18 Quotes by Richard Gibbs

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.