On Thu, 18 Feb 1999, michael perelman crossposted: > > The Globe and Mail Report on Business February 18, 1999 > > BANK OF JAPAN PUSHES SHORT-TERM RATES NEAR ZERO > > Bill Spindle, Jathon Sapsford > > The Wall Street Journal, Tokyo > > > > The central bank's decision to push the interest rate it most > > directly controls to 0.08 per cent from 0.15 per cent — and central > > bank Governor Masaru Hayami's comments this week that even a > > rate of zero would be acceptable — may be one of the first steps in > > a policy shift toward more aggressively printing money to break a > > deflationary spiral, according to analysts and financial industry > > officials. Hooray! It's time to party! Japan is going to fuel a massive reflation and finally kick in the Long Boom of 2000-2025. Not that the East Asian metropole had any other choice, of course; it was either that, or knuckle under to the EU. If the EU has any brain cells, it'll return the favor by cutting its short rates 0.5% in the next couple of months, keeping the euro nice and low against the dollar and allowing the EU export machine to rack up 90 billion EUR annual surpluses. All this will do unspeakable things, of course, to the looming US trade deficit, but that's our problem, not theirs, now isn't it? -- Dennis
