Aso Offers Stimulus, Delays Vote in Japan

TOKYO, Oct. 30 -- Prime Minister Taro Aso moved Thursday to shelter Japanese taxpayers from global financial turmoil -- and to put off a national election that polls suggest could toss him and his ruling party out of power.

Aso, who has been in office a little more than five weeks, unveiled a sweeping stimulus package crammed with crowd-pleasing attributes, including a proposal to dispense $20 billion among all the households in the country. Under the plan, a family of four can expect a $600 check.

The package -- worth about $275 billion, of which $50 billion would come from new spending-- would give large tax breaks to holders of home mortgages, extend tax cuts on capital gains, lower highway tolls and give loans to small businesses.

Even with the stimulus package, Aso said, "it will take three years for the Japanese economy to fully cure itself."

"The most important thing is to allay concerns about people's livelihoods," the prime minister said, adding that the world economy is being pounded by a "once-in-a-100-years storm" that originated in the United States.

More than any of the world's major economic powers, export-dependent Japan has been hurt by that storm. As of last Monday, its stock market had fallen to a 26-year low, although it has bounced back sharply in the past three days. Exports to the United States, which are the source of most of Japan's growth, have plunged. Industrial output has fallen for three straight quarters.

Economists said Aso's package may well soften the worst effects of the financial crisis and add about half a percentage point of growth to next year's gross national product.

Aso's speech, however, was about more than economics.

He made it clear that he would not soon dissolve parliament and call a national election, as the opposition Democratic Party of Japan is demanding. "The overwhelming majority of the public wants economic measures more than politics," he said.

When Aso, 68, became prime minister in September, chosen not by voters, but by his peers in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, he hinted broadly that he would call an election soon. By law, a national election must be held by next September.

Aso's approval numbers have since slipped from the mid-40s to the mid-30s, presenting a grave threat to a ruling party that has run Japan as more or less a one-party state since World War II.

Voters now have a viable alternative. The Liberal Democratic Party is being challenged -- and mocked -- as never before by the Democratic Party, which easily won control of the upper house of parliament in an election last year.