Hm. The japanese miracle is a bit separate from the rest of the Asian miracle. It was artificially engineered by America to establish a counter to Chinese/USSR/

Hm. The japanese miracle is a bit separate from the rest of the Asian miracle. It was artificially engineered by America to establish a counter to Chinese/USSR/North Korean growing influence in the region, through a sort of Asian Marshall Plan. Essentially America airplaned cash in to stop Communism. I'm increasingly growing into the opinion that capitalism fails to engineer any new "real" growth after physical needs are met for the majority of the population and this is true of any developed economy. Developed economies by nature stagnate. And when you look into post-physical-needs-are-met growth you mostly see financial services that might not be any net-benefit to society. Again I am still studying the topic so not sure. But it's the impression I get. If you look at Japanese society it's clearly hit that stage. Physical needs, basic human needs for food and shelter, have been met. Therefore capitalism has for the most part stopped functioning. Most developed economies reach that stage. The issue is we're not satisfied and we keep asking for more and more "growth", even though capitalism might not be able to deliver it. It might've worked before, but without physical needs capitalism stops functioning effectively, maybe at all. I've written about it here: http://www.rafaelkino.com/essays/capitalismisfailing.html http://www.rafaelkino.com/essays/capitalismisfailing.html