Japan Coming Back

“Picture the despondent and sickly nature of the U. S. economy if the Dow Jones Industrial Average, now around 11300, were to fall steadily and painfully towards the low 2000’s over the next 13 years.” Jeff Thredgold painted that picture in a recent Tea Leaf newsletter, pointing out that this was the case in Japan since 1989.

Do you remember when the national media was concentrated upon the takeover of the U. S. economy by Japan? Everyone in ED had their business cards printed in Japanese on the backside. But then they stopped growing and their economic output didn’t increase from 1990 to today, staying static at $4.2 trillion. The USA economy grew during that same period of time from $6.6 billion to $12 trillion today.

But now Japan appears to be getting back on track. Growth has returned, the Nikkei has doubled and consumption is growing. As the world’s second largest economy, having Japan back as a key driver will be a welcome return.

Perhaps you’ll again begin to see business cards printed in Japanese.