Japan might have more problems with its automobile industry because its cars are getting too expensive (compared to Korean and Chinese cars) and still did not reach the status of Western cars.
Japanese car brands, at least in what I am aware of, in Mexico and in the U.S. are booming on sales, so I wouldn't think they are in a problem, Yes, they are getting more and more expensive, but, as of right now, they are making it through and beating their American counterparts (GM, Ford, etc.). American cars are not what they used to be a a decade, if not more, ago; and, don't really know anything about Chinese and Korean brands, except that Kia Motors gets the worst government ratings in the U.S.
The German government is a social state which drains the money out of many wealthy people, and when they leave Germany, we have a problem then. And that is what has been happening for years. Smart and rich people leave Germany and foreign investors have no interest to do business in a country where you pay so much income tax.
As contrary in America, the middle class is quickly disappearing, and the rich and poor classes are getting now bigger and bigger since the government gives rich people big tax-breaks due to the economic impact their investments have in the economy.
The American economy is suffering, only you will never read about it in the papers. High paying jobs are fleeing the country at an enormous pace and, even though 'they' say jobs are increasing, the only jobs that are increasing are low paying hourly or part-time jobs. The US has only 16% of it's manufacturing capacity left! Even Ford will be filing for bankruptcy protection soon or Toyota will merge with them. You watch.
Pachipro, I wish I had that much knowledge about money; Yes, indeed, big time, the the government debt is huge and they might be forced to print more money ehich definitely ain't good since that will only lead to a humongous devaluation of the dollar. Besides, the first generation of baby boomers is starting to retire now and they now think the government will take care of them like in the good ol' times, but they are in for a big surprise, the country doesn't want to face the truth that it will soon run out of money and programs like Medicare will not do much about them. Japan is facing the same problem, and, yeah, Kilt, you are right, mutual funds and the like will not be enough for retirement. Pretty scary and sad.
Japan, on the other hand, is a nation of savers and they may survive more easily than the US as their debt as a nation is far, far lower than the US. With this they will always be able to purchase their resources.
It's great that they have that mentality, but what needs to be done here is change the savers nation to an investors nation, and this problem is far more pronounced in the U.S. than pretty much any country.
It's a shame that my generation has learned nothing from our parents' spending habits in the 1980s, and the recession that hit when we entered high school in the early '90s.
Very sad, and I think the U.S. will bounce back as has happened in previous occasions, most notably the 1929 recession.
Japan's population is overcrowded.
That is right now, however, the population is expected to decline, so much, that estimates say in 100 years, there will only be 60 million people residing in Japan.
* I just wish people like Donald Trump to run for office...