Japan says economy in worst shape since 2009

Not investing in Japan’s economy, in education and technology, information science and entrepreneurship has been the government’s failure.It is now coming back to bite them...

Still blaming Lehman Shock and now coronavirus for all of Japan woes instead of poor management decisions and leadership.

Not investing in Japan’s economy, in education and technology, information science and entrepreneurship has been the government’s failure.It is now coming back to bite them...

100% agreement!

Not investing in Japan’s economy, in education and technology, information science and entrepreneurship has been the government’s failure

No it isn't. It's the private sector's failure. Corporations were raking in record-high profits but hoarding much of the money, buying back their own shares and increasing shareholder dividends instead of investing in "technology, information science and entrepreneurship," (or giving decent wage hikes, for that matter). The economy is way worse off for recovering thanks to that.

Not investing in Japan’s economy, in education and technology, information science and entrepreneurship has been the government’s failure.It is now coming back to bite them...

but in the US.....

US unemployment rate approaches 20%, economists say

Not investing in American economy, in education and technology, information science and entrepreneurship has been the government’s failure.It is now coming back to bite them...

Successive tax increases have not helped. 

Those tax increases were brought on by government spending 100 trillion per year when it was only taking in 60 trillion in tax revenues (when times were better than they are now).

Tax hikes occur because of government spending.

More government spending equals more tax hikes sooner or later.

Unless, that is, the government spending actually boosts economic growth and therefore tax revenues.

But look where the majority of government spending does go - social welfare spending.

If Japanese people took more care of themselves, then the government would have more leeway to spend in a way that was actually investment.

However, I do not wish to see government investing in entrepreneur-ship. Entrepreneurs should be able to figure it out by themselves without receiving corporate welfare. (They should also be able to get very rich by doing that if successful.)

Why is everyone off topic and talking about "investing in technology and education"?

There is absolutely nothing in this article about that aspect of the economy.

In the October-December period last year, Japan's economic growth shrank an annualized real 7.1 percent as the consumption tax rate hike from 8 percent to 10 percent in October dented private spending.

This was the start of the downfall even before Corona hit.

Analysts say the US economy is most negative since the Great Depression of the 1930s, so Japan is not bad off. 2009 was nothing compared to 1930.

Yes it is going to be, along with the rest of the world

What a convinent excuse ???, who are they trying to kid ???.

It's pandemic everywhere to economy decreases and it's a normal environment. Abemasks distributed to all Japan finding defective products is another waste of money from our taxes. It can only be said that the Abe team did a very irrelevant act.

Even China invests massively in education and technology, information science and entrepreneurship has been the government’s failure. Guess what, China surpassed Japan by hundred times over. Japan was drunk on the Nihonjiron for the rest of 20th century, while Germany did the same thing as China does today (probably West Germany inspired China to do so). Germany emerged unscathed from the Plaza Accord, while Japan took the full blow of the economic downfall.

This is not just government's failure alone rather an entire society's failure. Japanese people voted the LDP for decades, and the economic depression is what they will reap.