18
March
Japan's economic crisis could be ours, too
18 March 2011 The Telegraph
A lack of viable alternatives to these programmes ensures that, in all probability, they will eventually go ahead, regardless of the outcome of the Fukushima disaster. There's just not enough oil, gas and coal around to feed likely future energy demand.
Back in Japan, it's just possible that far from prompting positive change, the earthquake could blow confidence away to such a degree that it tips the country, with its already mountainous public debts, into a full-blown fiscal and financial crisis on top of the natural one.
It's certainly a risk, but to me that doesn't look the way to bet either. More likely is that Japan in time merely returns to where it was. There must come a point where economies simply outgrow their capacity to grow. For years now, Japan has been blazing that trail. In the West, we may not be far behind. Japan is our future: we'll be lucky if we handle it as well as they have.
