Word: hashimoto
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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However nightmarish and improbable, this Wall Street bugaboo has been popping up with increasing frequency as the Asian crisis drags on. It's not difficult to see why: Japanese Prime Minister Hashimoto and officials of his Liberal Democratic Party have publicly broached the sale of T-bills, suggesting the proceeds could be deposited in hard-pressed Japanese banks...
...financial institutions got so bad last week that dithering politicians finally had to act. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (L.D.P.) managed to commit itself to a controversial, publicly financed $80 billion scheme to shore up the banks. But that is as far as it got. If Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto does not produce a rapid consensus on exactly how the money will be used or what drastic measures the government will take to resuscitate the economy, plummeting confidence will batter the markets further...
...real test for Japan is whether the Old Guard bureaucrats and politicians still holding power have the courage to make bold, immediate repairs. Hashimoto, the first Prime Minister in a decade to last more than 18 months, came into his second term last year boasting that he would reform the system or "explode into a ball of fire." He proclaimed the most sweeping slate of changes Japan has seen in a century, committing himself to a six-point program to reduce the size of government, liberalize financial markets and unravel the country's byzantine web of economic regulations...
This week Hashimoto's ruling party is scheduled to unveil a series of fresh steps to stimulate Japan's economy and stanch the banks' hemorrhaging. But what will those actions be? And will they provide strong enough medicine? A source close to the Prime Minister says it is "impossible" for the government to offer the kind of tax cuts that spur solid economic growth. "He will be able to offer a measure of confidence for the banking system," says the insider. "But we will not see economic growth for quite some time." Says former Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa, with characteristic...
Japan will have to do better than that. It is vital for Hashimoto & Co. to show other Asian countries that they have the will to confront their financial problems. Otherwise there will be no one left capable of leading Asia out of its economic mess or of sparing the rest of the world similar trouble...