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SPDR Portfolio Total Stock Market ETF (SPTM) - $0.1416.30-Day SEC Yield of 1.73% as of Sept. 18.Payable Sep 24; for shareholders of record Sep 22; ex-div Sep 21.

"Japanification" is the process of other countries' economies becoming like that of Japan: flatlined, with little to no growth or inflation and interest rates stuck at zero indefinitely. Because of the Monetary Death Spiral process that I've described elsewhere, many countries around the world are undergoing the process of Japanification. With interest rates now stuck at zero for the long haul and the Fed focused on employment above all else, the US has now completed the process. I go through nine economic metrics to show how the United States is walking down the path of Japan.

Ample economic research has shown that excessive debt, above a certain threshold of GDP, begins to drag down economic growth. US national debt is now well above that threshold. But ballooning debt, in itself, is not the fundamental issue. It is the result of the core problem. In the coming decades, the US economy will be asked to do the impossible: grow faster even while the government extracts more of its resources. There are no easy solutions. There are only painful trade-offs.

Recently, the Federal Reserve confirmed a widely expected shift in monetary policy that will result in near-zero interest rates for the foreseeable future. From their perspective, this stance is justified based on evidence that the U.S. economic recovery will be long, slow, and halting. A full recovery won't come until government safety measures are lifted, and those will likely remain (in some areas, at least) until a vaccine is discovered and distributed. Small business destruction and job losses will not be quickly and easily remedied, and an output gap is projected to persist throughout the decade. Real assets with strong cash flows are extremely attractive in this environment.