Krugman seems to make some important points.
Nevertheless, speaking of eg Japan, here's a mise en scene for a Bernanke cartoon:
Bernanke is Odysseus, navigating his stultifera navis , a small sail boat, between two rocky cliffs, but they aren't merely cliffs on either side, they are enormous high mountain ranges marked China, Japan, Korea, India, Mexico, Indonesia.
Scylla/Inflation sits at the nearest precipice to the little craft on one side, reaching down with tentacles dangerously close to Odysseus, the craft tipping dangerously and almost smaller than Bernanke himself, at center, bottom.
Just to the other side of the craft from Scylla, a large whirlpool CHARYBDIS, marked also DEFLATION, mountains rising up on that side of the illustration to the edges of the paper, the craft almost being sucked down into it the whirlpool.
Huge trees growing on the mountains, all mountains each labelled also, as well as countries' names mentioned, "MERELY EXCESS CAPACITY".
The caption above:
STRUCTURAL PROBLEMS
THE CAPTION BELOW:
STRATEGIC PARTNERS ALL IN THIS TOGETHER
One might also point out, as Japan scholars (not me!) have long mentioned, it is a fundamental mistake to try to compare Japan and the US, even on so, apparently, 'fundamental' (not) a level, as that of 'economics' (pseudo discipline). SAY APPLES AND ORANGES, pace Posen.
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