No day at the beach.....................from Rico

While Santa may be enjoying his days at the beach, it is no 'day at the beach' for the Japanese consumer. - Japanese stimulus (aka 'Abenomics') is 'inflationary' and 'deflationary' at the same time, and therein may be a lesson for the US. This stimulus when related to Yen devaluation (just as the Fed is devaluing the USD, btw), forces the Japanese consumer to spend more for food and energy while cutting-back on other spending. Looking at the attached graph, when not including food and energy, there is very little 'inflation'...at least 'officially.' - Savers and pensioners are the hardest hit by rising food and energy costs while the Yen simultaneously loses purchasing power. Sound familiar America? - Unless you are already at the beach, it's becoming very hard to get there.