The Bank of Japan holdings of the government’s bonds exceeded 100 trillion yen ($1.2 trillion) for the first time, raising the risk that yields will jump on perceptions that it is financing public spending.If QE worked and fiscal stimulus worked, Japan would not have debt-to-GDP ratio of 230%. Japan's national debt now exceeds a quadrillion yen!
The central bank held 104.9 trillion yen of the debt at the end of September, 11.1 percent of all government bonds, a quarterly central bank report showed today in Tokyo. The BOJ said it was the highest on record. Bond holdings by foreign investors rose to a record 9.1 percent.
The BOJ yesterday expanded its asset purchase program for the fifth time this year, with half of the 10 trillion-yen increase to be spent on JGBs. Incoming Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants more central-bank action to defeat deflation and has pledged fiscal stimulus to stoke growth, even as he’s constrained by the world’s largest public debt.
A quadrillion is a number with 15 zeros. 1,000,000,000,000,000. Can that ever be paid back? How?
US has been running budget deficits exceeding $1 trillion for four straight years. What the heck is that other than Keynesian stimulus?
It has failed. But economists like Paul Krugman want more of it (please see Mish on Capital Account: "Time for Krugman to Leave Ivory Tower for Real World").
Krugman will claim deficit spending prevented disaster. It did no such thing. All it did is pile up the debt that cannot possibly be paid back.
The average 7th grader likely understands that he cannot spend more money than he has for years on end. The average economist does not.
For more on Japan, please consider Kyle Bass on the End of the Debt Supercycle and a Coming Massive Devaluation of the Yen; Most Difficult Time to Invest; The Belief Bubble
Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com