Paul Krugman hails Japan’s monetary policy as a model for the rest of the world to follow, with its central bank’s aggressive “quantitative easing”, i.e., “money printing” and government spending. He comments:
In a sense, the really remarkable thing about “Abenomics” — the sharp turn toward monetary and fiscal stimulus adopted by the government of Prime Minster Shinzo Abe — is that nobody else in the advanced world is trying anything similar. In fact, the Western world seems overtaken by economic defeatism.
The U.S. hasn’t tried monetary stimulus?
And the U.S. government hasn’t tried fiscal stimulus?
What Krugman means is not that the U.S. hasn’t tried these things, just that it hadn’t done to such an insane degree as Japan. He praises Japan’s economic policies, citing evidence that it is “working” such as how “Japanese stocks have soared, while the yen has fallen”. In his analysis, “the overall verdict on Japan’s effort to turn its economy around is so far, so good”.
Observers should keep in mind Krugman’s praise for Japan’s policies when the shit hits the fan, which it inevitably will, as Christine Hughes, President and Chief Investment Strategist of OtterWood Capital Management, explains in the above video (h/t GoldSilver.com). Keep in mind also his denial that there is a U.S. bond bubble or a stock bubble. This isn’t going to look good on his already abysmal record when it comes to bubbles.
