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Subject: Japan's Financial Crisis: or not?
Some people are talking, with various degrees of schadenfreude, about how badly Japan's economy is going to reel from this disastrous triple-hit. It will only add, they say, to Japan's decades-long economic doldrums.
But what if Japan never really had the doldrums? What if their economic engine has been leaping from strength to strength all this time? That's what Eamonn Fingleton thinks, and it sorta sounds like he knows his stuff:
He uses something very interesting in his arguments: facts, and lots of 'em:
Japan's surplus triples while America's debt sextupled. That's really impressive. And Japan's the only major nation (whatever that means) with a trade surplus to China? Some very smart decisions being made here, that's for sure. It kind of follows though, Japan's aq manufacturing leader, Americans are too focused on short-term gains to really apply any kind of respectable strategy.
Japan doesn't seem to be having any trouble. In fact, according to Steven Hill in the UK's Guardian newspaper:
Hmm.
No doubt this quake/tsunami/nuclear assault will slow them down. But they might not have been starting from the position of weakness so many assumed.
But what if Japan never really had the doldrums? What if their economic engine has been leaping from strength to strength all this time? That's what Eamonn Fingleton thinks, and it sorta sounds like he knows his stuff:
Quote by E. Fingleton:As you know, I am the only Tokyo-based observer who can document a record of having publicly predicted the crash. I have moreover been almost alone in arguing since the beginning that the crash was a purely financial affair that did not hinder progress in the real economy.
He uses something very interesting in his arguments: facts, and lots of 'em:
Quote by E. Fingleton:The truth is that Japan multiplied its current account surplus more than three-fold between 1989 (the last year of the Japanese stock market boom) and 2008 (the last year before the present global slump). In the same period the US current account _deficit_ ballooned sixfold! Although its per-capita income is nearly ten times China’s, Japan is almost alone among major nations in running a surplus on its huge trade with China; by comparison America’s bilateral deficit with China was $166 billion last year
Japan's surplus triples while America's debt sextupled. That's really impressive. And Japan's the only major nation (whatever that means) with a trade surplus to China? Some very smart decisions being made here, that's for sure. It kind of follows though, Japan's aq manufacturing leader, Americans are too focused on short-term gains to really apply any kind of respectable strategy.
Quote by E. Fingleton:since the 1980s, Japanese overseas travel has risen strongly. Even in the recession year of 2009, total international travel by Japanese citizens was up fully 49 percent over the peak bubble-era year of 1989
Quote by E. Fingleton:a few years ago, Japan accounted for 36 percent of the Burberry brand’s worldwide sales, 35 percent of Baccarat’s, and 30 percent of Louis Vuitton’s. Not bad for a nation with only 2 percent of the world’s population.
Japan doesn't seem to be having any trouble. In fact, according to Steven Hill in the UK's Guardian newspaper:
Quote by Guardian:How, then, should we regard a country that has 5% unemployment, the lowest income inequality, healthcare for all its people and is one of the world's leading exporters? This country also scores high on life expectancy, low on infant mortality, is at the top in numeracy and literacy, and is low on crime, incarceration, homicides, mental illness and drug abuse. It also has a low rate of carbon emissions, doing its part to reduce global warming. In all these categories, this particular country beats both the US and China by a country mile.
Hmm.
No doubt this quake/tsunami/nuclear assault will slow them down. But they might not have been starting from the position of weakness so many assumed.
BLEARGH
This post was edited on 2011-03-15, 22:03 by