Is The U.S. Heading Toward Its Own ‘Lost Decade’?

The U.S. economy is finally rebounding after five difficult years, but the aftermath of qualitative easing, and earnings skewed heavily towards profit over labor, have put the U.S. in a situation similar to Japan’s before its Lost Decade (a period of sustained de-leveraging and economic stagnation, sometimes now called the lost twenty years) that the country only now appears to be truly exiting.

Japan’s asset bubble collapse

Japanese stagnation, following both the asset bubble collapse in 1991 and the 1997-1998 banking crisis had a few specific characteristics, Natixis analyst Patrick Artus explained in a recent note. “Long-lasting private sector de-leveraging; distortion of income sharing in favor of profits, leading to weak real wages and...