April 28, 2015
That is the only possible conclusion that an informed reader can reach. After all, we all know that Representative Ryan is a huge champion of fiscal responsibility, balanced budgets, and sound money. We also remember how he denounced Ben Bernanke and the Fed for their policy of quantitative easing. He issued strong warnings about the debasement of the currency and hyperinflation.
There is no way that this celebrated fiscal hawk and sound money proponent could praise a country for running large deficits and printing money like there is no tomorrow. But there it is on the Washington Post’s oped page, someone claiming to be Paul Ryan is praising Japan for having a large stimulus and the fact that they “cranked up the printing presses” in reference to the policy of quantitative easing by Japan’s central bank.
For those keeping score, Japan’s ratio of net debt to GDP is more than 50 percent higher than in the United States. The ratio of gross debt to GDP is more than twice as high. The I.M.F. projects that Japan’s deficit for 2015 will be 6.2 percent of GDP, which would be more than $1.1 trillion in the United States.
To say this applause for Japan’s economic policy is inconsistent with Ryan’s past pronouncements on economic policy would be the understatement of the century. If we had a serious press corps in the United States, reporters would be pressing Ryan over this colossal flip flop. Of course Ryan wrote this column in the hope of advancing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and we know that the media have a policy that inanities in the advancement of trade pacts are not subject to scrutiny.
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