WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: Coming Crisis to Make Japan’s Lost Decade Look Like a Cake Walk. “Like the U.S., Japan has long had access to cheap funds—not, as with America, because of the yen’s status as international currency of choice, but because of a massive aging population whose savings mostly go directly or indirectly into Japanese government debt. And now that the government needs to borrow funds more than ever, the well threatens to run dry. . . . Unfortunately the root causes of Japan’s problems are common: social insurance programs and entitlements that made sense when lifespans are relatively short and each new generation is larger than the old one no longer make financial sense as lifespans extend and families shrink. In the US, we still have time for change before the worst becomes inevitable, but so far we seem pretty committed to wasting whatever time we have.”

UPDATE: Over the cliff: Durable goods orders drop 13.2% in August; Update: Q2 GDP downgraded from 1.7% to 1.3%.