Graph of the Day for November 29, 2009

By Randall Hoven

"Ever since the Great Recession began economic analysts at some (not all) major Wall Street firms have warned that efforts to fight the slump will produce even worse economic evils... A better model, I'd argue, is Japan in the 1990s... There's a good chance that officials are being terrorized by a phantom menace - a threat that exists only in their minds." Paul Krugman, November 2009.

"Having languished for more than a decade since its bubble burst in 1990, Japan's economy is a major world concern... The Japanese economy has been injured not only by its prolonged slowdown but, paradoxically, also by some of the Japanese government's unsuccessful but costly attempts at fiscal stimulus... Japan's financial industry ills began with an asset market bust." Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, 2003.

Japan's Debt and Growth in "Lost Decade"

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, 2003.

Hoven's Index for November 29, 2009

Japan's debt as percentage of GDP in 2009: 170%.

Japan's annualized GDP shrinkage in 4^th quarter of 2008: 12.1%.

Japan's Nikkei stock index change since 1989: -76%.

Since 2007: -39%.

Sources: Washington Post. Yahoo Finance. http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=%5EN225

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