JAPAN

Calls for Economic Priming Increase: A top politician and the trade minister have added their voices to those urging quick government action to boost the economy, but Finance Minister Tsutomu Hata rejected the calls. “People suffering from diabetes want to eat a lot but, if you feed them as much as they want, it will ruin their health,” Hata said. He was commenting on calls from within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party for a hefty supplementary budget this fiscal year as a way to jump-start the stalled economy and bolster the sagging stock market. “A large-scale supplementary budget totaling as much as 8 trillion yen ($62.9 billion) will be necessary,” powerful party member Shin Kanemaru was quoted as saying by Jiji Press. Stock market investors have been pleading for government action on the economic front to save the market from further declines.