And the NPR story spoke about Japan’s economic crisis approximately twenty years ago and how the government there had hunkered down and invested in what the people were looking to get into, which was savings mode. And within years of just paying attention and putting it away, the Japanese now have a lot more to work with than before. It was a totally worthwhile listen. On top of that, you can see that with the recent declaration of bankruption by Lehman Brothers (LBC: 0.00 N/A), the liquidation of their assets allowed Nomura Holdings (NMR: 8.30 0.00%) to snap up the Asian arm of Lehman for cheap. Which seems definitely like a return of the 90s again doesn’t it. Remember when the Japanese were buying up buildings everywhere in Manhattan? It seems that they’re cash rich again.

And this time around? I don’t believe that they’re going to make the same mistake twice. Should give those politicians in Congress something to think about when someone’s already paved the way of bad economic plays. Learn from other countries’ mistakes and don’t reinvent the wheel. Because in the end, you just end up with irate taxpayers and corporations that never learn that you have to pay for bad mistakes regardless of whom you know.

Photo Credit: (KRob2005)

While Japan’s economics has been in the dumps for a while now, and the Shanghai index has been on a roller coaster ride, the economics of the major countries in Asia have been one of the driving forces behind much of the world financial growth. One very prominent trading area currently are ETFs (exchange-traded funds) where in February of 2008, WisdomTree started the India Earnings Fund (EPI: 12.01 0.00%) which was the first India-only focused ETF. A month later, Powershares introduced the Powershares India Portfolio (PIN: 13.05 0.00%). Both of these show that the growth of these markets have obviously gained the respect of investment portfolio managers to actually have their own focused funds.

The other gigantic major up-and-coming player is China. In 2005, Barclays introduced the FXI (FXI: 31.46 0.00%) which was the first China-focused ETF. On top of this, many of the Chinese corporations that have traded on the NYSE and NASDAQ have done fairly well such as Sina Corporation (SINA: 24.68 0.00%).

All in all, if you’re looking to invest in world markets, there is definite some growth happening in the Far East. And with all everything going on there, the rewards seem to be worth the risk according to the professional investors. And while I could be out of my league in saying this, but hanging off the coattails of those that know-better is probably never a bad thing when it comes to financial speculation.

Photo Credit: (7E55E-BRN)

It’s really as simple as common sense. Look at it from this example. If you are currently paying $600USD a month for rent, then equates to $7200USD annually. In three years, you basically have sunk $21,600USD into someone else’s property. If you calculate out putting a down payment of 20% on a house, then this means that you could afford a $108,000USD home.

Worst case scenario, your home decreases in value. Yet, you are still putting that money towards something so you actually own a percentage of your home instead of the green disappearing into oblivion.

It might sound obvious, but buying will always be more worthwhile based purely on the fact that ownership of something is greater than ownership of nothing.

But I’m here to tell you that plain ole’ logic dictates that banks, especially the larger ones such as Bank of America (BAC: 13.98 0.00%) and others will weather this storm just as they will others in the future. Why? Let’s just take a look at what happened right after the financial tornado touched down. Countrywide Financial Corporation (CFC: 0.00 N/A) sells itself off to Bank of America for $4 billion in an all-stock buyout.

Now what bank would be able to buy another company for $4 billion in stocks without even flinching after getting its wind knocked out? It would be a bank. Why? Because as long as society exists, there will be people out there that need to secure their finances and more often than not there will be people that need to borrow money. In that sense, there will always be someone there to lend them the money at an inflated percentage. Unless the apocalypse comes and the four horsemen are riding, I sincerely believe that financial institutions will exist and prosper. Thus, while many of their stocks might be lower than what you’re used to, they will rise again.