How Do Obama Administration Officials Justify This New, Even Greater Escapade Into the Unknown?
Many of their arguments hark back to Japan of nearly two decades ago … Obama Argument #1: Japan’s economy was also toppled by a real estate collapse in 1990. But, they say, the Japanese government didn’t do enough. The result, according to this theory, was Japan’s “lost decade” — and, today, 18 years after that bust began, the Japanese stock market and economy are sinking to new lows. To avoid a similar fate, goes the argument, we must act even more decisively. My rebuttal: In its multi-year efforts to save its economy, the Japanese government built up a public debt of 180% of GDP. To duplicate Japan’s efforts today, we would have to TRIPLE our public debt. Further, to stimulate its economy, Japan spent $6.3 trillion. Since the U.S. GDP today is 4.6 times larger than Japan’s in 1990, to match Japan’s spending, our government would have to fork up $29.1 trillion. That’s THIRTY-SEVEN times more than the just-passed Obama stimulus package. And despite that massive outpouring of government
