For only the second time since the end of World War II, Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party has ceded power to a rival, the left-leaning Democratic Party of Japan, which has promised to be more assertive toward the U.S. and encourage more consumer spending among the notoriously frugal Japanese. See BusinessWeek’s perspective on the investing implications of the election.
On September 1, U.S. automakers release August car sales figures, which were propelled by the cash-for-clunkers campaign (a lesser-known stimulus plan for appliance manufacturers has had less impact, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Ted Kennedy’s death has refocused the spotlight on healthcare reform, but a surprising take on reform comes from former Senator Dollar Bill Bradley, who recalls in an Op-Ed how he and some other Democrats helped Ronald Reagan implement his seminal tax cuts in the 1980s.