MORE BAD ECONOMIC NEWS from Japan.

Via Megan McArdle, who comments: “It wasn’t long ago that I was pleased to start writing that Japan was creeping out of more than a decade of doldrums; now it seems to me that this was just the very tail end of America’s credit bubble, as our uncontrolled spending boosted demand in an economy that was still fundamentally weak.” Given that we’re trying Japan’s approach here now, this suggests that we’re making a mistake.