Will Nosferatu's Shadow

[don]

eclipse the Rising Sun?

"Many economists and business executives say they hope that Toyota's trauma will be the wake-up call that Japan needs to understand that its reliance on manufacturing and industrial exports, which served the country so well after World War II, is no longer wise.

"Yukio Noguchi, a professor of finance at Waseda University in Tokyo, said Japan must finally evolve into a postindustrial service-based economy- a painful transition that the United States and Great Britain underwent in the 1980s. "

(I have tried to link this to the 2/9/10 NY Times- front page of the business section- without success. Some things are quickly buried.)

[don]

Re: Will Nosferatu's Shadow

In the 30 year Peloponnesian War, the Greek City-States were generally either democracies or oligarchies. These two forms of governance battled to rule within each City-State. Often when one overthrew the other, annihilation of the opposition would ensue, unless they escaped.

In the alliances between City-States that shaped the War, the oligarchs tended to side with Sparta, the democracies with Athens.

Are we now seeing a global replay of oligarchy vs democracy in the First World, giving a larger dimension to unfolding events ?