Product Description
Revealing how hundreds of "agents of influence" (senior ex-government officials, now pro-Japan lobbyists), have helped Japan to wield unprecedented power over the scope and direction of US policy, the author argues that Japan can veto legislation, ignore or abort inconvenient trade policies, potentially overwhelm companies, unions or other opposing interests and affect which industries grow or decline in the US economy. Appendices list 200 "agents of influence", their clients and their fees. The book also has a warning not to disregard the consequences of Japanese investment The author has also written "The High Flex Society", "Thinking Strategically", "Being Number One" and "America in Ruins". --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
This is a highly sensationalized, even xenophobic, treatment of an important contemporary topic, namely the lobbying practices of foreign governments in Washington and the influence-peddling by former American officials. Instead of focusing on the problem itself, however, Choate, the author of The High-Flex Society ( LJ 9/15/86) and a popular writer on economic subjects, chooses to concentrate solely on Japan. The result is a book that emphasizes negative feelings toward a major economic competitor rather than addressing the need for reform of the lobbying system. Although this book will be highly publicized, it cannot be recommended as a balanced treatment of its subject. BOMC alternate.
Revealing how hundreds of "agents of influence" (senior ex-government officials, now pro-Japan lobbyists), have helped Japan to wield unprecedented power over the scope and direction of US policy, the author argues that Japan can veto legislation, ignore or abort inconvenient trade policies, potentially overwhelm companies, unions or other opposing interests and affect which industries grow or decline in the US economy. Appendices list 200 "agents of influence", their clients and their fees. The book also has a warning not to disregard the consequences of Japanese investment The author has also written "The High Flex Society", "Thinking Strategically", "Being Number One" and "America in Ruins". --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
This is a highly sensationalized, even xenophobic, treatment of an important contemporary topic, namely the lobbying practices of foreign governments in Washington and the influence-peddling by former American officials. Instead of focusing on the problem itself, however, Choate, the author of The High-Flex Society ( LJ 9/15/86) and a popular writer on economic subjects, chooses to concentrate solely on Japan. The result is a book that emphasizes negative feelings toward a major economic competitor rather than addressing the need for reform of the lobbying system. Although this book will be highly publicized, it cannot be recommended as a balanced treatment of its subject. BOMC alternate.
