John Mauldin's taking out a yen loan to pay for his Dallas apartment

John Mauldin writes this weekly commentary, Thoughts From the Frontline, which is always horribly out of paradigm.

Now it looks like he's taking out a loan in yen to pay for his house in Dallas, TX.

This makes me want to go long the yen soooooo bad, I barely can hold myself back.

Look at Mauldin's ridiculous comments:

"The Japanese are in a situation where their only real path out (of a shrinking economy) is to devalue the Yen," Mauldin says in the attached video. "This is a country that is going on sale."

In fact, he's not only predicting the Dollar/Yen will slump to 200 versus the U.S. dollar in the next 5 years, he says he is planning to hedge his entire mortgage to Japan's weakening currency in hopes of paying for his new Dallas apartment.

"The country is dying. People are retiring," he says, adding that by the time "Abenomics" has run its course, "you'll be able to buy a Lexus cheaper than a Kia."

Further complicating their comeback is what he calls the "Demographics of Doom," which highlights the growing ratio of the country's retirees compared to those actively working. "When you're at debt-to-GDP of 245% you're beginning to run up against your limit to borrow money at rational interest rates," he says, defending the country's decision and course, yet he's also certain that "it doesn't end well."

"Run up against your limit to borrow." Haaaa!!!! Japan OWNS the yen. It doesn't borrow it. Same mistake they all make--Mauldin, Bass, Rogers, Schiff...all of these idiots.

What's incredible is that the truth is very much out there now. It's amazing that these guys keep repeating the same, tired, inapplicable story.

By the way, the only real thing weighing on the yen has been Japan's trade deficit, but that has now swung back to surplus, which means that Mauldin might end up paying a lot more for his apartment.

Bearish yen talk from the same guys that got everything else wrong

There's a lot of bearish yen talk going around and I can understand the traders' mind of wanting to short a currency that has been so strong for so long (think Jim Rogers or Kyle Bass or Peter Schiff shorting Treasuries for years and years and years) and I also understand that this time it could be different as Japan has shown an inclination recently to sell yen for euros in an effort to support exports to the Eurozone. However, what makes me suspicious about this short yen trade is that it's coming from all the same people and they are making all the same, stupid and failied arguments that they made for Treasuries (and JGBs) and QE and hyperinflation, etc.

Here's an example of what I am talking about. Axel Merk, who runs a currency fund, who's been predicting a dollar collapse for years (like Schiff) because of Fed "money printing" is bearish on the yen now (presumably because none of his other trades worked out) and he wrote this:

The size of the current account deficit represents the amount foreigners need to buy in assets (local financial assets or real assets) to keep a currency from falling. With a current account deficit, Japan's debt to GDP ratio of over 200% may suddenly matter, as Japan may need to offer higher rates to attract foreigners to buy local assets (e.g., Japanese government bonds). The trouble is that Japan’s debt might be unsustainable at higher interest rates. To the extent that Japan has a current account surplus, it doesn't matter whether foreigners buy the yen, but those surpluses have fallen to deficits recently and that trend looks set to continue.

Once again Merk is showing his lack of understanding of macro. Lets have a look. Take thus sentence, for example:

"The size of the current account deficit represents the amount foreigners need to buy in assets (local financial assets or real assets) to keep a currency from falling."

Those assets that Merk says foreigners need to buy, well, they've already bought. A nation's current account balance is equal but opposite to its capital account. So if a country has a current account deficit it has a capital account surplus of the same magnitude. In practical terms it means that it paid for those imports in yen, and those yen sit at the Bank of Japan, parked in Japanese gov't instruments. They're the very financial assets Merk worries that foreigners will have to buy, but they've already been bought. It's all just accounting.

Merk has this notion that Japan needs to go looking around for investors to "finance" this trade deficit, but that's already done in the capital (or, cash) side of the transaction.

Furthermore, the current account balance has no impact on interest rates whatsoever (as Merk suggests) as we clearly have seen with th U.S. which runs HUGE current account deficits and interest rates are at historic lows. And even if the BOJ were to raise its interest rates it doesn't make Japan's debt "unsustainable." They can pay any rate because they print yen, just like the US can pay any rate because it prints dollars. The debt never becomes unsustainable.

And on and on it goes. Another example of clueless idiots who just keep repeating the same, old, tired, misinformed crap even as they are proven wrong over and over and over and over and over.

For what it's worth, I am long yen.