Turning Japanese? I really think so
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Turning Japanese? I really think so
Japan had a remarkably stable leadership from the end of World War II until their bubble burst in the 1990s. As the country has stumbled over the last two decades, unable finally to extricate from its slump, it has suffered through a rapid of succession of leaders, several of whom, like Obama, have stirred hopes of renewal and reform, only to create disillusionment and despair within the electorate. From 1950 to 1970, Japan had six prime ministers. It has had 14 from 1990 to the present, and six from 2005 to the present. That kind of political instability is both cause and effect of Japan’s inability to transform its economy and international relations to meet the challenges of a new century.
So when the Tea Party's whole nopey-strangey thing doesn't work out by 2012, I guess will turn to the Americans for Bloomberg Party, and then when that doesn't work? We'll just keep on, in the words of the great Graham Parker, discovering Japan:
Comments (40)
Nopey-changey....I love it!— Les Ismore
"Whether it's healthcare, education, infrastructure," Japan has universal hc and spent heavily on infrastructure during multiple attempts at stimulus. They've still struggled economically for two decades.— RG- Please, Will. Don't use lessons we should be learning from other countries in your article. Whether it's healthcare, education, infrastructure, don't you know amerikans are too arrogant to EVER look to another country for leadership? WE LEAD! Even if it's into a rotting, decaying fracturing society, WE WILL LEAD THE WORLD THERE. How dare you ask us to look elsewhere for answers.— CiceroSpuriousDeodatus
The current Administration is "Hopey-Changey", and they are being replaced by the "Nopey-Strangey" Republicans. But keep your eye out for the next generation emerging in California, the "Dopey-Mangy" set of pot smokers and illegals. It's the next economic bubble to inflate. We can all get rich by growing weed in our front yards, and having TPOS's Guatemalan victims landscape it!— Mr. Smith
Comment removed.- Too funny, Rudy.
The predictions you reference are based on the presumptions that birth rates will continue the same (which they won't) and that immigration rates will continue the same (which they won't).
Steyn said 40% could happen by 2020, so you're wrong on that. And now you're telling me, well, it won't be 40% by 2020, like he said, but it could be 20% by 2050 - which is different than what he said, in order to prove that what he said was "accurate." Hilarious.
And I love your article: --snip-- Data gathered from various sources indicate that --snip-- "Data gathered from various sources." That's rich. I love your dedication to "facts," there, Rudy.— Talking point sleuth 
It wasn't 2020, Steyn said 2050. And others agree.
Last year, five per cent of the total population of the 27 EU countries was Muslim. But rising levels of immigration from Muslim countries and low birth rates among Europe's indigenous population mean that, by 2050, the figure will be 20 per cent, according to forecasts.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/5994045/A-fifth-of-European-Union-will-be-Muslim-by-2005.html
Steyn, focuses on England, which will have a higher percentage based on current rates.
Oh, my sides.— rudytbone- My bad. That would be another 34% of the population. Tell me, Rudy. By how much will the non-Muslim population of Europe shrink over the next nine years? And given that number, how many immigrants and converts would equal 34% of the entire non-Muslim population?— Talking point sleuth
- {{{---}}} Birth rates, IMMIGRATION RATES, CONVERSION RATES. {{{--}}}
Yeah, that's brilliant, Rudy. So birth rates will being the Muslim population from 4% now to 6% by 2020.
And immigration rates and conversion rates will add to the Muslim population in numbers equivalent to another 32% of the entire population,
In nine years.
Yeah, I'm sure that's "accurate."
Oh, my sides.— Talking point sleuth - Here are some facts to chew on. You boyz are hilarious.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/demographics.asp— Talking point sleuth - Hey clueless Sloth, read the WHOLE comment. Birth rates, IMMIGRATION RATES, CONVERSION RATES. Do you have a gene that just lets you ingnore what you don't want to see? Like facts?— rudytbone
Happily the U.S.A. has a form of government that cannot change easily except at 4-year intervals, with smaller changes at 2-year intervals. A parliamentary democracy like Japan can flipflop over and over (as we have also seen in Italy in the past). Of course there is another way, but Sharron Angle with her 2nd-amendment solution was defeated.- {{{---}}} If the current birth rates, immigration rates, and conversion rates are maintained, Steyn's numbers are accurate.{{---}}}
Too funny. So, at current birth rates, Europe will go from 4% Muslim to 40% Muslim in 9 years?
You boyz are hilarious.
--snip-- It is possible, though not certain, that this number could rise to 6 percent by 2020. If current immigration and birth rates remain the same, it could even rise to 10 percent within 100 years. But it won't, because Muslims don't actually have more babies than other populations do under the same circumstances. The declining population growth rates are not confined to native populations. In fact, immigrants from Muslim countries are experiencing a faster drop in reproduction rates than the larger European population. --snip--
And, there's this:
--snip-- And a Canadian researcher, Randy McDonald, says it is actually the most non-religious countries in Europe that have the highest fertility rates, including Denmark.
"Europe, the national populations with the highest cohort fertility rates tend to be the northern and western European ones, where secularization is most advanced," writes McDonald.
"More religious and conservative societies elsewhere in Europe fare relatively poorly."
In other words, the increasingly secular countries of Europe are not threatened by a demographic onslaught of "Muslims," religious or otherwise. --snip--
But don't let facts get in the way of your paranoid fantasies.
— Talking point sleuth - Well now, it couldn't be that Merkel is a politician who speaks out of both sides of her mouth to appeal to different constituencies, could it sloboat?
--snip-- "We feel tied to Christian values. Those who don't accept them don't have a place here," said the chancellor.
Merkel said "Islam is part of Germany", echoing the recent comments of Wulff, a liberal voice in the party. --snip--
Oh, and there's this little gem also:
--snip-- Mrs Merkel said: "We should not be a country either which gives the impression to the outside world that those who don't speak German immediately or who were not raised speaking German are not welcome here." --snip--
So, Mulims (and Jews or anyone else not Christian) isn't welcome in Germany, but "Islam is a part of Germany," and she wouldn't want anyone who doesn't speak German to feel unwelcome. No wonder you quoted her, sloboat - she's completely confused.— Talking point sleuth - If the current birth rates, immigration rates, and conversion rates are maintained, Steyn's numbers are accurate. They are already calling for Sharia law in England. Demographics are destiny. I'm sorry, but you libs just can't keep ignoring facts and truth forever. Someday, ya gotta wake up and smell the coffee. If yesterday's elections did not do it for you...you're hopeless.— rudytbone
- {{{---}}} the modern social democratic welfare state - as engineered by liberals - is unaffordable. {{{---}}} Yeah, good point sloboat. Let's check in on that most socialist of all those socialist welfare states - Sweden:
--snip-- Trade Talk: Global Stimulus Gave the Swedish Economy a Boost
2010/09/24
Sweden is going through a rapid recovery reflected in the latest data from the National Institute of Economic Research (NIER): The economic growth is expected to reach 4.3 percent for 2010, 3,4 percent in 2011 and 3,4 percent in 2012 – truly impressive figures....
--snip--
But of course, Sweden doesn't have any of those dirty Muslims, right sloboat? Oh, and it must be because Sweden didn't foolishly have a stimulus, right?
--snip-- Published: 08 Dec 2008 01:59:10 PST
STOCKHOLM --Sweden Friday outlined a 8.3 billion Swedish kronor ($1 billion) fiscal stimulus package for 2009, to complement earlier spending plans, in a measure aimed at further propping up the country's teetering economy in the face of a sharp global economic slowdown.
The move comes a day after the Swedish Riksbank delivered its biggest rate cut in 16 years, and answers mounting calls from market-watchers to charge up an export-oriented economy that's already in recession from the global crisis and has shed some 10,000 jobs in recent weeks.
The center-right government said Friday's package will be aimed at boosting resources to help the unemployed find new jobs, infrastructure spending, lowered employer fees for hiring long-term unemployed, and tax breaks for home-improvement work. --snip--— Talking point sleuth - Comment removed.
- Comment removed.
- Sorry, should have said 40% there. But what the hey, as long as your promoting paranoid fantasies, we might as well make it 50%. Or maybe 60%?— Talking point sleuth
- Comment removed.
- More about Mark Steyn: sloboat's favorite paranoid lunatic.
--snip-- Steyn believes that Eurabia — a future where the European continent is dominated by Islam — is an imminent reality that cannot be reversed. "The problem, after all, is not that the sons of Allah are 'long shots' but that they're certainties. Every Continental under the age of 40 — make that 60, if not 75 — is all but guaranteed to end his days living in an Islamified Europe."[18] "Native populations on the continent are aging and fading and being supplanted remorselessly by a young Muslim demographic."[19] Steyn claims that Muslims will account for perhaps 40 percent of the population by 2020, --snip--
So, in 9 years, 50% of Europe's population will he Muslim. Currently, about 4% of Europe's population is Muslim (and 80% of them, btw, are not religiously observant). Steyn's paranoid fantasies are a virtual mathematical impossibility.
Oh, my sides.
— Talking point sleuth - {{{---}}} America is doomed. {{{---}}} You're slipping, sloboat - you forgot the most important part of your bed-wetting, whimpering poss. They're supposed to read that "America is doomed, and it's the libz' fault." Please do better next time.— Talking point sleuth
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- I suppose this is the kind of incoherent moping we can expect for 4-6 months while the left-wing pundits find a new groove. When your guys all lose, Will, that makes it "instability"?— MaggieL
Speaking of evolution, the kid's are alright. They've wised up that the whole game is rigged, and besides, they're busy building their own cyber-societies on the new frontier. They won't get fooled again.- sloboat - have you ever met a paranoid fantasy founded in your obsessive hatred of libz that you didn't subscribe to? BWAAAAACCCKKK!!!!1!!1 Japan's population is shrinking. BWAAAAACCCKKK!!!!1!!1 And ours will too! BWAAAAACCCKKK!!!!1!!1 The Mulims are coming, the Muslims are coming! BWAAAAACCCKKK!!!!1!!1 Sharia law is about to be imposed in the U.S. BWAAAAACCCKKK!!!!1!!1 Obama's a Nazi BWAAAAACCCKKK!!!!1!!1 The media is out to kill us all BWAAAAACCCKKK!!!!1!!1 The Black Panthers are killing white voters left and right! BWAAAAACCCKKK!!!!1!!1 Hide the women and children under the beds! BWAAAAACCCKKK!!!!1!!1 It's all the libz fault! BWAAAAACCCKKK!!!!1!!1 Run for your lives, run for your lives!!!!1!!!!!!!— Talking point sleuth
- There is no easy or quick fix to the problems we are facing. It's a global world, and we own the highest standard of living and as a result the highest salary requirements. Technology and science are the only answers left because Labor jobs are gone, and we just elected a party that opposes the department of education, thinks evolution is a myth and the bible should be taught in public school. And the Fox Mormon in charge, did I say Mormom, I meant moron......well his taking credit for the movement. Yes, the same Mormon, I mean moron, who had a agreeable discussion on his show two weeks ago in which they said the Bible is their proof that there is no such thing as Climate Change.— gee1971
- Swifty, a Heinlein fan no less. It's comforting that you can see a cosmic purpose for liberals. We grow by birth, but we evolve by death and renewal. That applies to human society, as history proves.
- Comment removed.
Japan's problems were caused by *exactly* what Ben Bernanke is doing right now. Did you see how big of a check he just wrote? Who's your daddy?- Funny swifty, but why did the economy grow under Democrats since the 1940 elections? I'll wait for any solutions to come from the Republican party, but when looking at Japan, it's doubtful. Especially considering that the conservative LDP party was in charge from 1955 to 2009. The twenty four hour news cycle combined with a two party system is an issue that this democracy hasn't adapted to yet, which is causing the whiplash election effect. Batty, the President and the Senate still are Democrat, and Fox News catch phrases won't change that.— HandNik
///in part because of bigger problems with solutions beyond the capacity of either party, whether that problem is ending the war in Afghanistan, creating jobs, or reducing the deficit.//// Well, color me an optimist. Seems to me that ending the war, creating jobs, and reducing the deficit are all within the capacity of either party. It is silly to claim that all three are beyond the reach of Democrats or Republicans.- Comment removed.
- Will, is this your way of lobbying for more anime p*rn?— RG
- Now you're an expert on Japan? Nopey-strangey? Such an adult thing to say. You were probably one of those kids who stayed on their porch and called the other kids names, then when they came after you, you ran behind your mother's skirt.— jeandarc
- Comment removed.
- Plebs, don't worry. Other nations are light years behind our ability to mass produce cultural icons like Snooki and Justin Bieber.— RG
- A nation of 300 million will not economically, politically and militarily dominate a world of seven billion for very long. This is the 21st Century. Scoff at this concept at your - and your country's - peril.— E.Plebnista
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