Robert Morley, columnist at The Trumpet, thinks there is every likelihood of Japan's new government cutting off economic ties with the USA .
.........Yukio Hatoyama is Japan’s new leader. He officially took office last Wednesday, and he is already threatening to split with the United States.
Hatoyama blames America for the global economic crisis and says that the U.S. is responsible for “the destruction of human dignity.” He campaigned on protecting traditional Japanese economic activities and reducing U.S.-led globalization.
During the run-up to the election, Hatoyama’s finance minister told the bbc he was worried about the future value of the dollar, and that if his party were elected in the upcoming national elections, it would refuse to purchase any more U.S. treasuries unless they were denominated in Japanese yen.
Japan is the world’s second-largest economy. It is also America’s second-most-important creditor. The U.S. government owes Japan over $724 billion! The only nation America owes more money to is China ($800 billion). The U.S. also imports $140 billion worth of goods from Japan each year.
If Japan were to follow through with its threat to only lend in yen, the dollar would probably fall hard. What would that mean? America gets more expensive consumer goods, higher unemployment, and currency inflation. If other nations like China follow suit, we would be looking at a currency crisis—Zimbabwe-style. ............
......More alarming for American policymakers, Hatoyama has authorized a wide-ranging review of the U.S. military presence on Japanese soil. He is reexamining the agreement that permits U.S. warships to dock at Japanese ports, and has said Japan should take a second look at why it is spending billions to house and transfer U.S. troops between its islands. Hatoyama has also moved to quickly end Japan’s fueling support for the U.S. naval anti-terrorism efforts in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
On Wednesday, an even bigger torpedo hit. Both U.S. and Japanese officials confirmed that discussions were underway to remove all U.S. fighter aircraft from Japan.......
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
The article had me until it branched off into prophecy.
ReplyDeleteIts very possible and America has to prepare for it.Japan has the right to be free to pursue its own policy.America will increasingly look to us and its time to prove to them we will not abandon them.They have been our friends for a long time and despite disagreements over issues,we never let them down.We arent going to start now.
ReplyDeleteKerry - yes, same sentiments here too. The Trumpet is funded by the ultra religious right, so my guess is Robert Morley, the writer, had to put in something to show he is in sync with their way of thinking. I read somewhere that he is an economics genius, but no bio is to be found on the net.
ReplyDeleteJoshua - Canada's fate is tied to the USA, no getting away from that fact. Let's hope our neighbour comes out of the present crisis safe and well, so we can all breathe easy.
ReplyDelete