Bloomberg – This phrase recalling how the Soviet Union’s 1957 space launch shocked the U.S. is back in vogue thanks to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address this week. He sees the rise of India and China as a catalyst for the U.S. to boost its competitive game, and it’s hard to argue with that.
If any economy needs such a jolt, it’s Japan. News last year that China’s gross domestic product surpassed Japan’s, knocking it into the No. 3 spot, wasn’t quite it. Yet what about relegating wealthy Japan to the same level of creditworthiness as China’s still relatively poor population?
