Matt O’Brien at the Washington Post knows that Abenomics can work for the Japanese people, but only if they really, truly believe in it with all their hearts.
This is not satire:
So what’s going on here? Well, it might sound like a hokey religion, but central banking is really a Jedi mind trick. Just saying something can be enough to make it happen. That’s because the power of the printing press gives their words a distinct power. Well, that and the fact that the economy is already one big self-fulfilling prophecy. See, when people are confident, they spend and invest more, which then justifies their initial optimism—and keeps them spending and investing. The opposite, of course, happens when people are fearful. So, in other words, the economy alternates between virtuous and vicious circles. Central banks try to keep our positive spirals from getting out of control, and our negative spirals from happening at all. And that means convincing us to believe what they want us to.
This is embarrassing and horrifying at the same time, especially coming from a WaPo section called “Wonkblog.” Regime media believe, with religious fervor, that governments and central banks exist to prod us in one direction or another — with a sharp stick if needed. And they are hostile toward (if not literally unaware of) concepts of capital and production.
