Aso -- please hold this election already

The suspense is maddening!

clipped from www.bloomberg.com Feb. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Taro Aso risks deepening Japan’s recession in order to delay an election he’s likely to lose. Aso, whose approval rating has sunk below 20 percent after less than five months in office, refuses to bow to pressure from the opposition to call the election ahead of the legally required Sept. 10 date. The resulting political paralysis is stalling the 10 trillion-yen ($110 billion) stimulus plan he has promised to restore economic growth. “A tsunami is coming and we need effective economic stimulus from the government,” says Tsuneo Watanabe, a Tokyo- based adjunct fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “By clinging to power,” Aso, 68, and his Liberal Democratic Party are “making it harder for ordinary people to cope with this severe downturn.”