe is obviously very confused as to what "great results" mean.

Lot of interesting points; you guys do realize that inflation will lower purchasing power even without sudden spikes, right? Things, over time, get more expensive with the same absolute amount of money, not less expensive.

All this fool had to do was let things continue as they had been. Japan wasn't doing that great, but it wasn't doing too badly either. The employment rate was better than in the US and Europe; consumer prices were either stable or slightly declining, meaning that our standard of living rose slightly each year. And the consumption tax wasn't as bad as it is in a lot of other places.

The main problem with deflation is that it hampers the government's ability to spend. Since about one-third of government spending is now deficit spending, meaning that the government must borrow huge amounts of money each year, a certain amount of inflation is necessary to prevent the debt burden from becoming unmanageable. The national debt is not tied to the rate of inflation, so if the economy experiences 2% inflation per year, the weight of the debt burden is reduced a like amount. If there is deflation, the weight of the debt is increased, and any money borrowed becomes more difficult to repay.

Deflation is good for everyone except those who owe large debts, and the largest debtholders of the world are our national governments.

In the past, kings and the ruling class created artificial inflation by diluting the purity of their gold and silver coins, and this was done mainly to make repaying their debts easier. How much silver is in a British pound nowadays? It used to be a full pound. How much is a pound of real siver worth nowadays? About 187 modern pounds, how is that for inflation?

But nowadays we use currency instead of money, and the government can create inflation by controlling the supply. But in the past few years countries around the world, mainly Europe and America, have been printing money like mad. They say that they are doing this to "help" their economies grow, by lowering the prices of their exports, and increasing the cost of imports, but this is basically nonsense. They are trying to create inflation so they can continue their free-spending ways. The real result of inflation for you and I is that the value of the currency we have is reduced, meaning we are earning less, as the value of our pay is reduced. Honestly speaking, they are stealing the value of our labor and our property to maintain their positions and authority, just like the kings of old. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

@sangestsu03

You called it. Anyway asking people if they are better off because of Abenomics (including seeing posts on JapanToday), almost everyone said,"no". One of the posters who was praising Abenomics because his business is up (nearly entirely because of the weaker yen), stood out claiming that he was creating jobs. I asked if the jobs were well-paying, but I never got a response. (I suspect that they are low wage McD- type paying jobs).