[lazerpants]

>Japan has lost a minimum of 1/3 of its standard of living in 15-20 years. They're not overdosing on opioids like people in the US are. They've suffered far worse than people in the US have.

This seems patently false to me and strikes me as a way to bolster your "Americans are druggies" argument without any real evidence. FYI, GDP per capita in Japan is about the same as it has been for the past 20 years, despite a falling population.

[tafda]

Proof the claim Japan has lost 1/3 its standard of living in the past two decades is completely false:

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/NYGDPPCAPKDJPN

Visit Japan sometime. The Japanese clearly have a standard of living that is among the best in the world.

[jeffreyrogers]

If that GDP per capita isn't adjusted for inflation then living standards would probably have fallen by about 1/3.