Japan's Abe to delay sales tax hike until 2019: government source

``Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to delay an increase in sales tax by two and a half years, a government official said on Sunday, as the economy sputters and Abe prepares for a national election... Abe has long said he would proceed with a plan to raise the tax rate to 10 percent from 8 percent next April unless Japan faced a crisis on the magnitude of the Lehman shock.'' -- Wait Shinzo, so are we now faced with a "crisis on the magnitude of the Lehman shock"?! Sounds like he's picked up the "tin foil hatter" line...