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Princes of the Yen | The Hidden Power of Central Banks

Independent POV · 4.5M views · 2014-11-04 · 1:32:40

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Overview

Michael Oswald's documentary, based on Richard Werner's book, argues that Japan's 1990s crash was engineered by the central bank and powerful interests. It focuses on the Bank of Japan's hidden influence over the economy.

On Hacker News

HN commenters recommend it for a more cynical view of central bank power, though some caveat it as conspiracy-leaning.

Recommended by 4 HN people across 3 months · HN mentions 2015–2022

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What people said

pwaai · 2017-12 · Recommendation

> China's ascension to number 1 world economy My gripe with this is that people seem to take this as a fact that hasn't even occurred with almost 100% certainty that it will happen. A lot can go wrong in 20 years. So far, all economies that challenged US in the past mysteriously gets IMF'd, pulling the rug out of a credit bubble that they help create by twisting the arms of the central banks that are supposed to be free from this kind of interference: This documentary about Japanese central bank is eye opening to just how much grip the US hegemony has, one which I fail to see China being able to emulate anytime soon because of the hostage situation that US allies are finding themselves in. [VIDEO] The theory that states Sadam was whacked because he started to accept euro instead of the petrodollar standard makes an awful lot of sense.

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throwaway323444 · 2017-05 · Recommendation

"Princes of Yen" ( 円の支配者) has a more cynical view of things. I'd definitely recommend it, if you're the "conspiracy theorist" sort. [VIDEO] Some of Richard Werner's and Karel van Wolferen's lectures might be interesting too. Our society is inclined to attribute success to some intrinsic nature (race, culture, language..). Japan's successful ? It must be Zen. China not ? Must be Confucianism, shame-based culture. Now China is ? Ah it must be Confucianism, collectivism. India is not successful ? It must be Hindooism. They have Sanskrit ? Ah it must be the Aryans. The Native Americans died out ? Ah it must be their immune system. The play is clear. Japan's success is likely due to the way MacArthur normalized its war-economy, and because of how it was guided in the post-war years. Ditto with Korea/China/Thailand/ and now Vietnam/India (and other SE countries). I haven't seen a tick of anything "native" at the heart of it, even though nationalism dictates that the citizens be deluded into believing these things.

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kadfasd4324 · 2017-05 · Recommendation

Fair enough. I think the comment was implying that their policies, not being entirely democratically accountable - the effectiveness of these instruments themselves being arguable - are very likely going to be swayed by private interests. I know there exists a revolving door b/w FDR and major Wall Street banks, but I'm not sure about other countries. I'd not be surprised if this were the case everywhere. Edit: 'Princes of Yen' is a documentary that I found did a good job of illustrating the dangers of having such high powered unaccountable cabals (without all the BS that is typical in this genre). [VIDEO]

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Video by Independent POV, played through YouTube.

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