Jay, I think that an Asian Monetary Fund is a better solution then an "eventual Yen Block". The Yen block will, presumably bear some semblance to the EMU, and the latter, I believe is fraught with some major problems, the most important being the loss of political "independence" of countries within a block.
By the way, could the recent call by China to repatriate foreign reserves be linked to Obushi's gambit?
Last, the idea of an AMF lead by Japan, is not so far fetched, it could bear similarities to the post WW II Marshal plan, and Japan has the financial resources to pull this one as well. In essence by rehabilitating the Asian economies, they would be creating ,markets for their own products. I do not think, however, that this would resolve the current recessional spiral in Japan itself, only increase in domestic demand would do that, IMHO.
Zeev |
