A New Way of Thinking about Japan
Anatole Kaletsky's Why the sun is rising over Britain, not Japan - Comment - Times Online is a good antidote for a half hour spent with Lou Dobbs or Pat Buchanan. Kaletsky demonstrates why our traditional notions of a strong, solid economy -- high savings rates, high investment, current surpluses -- have become superannuated in a world where manufacturing gravitates to the lowest-cost producer.

Kaletsky discusses the emerging "platform company" that has worldwide name recognition but no factories at all. As production costs costs fall steadily downward, the key for mature economies like Japan is not to invest in manufacturing facilities but to make certain they are fully integrated into the world economy. In this environment, "...countries that embrace high levels of borrowing and financial sophistication, such as America, Britain and Spain, take advantage of excess savings in more conservative countries such as Japan and Germany."