tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32776756.post1164474080970168499..comments2023-10-20T18:03:01.821+09:00Comments on GlobalTalk 21: President Sarkozy and Group of LDP Backbenchers Both Want Sovereign Wealth Funds. So What, You Ask?Jun Okumurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00291478225274759649noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32776756.post-42684745955964476302008-10-26T09:19:00.000+09:002008-10-26T09:19:00.000+09:00We see that happen all the time, don’t we, with th...We see that happen all the time, don’t we, with the bilingual interlocutory class, this blog not excepted? Sarah Palin is a somewhat different case. John McCain bought a pig in a poke, but the cat got out of the bag, and the trick has been quickly exposed. Where cross-cultural transmission is involved, it takes more time to expose us. But Ms. Palin does seem to be quick study where the political game is concerned, if not statecraft, and it is a natural progression (regression?) from Reagan to Bush Sr. to Bush Jr. to Palin. Given her national exposure and her appeal to the core right, I think she has a very good chance to be one of the Republican leaders—if the Democrats under a President Obama manage to consolidate an across-the-board victory and dominate the middle ground (a big if).<BR/><BR/><BR/>Every national pension system is at least potentially an SWF. But you’re right; in a country like Japan, where even hedge funds outsource foreign-market risks by putting their money into funds of funds, there is little appetite for the kind of asset management that we have come to associate with the term sovereign wealth fund. It’s notable that in Japan, the serious talk about injection of public money is revolving around beefing up local banks and buying up bank-owned (domestic) shares.Jun Okumurahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00291478225274759649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32776756.post-89974613743207138362008-10-25T20:43:00.000+09:002008-10-25T20:43:00.000+09:00I have been asked several times about Mr. Tamura a...I have been asked several times about Mr. Tamura and the probability that Japan would create an active, risk-taking SWF. My take all along is that nothing will come of it. American's hear words from Japanese and then speculate with seemingly no thought about the relative pull of the individual making the comments. Many seemed to think Takenaka could become PM. Or Koike. Silly really. Just like those who think Palin could be the GOP nominee four years from now.<BR/><BR/>That said, Japan's govt pension system already has diversified investments in foreign equities which essentially means that Japan has a SWF. Of course those funds are indexed and so relatively passively managed, at least as far as the firms go, so it doesn't raise any eyebrows.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05932495879002188115noreply@blogger.com