[Marxism] Did Keynesianism save Japan?

[abu hartal <abuhartal@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

My point was that the resistance the Japanese economy has shown to full scale 
depression after the the poppingof the real estate bubble may well be less 
attributable to Keynesian policies than an intensification in the rateat which 
s/v had been growing. Japan has witnessed the widespread introduction of 
part-time and contingent workersand employers have won rights to "renegotiate" 
contracts. Of course this is all in addition to the Toyoto model of industrial 
relations which has squeezed work out of every idle second.  This misery has 
been the price of keepingJapan from a collapse in investment spending. It is 
difficult to see how Keynesian policies would have workedto stabilize 
capitalism in the absence of the turning of the screws on the Japanese workers. 
It is true, as Sukla says, that the fertility rate has been declining for fifty 
years. But between 1957 and 2004 it remained at roughly two children per woman. 
It dipped below 2 in 1975 and now is around 1.3.  There does seem to have been 
a precipitousdecline in the last twenty five years in particular, but I don't 
have good data in front of me. And that decline is easily traceable to the 
increased exploitation suffered by Japanese workers, especially women. At such 
low birth rates, it is difficult to see how Japan will support a greying 
population or even enjoy the same economiesof scale. Japan is headed towards 
social breakdown. I agree with David that it is important to reduce the carbon 
footprint, but I don't think the best way to dothis is to reduce the population 
of the advanced industrialized societies (a one child policy?). As I already 
said, the main thing to do is to exchange high private consumption with 
increased leisure and public goods (child care, quality education) in an 
ecologically sustainable mode of production.  Abu

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