Lost Decade redux

...If these measures are effectuated, they will create ever more deflationary forces that will drag on growth. A terrible set of prescriptions.

June 8 (Bloomberg) -- Yoshihiko Noda, who may become Japan’s ninth finance minister in four years, would bring support for spending cuts to the incoming cabinet as policy makers compile a plan to rein in the world’s biggest public debt.

Noda, a 53-year-old member of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, has been asked to become finance minister, according to a person familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity. Prime Minister-elect Naoto Kan is poised to announce his cabinet today following the emperor’s return from a holiday.

Noda, who has no previous cabinet experience and would be the youngest in the job since the 1980s, will need to restrain budget requests of fellow ministers as he seeks to implement a deficit-reduction plan due by month-end. Noda in his current role has opposed using bond issuance to pay for new spending measures and last month warned that any let-up in fiscal discipline threatened to send yields soaring.