You know, when you are digging yourself deeper and deeper into a hole, it's probably a good idea to stop digging! (Psst! Incredible as it may sound, I did not make that quote up myself. I hear it is an old quote!... Pass it on....)
Twenty years of increasing our national burden with more government money printing and so-called "stimulus" programs that didn't work should have been enough to show that these types of policies do not work - and they cannot work - but there are still some people who just don't get it. That history proves it doesn't work should be obvious but it seems like some people are either asleep at the wheel. Here's a good example of someone who needs a lesson in Economics 101.
He's not a particularly fast learner it seems, is he?
The Daily Bail has two good articles today on how we have slipped back into recession and - Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!....
....the Japanese government wonks want to print more money in order to fix the economy and get us back on track again! (Gee, haven't they fixed us enough over these last 20 years?)
But hey! Don't worry! Recovery is coming up around the bend!
The Daily Bail article states:
The Japanese economy shrank an annualized 1.1% in Q4 of 2010. Meanwhile, food and commodity prices continue to rise, giving Japan the worst of both worlds in having to contend with both price inflation in food and energy and deflation in asset prices. You may be wondering what happened to "Welcome to The Recovery"? Not to worry -- when the numbers don't add up, you can expect a flurry of metaphors from government officials and economists, both of whom have advocated spending and printing money in prodigious amounts. Masaaki Shirakawa of the Japanese central bank said the 4th quarter dip was just a momentary "pause" on the path to recovery. Taro Saito of Nippon Life said the economy was just undergoing a brief "lull" -- soon we'll "hit bottom," "gain traction," etc. This is just a little "blip," anyway, recovery is just around the corner. Of course, recovery is always just around the corner. Or gosh, maybe it's just a "soft patch."
The Japanese government has been telling us for two decades that "recovery is right around the corner." Too bad we never turn the corner. More good news after this 20 years of monetary easing is 15.7% of the Japanese public being under the poverty line...
The article continues and spells out how Japan is showing the USA what's in store if they keep mimicking Japan:
Japan has been doing this song and dance for over twenty years -- ever since their own stock market and real estate bubbles burst back in 1989-90.
Unfortunately, our policy response here in the US, despite protestations to the contrary, is mimicking Japan's. We've bailed out our banks and large corporations, we continue to allow them to lie about asset values. There is virtually no new credit growth outside of the government, and zero interest rates have done nothing but punish savers in favor of the large banks.
I mean, seriously, when you have a great policy like that that has shown these great results over these last twenty years, why change it? If you are the USA, why not copy it, right?
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