And one of the things we're very proud of is the fact that we had a 6 percent contraction of the economy at the beginning of last year -- this pastquarter we had a 6 percent increase in the growth of the economy.
Spaghetti, which the Japanese love to eat with seaweed and cod's roe, has risen by over aquarter in the past year, and at the end of April hoarders cleared the nation's supermarket shelves of butter.
And while no one knows yet just how the current contenders have been spending their cash these past few months, a quick look back at expenses for the first quarter reveals where they placed sizable chunks of money early on.