But that said, the leadership is so old and entrenched they would probably produce the same results even if they were trying to create a social democracy.
Abe was seen by some as being somewhat of a populist radical because he wanted to increase taxes, public spending, and get women into the workforce.
It seems like it's a common problem in every stable society - old people get the reigns, freeze the next generation out, and double down as things get worse. Even neoliberalism wouldn't be as bad as it is (granted, it would still be pretty bad) if there was a mechanism to churn people out and replace them at fixed intervals - we might get libs who at least understand how the internet works, for example.
Japan actually used to have forced retirement at 65 for this exact reason, to prevent new salarymen from getting stuck in middle management as fossils ran every company into the ground. Now it's been turned into an optional retirement at 70, and Abe (who is 66 himself) wants to push it to 75 as the number of seniors forced to work because their pensions don't pay enough anymore increases.
Unfortunately, the old people have found a way around this by retiring to become behind the scenes power brokers. Kind of like Obama in the last election, except more geriatric.
The most interesting thing is all these people are getting old enough that they are going to start dying very soon. I regret always seeing people pass, but I think Japan is going to have one of the most dramatic transformations over the next decade because of it because of how sharp that population curve is compared to the rest of the world.
Japanese neoliberalism must be hell.
Of course it is, its neoliberalism.
But that said, the leadership is so old and entrenched they would probably produce the same results even if they were trying to create a social democracy.
Abe was seen by some as being somewhat of a populist radical because he wanted to increase taxes, public spending, and get women into the workforce.
It seems like it's a common problem in every stable society - old people get the reigns, freeze the next generation out, and double down as things get worse. Even neoliberalism wouldn't be as bad as it is (granted, it would still be pretty bad) if there was a mechanism to churn people out and replace them at fixed intervals - we might get libs who at least understand how the internet works, for example.
Japan actually used to have forced retirement at 65 for this exact reason, to prevent new salarymen from getting stuck in middle management as fossils ran every company into the ground. Now it's been turned into an optional retirement at 70, and Abe (who is 66 himself) wants to push it to 75 as the number of seniors forced to work because their pensions don't pay enough anymore increases.
Unfortunately, the old people have found a way around this by retiring to become behind the scenes power brokers. Kind of like Obama in the last election, except more geriatric.
The most interesting thing is all these people are getting old enough that they are going to start dying very soon. I regret always seeing people pass, but I think Japan is going to have one of the most dramatic transformations over the next decade because of it because of how sharp that population curve is compared to the rest of the world.
Imagine observing the Japanese workforce for 30 years and concluding "The problem is that not enough people are being shoved through the gears".