QUICK OPINION
Thursday, August 27, 2009
All you need to know right now is that Japan's exports declined again in July - and they're now down 36.5% from last year. Imports are down about a quarter, and exports to Europe are down around 45%.
If the export collapse hasn't been felt yet, that's because production - not just in Japan, but around the world - is largely automated. But the New York Times has reported on "unemployed robots" in Japan, idled in factories or junked. Eventually the collapse in world trade will catch up to us.
Of course, it is only one of the aftershocks of the collapse of the World Trade Center.