Are We Japan?

The whole article seems to boil down to "The situation is exactly the same except that it's completely different"?

It is amazing how expert the Republicans have become on economics, now that a Democrat is trying to dig out of the worst recession, since the depression, that the Republicans were in power for the creation of. If they are such experts, why didn't they speak up until now? Perhaps they could have tried using their new found wisdom to have prevented the disaster, in the first place.

Krugman dealt with this quite effectively with this but I can't remember anything more about the column. It was a couple of weeks ago though.
P.S. Say JNS on C-Span today. She's got the uno's as well.

Well, like Japan we work way too many hours until we drop dead of heart attacks at our desks. We both enjoy exploiting China.We also like golf, and Godzilla movies.
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We are twins. We go together like tempura and chicken wings.

Derek: They didn't speak up until now because it wasn't in their best interests to speak up while a republican still occupied the White House. They didn't know what to do while they had power and only now shower us with their advice because they are trying to save the country from certain disaster if the democrats are allowed to run amuck. By running amuck, what I mean is that the democrats want to get a stimulus package passed that turns the economy around and puts people back to work. The certain disaster refers only to the republicans chances in 2010 and 2012 if the democrats are successful.

Actually if the GOP starts to critique the plan using actual economic data, they could potentially redeem themselves. You'll note I'm not holding my breath.
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From the article:
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"Virtually the totality of the Japanese programs was what we call roads and bridges," [...] The U.S. stimulus package, by contrast, has a considerably more varied makeup; about half is tax cuts and spending on programs such as unemployment insurance, worker retraining and Medicaid benefits to the states, which most analysts on both sides agree largely get injected into the economy quickly.
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Didn't I read that the Senate GOP wants more roads and bridges and less "welfare"?

KT: I know what you're referring to when you say you don't remember that much about the 90's. I'm that way too. I remember Sgt. Pepper coming out in 1967 and then the next thing I knew it was 1983. I'd been married and divorced, bought property and had been working the same job for 10 years. I'm glad somebody had it together enough to take pictures.

Gerald Seib's beard frightens me.

For anyone who ever wanted to feel good about the US gov't:
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http://www.amazon.com/Dogs-Demons-Tales-Dark-Japan/dp/0809039435/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233618454&sr=8-1
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Kerr's screed is over the top at times, but his analysis of the 土建国家 (construction state) is spot-on. It's the WPA/CCC on acid, to the irreparable destruction of the environment (imagine if there were no EPA or a 100-yr. history of convervation in the US). And it shines a damning light on the dirty f'ing nexus of big business, mandarins and the one party that's ruled essentially uninterrupted since 1955 (though that could change by Sept. when As(s)o calls lower-house elections.
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So, while things look bad in the US, you have no idea the type of hole these people (and by these, I mean me, my wife, our family etc.) will have to dig out of--the demographic pressures here (shrinking & aging pop) are worse than anywhere in the world.

Of course we're not Japan.

How ridiculous.

We're Southern Canada.

With more crime.

And better medical care.

We're the UNITED STATES OF AMNESIA, and as I recall proud of IS.

We're like Switzerland, in that we're heavily armed.
We're unlike France, in that we actually use them.

jcapan: shrinking & aging pop
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I've read in the Economist that this problem is exacerbated by Japan's reluctance to allow (very many) foreign workers? Whereas the United States, despite the efforts of Tancredo and his ilk, mostly lets in the workers that it needs - legally or otherwise.

It is amazing how expert the Republicans have become on economics, now that another Democrat party nominee of the president select IS trying to explain his cheating on federal taxes by calling it an "error".

An "error" IS what happened when Chuck Knoblock tried to make a throw from second to first without beaning the runner in the Kennedystem.

What ex-Senate majority then minority then early retiree Dashole describes would in fact constitute a CRIME, were he say Spiro Agnew instead of a member of this month's recycled re-runs of the 8 years of Clixon trial balloons.

But I digest.

If a Republican lies in the forest, will every journalist in America still hear it?

"I've read in the Economist that this problem is exacerbated by Japan's reluctance to allow (very many) foreign workers?"

???

They're LAYING OFF workers in Japan too.

Next!

Actually, Dr. Krugman published a whole book about the Japanese experience ("The Return of Depression Economics") and he has been raising he!! about the current stimulus being too small by a large margin - like, one-third of what he recommends. He may be shrill and bashes Obama way too much, but he is much more of an authority on this than Gerald Seib could ever pretend to be.

Rezko, Blago, Dashole, Geithner, Billary, Richie Richardson, Holder, on & on & on...

Some change, that one.

Move On indeed.

Seriously Hulagate/QH/Obamish, you're not getting a cookie and may have to go to bed early (with meds and a grammar book.)

FDR did not solve the Depression, but by spastic gestures actually EXTENDED the length of the pain and suffering, which by all accounts of merit would have corrected itself long before Pearl had the business-bashing bozo simply done NOTHING.

Obama's about as close to Abe Lincoln's mental sobriety as Hillary is to a sustained spousal propriety.

What did we get, on January 20th?

Not the old Clixonian narcissism, but the new & improved messiah complex, Jew bashing included.

Obama's secret chats with Iran and Syria may wow the Mall mob just as he seeks to distance himself from reality in Iraq, but what should we expect from somebody that worked as an ice cream parlor clerk as his sole private sector life experience?

4 more years of Obama, and we may as well be Belgium.

Gerald Seib's beard tells me to do things. Bad things.

Like the Japanese, we enjoy McDonalds, Nascar, and Hello Kitty.

The Belgians have great/very potent beer and chocolate. Sign me up.

Oh my effing god.
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The choices are Sweden (nationalize all the banks, and privatize them after they are stable) or Japan (feed money to the existing, corrupt institutions, in the hopes that if enough public money goes in, things will be all right.) Those are the choices. Treat it as insolvency (Sweden) or treat it as illiquidity (Japan).
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What are these Republicans proposing? Shutting down TARP? Letting these insolvent institutions fail, pay off the insured depositors and zero out the shareholders. I'm fine with that. Is that what they are proposing?
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One of the things that has been demonstrated in the last eight years is that the Republicans have no actual policy plans. KT, can you ask one of them to say what they want to do, and explain how it will make the economy grow? And, no, saying cutting taxes while not cutting spending is not an answer. We tried that. If their answer is "eliminate social security" well they need to say it out loud.
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It is absolutely appalling that these guys are still allowed to say stuff that is complete nonsense, and never be called on it.