Buried under fiscal stimulatio​n.......................from Rico

Several decades ago it was au courant for everyone to praise the Japanese model of both doing business and saving, but that was before they adopted the Keynesian model of borrow-and-spend.

- There isn't much talk today about how Japan financially destroyed itself in a mere twenty years by taking this path.

The first chart attached should be a tattoo on every US politician's forehead, in fact on every Western politician's forehead except perhaps members of UKIP.

The much hyped Japanes saving rate of nearly 50% has collapsed to about 3%.

- What happened? The Japanese government 'borrowed' it, and then wasted it on useless'stimuless' projects. [sound familiar?]

What does this mean for the shrinking and aging population of Japan? Why, the very same thing it will mean to everyone in the West an the US, just a bit later than it will happen in Nippon:

- Much higher taxes that will be increased over-and-over again.

- Higher interest rates on debt.

But, with a "recovery" and an economy that is not merely doing "just fine" [thanks for that insight Barry], but is in GREAT shape, what does the Japanese dilemma mean for the US?

- After all, with a comparitively dismal savings rate, 1-in-4 Americans earning less than $10/hr, half the population of Food Stamps, and over one third of the population not in the labor force this means this model Keynesian dystopia is coming to a financial neighborhood in the US and the West next.

Not to worry, debt monetization and rampant money printing will "save" the financial system...much like the old Vietnamese imperial city of Hue had to be destroyed to "save" it.