Word: primed
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...stunted growth. But Japan also stands as a warning to those who think tough decisions can be delayed indefinitely. Japan's public finally seems ready for something new. Voters last year tossed out the Liberal Democrats, who had governed almost uninterrupted since 1955. The new sheriff in town is Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama of the Democratic Party of Japan. He's at least talking new ideas: reforming the government, improving the social safety net, cozying up to Asia. But his options are constrained by the mess built up over two decades of inaction. He's confronting an unsustainable fiscal position...
...democracies, there's little enthusiasm for the national and local elections due in early May. Polls show that neither of the two largest parties - the Labour incumbents or their Conservative challengers - is on course for an overall majority in Parliament. There's little enthusiasm, either, for their respective leaders, Prime Minister Gordon Brown and David Cameron...
...hard to remember now, but Labour rose to power in 1997 on a wave of optimism, even idealism. "A new dawn has broken, has it not?" said the fresh-faced Prime Minister Tony Blair, greeting the sunrise of his victory. Now 73% of Britons distrust politicians, according to a recent report by the Hansard Society. For many, the last straw was the revelation last year that MPs from all parties had taken advantage of a loose expenses regimen to subsidize their pay, some of them charging taxpayers for such essentials as moat cleaning, duck houses and sparkly toilet seats. Charisse...
...swifter action to reduce Britain's borrowing. That view has been bolstered over recent weeks with the world's three biggest credit-rating agencies raising concerns that the scale of debt puts Britain at significant risk of default. That might seem to raise the mortifying prospect of another British Prime Minister going cap in hand to the IMF. Ironically, the IMF backs Labour's more cautious approach to deficit reduction, warning in February that stimulus packages needed to be maintained "well into 2010 for a majority of the world's economies." (See pictures of the City of London...
Brown bears some of the responsibility for the economic mess: he was Chancellor of the Exchequer under Blair and has been Prime Minister since 2007. But he has deflected blame to global pressures and has made political hay of his rival's lack of experience. "This is no time for a novice," declared Brown in September 2008 as the global financial crisis gathered pace. A Conservative poll lead of 20 points has eroded to the narrowest of margins, not least on fears of the youthful opposition team's collective inexperience. There's another factor that counts against them: the Conservatives...