Economic Stimulus: Japan Style

The WSJ has a good history piece for Barack Obama, given his penchant for economic stimulus (read: spending) courtesy of the government. Below is a list of Japan's stimulus projects during the 90s:

August 1992: 10.7 trillion yen ($85 billion)
April 1993: 13.2 trillion yen ($117 billion)
September 1993: 6.2 trillion yen ($59 billion)
February 1994: 15.3 trillion yen ($148 billion)
September 1995: 14.2 trillion yen ($137 billion)
April 1998: 16.7 trillion yen ($128 billion)
November 1998: 23.9 trillion yen ($195 billion)
November 1999: 18 trillion yen ($147 billion)

All told, the Japanese government spent over $1 trillion on government spending and infrastructure projects. The public spending replaced private investment and instead of economic growth, the country suffered through stagnation and a massive deficit. I hope Obama's paying attention because the new New Deal will likely not be any different than the original New Deal or the Japanese New Deal.