From their own perspective the Japanese ruling elite is doing well at protecting its own interests. The long-running bailouts of companies by banks, etc. is one great big "let's take care of each other" ball game. That it appears to be running out of steam is another matter. Barkley Rosser On Fri, 8 May 1998 10:01:42 -0400 Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
> Dennis R Redmond wrote:
>
> >(1) Globally, the EU owns the world-system, and can (and will) do anything
> >it damn well pleases.
>
> Except that the EU barely exists as a political entity - they can barely
> choose the head of their central bank (and, by the way, the lucky Dutchman
> who will, Wim Duisenberg, thinks the Fed's practice of publishing highly
> sanitized minutes of their policy meetings is too open!). The U.S. can do
> what it damn well pleases right now too. What other country could run $200
> billion current account deficits in its own currency?
>
> Speaking of political cohesion, what is it with the Japanese ruling class?
> They seem barely able to function as a coherent political force in the
> midst of an endless slump. And that's mainly a domestic affair; even at the
> height of Japan's financial power, there was minimal projection of Japanese
> imperial power abroad. Not so the U.S. ruling class, which, despite the
> fact that it owes big money to the other two metropoles, is very coherent,
> forceful, and confident.
>
> Doug
>
>
>
-- Rosser Jr, John Barkley rosserjb at jmu.edu