Abe Bets It’s Different This Time With Sales Tax Rise

It’s different this time. The four most dangerous words in markets, according to former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers.

With Japan set to raise its sales tax for the first time since 1997, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s political future rides on a different outcome than last time -- when the nation slid into a recession and the premier lost his job. To avoid a spending slump, Abe, 59, is poised to unveil a stimulus plan to counter the 3 percentage point bump in the levy to 8 percent.