To be fair, this notion was just as unthinkable to Auslin as it apparently is to Hall, even though it has been widely reported. See the NYT version of Eamonn Fingleton’s widely published writing on this topic.
Part of the reason is that growth underpins financial lending and so the financial institutions have a vested interest in slapping down any debate that leads to the obvious conclusion and part of the reason is that we have so much of our cultural identity invested in the notion of constant improvement.
The facts are that growth can only come from population growth, geographical expansion, resource exploitation or innovation. The first three are not available or desirable to Japan and they are steadily innovating on a number of levels to keep their economy at the top of the world’s rankings.
The fact that China will overtake them as its standard of living reaches a desirable level is obvious and natural. Japan is not afraid of that and plans to have a relationship with China where it provides certain types of services that it is very good at, while maintaining its economic independence and global investments.
It is very important for those of us who care about a sustainable and robust future that engages on a global economic level to understand the lessons of Japan. Kowtowing to Wall St and its debt addicted financial institutions is not the way forward.
We need to take every opportunity to remind the media of their responsibility to report the truth, not the current hegemony of global capitalism.
It is very