Abe’s Fiscal Plan Follows a Long Road of Packages That Failed
- Multiple spending packages didn’t have a lasting impact
- True stimulus set to be much smaller than headline suggests
Abe to Announce Stimulus Package Details on Tuesday
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Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s "bold" plan to revive the economy with a $273 billion package leaves him traveling down a well-trod path: it marks the 26th dose of fiscal stimulus since the country’s epic markets crash in 1990, in a warning for its effectiveness.
The nation has had extra budgets every year since at least 1993, and even with that extra spending, it has still had six recessions, an entrenched period of deflation, soaring debt and a rapidly aging population that has left the world’s third-largest economy still struggling to get off the floor.