Japan's 8.9 Earthquake. An Inconvenient Truth?

12.mar.2011 Cidade de Minamisanriku aparece submersa após o forte terremoto seguido de tsunami que atingiu o Japão

The destruction caused by Japan's earthquake has been savage, but the impact on world economy may be worse.

If a volcano in Iceland can stop the lines in the U.S. and Europe, try to imagine what a serious hit to Japan’s industrial base can do. Just as a for instance, 40 percent of the world supply of flash memory chips comes from Japan. Japan supplies 24 percent of the global semiconductor market, according to data from U.K.- based semiconductor market research firm Future Horizons.

The world’s biggest producer of car safety products such as seatbelts and airbags, halted production at one of its three Japanese plants. The affected plant was shut due to damage to infrastructure, says the Wall Street Journal.

Both troubled Fukushima reactors are close to auto plants by Toyota, Nissan, Honda and many parts suppliers.

Japan is also the world's most indebted government. It will probably have to launch a big spending round to make up the damage – it would not be surprising if Prime Minister Naoto Kan declared a special quake budget. And the Bank of Japan has brought forward its scheduled policy announcement next week, presumably to unveil emergency measures. Ever since Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008, Japan has either been in recession, or on the brink of it. This earthquake adds to the problems of an ultra-weak economy.

Source: http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/author/bertel-schmitt/