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newyorker.com - 5/8/2009
Are We Turning Japanese?: The Balance Sheet: Online Only: The New Yorker
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Over the past few days, the idea that the Obama Administration’s failure to nationalize the banks may very well doom the U.S. economy to the kind of Lost Decade that Japan endured has become ubiquitous. (Here are Paul Krugman , Joseph Stiglitz , Mark Thoma , and Atrios on the danger of turning ...
newyorker.com - 5/5/2009
The I.M.F. and American Banks: The Balance Sheet: Online Only: The New Yorker
— newyorker.com — In the article in today’s Times on the stress tests , one of those legendary unnamed “senior... Administration officials” says, about the nineteen banks that the government tested, that “none of them is insolvent.” This is, of course, a conclusion that ... (more) The I.M.F. and American Banks: The Balance Sheet: Online ...

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newyorker.com - 5/8/2009
Debating the Obama Administration’s Bank Plan: The Balance Sheet: Online Only: The New Yorker
— newyorker.com — Over at The Baseline Scenario, Simon Johnson and James Kwak respond to the stress tests with a... post arguing, once again, that any signs that the banking system might not be in terrible shape are false, and that the government should step in and take ... (more) Debating the Obama Administration’s Bank Plan: The ...

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Blog Reactions

Economist's View:  "Are We Turning Japanese?"

Toro's Running of the Bulls Market Blog:  This is Not Japan

Newmark's Door:  I don't know if he's right--he sounds right--but he's got guts

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Blog Reactions

"Are We Turning Japanese?"
Economist's View — ... Are We Turning Japanese?, by James Surowiecki: Over the past few days, the idea that the Obama Administration’s failure to nationalize the banks may very well doom the U.S. economy to the kind of Lost Decade that Japan endured has become ubiquitous. (Here are ...

This is Not Japan
Toro's Running of the Bulls Market Blog — ... As James Surowiecki notes, political involvement in the banking system in America has not led to a similar outcome -- the banks aren't being told to keep sinking firms afloat. The results have been plain for all to see; old industrial enterprises have been hammered, as have firms tied up in the housing boom. The destruction in "creative destruction" is taking place, leaving plenty of room for creation later. ...

I don't know if he's right--he sounds right--but he's got guts
Newmark's Door — ... James Surowiecki takes on Paul Krugman, Joseph Stiglitz, and Mark Thoma and argues that zombie banks are not the problem, and that we're not "heading down the road that Japan took". ...

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