Unbouncy Aso

摘要

When Congress first voted down a bail-out of America's banking system, any residual hope swiftly vanished among Japan's ruling clique that the country could float over the top of the credit turmoil troubling the rest of the developed world. Certainly the banks are sound, having recovered from Japan's own harrowing financial crisis in the 1990s. They and other firms are even seizing the moment to snap up cheap businesses overseas (see page 82). So the chief concern-for now, at least-is Japan's export-driven economy, which appears fast to be running out of puff. This concern has shot to the top of the agenda for Taro Aso, the prime minister of all of a week. It will probably dictate when he will call a general election, in which the long dominance of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (ldp) is at stake.