Mike Levin: “I am pleased to join my other colleagues here in support of this resolution. Several months ago, this resolution and one…”

“I am pleased to join my other colleagues here in support of this resolution. Several months ago, this resolution and one by the gentleman from New York (Mr. Houghton) and myself were introduced in this body. That was before the crisis in Japan reached its present peak and before its recent election. It may well have been that several decades ago Japan may have benefited from its economic policies, its closed, sheltered, highly regulated economy. But increasingly Japan has been paying a heavy price: Its consumers because they were paying prices too high; the subduing of competition, the evolution of Japan in a highly structured way that made it hard for outsiders to enter. Increasingly, also, there was tension that rose and rose between Japan and other countries. For over 10 years, a number of us have been urging Japan to open up their economic system. We talked about a number of their sectors where there was almost an iron curtain, an iron economic curtain, flat glass, autos and auto parts, film, paper and forest products, telecommunications, insurance, medical equipment and others. Those efforts were often simply given a cold shoulder by the Japanese and often were controversial within this Chamber. But time I think has shown how vital it was for Japan years ago to shift gears from its closed economic system, its system that essentially was structured like cartels and to move to open markets.”