So, we knew Abenomics wasn't working, but apparently Japan has been involved in a Ninja recession:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-30092633
But then, BAM, surprise election called:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-30092633
Now is a good time to review Abenomics (and triumphantly declare the universal truths of Libertarianism):
1) Stimulus packages: the idea is for the government to spend money to at least keep people employed. Usually applied towards infrastructure projects (as is the case with Japan's plan). In Ontario during the Great Depression, we built tons of highways. The reason this failed then (as well as every other infrastructure-oriented stimulus) is that it creates long-term cost on the government (and therefore society) in exchange for a miniscule (although measurable) increase in economy. The other third of this "stimulus package" (I hate the name, it really should be money-wasting package) is a sort of subsidy program for clean energy companies. Government subsidies ruin every industry they touch. India has finally admitted it is losing billions subsidizing rice, as well as every other country that has subsidy programs (except for a few with strict anti-defamation laws in which you are not allowed to talk about subsidies).
2) Goods tax hike from 5% to 8%. Obviously, the Japanese people stopped buying things out of spite. Good on them. I wish we had that resolve in Canada. I have been trying, and sometimes can go a whole week without buying anything but gas (I make sure to only buy Saudi gas though, since the poor Saudis need money to pay for all their 14 year old virgins).
3) The inflation goal has been set to 2%. Japan had deflation for the past while, which is a good thing. Until a handful of candy costs 1 penny, like it did in that book about the dog, we have not achieved proper goals.
4) More plans, none of which have anything to do with the economy, were announced last year.
5) Joining a Free Trade partnership is probably the best part of his plan. The agricultural sector has been opposing it. The small amount of Japanese land devoted to agriculture would be better suited as Shrines to War Criminals (just to piss off the Chinese). It's an island... only clowns think it should be an agricultural powerhouse.
The overall plan is meant to fail for a few reasons. The main reason is that growth shouldn't be a goal. If everyone got along fine last year, why does the national GDP need to rise? This is a sick interpretation of success in a country. The second major one is that even if you wanted growth (which no sane person does), growth happens in spite of economic policy, not because of it. When the best and brightest in the United States all became bankers, they also became leeches. They weren't creating wealth - they were creating numbers on spreadsheets. Only a banker will tell you that if you borrow at 3% and lend at 5%, you have created wealth. The best and brightest need to go into fields that actually create stuff, entrepreneurship and engineering.
Here is my proposed economic salvation plan for Japan:
1) Build a better military. It's time to retake Manchuria. It's always easier to steal wealth than generate it.
2) Make the goods tax prohibitively expensive. The whole lie that "growth is good" is fed by the fact that humans let their base emotions rule them and buy crap they don't need. The only way to escape this is to also appeal to their base emotions. In real terms, a 5% vs 8% sales tax doesn't make any difference to me. If the sales tax in Ontario was 300% (which it is on cheese) I would seriously rethink whether or not I need to buy anything.
3) Re-establish debtor's prison. Everyone who owes more than a month's wage gets 1 year in prison. Depending on how much they owe, forced servitude could be applied to them until the debt is repaid.
4) Accentuate the teaching of honor, morality and etiquette in school, starting from a young age. It's become lax in recent years.
