The notion of political “consistency” collapses under real market observation. From this perspective, last night’s TV Asahi broadcast represented an unforgivable distortion.

2016-02-10

Around the time the Democratic Party administration came into power, Japanese media often criticized politicians by asking whether their statements were “consistent” or “inconsistent.”

When I reluctantly chose to begin publishing my work in this way, I realized—far too late—that one element missing from my project The Turntable of Civilization was systematic observation of the final pillar of capitalism: the markets, including real estate, banking, and equities.

The information flowing through the markets each day easily exceeded twenty A4 pages.

From the moment I entered this arena, I wrote the following:
“Whether someone’s statements are consistent or not has absolutely no meaning for market participants.”

That is because statements made by market actors are, by nature, massive swings themselves.

It goes far beyond mere policy reversals. What is said in the morning is often completely reversed by the afternoon. That was the reality of twentieth-century capitalist markets.

What made last night’s TV Asahi broadcast so appalling was precisely this point. It was so egregious that it can only be described as unforgivably malicious.

This essay continues.