I mean, the word "Lean" in business context has to bring Toyota to mind immediately.
Yet they seem to count Toyota as the opposite of Lean?!?

Similarly, the last 30 years could be seen as the triumph of Japanese methods (reducing variability, Just In Time, no inventory, hunting down waste...). Yet the article concludes that we shouldn't be too impressed with Japan and rather consider the last 30 years outside Japan.
My impression is that they confused "Lean" with "in debt". "Hunting down waste" with "outsourcing everything.

I think that leanness truly helps resiliency. But that is lean à la Toyota (where the term originated). Not à la Enron.

"Few can believe that suffering, especially by others, is in vain. - Galbraith"