I think Japan is just further down the curve than we are, both QE-wise and demographically (aging population). Their recent flirtation with QE on steroids (Abeonomics) has shown that there is a limit on how much you can push on a string. When you look at China you see a very opaque economic reporting system and even so their most recent "flash" PMI report shows a huge lack of liquidity running rampant throughout their system. A major Chinese bank almost defaulted yesterday because of this, yet it got little airplay because of everything else going on.
But there's a lot more to it than this.
Look, Europe is a mess. The Greek problem just won't go away. Depositors are scared crap-less because of Cyprus and the looming issue of "bail-ins". Here in the US, Bernanke is visibly nervous that his policies haven't worked ("I don't know why interest rates are going up!" he admits yesterday. Really?) Housing stocks fell today because the affordability of houses is going into the crapper (Someone who could qualify for $425K home several weeks ago can only get a $380K today at the same payment - that hardly seems bullish). Look at the bellweathers like the recent CAT sales for North America - where are we spending money on CAPEX?
As I see it, the world is waking up to the inescapable conclusion that you can't solve a debt problem with more debt. You can counterfeit money for a long time, though, until it eventually catches up with you when somebody decides they can't or won't play the game any more. (See China above). Then it gets ugly, especially if the dollar loses its reserve status.
My best guess is that we are in 2008 territory again. I think, probably sometime this fall when margin calls are triggered by some unknown event like a European bank default, that we'll see a huge loss of value again when the global economy falls into a liquidity trap the magnitude of a super-sized black hole. The Fed will kick in the presses but the fear is that this time no one will want the silly little pieces of paper (well, electrons, really). The best suggestion I can make is to scrutinize your counter-party risk. By that I mean it won't do you any good to hold a 3X short ETF if the sponsoring bank goes belly up and can't pay. It is time to get defensive again and look for value on the other side - it's there, you just have to search it out and stay out of the way of the thundering herd's hooves.
JTS