...and what Japan is doing...

...and BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda expanding its massive stimulus spending in a stark admission that economic growth and inflation have not picked up as much as expected after a sales tax hike in April.  Why?

...Kuroda said that while the economy continues to recover, plunging oil prices, slowing global growth and weak household spending after the tax hike were weighing on price growth.

and this quote from the Wall Street Journal is very interesting:

 Is it a coincidence the BOJ moved so soon after the U.S. Fed ended its own asset purchase program? The U.S. economy might be in good enough shape to be slowly weaned off central bank life support, but the rest of the world is flagging. The IMF recently shaved its global growth forecasts, China is slowing and the eurozone is edging towards recession. So while the measures are geared towards domestic factors, the BOJ is also battling global headwinds.

How will Mario Draghi react?

The European Central Bank chief can only fantasise about pushing through policy decisions with a one-vote majority, as Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda did on Friday...(from Reuters blogs)

And the same article continues:

Part of the problem is that the ECB's actions are still viewed through the optic of nationalism, and some nations count more than others. It is huge news if a German central banker is overruled. It would barely register if a Cypriot were left to sulk.

True, Germany is Europe's biggest economy and it might seem understandable that the views of its central bankers matter more in practice than they do in the central bank's charter.

However, ECB policymakers are supposed to be politically independent, to rise above national considerations and to focus only on what is good for the euro zone as a whole.

 Sure. Mario Draghi may have to...

 ...wait until the economic situation is so dire that he can win over a healthy majority.

In the meantime,  how much more pain and misery for so many families will be inflicted?