by Patrick J. Buchanan – August 14, 1998

As the talking heads of the cable channels chatter on about what Bill Clinton should tell the grand jury — the truth is among the options being discussed — an event of epochal significance is taking place beyond our shores. The Global Economy is careening toward disaster, and the Clintonites seem clueless about how to stop it.

Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin’s June intervention to rescue the Japanese yen failed. The yen is now at an eight-year low against the dollar and sinking. Tokyo’s stock market is 60 percent below its high a decade ago and falling, and Japan’s banks are sitting on perhaps $1 trillion in bad debt. Asia’s mightiest economy is shrinking and incapable of helping pull the continent out of the maelstrom.