Monday, January 07, 2013

They Got There First

The theme, structure and pace of my post of last Friday, "The Aristocrats," seems to have been pipped by Kishore Mahbubani (Link). However Mahbubani, as is his wont, starts off in one direction and ends up somewhere he seemingly did not intend to go.

The observation of a trend toward political dynasties in Asia is not new, having been made decades ago as regards the rise of female leaders in South Asian countries, starting with Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka. What is jolting is that the wave has swept east and north, with every country in this region now run by a descendant of a head of state or top leader.

If were are all resigning ourselves to dynastic and aristocratic rule, can we have all the lives back that were wasted in the 19th and 20th century wrenching power from out of the hands of hereditary rulers?

As for my post on Abenomics, the new government's announced policies and the current movements in the equities and currency markets have Laocoons wailing warnings. In a piece published in the Financial Times on the 4th, the author performs her duty to the cause of the intellectual honesty, noting that history indicates the only sane strategy is to surf the Japanese markets. The author then lets the bulls make their case for at least a short-term commitment to the current market manias. (Link)

Just a quibble...but if one writes an article for non-specialists where one first quotes Jesper Koll and then Kathy Matsui of Goldman Sachs, should one mention that the pair are husband and wife?

Meanwhile and a propos of nothing, Davos Man continues his sad use of an imaginary Japan as a springboard for talking to Americans about America.

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