Japan: The Evidence Mounts

The latest information out of Japan shows that the nation's economy has collapsed 15.4 year-over-year. Exports were also in the gutter, having fallen 26%, while imports were down 15%. This is the largest drop in the "world's leading economies," according to CNN.

These numbers are, simply put, depression-level drops. Japan has a very powerful economy, and if it is showing such horrible performance, then other nations - such as the United States - are hurting about as badly.

At this point, with so much evidence coming to bear, it is ridiculous for OECD and other industrialised nations to continue the mantra of 'recession.' To perpetuate such patent disinformation is to assist in further destruction of capital, skills, and productive capacity. A depression requires entirely different planning than a recession.

Unfortunately, it is probably too easy to dismiss these numbers coming from Japan. Having suffered under an on-again, off-again relationship with recession, Japan's collapsing economy can be explained away as the battered nation's inherent 'sensitivity' to economic circumstances.

Instead of dismissal, Japan's collapse should be seen with great alarm. The nation's sensitivity means that it suffers from the 2007 Depression faster than most, but it points the way that other major economies will likely take. We suspect it won't be long before even official Government statistics from, say, the United States, show a similar catastrophic fall.