Pass notes No 3,049: The lost decade  A decade of economic
stagnation blighted Japan in the 90s. Could it now be about to
hit the western economies? Trader makes a phone call as share
prices take a plunge in Tokyo A trader makes a phone call as
share prices take a plunge in Tokyo. Photograph: Yoshikazu
Tsuno/AFP  Age: 10. Because it's a decade.  Appearance: Growth-
free. In a bad way.  A growth-free decade? That's it in a
nutshell.  When was this? In Japan, from 1991 to 2000, after a
debt crisis became a banking crisis became 10 years of economic
stagnation. Which should ring a bell, since for the rest of us
it could be just around the corner.  Says who? The IMF, for one.
The what? That's the International Monetary Fund. It's their job
to keep global exchange rates stable, lend money to poor
countries and generally bother and berate world leaders about
the state of their economies. Which, at present, they're doing
by warning us that we could be about to lose a decade.  How
exactly? In the US, by not dealing w