Economic Illiteracy and How Japan is Responsible for the Destruction of the Western Economies

The things that get printed in the Western press about Japan never ceases to amaze me. The most recent article that made me smirk and roll my eyes came out on the Washington Post Blog the other day...  I guess there's a good reason that articles like this make it to a blog and not the actual newspaper; maybe someone is paying attention at the editorial desk at the Washington Post after all...

Get this: The story claims that Japanese people not having sex is going to be responsible for the destruction of the western economies.

That's right. Because the Japanese do not have enough sex (trust they do - they pay for it), and therefore they don't have enough children, this supposedly will result in the collapse of the western world economies. This article is currently doing the Internet rounds and I have been asked to comment many times. So, since my comment is the same every time, I thought I'd save myself some effort and just blog my response to this. My response is below the article quote... So, first, kindly, read a bit on this interesting economic theory.

From the Washington Post Blog: Japan’s sexual apathy is endangering the global economy:

Because Japanese people aren't having kids – which is both partially a product of, and perhaps driven by some of the same factors as, their relative disinterest in sex or sexual relationships – the population is shrinking. It's shrinking very, very fast. The Japanese population dropped by 212,000 people last year, the largest decrease on record. The birth rate is still falling, with only 1.03 million live births last year, a record low and dramatic decrease from 1.21 million the year before... 

This isn't just bad because it means the Japanese economy will have fewer workers and thus be less productive. It's setting up an economic time bomb that will go off before long... For any economy to stay healthy, there need to be enough taxpayers to support all the retirees. But Japan's population is shrinking and aging simultaneously, which means that the number of old people is skyrocketing just as the base of taxpayers shrinks.

Here is my response to this article: 

1) Japan is too crowded as it is. Japan is the size of California yet it supports a population that is 1/2 the size of the US population. 

2) Who cares about the world economy? I don't. I am worried about my own and my immediate family; I don't give a rat's ass about the USA or the EU or people living 6000 miles on the other side of the earth. 

3) Here's my vote for Idiot Statist Quote from the article: "For any economy to stay healthy, there need to be enough taxpayers to support all the retirees." Why? What kind of economic theory is this? Why should I pay taxes to support people I don't even know? (All the while the government takes a cut off the top). And why should other people pay to support me? What happened to individual responsibility? Why is the government even in the business of social security? The government should serve one function and one function only (if that): To protect the nation from foreign invasion. Where in the constitution of Japan or the USA does it say that the government should run a retirement Ponzi scheme (or run national parks, roads, airport security, farm production, dictate how large colas can be at fast food restaurants, what you can and cannot eat or drink, etc...) If big government were the answer to our problems, then the Soviet Union would have been a very successful nation. But it wasn't. 

We don't need more taxpayers; we need to shrink the government (and its out of control spending) and get it out of the health insurance business, the food safety business, the retirement fund ponzi business, the business of "Morality Police" (gambling, drugs, prostitution), giving tax monies to foreign governments in foreign aid, on and on and on.... Phase out Social welfare programs and cut government spending.... If we do so (we won't) then this population "problem" and lessening tax revenues are no longer a problem. Problem solved!

PS: History shows that the government built on fiat currency and deficit spending will out spend revenues in every case; Increasing revenues will only serve to prolong the inevitable collapse of this corrupt fiat Ponzi scheme that we have built today. The sooner the Japanese (and USA) government collapse into bankruptcy and new management takes over, the sooner we can try to make a system that can be sustained; it's obvious to anyone paying attention that this system is NOT sustainable. 

We have been mortgaging our children's and our children's children's future for decades. This shit has got to stop. "What cannot continue, won't." (Can't remember who said that!) 

This photo is not from the Washington Post Blog. These are some girls I took a photo of in Osaka at Nanba station (I think it was). If you like this photo, please use as you wish (Credit Mike in Tokyo Rogers, please!) 

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NOTES: So, you say you want these people taking care of your welfare and your life and your families well-being?! You have got to be kidding me!

And while I am railing on government over-reach, you folks know that right now there is a butter shortage in Japan? That's right. It's hard to find, and if you do find it, it's being rationed to one block per customer.

Yes, I do have butter. I always keep extra on hand. I have to; after three years in a row of not having butter because of shortages (and being a guy that likes to cook and bake) I decided not to get short handed again.

The world's third largest economy and we can't keep butter on the shelves? And this has happened now for 3 years in a row. Why is that? Because the morons running the government control milk and butter production. 

These assholes can't even handle making butter and people want them to control their lives and health and the nation's prosperity???? 

Incredible!

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For an easy to read and simple to understand explanation of how the economy works, may I recommend: Henry Hazlitt - Economics in One Lesson