Where ever we live, we tend to accept the rules that govern us and the institutions that have built up to serve us. It does not mean that it is the only way, but it is the way we know. Unless something goes off the rails and change is demanded, the institutions tend to keep going. In North America, we are used to unions fighting management for a greater piece of the pie. Little is thought about if the pie gets bigger or smaller, but there is a fight for a pie.

In an article from Reuters, in the country of Japan, unions and management work differently. In Japan there is usually a collaborative relationship between Japanese management and labor. The largest companies of Toyota, Panasonic, Nippon Steel and Nissan set the pace and Toyota Motor’s factory workers will receive pay increases of $259 and bonus payments. Toyota does not provide a percentage figure for the salary rise, but it was the largest in 25 years.

The affect of the wage increases is the expectation the Bank of Japan will decided to end negative rates of interest which has been in place since 2016.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, we all want to get to the same point, but there are rarely just one method to do that. In Japan management and unions work closer together than in America. In America one political party always wants to stop the power of unions and the other political power wants to increase the power of unions. Hopefully when you buy your investments, whatever the rules are in the country, the company does not break them or can live within the rules. With dividend paying stocks, some years you make more money in growth stocks, some years you lose more money in growth stocks, ideally you want to limit your losses and accent the long term gains.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.