Theinsightful and articulateeconomist Richard Katz was in town last week, and gave presentations to a number of groups, including the American and French Chambers of Commerce in Japan. The theme of his presentation and views was particularly timely, as it focused on a cogent explanation of why Japan is Not the Next Greece.
Mr. Katz cogent analysissummarized: 1) why Japan does not face any near-term Greece problem; 2) therefore,why Japan does not need to hurry to implement a significant increase inits consumption tax; 3) why Japan faces not a current account problem, but rather, asluggish productivity growthproblem, and 4) whynow is in fact a poor time toincrease consumption tax, and rather, tax measures or increases that would tend to spur asset reallocation and productivity growth are what is needed.
His presentation materials can be downloaded by registered BDTI usersat:
Richard is author and publisher of the poplular newsletter, The Oriental Economist Report, www.orientaleconomist.com , and can be reached at rbkatz@ix.netcom.com .
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