I must admit I have not been keeping up much with the winter Olympics. My son asked me how the US was doing on the total medal tally, and I looked it up and said "second....to Germany". "Germany??!!" he exclaimed.
I saw this BusinessWeek article about Japan's blistering growth. Its GDP growth will exceed that of the US for the first time since 1991. The reader comments at the bottom are even more telling - almost as if we had forgotten about this economic giant.
Parity - and competition - is good in sports and economics. So whether it is BRICK in global economics or the fact that Ukraine, Trinidad and Ghana will be playing for the first time in a soccer World Cup, it's good for us as consumers and spectators. Yes, even the World Cup where Germany is the host team - and this time around even my son will not be surprised if they win.