Comments by "Dan A" (@DanA-nl5uo) on "Ask Prof Wolff: Did the US Slow Japan's Economy?" video.

  1. Ben Bernanke went to Japan and forced them to crash their interest rates even to negotiate levels in order to see what the effect would be. It was before he became head of the federal reserve and he later said he wanted to know if negative interest or printing money was a better policy so he forced Japan to test it out. It is discussed in one of Richard Duncan's books I don't remember if it was the dollar crisis or one of the two other books he wrote after it.
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  2. Japan and Tiawan love Americans because of the war crimes that China imposed on their countries during WWII. Both countries view the USA as their saviors not only because of the war ending but also because of the Marshall plan rebuilding their countries after the war was over. It is an example of how well soft power works. This is something you don't fully understand until you travel to these countries and actually interact with the citizens there. I spent 18 months in Tiawan and it gave me a much better appreciation for the value of soft power. Just compare the benifits we get from politics inacted nearly a century ago now compared to the reputation we have in the middle east after 2 decades of hard power military action. Even our allies in SA murder our reporters.
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