>In particular, Japan has not recovered from the >collapse of "the bubble economy." Japan's government has thus far failed >in its attempts to create self-sustaining economic growth. I have seen >material in the London _Financial Times_ questioning whether the >government can continue to employ economic stimulus packages in the face >of the amount of debt it has taken on. Obviously it can. Japanese interest rates are way lower than US ones and the dollar/yen rate is stable (for now). A good way to stimulate the economy would be to "print money" rather than accumulate more debt, BTW. Besides, is failure to create "economic growth" really such a bad thing? I mean, as long as it doesn't mean a deflationary spiral and huge unemployment (it seems it doesn't mean that in Japan currently). > Petroleum, as a non-renewable resource, faces long-term increases >in production costs in that oil wells dry up. The tendency is to try to >exploit the "easy oil" first. OK. I did not understand that you were making long-term comparisons. >I must admit that I don't understand how high-cost producers >can continue to exist in the face of competition from low-cost >producers. I suspect some customers are paying unnecessarily higher >prices out of ignorance of options, or non-economic loyalty. I know >that governments can step in to support higher cost producers. I don't know much about the specifics of the oil market, but the general rule is that (in free market conditions) high-cost producers survive as long as there is too few low- cost producers to fulfill demand. The ability for the low-cost producers to sell their product at the same price as the high-cost producers is probably the main source of profit. Julien _______________________________________________ Crashlist resources: http://website.lineone.net/~resource_base To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.wwpublish.com/mailman/listinfo/crashlist
