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Oct 22 2009, 3:56 pm by Megan McArdle

Tokyo's new government, which won a landslide victory on an ambitious (and expensive) social agenda, is set to issue a record amount of debt, borrowing more in government bonds than it will receive in tax receipts for the first time since the years after World War II.

"Public sector finances are spinning out of control -- fast," said Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics in a recent note to clients. "We believe a fiscal crisis is imminent."

One of the lessons of Japan's experience is that a government saddled with debt can quickly...