[tptacek]

You buried the lede!

Note there is no entry in a debt-to-GDP ratio for assets, just liabilities. So if we believe the R&R story, then we can increase the growth rate through [auctioning off the California coastline].

People are fixated on the lurid detail of the story; do the Google search and see the "bad numbers! Excel spreadsheet! bad numbers!" roll by. The real issue, which Matt Yglesias pointed out last year, is that the purported result is hard to square with reality. Japan has the highest debt ratio in the world. If they disposed of it tomorrow, they would not suddenly be the fastest growing economy.