Word: problem
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Paul milling plant. You know your job is probably not the most secure in the world. You know you need to get some new skills. And then one day you win the lottery. Life is suddenly a whole lot better. Money, it seems, cures everything. The problem in Japan is that even though having the new Nikkei riches may seem like winning the lottery, it's not. In fact, the money could disappear tomorrow, leaving Japan with a still troubled economy. A rising Nikkei may seem to tell the world that Japan is back, but the Japanese--and some wary...
Despite the 7.9% annual GDP growth rate during the first quarter, Japan's economy remains a bloated, uncertain thing. Insiders say the spring growth blip was a one-time phenomenon--possibly even a result of inaccurate accounting--fueled by high government spending. The primary problem is that Japan's financial structure--everything from the way companies are managed to the amount of government debt--remains badly out of sync. Many Japanese companies are still chugging along as if it were 1981, complete with overweight overheads, inefficient manufacturing systems and "jobs for life." Japan's banks, long loaded with bad debt...
...trillion-dollar windfall really be a problem? For nearly two decades, the U.S. wrestled with huge budget deficits that burdened the economy. But now that Washington projects a $1 trillion budget surplus over the next 10 years, the delightful news has mainly become a cause for pitched partisan wrangling...
...terms, the debate focuses on two issues: Should the surplus be returned to taxpayers, who put up the money in the first place? Or should it be used to pay down the $5.6 trillion national debt and shore up wobbly Medicare and Social Security funds? "This is a wonderful problem for the U.S. to have," says Allen Sinai, chief global economist for Primark Decision Economics...
...course, debating how to use the surplus could be like haggling over the division of water in a mirage. Yet even if the estimates are a bit optimistic, the nation will still be faced with the problem of having too much money. "If we use the surplus wisely, we could cement our wealth for another couple of decades," says Sinai, who is worried that big tax cuts now would be premature. "The task for our society," he adds, "is to make sure we don't blow...