Happy days are here again, or however they say it in Japan:
Japan’s economy grew faster than previously thought in the first quarter – at a rate the country has not felt in more than two years. Analysts said increased consumer and business spending was behind the increase.
Japan is undergoing what might be record-setting stimulus — so of course they’re enjoying some growth. The question is whether that stimulus can jump start sustained and sustainable growth, without either inflating itself away or leading to another recession made worse by all the additional debt.
My own prediction about that comes from the May jobs report, which claims that the US economy added 217,000 jobs last month. First, the broken birth-death model “seasonally adjusted” thousands of those jobs into existence out of thin air. If you’re looking for actual jobs on the ground, keep looking. Second, even if you take that figure at face value, that’s still a dismal performance after all the pent-up demand created by the cold winter and the cold April and by declining inventories.
So look for our next recession to start at the top end with trillions in extra debt, trillions in excess liquidity, and with millions having already dropped out of the workforce.
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