How the U.S. “saved” Japan — and themselves in the process The Japanese yen recently fell to a 40-year low — nearly 164 to the dollar. And for the first time since 1998, the U.S. stepped in itself to support the yen’s exchange rate. But why would America even save someone else’s currency? Because Japan is the largest foreign holder of U.S. government debt, with roughly $1.14 trillion in U.S. Treasuries. And that’s a real trap. Because of the crisis, Japan spent $73 billion in the spring to support the yen. But it still fell. The question became: where do you get even more dollars? — Exactly, by dumping those same Treasuries. But if they start doing that, yields on U.S. debt will shoot up. In other words, Japan’s problems suddenly become America’s problems. And that’s when the U.S. came up with a workaround: Japan was given the ability to borrow the dollars it needed against its U.S. Treasuries — instead of selling them on the market. And the U.S. itself, to support the yen, sold its euro reserves instead of dollars. So they strengthened the yen without weakening the dollar. Formally, the U.S. was saving Japan and its currency. In reality, it was saving its own debt market, and with it, the stability of the entire dollar system. When you owe the world trillions, a crisis for your creditor automatically becomes a crisis for you. And saving them is the only way to save yourself.
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How the U.S. “saved” Japan — and themselves in the process
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