The Setting Sun – Japan’s Debt Problems

Satyajit Das, Prudent Bear


. Today, Japan’s industrial and economic decline is palpable.
But in 2012, Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average rose by around 23%. Much of the increase reflects faith in the reflation strategy of second time Prime Minster Shinzo Abe to increase growth through an additional US$120 billion of public spending, create inflation to reduce the debt-to-GDP ratio and devalue the Yen. The strategies, which have all been tried before with limited success, may not restore the health of the Japanese economy....more  

Malone’s Liberty to Acquire Virgin Media for $16 Billion

Amy Thomson & Kristen Schweizer, Bloomberg 


John Malone’s Liberty Global Inc. agreed to buy U.K. cable-television provider Virgin Media Inc. for $16 billion in cash and stock to challenge Rupert Murdoch in Europe’s biggest pay-TV market. After the deal, about 80 percent of Liberty Global’s revenue will come from five countries -- the U.K., Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands... more