Then why didn't the markets go up in Japan and Europe (per the GP)? Also, why do the US (and maybe other) securities markets increase when the underlying economy is performing poorly?
Population aging and growth uncertainty is a big guess on my part.
https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2020/02/10/na021020-jap...
The US is highly dependant on massive amount of immigration to maintain demand. Couple that with a few other things, such as the petrodollar, and you have the US behaving in an odd manner that I don't believe will last forever.
Japanese companies are notorious for having poor return on equity for decades.