.

A great deal of Japan's commerce is with China, so I would expect China to be slowing too.

All of this tells us that the world economy is decelerating more quickly than our own media and government have led us to believe.

There are multiple reasons for this slowdown. Nothing goes up in a straight line. The US cheerfully created leveraged derivatives, otherwise known as toxic waste, and sent a great deal of it abroad with the same abandon that children experience when they want to get rid of a hot potato.

Our ability to think ahead is not exactly legend. If you disable the little Japanese, Chinese, and German engines that could there won't be anyone able to pull your train over the hill.