re: How did Japan Mess It Up So Bad?

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Japan is still a wonderful place. Clean, safe, most polite people on Earth, tons of entertainment, incredible food, skiing in the mountains, beaches, etc.

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1000% agree.... we went last summer, and it was hot as frick, so it wasn't the most enjoyable vacation ever, but still impressive country nonetheless... i'd like to re-do the trip at a different part of the year, though

This is something that US commentators never get their heads around in either Japan or Europe.....especially Europe. But Japan took a demographic beating as well although not as profound as Europe. After the war there were 92 men to every 100 Japanese women down from 103 men to every 100 pre war. But Japanese birthrate stagnated and have gone into almost n evasive territory especially in the past 20 years as Japan became one of the most urban societies in the developed world

In Germany, overall that number was 86 men to every 100 women and in the prime reproductive ages it was even more stark of 6 men for every 10 women of the ages between 20-40. Now, couple that with those men killed in WWI. Americans by comparison go to Europe and the Pacific, lose men, but they return home to an intact society physically untouched by war and have a baby boom.

There are psychological and psychic scars to war that last for generations that we in the US have not had to deal with, thankfully

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What did we do different that has caused us to thrive?

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Who says we did?

There’s a strong argument to be made that our “wealth” is all paper fakery, a game of pretend that only works as long as everyone keeps playing. Look at how many of our factories we moved overseas. Look at all the inflation over the past few decades. Much of our “wealth” is guys in New York pushing piles of paper from one desk to another and taking a commission with every transfer .

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Who says we did?

There’s a strong argument to be made that our “wealth” is all paper fakery, a game of pretend that only works as long as everyone keeps playing. Look at how many of our factories we moved overseas. Look at all the inflation over the past few decades. Much of our “wealth” is guys in New York pushing piles of paper from one desk to another and taking a commission with every transfer .

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Agreed, that's what I was talking about in my previous post.

So much "wealth" in terms of real estate, business/industrial structure etc has been gobbled up by private equity backed investors.

It's worth more to them as leverage based on inflated assessed values whereas a disperse middle class ownership required a more actual "market".

It takes a real "economic expert" to explain how great it is that investors buy most of the retail space in an excellent location to have it sit empty for years because it's worth more to them as leverage than the rent any small business can actually pay.

Like you say "paper fakery" more than an actual market value. And pretty similar to the reason Japan "messed it up so badly".

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What did we do different that has caused us to thrive?

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Are we really thriving compared to Japan?

I’ve never been to Japan, but life there seems to be pretty good. How has the economic “slump” affected the lifestyle of the average person in Japan? What is missing from their life that they desire?