Combining economics and Titanic is done frequently by columnists. A bank failure, crashing economy, badly run corporations are all compared to Titanic. Tom Plate, in an opinion piece appearing in The Jakarata Post, writes about how Toyota has fallen to Earth after years of being revered for its quality. Plate uses this to illustrate that the Japanese do not walk on water. He writes:

“Because unless you understand the Japanese as mortal members of planet earth like the rest of us, there is no way to explain why Japan’s economy is starting to lean like a potential Titanic….”

The image does not work well. If he is arguing Japan is like Titanic moving dangerously through an ice field about to have a collision, then it ought to have been better stated. It however makes the grade for our Titanic Cliche of the Day.