What you are advocating is a common recurring theme (but seriously flawed in my view)from the Western First World perspective.
What I believe has not been highlighted is to understand how the Japanese minds that control the economy works. These are people in their 50s to 70s who have either lived through the Second World War, and/or the 30 years of back breaking work until the 1970s, when Japan rode the economic crest in Asia. These people have known extreme poverty, and it in engraved deeply into their psch. They DO NOT have the same perspective of the world economy as the current Western economists - by and large baby boomers who have only know economic expansion (Greespan et al not withstanding).
Most people in Asia, when faced with economic adversity, will revert back to the "cash is king, stash it under the mattress!" mentality. This is what is happening all acros East and SE Asia. To get these people to subscribe to an econmic theory of "spending your way out of trouble" means they have to overcome their inner pschological make-up, no matter how valid this theory looks on paper. It's like standing st the edge of the precipice: while you think there is still a chance you may be able to hide from the beast that is approaching, you are not going to jump.
I do not think we are about to see a consumer-led economic recovery in Japan - or Asia, anytime soon. I never understood the consumer-led engine of the American economy until now, my third year of residence in this country. |
