Can Japan spend its way out of trouble? Many members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), undaunted by public debt of more than one-and-a-half times national income, want the government to try. They are therefore furious with Junichiro Koizumi, who, they say, has been too tight-fisted since taking over as the LDP'S president, and Japan's prime minister, in April 2001. On September 20th, when the LDP elects its leader for the next three years, Mr Koizumi's rivals will try to tap that fury and force him from office. All three of his challengers have centred their attacks on his fiscal policies.
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