Japan's Stimulus

From a recent NYT article..

In total, Japan spent $6.3 trillion on construction-related public investment between 1991 and September of last year, according to the Cabinet Office. The spending peaked in 1995 and remained high until the early 2000s, when it was cut amid growing concerns about ballooning budget deficits. More recently, the governing Liberal Democratic Party has increased spending again to revive the economy and the party’s own flagging popularity.

US does seem to have a long way to go in terms of money it has got to spend.

What can you buy for $100 Billion?

From Floyd Norris

Martin Halusa, the chief executive of Apax Partners, noted how much financial sector values have fallen. In early 2007, the Royal Bank of Scotland led a consortium that included the Fortis Group of Belgium and Santander of Spain. It paid $100 billion to acquire the Dutch bank, ABN Amro.

Had they held on to the $100 billion, those institutions could now buy Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank and Barclays. And they would have enough left over to buy General Motors, Ford and Chrysler.