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To: Chip McVickar who wrote (1933)	7/7/1999 10:22:00 AM
From: Henry Volquardsen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3536

Mornin' Chip, Sakakibara's views on the US are not new. I'll resist the urge to play amatuer psychoanalyst <g> but I suspect he doesn't so much fear a collapse in the US as hope for it. A number of well placed people I know have expressed the view that Mr S has become increasingly resentful of the success of the US economy, particularly when compared to the Keystone Kops routine being acted out by Japan's vaunted economic mandarins. Remember it was not so long ago that Mr S and his fellows were on top of the world and could do no wrong. The 90s have been painful for the Japanese economy and even more painful for Japanese egos. Every incident of global economic turmoil in the 90s has hammered the Japanese. The US just sails through it and actually gets stronger. The emerging market crisis of the last few years is a prime example. When LTCM blew up last year Mr S was positively giddy in public. When the crisis passed with barely a tremor he became noticeably sour. The fact that members of the Clinton administration appear increasingly willing to criticize Japanese policy only adds to the animus. To put it in a US context, think of Mr S as an international version of Ken Starr. He knows Clinton is pulling a fast one. He watches him wander haphazardly through the minefield without blowing himself. And meanwhile both Mr Ss watch their own reputations get savaged. Interesting that they are both leaving the arena at the same time. What is Japanese for 'How did the %*#$ SOB Clinton get so damn lucky?' <g> This is not a personal comment about whether the US equity markets are over extended but just a comment about what appears to br Mr S's increasingly clouded vision re the US. Henry