<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML> Doug Henwood wrote: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE>Japan has serious problems, but they're not as bad as the English-language press is making them out to be. I don't know for sure one way or the other, and you don't either, even if you think you do.</BLOCKQUOTE> I think it's possible to say with absolute nomothetic certainty that Japan has passed several points of no-return in a downward spiral which guarantees now that it can never out-compete the US in any future upswing; more: in any generalised recession in the near future (such as the one the world may be entering) Japan will be first in and last out. Mark -- <A HREF="http://www.netcomuk.co.uk/~jones_m/frontline.htm">http://www.netcomuk.co.uk/~jones_m/frontline.htm</A>  </HTML>