> After which things went rather well, at least as far as real wages
> and personal liberties were concerned.
>
> To speak of U.S. post-WWII reconstruction policy in Japan as a
> fascist coup seems to me to miss most of the point...
>
>
> Brad DeLong
What is the point then ? Can you be a little more specific ? Personnaly I don't think what Tim wrote is missing any point. Well, maybe calling the US support to fascists a counter-revolution is a little too much since there was no revolution going on at this time, but his description of what happened seems to me to be below the truth. As far as I remember my classes in uni, Mac Arthur did not intend to rebuild Japan until he (or the american gvt) saw some interest in making it a politically stable aircraft carrier for bombing the rest of asia.
Maybe I am missing your point. Do you mean that modern japanese workers should be satisfied with what they get ? What personal liberty are you talking about ? The liberty to vote for people whose main purpose is to get money from constructions companies to be elected again ? the liberty to consume the latest electronic gadgetry that will reach Europe or the states only 6 months later ? the liberty to depend on food and energy imported from places where they are produced at the expense of other workers' "liberties" or "real wages" ? What are you talking about ?
JC Helary