[haven't heard any commentary]
If you want an eye-opening commentary (probably not what you expected to see), here's one from a senior Japanese politician:
-------------------------------------------------------
LDP's Kato compares U.S. economy to Japan's bubble
NEW YORK, May 5 (Reuters) - A top Japanese politician on Monday compared current U.S. economic conditions to those of Japan in the late 1980s "bubble" era.
Koichi Kato, secretary-general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, was quoted as telling influential U.S. foreign affairs specialists that he saw several parallels between the U.S. now and Japan before the bubble burst -- rising prices for stocks, land and art, corporate mergers and low consumer price inflation.
Kato's remarks were conveyed by an official who briefed reporters after the dinner meeting.
The official said Kato's statement, to the Council on Foreign Relations, appeared to make an impression but that there was no response from the participants.
The group included former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, Federal Reserve Bank of New York president William McDonough and Goldman Sachs vice president Robert Hormats.
Kato, who is holding two days of meetings with private- sector leaders in New York and Washington, told reporters that he made clear at the meeting that Japan is directly attacking its bad-loan problem.
The bad-loan problem, a leftover of the bursting of Japan's bubble, was the biggest economic difficulty the economy now faces, he said.
02:02 05-05-98
-------------------------------------------------------
Paul M. |
