This is certainly something interesting: Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama is calling for a 16-nation currency trading bloc to rival the European Union, and would operate under a single currency. This would link the 10 ASEAN countries, who already want a single currency by 2015, with Japan, China, Australia, South Korea, New Zealand and India.
Wow. Let me stress that again. Wow. We're talking about a majority of the world's population, the second largest economy and two of the fastest-growing ones in the world all brought together. That's a lot of economic power. What's also interesting is China is backing Hatoyama's push, as he's been emphasizing stronger regional ties with Asia.
I'm certainly not a financial person, and am not going to make any real analysis on this -- I'd rather leave this to Raw Japan or Observing Japan -- but if this actually happens, it would give them a huge amount of clout. This is something to keep my eye on.
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And if this goes as planned, then Japan's economy would be at a huge advantage: higher demand for their already sought after currency, ridiculously cheap borrowing costs and monetary stability. This new currency would be a force to be reckoned with if it comes to fruition.
The only problem is for all the other countries to not only agree to this but to also make sure their economies' inflation rates are similar.
In any case, this is obviously the beginning to the formation of the Holy Britannian Empire, the Chinese Federation, and the Euro Universe.
If that doesn't happen by 2020 I'll eat my hat.