Richard Gibbs Quotations

There is a risk of losing credibility, because if you look at the experience of the last few years, things haven't been so dire.

If the coalition partners think they can't win the election because of Mori they will push for him to go, and LDP will have to listen.

He seems to be playing fairly well into the electorate, and appears to have a greater level of popular support than Hashimoto.

He's gained a lot of kudos in recent months, he's a fiscal consolidator -- which is what Japan needs. I understand he has growing support within the LDP.

Koizumi is being seen as more of a reformist, which plays well with the urban voting blocs, ... But regional factional support seems to be with Hashimoto, and also there's an issue with him on the fiscal reform and debt-restructuring front.

I think Koizumi is a genuine contender, although I worry about the factional support,

We haven't seen much improvement in export volumes and that suggests net exports will detract from economic growth yet again. The current account deficit also will stay wide, reflecting increased profits for foreign investors and higher debt-servicing costs for Australian companies.

We estimate that most professional dancers and students on a professional track probably do over 2 million little jumps a year. That's a lot of wear and tear.

The premise is healthy employees are going to perform better and enjoy it more.

You do need to know what the health risks of your population are. That's what the health risk analysis is for ? it's an important starting gate. It'll show if you have a higher proportion of smokers, if your employees have more of a disposition to diabetes or bad health.

Failure to push the budget through could be the straw that breaks Mori's back.

The recent rise in the oil price could see consumer spending pull back in coming months ... if we were in charge of monetary policy, we would not tighten.

There will be rising pressure for tax cuts.

It might seem extreme, but it would allow the LDP to retain the balance of power.

It's like a pro quarterback who wants to keep going. I don't blame the dancers, but we do try to combat that.

It's unclear whether he would be as committed (as Hashimoto) and as forceful on fiscal consolidation. Hashimoto has a past record to go on. So for Koizumi, there's a question mark there as well.

It's certainly not too soon to speculate on a successor to Mori and I'd rate Hashimoto a 40 percent chance of taking the job,

The current account deficit will probably show a gradual improvement this year as exports increase.