Japan's economic contraction in the mid-1990s caused long-lasting effects on consumer spending. Even today, car sales are half what they were in 1990. Whiskey sales are a fifth of what they were.
As economist Hideo Kumano puts it: "On the surface, Japan looked like it had recovered from its Lost Decade of the 1990s. But Japan in fact entered a second Lost Decade - that of lost consumption."
A "lost decade" of consumption in America would be disastrous for the "spend, spend, spend" economy.
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