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The story
Data claiming that Japan’s international ranking for nominal GDP per capita (in US dollars) has fallen from around 2nd in the world to somewhere in the 40s became a hot topic on 5ch. Since rankings like this are calculated in dollar terms, they tend to drop as the yen weakens — meaning factors other than an actual change in living standards are also at play. In the thread, opinions clashed over whether this indicator is even a valid yardstick for a country’s prosperity in the first place, with users pointing out that the working-age population is thin due to aging, and that in countries with large wealth gaps, the average doesn’t reflect reality. The discussion gradually expanded to cover consumer behavior topics like the rights and wrongs of scalpers and the shift toward ‘cheapness-seeking.’
What people said
How do we even stop it?
Drag down the traitorous snakes (corrupt politicians selling out the country)
Raise corporate taxes and fundamentally slash government spending. Kill off the whole subsidy-grant racket and make them rebuild towns from scratch with basic income instead.
Sure there is. By the way, total GDP has also dropped from 2nd to 4th in the world, and it's already set to fall to 6th.
Why doesn't it make sense?
There's no way GDP goes up in a country like this.
They're not producing anything, just riding on other people's coattails.
To begin with, you can't make a living just by working anymore these days. The moment the government starts saying 'sort yourselves out with financial engineering (personal investing),' that's already a bad sign.
It shows how brutal the wealth gap in China has gotten. By the way, they've got more rich people than Japan's entire population.
This really is a double standard, huh.
They've still got more rich people than Japan's whole population though.
Nah, the ones getting bashed aren't the people paying top dollar, it's the scalpers (resellers).
People are losing their minds saying 'scalping won't stop because people keep buying from scalpers!' But scalping is a legitimate business that follows capitalist principles in the first place.
It does mean something — it shows how thin the working-age population actually is.
No, scalping is simply a nuisance, cut it out. Who other than you scalpers even benefits from you inserting yourselves in the middle?
Well, a customer who pays top price is guaranteed to get it, right? If I need something, I'll buy it from a scalper.
If scalpers didn't exist, those people could buy it at a fair price though.
Even without scalpers you still couldn't get it, thanks to lotteries and first-come-first-served — that's exactly why scalpers run rampant.
The cause and effect are backwards. It's the scalpers buying everything up that makes it impossible to get through normal channels in the first place.
LOL scalpers are rich AND absurdly lucky. Just how amazing do you think scalpers are?
If they jack up the price to match the scalpers and it doesn't sell, there's absolutely no upside to that.
Number one in the world, how proud (said with self-satisfied sarcasm — 'horuhoru' slang for smug self-congratulation).
They can't predict real demand in the first place — that's exactly why scalpers move in.
They already price it above cost to begin with, so cutting the price wouldn't cause a loss. Lower it and even the poor socialists could afford to buy it.
Wouldn't that just kill everyone's desire to buy though?
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
Japan’s nominal GDP per capita (converted to US dollars) was around 2nd in the world circa 2000, but due to subsequent low growth and the rapid depreciation of the yen, recent estimates put it in the 40s. Because dollar-denominated rankings are heavily affected by exchange rates, it’s easy to overlook that “the ranking dropped” doesn’t mean “Japan suddenly got poorer” so much as “the yen’s value against the dollar fell.” In the thread, opinions were divided over whether this metric is even valid to begin with (the working-age population is thin due to aging, and in wealth-gap-heavy countries like China the average conceals the reality), and the discussion expanded into consumer and social topics like the rights and wrongs of scalpers, the shift toward cheapness-seeking behavior, and Japan’s aging, shrinking population. Some political oversimplification (attacks on ruling-party supporters, etc.) crept in too, but this article is built around the parts of the discussion that hold up as points about how to interpret economic indicators.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyō G board) thread “[Sad News] Japan’s Per-Capita GDP Falls From 2nd to 43rd.”
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