Here is something to shake us up.

Reconsidering Japan and Reconsidering Paul Krugman appears on the Truthout web site.

In the midst of the Great Recession, the United States is suffering through nearly 10 percent unemployment and 50 million people without health insurance. A new report has found over 14 percent of Americans living below the poverty line, including 20 percent of children and 23 percent of seniors, the highest numbers since President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty. That’s in addition to declining prospects for the middle class and a general increase in economic insecurity.

How, then, should we regard a country that has 5 percent unemployment, health care for all of its people, the lowest income inequality and is one of the world’s leading exporters? This country also scores high on life expectancy, low on infant mortality, at the top in literacy, and low on crime, incarceration, homicides, mental illness and drug abuse. It also has a low rate of carbon emissions and is doing its part to reduce global warming. In all of these categories, this particular country beats both the US and China by a country mile.

The second paragraph describes Japan according to this article.  The article decries articles in the mainstream press and all the US pundits that declare Japan as having a lost economic decade.  They take Paul Krugman and The New Yotk Times to task.

The Truthout article links to a series in The New York Times that starts with the article Japan Goes From Dynamic to Disheartened.  The article of course discusses the well known problems in Japan since its great economic bubble burst.  Toward the end of The New York Times article there is a slight concession:

Yukari Higaki, 24, said the only economic conditions she had ever known were ones in which prices and salaries seemed to be in permanent decline. She saves as much money as she can by buying her clothes at discount stores, making her own lunches and forgoing travel abroad. She said that while her generation still lived comfortably, she and her peers were always in a defensive crouch, ready for the worst.

Not having any direct experience of Japan myself, it is hard to judge and balance these opposing points of view.  Do any of my faithful readers have any insights to share?

Robert Reich has written the piece, Why Democrats Should Disregard Bill Clinton’s Endorsement of Obama’s Tax Deal.

In his article, Robert Reich said the following:

I admire Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. I advised the former and worked for the latter. They are good men. But they have either been outwitted by the privileged and powerful of America, or seduced by those on Wall Street and the executive suites of America into believing that the Republican nostrums are necessary, or succumbed Democratic advisors who think in terms of small-bore tactics rather than large and principled strategies.

Remember that Bill Clinton fell for the advice of Robert Rubin on financial deregulation and probably the Glass-Steagall act repeal that led to the recent financial crisis.  Bill Clinton is also the President who compromised with Republicans over the objections of Democrats on issues of free trade.  Clinton has demonstrated that he does not have a good eye for detecting the long term pitfalls of what appear to be good short term compromises.

There is nothing wrong with the concepts of deregulation and free trade when applied in a sensible manner.  Bill Clinton and Barack Obama appear to believe that you can compromise with people who want to implement concepts in a non-sensical manner.  In two cases where Clinton tried this it led to disaster.

How many times can we go down this road before we run out of second chances?  How many times can you pull the trigger on a six chambered revolver with five empty chambers, before you lose the game?  With Russian Roulette, you know the number is no more than 5, but it could be as low as 1.

If you want to think outside the US box, where better to go than PressTV?

Press TV takes revolutionary steps as the first Iranian international news network, broadcasting in English on a round-the-clock basis.

Our global Tehran-based headquarters is staffed with outstanding Iranian and foreign media professionals.

Press TV is extensively networked with bureaus located in the world’s most strategic cities.

I don’t know whether to categorize the following as humor, conspiracy nuts, somewhat reformed but still deluded Reagan nuts, or a grain of truth. I’ll just present this for your viewing pleasure.