Japan's People Problem (make babies not trees)

Front Page Magazine ^ | 09-03-2009 | ak267

[ak267]

The historic vote in Japan's recent national election, in which the Liberal Democratic Party which ruled nearly continuously for more than six decades has lost control of the government, is testament to deep undercurrents of discontent in a country whose economy is no bigger today than it was in 1996. The victorious Democratic Party, which touts Keynesian stimulus and more protections for Japanese firms, didn't inspire confidence among voters, according to polls, but the party carried the day anyway with an electorate hungry for change.

But change will come slowly for Japan because the roots of its economic problems are deep and not always well understood. Yes, the country is struggling under a mountain of debt accumulated during a decade of public works spending that didn't do much to boost the economy. And government policies and regulations still protect large segments of the economy.

[ak267]

http://frontpagemagazine.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=36174

[Sherman Logan]

That means that even a return of birthrates to replacement levels or higher will only build the population slowly.

Replacement birthrates won't "build" the population at all, only eventually stabilize it.

[Brilliant]

I think Obama would say they’ve got it exactly backwards. The problem is not that they have too few young people. The problem is that they have too many old people. You can’t make people procreate, but you can pull their plugs.