Lost Decade, Redux

By general consensus, Japan’s “Lost Decade” (now in its Third Decade) begins in 1989.

The biggest growth difference appears to come from the U.S. period from the Second (1996) Clinton Tax Reform to the 2001 recession—a big if, I grant you, but one that the Gingrich/DeLay-led Republican Party predicted would produce mayhem, and the alternative-history is not difficult to imagine—I’m having trouble seeing where the losses are. Especially if you consider that much of that time was spent investing in increased infrastructure improvements and health care that have the country well-positioned going forward.