Zeev's Turnips Patch-No Politics (ZEEV)

[questor]

My take on Japan, FWIW.

Technically, the chart of the Nikkei has broken down and is heading significantly lower. Take a look at Augiboo's recent chart.

Fundamentally, the assets of Japanese banks are largely in the form of Japanese equities. These have just now declined in value to where they are below the legal requirement in relation to liabilities. Thus we might say that the banks are technically insolvent. You can see where such a line of reasoning might lead us. There could be a run on the banks, some banks could be shut down, there could be a withdrawal of Japanese funds from the American markets to raise cash, which could pecipitate a cataclysmic decline in U.S. stocks, etc., etc., with the end result being a worldwide depression which even the PPTs would not be able to stop. As I see it, the market is primed to drop, and the Japanese situation could easily serve as the precipitating trigger. I'm not actually quite THAT bearish, I'm just trying to follow a line of reasoning to its logical conclusion. Hey, we're talking about the world's biggest banks!

All IMHO, of course.