China and the Revenge of the Sith.

Robot Wars? Last year China bought 36,560 robots, up 60% from 2012, replacing Japan as the world’s biggest buyer of automatons. Japan bought 26,015 and the US, in third position, 23,679.  This was according to an FT article on page one on Monday. 

Problem solved bionically? I was reminded of the above today, when the FT (p6) discussed Japan’s declining workforce.  Last year Japan’s population declined by about 200,000 (0.17%), so we can estimate that the workforce dropped by 120,000.  But if the new robots work three shifts plus the weekends, a robot might be the equivalent of four human workers.  This means the Japan’s workforce was basically flat on a robot-adjusted basis, and soon it may be growing.

LOL. . . WUT? . . . OMG! . . .

In this week’s Bloomberg BusinessWeek (5/12, p12),  Michael Metcalf, head of “cross - asset strategies” (what’s that?) at State Street Global Markets in "Printing Money To Help The Poor" suggests pulling poor countries out of poverty by governments issuing zero coupon perpetual bonds purchased by their central banks and giving the money to poor people in the third world.  After all, U.S., U.K., and Japan have issued $3.7 trillion without any problem, he points out.  This idea came to him when his five-year-old daughter, not having any money to give to a homeless man, simply drew a picture of a $5 bill.

Are the Germans and the French cuddling up to the Russians behind our backs, or are they just playing FTSE?

The NYT reports, “Recently, Mr. Hollande joined Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany on a phone call with Mr. Putin. . . Mr. Hollande’s scheduled meeting with the Russian president now constitutes the French president’s most prominent diplomatic foray into the Ukrainian crisis since it began. It follows France’s announcement that it would honor a deal worth 1.2 billion euros, or $1.6 billion, to deliver two Mistral-class warships to Russia even after its land grab in Ukraine, a decision that displeased France’s Western allies.”

And we ask ourselves why the banks aren’t lending, or “the beatings will continue until morale improves.”

CEO Moynihan of Bank of America said at a conference yesterday that they have just one big legal settlement left: one with the Department of Justice, which is estimated to be around $10 billion.  “We’ve got a myriad of cases that we’ll work through, but of the big stuff, that’s really the one that’s left out there,” said Moynihan. To date, Bank of America has paid about $60 billion in settlements and legal fees relating to the crisis, mainly from the shenanigans at Countrywide prior to its acquisition.  At the end of 2006, total shareholders' equity was $135 billion. (Charlotte Observer)  

Salvation Army, eat your heart out

Consignment shop chain Snooty Fox in Cincinnati has achieved $5 million annual sales and 11 outlets. It imitates clothing boutiques but with zero inventory costs and, of course, low prices. Is used clothing moving upscale, or is America moving downscale?

What? Me worry?

Niall Ferguson et al, reports the WSJ, provided the following chart at a conference in Portugal. He said that we shouldn’t worry about it.

In space they can’t hear you scream.

Also in today’s WSJ, Sayuri Shira, board member of Japan Central Bank, worries that inflation will not be high enough next year.  (The target is 2% by spring 2015.)  Meanwhile, the Brazil central bank kept rates at 11% even though inflation is higher than it would like. In Turkey, the central bank cut interest rates 0.5% to 11.5% despite the fact that inflation is likely to exceed the bank’s 5% target by a wide margin, but Prime Minister Erdogan is not pleased.  He called the cut "a joke" and wants more aggressive cuts to stimulate investment.