The Japanese Economic Miracle

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Zack Morris
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The Japanese Economic Miracle

Post by Zack Morris »

A thought-provoking piece c/o the New York Times:

The Myth of Japan’s Failure

Some choice quotes:
[The presentation of Japan's economy as having suffered a 'lost decade' and being mired in stagnation] is a myth. By many measures, the Japanese economy has done very well during the so-called lost decades, which started with a stock market crash in January 1990. By some of the most important measures, it has done a lot better than the United States.

Japan has succeeded in delivering an increasingly affluent lifestyle to its people despite the financial crash. In the fullness of time, it is likely that this era will be viewed as an outstanding success story.

...

Japan’s average life expectancy at birth grew by 4.2 years — to 83 years from 78.8 years — between 1989 and 2009. This means the Japanese now typically live 4.8 years longer than Americans. The progress, moreover, was achieved in spite of, rather than because of, diet. The Japanese people are eating more Western food than ever. The key driver has been better health care.

...

Japan’s current account surplus — the widest measure of its trade — totaled $196 billion in 2010, up more than threefold since 1989. By comparison, America’s current account deficit ballooned to $471 billion from $99 billion in that time. Although in the 1990s the conventional wisdom was that as a result of China’s rise Japan would be a major loser and the United States a major winner, it has not turned out that way. Japan has increased its exports to China more than 14-fold since 1989 and Chinese-Japanese bilateral trade remains in broad balance.

...

On the calculations of John Williams of Shadowstats.com, a Web site that tracks flaws in United States economic data, America’s growth in recent decades has been overstated by as much as 2 percentage points a year. If he is even close to the truth, this factor alone may put the United States behind Japan in per-capita performance.

...

Luckily there is a yardstick that finesses many of these problems: electricity output, which is mainly a measure of consumer affluence and industrial activity. In the 1990s, while Japan was being widely portrayed as an outright “basket case,” its rate of increase in per-capita electricity output was twice that of America, and it continued to outperform into the new century.
There are some ridiculous quotes in the article, namely concerning Michelin star restaurants and fancy cars, which are hardly indicative of anything in my opinion. As far as I know, the large majority of Tokyo inhabitants don't even have a driver's licence and although I did see some mid-range luxury German autos (BMW, Mercedes, Audi) when I was last there in 2008, they were parked in car ports attached to tiny, landless houses. I never got a good sense of what peoples' personal finances were like but the Japanese do travel a lot and the Japanese students here (of which there are not that many anymore) seem to come from middle/upper-middle class backgrounds, not from elite backgrounds like some Chinese or out of shear academic merit (like most of the Chinese grad students who study technical subjects). That seems to indicate an impressive level of actual affluence. I think the middle class seems to be on better footing there than here. I did feel that there was a big contrast between urban Tokyo and Sendai and rural, small-town Japan, even only a few hours out. It felt bigger to me than the same contrast in the United States (at least on the West Coast).

Comparing well-being is tough, obviously, because of inherent the subjectiveness and multivariate nature of the problem. But I tend to agree that the idea of Japan as a dying, stagnant economy seems ridiculous and seems only to exist to justify a lot of Western political and economic dogma. Japan's protectionism and paternalistic employment structure is the biggest point of contention and seems to be the source of some real serious social problems there. But the more I think about it, the more I've come to believe that replacing it with a nimble, Western-style labor market is not the right course of action. A Hong Kong-born friend of mine, sickened by the fact that America still does not have universal health care, remarked to me on a few occasions that Asian societies tend not to care about ideology and politics but ask 'what is the right thing to do?' I think that's demonstrably horse lavender, personally, but in Japan's case, there does seem to be some sort of sense of collective responsibility that could be interpreted this way.

I would be interested to hear what Typhoon and An have to say about this (recognizing that Thailand is a long distance from Japan culturally).
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Re: The Japanese Economic Miracle

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From the article,
• Japan’s average life expectancy at birth grew by 4.2 years — to 83 years from 78.8 years — between 1989 and 2009. This means the Japanese now typically live 4.8 years longer than Americans. The progress, moreover, was achieved in spite of, rather than because of, diet. The Japanese people are eating more Western food than ever. The key driver has been better health care.
Perhaps. Attributing causes to observational data is always problematic due to multiple confounding factors. For example, those that are ~ 80 now spent most of their life eating a Japanese diet.
• Japan has made remarkable strides in Internet infrastructure. Although as late as the mid-1990s it was ridiculed as lagging, it has now turned the tables. In a recent survey by Akamai Technologies, of the 50 cities in the world with the fastest Internet service, 38 were in Japan, compared to only 3 in the United States.
Correct. 100 Mbps internet connection for ~ US$ 11 per month. Cell phone reception is a given.
• Measured from the end of 1989, the yen has risen 87 percent against the U.S. dollar and 94 percent against the British pound. It has even risen against that traditional icon of monetary rectitude, the Swiss franc.

A major problem for companies that export. On the other hand, it has made purchasing companies overseas attractive.
• The unemployment rate is 4.2 percent, about half of that in the United States.
Yes. However, one needs to at the details according to generations.
There has a been a significant rise in the number of "freeters", temporary or part time workers without the usual company benefits, among the younger generations - new graduates.
The articles, to it's credit, mentions this point later on.
Given the Euro protests - riots and the so-called Occupy movements, I have to wonder how people in the West would have reacted the same massive post-bubble structural changes.
• According to skyscraperpage.com, a Web site that tracks major buildings around the world, 81 high-rise buildings taller than 500 feet have been constructed in Tokyo since the “lost decades” began. That compares with 64 in New York, 48 in Chicago, and 7 in Los Angeles.
Correct. Major parts of Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, etc have been undergoing redevelopment.
• Japan’s current account surplus — the widest measure of its trade — totaled $196 billion in 2010, up more than threefold since 1989. By comparison, America’s current account deficit ballooned to $471 billion from $99 billion in that time. Although in the 1990s the conventional wisdom was that as a result of China’s rise Japan would be a major loser and the United States a major winner, it has not turned out that way. Japan has increased its exports to China more than 14-fold since 1989 and Chinese-Japanese bilateral trade remains in broad balance.
Despite significant challenges, Japan is still a manufacturing based economy, now focused on advanced tech business-to-business goods as opposed to consumer goods.
Making the machines that make the components that go into an iPhone or Boeing Dreamliner.
As longtime Japan watchers like Ivan P. Hall and Clyde V. Prestowitz Jr. point out, the fallacy of the “lost decades” story is apparent to American visitors the moment they set foot in the country. Typically starting their journeys at such potent symbols of American infrastructural decay as Kennedy or Dulles airports, they land at Japanese airports that have been extensively expanded and modernized in recent years.
I recall a N Am colleague sitting in a cafe observing that "if this is a recession, then I hope our next one is like this".
Why, then, is Japan seen as a loser? On the official gross domestic product numbers, the United States has ostensibly outperformed Japan for many years. But even taking America’s official numbers at face value, the difference has been far narrower than people realize. Adjusted to a per-capita basis (which is the proper way to do this) and measured since 1989, America’s G.D.P. grew by an average of just 1.4 percent a year. Japan’s figure meanwhile was even more anemic — just 1 percent — implying that it underperformed the United States by 0.4 percent a year.

A look at the underlying accounting, however, suggests that, far from underperforming, Japan may have outperformed. For a start, in a little noticed change, United States statisticians in the 1980s embarked on an increasingly aggressive use of the so-called hedonic method of adjusting for inflation, an approach that in the view of many experts artificially boosts a nation’s apparent growth rate.

On the calculations of John Williams of Shadowstats.com, a Web site that tracks flaws in United States economic data, America’s growth in recent decades has been overstated by as much as 2 percentage points a year. If he is even close to the truth, this factor alone may put the United States behind Japan in per-capita performance.
The use of hedonic adjustment is speculation at best and a scam at worst.
If the Japanese have really been hurting, the most obvious place this would show would be in slow adoption of expensive new high-tech items. Yet the Japanese are consistently among the world’s earliest adopters. If anything, it is Americans who have been lagging. In cellphones, for instance, Japan leapfrogged the United States in the space of a few years in the late 1990s and it has stayed ahead ever since, with consumers moving exceptionally rapidly to ever more advanced devices.
Frankly, by choosing local standards non-compatible with international ones such as GSM, Japanese manufacturers missed out on a major export opportunity.
This market opportunity was seized by iPhone and Android - two recent American success stories.
Much of the story is qualitative rather than quantitative. An example is Japan’s eating-out culture. Tokyo, according to the Michelin Guide, boasts 16 of the world’s top-ranked restaurants, versus a mere 10 for the runner-up, Paris. Similarly Japan as a whole beats France in the Michelin ratings. But how do you express this in G.D.P. terms?
A lot of people made a lot of money.
Perhaps more indicative of the tradition of food preparation and the culture surrounding food.
Similar problems arise in measuring improvements in the Japanese health care system. And how does one accurately convey the vast improvement in the general environment in Japan in the last two decades?
As the US healthcare system defies logic, comparisons are difficult.
Economic ideology has also played an unfortunate role. Many economists, particularly right-wing think-tank types, are such staunch advocates of laissez-faire that they reflexively scorn Japan’s very different economic system, with its socialist medicine and ubiquitous government regulation. During the stock market bubble of the late 1980s, this mind-set abated but it came back after the crash.
In a number of ways, the US is more [over]regulated than Japan. The concept of "what is the purpose of a company" and "what is the purpose of society" is different between the two countries.
Here Japan’s constant upgrading of its infrastructure is surely an inspiration. It is a strategy that often requires cooperation across a wide political front, but such cooperation has not been beyond the American political system in the past. The Hoover Dam, that iconic project of the Depression, required negotiations among seven states but somehow it was built — and it provided jobs for 16,000 people in the process. Nothing is stopping similar progress now — nothing, except political bickering.
Yes. However, one should not overlook the problem of cronyism between politicians and the bureaucracy and between govt and big business.
On the other hand, such cronyism has become a major problem in the US.

More later.
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Re: The Japanese Economic Miracle

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Typhoon wrote: In a number of ways, the US is more [over]regulated than Japan. The concept of "what is the purpose of a company" and "what is the purpose of society" is different between the two countries.
I'm hoping you can elaborate on this.
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Re: The Japanese Economic Miracle

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Zack Morris wrote: . . .

As far as I know, the large majority of Tokyo inhabitants don't even have a driver's licence and although I did see some mid-range luxury German autos (BMW, Mercedes, Audi) when I was last there in 2008, they were parked in car ports attached to tiny, landless houses.
About 74% of Japan is mountainous in a country with a land area smaller than that of California. The population is concentrated in a few plains along the coast:
None of the populated plains or mountain basins are extensive in area. The largest, the Kanto Plain, where Tokyo is situated, covers only 13,000 square kilometers. Other important plains are the Nōbi Plain surrounding Nagoya, the Kinki Plain in the Osaka-Kyoto area, the Sendai Plain around the city of Sendai in northeastern Honshū, and the Ishikari Plain on Hokkaidō.
Zack Morris wrote:
I did feel that there was a big contrast between urban Tokyo and Sendai and rural, small-town Japan, even only a few hours out. It felt bigger to me than the same contrast in the United States (at least on the West Coast).

. . .
That great sucking sound you heard was not a AV production but the youth migration to major cities. Small towns and villages are at risk, especially if they are supported by a single industry. Such places have a disproportionate number of elderly. One effect of this trend is the one can purchase property quite inexpensively in more rural areas, especially if it is in foreclosure.

Tokyo is too centralized in the sense that politics, the govt bureaucracy, and corporate head offices are all concentrated there.
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Re: The Japanese Economic Miracle

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Zack Morris wrote:
Typhoon wrote: In a number of ways, the US is more [over]regulated than Japan. The concept of "what is the purpose of a company" and "what is the purpose of society" is different between the two countries.
I'm hoping you can elaborate on this.
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Re: The Japanese Economic Miracle

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Typhoon wrote:
Zack Morris wrote:
Typhoon wrote: In a number of ways, the US is more [over]regulated than Japan. The concept of "what is the purpose of a company" and "what is the purpose of society" is different between the two countries.
I'm hoping you can elaborate on this.
Image
I guess in the U.S. of today "the purpose of a company" is to make the C.E.O. (and to a lesser extent the other senior executives) as much money as possible.

But what do you mean by the U.S. being, in some ways, more over-regulated than Japan?

Anyone: aren't hedonic adjustments difficult to avoid? The average computer in 2010 is better than the average computer in 1990, the average cell phone in 2010 is better than the average cell phone in 1990, etc. Increasing prices reflect more than just inflation. They can also reflect superior characteristics.
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Re: The Japanese Economic Miracle

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Typhoon wrote:
Zack Morris wrote:
Typhoon wrote: In a number of ways, the US is more [over]regulated than Japan. The concept of "what is the purpose of a company" and "what is the purpose of society" is different between the two countries.
I'm hoping you can elaborate on this.
Image
Of course but could you elaborate on why this is? Perhaps the Japanese should be more vocal about their social philosophy and give Westerners looking for something new to try something to work from :)
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Re: The Japanese Economic Miracle

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Azrael wrote: Anyone: aren't hedonic adjustments difficult to avoid? The average computer in 2010 is better than the average computer in 1990, the average cell phone in 2010 is better than the average cell phone in 1990, etc. Increasing prices reflect more than just inflation. They can also reflect superior characteristics.
Small nitpick: computer prices aren't increasing. If anything, they're decreasing. The "best" computers today still cost the same as the "best" in 1996, but my computer in 1996 was less powerful than an iPhone 4S (but three times more expensive). And if you can settle for less than best, you can pick up dirt cheap sub-$500 computers these days that can run most of the latest software.
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Re: The Japanese Economic Miracle

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Azrael wrote: Anyone: aren't hedonic adjustments difficult to avoid? The average computer in 2010 is better than the average computer in 1990, the average cell phone in 2010 is better than the average cell phone in 1990, etc. Increasing prices reflect more than just inflation. They can also reflect superior characteristics.
Okay. My question is so?

Costs of electronics have been plummeting over the decades. Consider, for example, the price of a large 42" flat screen LCD TV.

However, why does making, selling, buying and watching an LCD versus CRT raise the GDP?
Zack Morris wrote: . ..
Small nitpick: computer prices aren't increasing. If anything, they're decreasing. The "best" computers today still cost the same as the "best" in 1996, but my computer in 1996 was less powerful than an iPhone 4S (but three times more expensive). And if you can settle for less than best, you can pick up dirt cheap sub-$500 computers these days that can run most of the latest software.
Agreed. This is part of the rationale claimed for using the so-called hedonic adjustment, that this supposedly makes us more productive and should thus be reflected in the GDP.
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Re: The Japanese Economic Miracle

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Zack Morris wrote:
Azrael wrote: Anyone: aren't hedonic adjustments difficult to avoid? The average computer in 2010 is better than the average computer in 1990, the average cell phone in 2010 is better than the average cell phone in 1990, etc. Increasing prices reflect more than just inflation. They can also reflect superior characteristics.
Small nitpick: computer prices aren't increasing. If anything, they're decreasing. The "best" computers today still cost the same as the "best" in 1996, but my computer in 1996 was less powerful than an iPhone 4S (but three times more expensive). And if you can settle for less than best, you can pick up dirt cheap sub-$500 computers these days that can run most of the latest software.
I wasn't implying that computer prices were rising (although I should have been more clear to avoid confusion). The price of the basket of goods used to calculate CPI (which includes some prices which have been going down, but mainly prices that have been going up) is rising, and it isn't just pure inflation.
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Re: The Japanese Economic Miracle

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Typhoon wrote:
Azrael wrote: Anyone: aren't hedonic adjustments difficult to avoid? The average computer in 2010 is better than the average computer in 1990, the average cell phone in 2010 is better than the average cell phone in 1990, etc. Increasing prices reflect more than just inflation. They can also reflect superior characteristics.
Okay. My question is so?

Costs of electronics have been plummeting over the decades. Consider, for example, the price of a large 42" flat screen LCD TV.

However, why does making, selling, buying and watching an LCD versus CRT raise the GDP?
In theory, it is a more enjoyable experience -- the picture quality is better, it is lighter and thinner (so it can be situated in more places), etc. The increase in enjoyment has a monetary value.
Zack Morris wrote: . ..
Small nitpick: computer prices aren't increasing. If anything, they're decreasing. The "best" computers today still cost the same as the "best" in 1996, but my computer in 1996 was less powerful than an iPhone 4S (but three times more expensive). And if you can settle for less than best, you can pick up dirt cheap sub-$500 computers these days that can run most of the latest software.
Agreed. This is part of the rationale claimed for using the so-called hedonic adjustment, that this supposedly makes us more productive and should thus be reflected in the GDP.
Are you saying that the "hedonic adjustment" assumes that a computer that is "twice as powerful" contributes twice as much to worker productivity, twice as much to enjoyment, etc.? I wasn't aware that the "utility function" (explicit or otherwise) was linear on all characteristics of a product like that.
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Re: The Japanese Economic Miracle

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Zack Morris wrote:Of course but could you elaborate on why this is?
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Re: The Japanese Economic Miracle

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Azrael wrote:
Typhoon wrote:
Azrael wrote: Anyone: aren't hedonic adjustments difficult to avoid? The average computer in 2010 is better than the average computer in 1990, the average cell phone in 2010 is better than the average cell phone in 1990, etc. Increasing prices reflect more than just inflation. They can also reflect superior characteristics.
Okay. My question is so?

Costs of electronics have been plummeting over the decades. Consider, for example, the price of a large 42" flat screen LCD TV.

However, why does making, selling, buying and watching an LCD versus CRT raise the GDP?
In theory, it is a more enjoyable experience -- the picture quality is better, it is lighter and thinner (so it can be situated in more places), etc. The increase in enjoyment has a monetary value.
Perhaps, but how does one quantify an increase in enjoyment in monetary terms?

I don't think it's hedonic adjustments.
Zack Morris wrote: . ..
Small nitpick: computer prices aren't increasing. If anything, they're decreasing. The "best" computers today still cost the same as the "best" in 1996, but my computer in 1996 was less powerful than an iPhone 4S (but three times more expensive). And if you can settle for less than best, you can pick up dirt cheap sub-$500 computers these days that can run most of the latest software.
Agreed. This is part of the rationale claimed for using the so-called hedonic adjustment, that this supposedly makes us more productive and should thus be reflected in the GDP.
Are you saying that the "hedonic adjustment" assumes that a computer that is "twice as powerful" contributes twice as much to worker productivity, twice as much to enjoyment, etc.? I wasn't aware that the "utility function" (explicit or otherwise) was linear on all characteristics of a product like that.
No, I'm not.

I have no idea what equation[s] are used, linear or otherwise.
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Re: The Japanese Economic Miracle

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Typhoon wrote:
Azrael wrote:
Typhoon wrote:
Azrael wrote: Anyone: aren't hedonic adjustments difficult to avoid? The average computer in 2010 is better than the average computer in 1990, the average cell phone in 2010 is better than the average cell phone in 1990, etc. Increasing prices reflect more than just inflation. They can also reflect superior characteristics.
Okay. My question is so?

Costs of electronics have been plummeting over the decades. Consider, for example, the price of a large 42" flat screen LCD TV.

However, why does making, selling, buying and watching an LCD versus CRT raise the GDP?
In theory, it is a more enjoyable experience -- the picture quality is better, it is lighter and thinner (so it can be situated in more places), etc. The increase in enjoyment has a monetary value.
Perhaps, but how does one quantify an increase in enjoyment in monetary terms?
By calculating how much someone is willing to pay for it (the increase in enjoyment gained by the new and/or improved characteristic) versus doing without it.

I would imagine that it isn't always obvious (to the folks calculating CPI) how to do this; but I've never asked them, since I don't know them.
I don't think it's hedonic adjustments.
Zack Morris wrote: . ..
Small nitpick: computer prices aren't increasing. If anything, they're decreasing. The "best" computers today still cost the same as the "best" in 1996, but my computer in 1996 was less powerful than an iPhone 4S (but three times more expensive). And if you can settle for less than best, you can pick up dirt cheap sub-$500 computers these days that can run most of the latest software.
Agreed. This is part of the rationale claimed for using the so-called hedonic adjustment, that this supposedly makes us more productive and should thus be reflected in the GDP.
Are you saying that the "hedonic adjustment" assumes that a computer that is "twice as powerful" contributes twice as much to worker productivity, twice as much to enjoyment, etc.? I wasn't aware that the "utility function" (explicit or otherwise) was linear on all characteristics of a product like that.
No, I'm not.

I have no idea what equation[s] are used, linear or otherwise.
What are you saying, then? We shouldn't just count the average PC today the same as the average PC in 1990 (not that you are doing so, but then, I don't know what you're doing). That wouldn't be apples to apples.
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Re: The Japanese Economic Miracle

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My good colonel,

Can you comment on the recent decision, about two weeks ago, by the Diet to increase sales taxes from 5% to 10% starting around 2015? Is that indicative of a deeper budgetary hole than otherwise known?
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Re: The Japanese Economic Miracle

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Ammianus wrote:My good colonel,

Can you comment on the recent decision, about two weeks ago, by the Diet to increase sales taxes from 5% to 10% starting around 2015? Is that indicative of a deeper budgetary hole than otherwise known?
I was under the impression that Japan could wipe out most of its debt simply by increasing the consumption tax. If this ends up working, it will be a major vindication of Keynesian economics and modern monetary theory.
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Re: The Japanese Economic Miracle

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Ammianus wrote:My good colonel,

Can you comment on the recent decision, about two weeks ago, by the Diet to increase sales taxes from 5% to 10% starting around 2015? Is that indicative of a deeper budgetary hole than otherwise known?
The consumption tax increase is still at the proposal stage rather than having been passed into law.

It's a point of disagreement within the ruling DPJ with the largest faction, lead by power-behind-the-throne Ozawa, opposing it.

PM Noda, a fiscal conservtive, is promoting it.

PM Noda recently reshuffled his cabinet over the issue. The con tax proposal may yet split the DPJ.

The opposition LDP opposes it.

I don't think the proposal is indicative of a deeper budgetary hole than otherwise known, but is a proposal to attempt to deal with the deep budgetary hole that is well known.
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Re: The Japanese Economic Miracle

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Typhoon wrote:
Zack Morris wrote:
Typhoon wrote: In a number of ways, the US is more [over]regulated than Japan. The concept of "what is the purpose of a company" and "what is the purpose of society" is different between the two countries.
I'm hoping you can elaborate on this.
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Thank you Very Much for your post and the graph, Typhoon.

According to Rush the Limbo Dancer :wink: and the other fat little kitsunes :wink: like Hannity on Fox :wink:, what makes that graph is Holy............

CEOs must be able to be paid ANY amount.......... They have such great business ability comparable to sports icons like Roger Clemons and Barry Bonds :twisted:

These little fat foxes :twisted: pay lip service to the idea that profit for the stock holders is supposed to be the goal ...............

Never mind that the shenanigans of Bankster CEOs tanked the value of mutual funds.......

Nevermind that some were in Government at the time: Paulson............

But what control do I with my mutual funds have over pay for golden parachuted CEOs.............

Or whether my job gets outsourced...........

Schadenfreude Fantasy: Bain Capital buys Fox ;) :) :D :lol: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:
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Re: The Japanese Economic Miracle

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American workers get outsourced all the time. Why not CEOs? Foreign CEOs seem to be a lot cheaper. And who can look at the relative success of Toyota versus General Motors over the last forty years and claim that American CEOs are worth the extra money? Besides paid propagandists and prostitutes like Rush?
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Re: The Japanese Economic Miracle

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Azrael wrote:American workers get outsourced all the time. Why not CEOs? Foreign CEOs seem to be a lot cheaper. And who can look at the relative success of Toyota versus General Motors over the last forty years and claim that American CEOs are worth the extra money? Besides paid propagandists and prostitutes like Rush?
I have always doubted the notion of the 'celebrity CEO'. I just do not think they are worth what people make them worth. It is celebrity culture in the worst place imaginable. I can only imagine that there are people in management positions in the company who would be perfectly competent CEOs in a corporate culture that is based on simply doing the job and doing it well. That seems to be the Japanese method from my superficial reading of how Japanese executives behave and how they are compensated.

There is a preponderance of Meg Whitmans and Mitt Romneys in America.
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Re: The Japanese Economic Miracle

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I should post that link from the CEO of Uniqlo USA, Shin Odake, over here. What is remarkable is the attitude of seeing opportunity in the face of adversity. Quite a remarkable contrast to the usual species of piss-mouth I'm constantly seeing in the local business press........
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Re: The Japanese Economic Miracle

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Zack Morris wrote:
Typhoon wrote:
Zack Morris wrote:
Typhoon wrote: In a number of ways, the US is more [over]regulated than Japan. The concept of "what is the purpose of a company" and "what is the purpose of society" is different between the two countries.
I'm hoping you can elaborate on this.
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Of course but could you elaborate on why this is? Perhaps the Japanese should be more vocal about their social philosophy and give Westerners looking for something new to try something to work from :)
You may not be old enough to remember well the 1980's and the Japanese Bubble Economy.

Back then many Western pundits considered it a given that Japan would soon come to dominate the global economy eclipsing the US.

Many people in Japan held similar beliefs about the innate superiority of the so-called Japanese way.

As you know, things turned out a bit differently . . .

Also I don't know if social philosophy is easily exportable to different cultures.
May the gods preserve and defend me from self-righteous altruists; I can defend myself from my enemies and my friends.
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Torchwood
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Re: The Japanese Economic Miracle

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Typhoon wrote:
Back then many Western pundits considered it a given that Japan would soon come to dominate the global economy eclipsing the US.

Many people in Japan held similar beliefs about the innate superiority of the so-called Japanese way.
Now they hold such beliefs about China...
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Typhoon
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Re: The Japanese Economic Miracle

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Miss_Faucie_Fishtits wrote:I should post that link from the CEO of Uniqlo USA, Shin Odake, over here. What is remarkable is the attitude of seeing opportunity in the face of adversity. Quite a remarkable contrast to the usual species of piss-mouth I'm constantly seeing in the local business press........
Uniqlo has been quite the success story in Japan.

I own a number of Uniqlo non-iron white dress shirts :wink:

From what I understand, they have saturated the Japanese market, in their niche, and are looking overseas for new growth.
May the gods preserve and defend me from self-righteous altruists; I can defend myself from my enemies and my friends.
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Re: The Japanese Economic Miracle

Post by Typhoon »

Torchwood wrote:
Typhoon wrote:
Back then many Western pundits considered it a given that Japan would soon come to dominate the global economy eclipsing the US.

Many people in Japan held similar beliefs about the innate superiority of the so-called Japanese way.
Now they hold such beliefs about China...
Indeed.

On the one hand, China has reestablished it's historic role as the central kingdom of manufacturing [cc: East India Company; re: Trade deficit with China]

On the other hand, hard to imagine that the property bubble, especially crony local govt misinvestment, will not pop at some point.
May the gods preserve and defend me from self-righteous altruists; I can defend myself from my enemies and my friends.
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