Financial Harakiri

"You watch your back, cowboy."
--Nick Conklin (Black Rain)

David Stockman discusses the ritual financial suicide taking place in Japan. Declining savings:

Increased spending versus income:

Debt going parabolic vs output--to the extent that the BOJ is essentially buying all new government issues:

As he observes, this is not just a Japanese phenomenon. We could substitute similar charts of the US with similar effect.