Thirty years ago, I was working as a computer programmer for a giant corporation while I finished my Ph.D. thesis. As everyone agreed at the time, Japan was overtaking us. I remember that management passed around an article for us to read about Japan and how our country suffered not from one big problem, but from a thousand little cuts. I don’t remember what cuts they mentioned, but I do remember that we Americans were somehow supposed to stop doing what we were doing and change direction so we could catch up with Japan.
Twenty years ago, things started to change, not on our end, but on Japan’s. Japan had gone into a recession, but no problem, they had things worked out. The government would allow companies time to develop new products instead of laying people off in a panic the way we do here. But eventually it became clear that their recession just wasn’t going to go away. Even worse, it also became clear that their population was decreasing and that they would have a hard time changing direction and getting their birth rate up.
Here is an article in the Washington Post about Japan and its woes and how our perspective has changed in the last thirty years. Things look bleak.
What’s noteworthy is that the article mentions the population problem. I first heard about this from Mark Steyn, and that was several years ago. For those of us who are familiar with him, Mark Steyn is a remarkable writer, both for his brilliant writing and for his insights. Yet, our legacy media mostly ignores him. (Even the Post article doesn't mention him.) Anyone who looks at what they and their loyal readers are saying will find that they are usually stuck in the 1960s and simply haven’t taken his insights into account.
I’m not saying that Steyn is right about everything, but one expects people to respond to arguments that have gained ground with a lot of people, and when they don’t, one rightfully concludes that they are living in an enclosed bubble. Here is an example I mentioned a couple weeks ago, a feminist who simply says the same things that were said forty years ago about not having kids, taking no notice of what Steyn says about population shrinkage in the West.
There are many examples like this that I could mention. It’s a pathetic state of affairs.
Twenty years ago, things started to change, not on our end, but on Japan’s. Japan had gone into a recession, but no problem, they had things worked out. The government would allow companies time to develop new products instead of laying people off in a panic the way we do here. But eventually it became clear that their recession just wasn’t going to go away. Even worse, it also became clear that their population was decreasing and that they would have a hard time changing direction and getting their birth rate up.
Here is an article in the Washington Post about Japan and its woes and how our perspective has changed in the last thirty years. Things look bleak.
What’s noteworthy is that the article mentions the population problem. I first heard about this from Mark Steyn, and that was several years ago. For those of us who are familiar with him, Mark Steyn is a remarkable writer, both for his brilliant writing and for his insights. Yet, our legacy media mostly ignores him. (Even the Post article doesn't mention him.) Anyone who looks at what they and their loyal readers are saying will find that they are usually stuck in the 1960s and simply haven’t taken his insights into account.
I’m not saying that Steyn is right about everything, but one expects people to respond to arguments that have gained ground with a lot of people, and when they don’t, one rightfully concludes that they are living in an enclosed bubble. Here is an example I mentioned a couple weeks ago, a feminist who simply says the same things that were said forty years ago about not having kids, taking no notice of what Steyn says about population shrinkage in the West.
There are many examples like this that I could mention. It’s a pathetic state of affairs.
Top put up. I anticipate reading alot more. Cheers
Posted by: about longchamps | 10/29/2012 at 11:27 AM
Our pool needs to be fed using those photopages that you choose to consider worthy of becoming organ of the "Best Opinion Collection". Think it as a journal as well as a magazine about general interest proper to understand. Funny, witty, controversial, entertaining, useful, acerbic, thoughtful, serious, curious, unexpected comebacks tend to be welcome.
Posted by: michael kors canada | 10/29/2012 at 10:39 PM
The preceding two notes ("Top put up" and "Opur pool needs") are fake, and certainly off-topic. What causes them? Are they computer-generated? Is this some kind of advertising, intended to get readers to click on the names of the "writers"?
Posted by: Mark Spahn | 10/30/2012 at 11:26 PM
I don't know, Mark. It seems like a waste of time to me, if it's supposed to be advertising. I used to get a lot more, but then I changed the way I allow comments, and I get a lot fewer of them.
Posted by: John Pepple | 10/31/2012 at 07:08 AM