In recent Tokyo visits, two Nobel laureates pleaded with Shinzo Abe: Please don¡¯t be crazy enough to raise taxes on your deflation-plagued nation.
What Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz really did was explain why the prime minister¡¯s economics program has flopped so spectacularly, and how Abe¡¯s team is doubling down on failure by clinging to dogma that has no place in Japan¡¯s present or future.
It¡¯s testament to Abe¡¯s salesmanship that some media still speak of Abenomics as a going concern ¡ª just one solid stimulus from restoring Japan¡¯s 1980s greatness. But a con is a con. The first real crack in Abe¡¯s ruse came in April 2014, when his government raised the consumption tax to 8 percent from 5 percent. Sure, getting a handle on the nation¡¯s gargantuan public debt is plenty important, but that such a modest step killed growth prospects should¡¯ve been signal enough that Abe needed to think bigger and recalibrate policies.
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