Japan may review spending on plutonium fuel cycle

a minister appointed to identify wasteful spending

Who'd a thought it, eh? I wonder if he has enough power not to be an example of wasteful spending himself.

Abe had told the cabinet that wasteful spending had to be taken “out of the budget.”

I would suggest first noting that the budget ought be limited to the resources that the government has to spend, considering the 1,000 trillion yen+ of public debt already accumulated. Even more of the same is not the right approach. You'd think that with annual tax revenues of 50-60 trillion yen, a budget of 50 trillion yen instead of 102 trillion yen is appropriate.

Secondly, rather than "take waste out", go from the opposite side. Prioritize spending, and simply fit as many into the budget as it allows for. Exclude the rest.

Politicians in this country struggle to execute despite maintaining that they are aiming towards fiscal consolidation - it can happen anytime there is the will.

I wonder if he has enough power not to be an example of wasteful spending himself.

Indeed. I suspect the final budget will be another 98 trillion whopper, guaranteeing yet further debt is heaped on the pile. The voters need to remove LDP from office.

Japan may review spending on plutonium fuel cycle

"May review ...."

This is sheer dynamism!

(Sarcasm, as is the rest of this post)

How about appointing a minister to appoint new ministries.

This would save Abe time so that he can concentrate on continuing to boom Japan's economy and raising Japan's public safety to new heights.

This article was cracking me up a lot, until I realized that the more than three trillion wasted in more than two decades with ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to show for it only warrants a POSSIBLE REVIEW... then I realized how utterly sad and disgraceful this government is.

fxgai: for a change, we are in complete agreement. I fully believe they are more than doubling the income of the nation because they are expecting a lot more when the tax hike goes up (which won't be next fiscal year, but I mean they are already spending money they won't even have then), which is one of the reasons why they need to 'make up for the shortfall' in money they haven't even got yet because of the exclusion of food in the increase.

It's a money loser baby, so why don't you kill your finances

The minister’s comments come after the operator of Japan’s fast breeder reactor, designed to use plutonium extracted from spent reactor fuel, was declared unfit following decades of accidents, missteps and falsification of documents

The problem with Japan and nuclear power is all summed up in that final statement! They are playing around with possibly the most volatile element known to man and they can't be trusted to be honest about it! The Fukushima disaster was man-made due to laxed maintenance and falsified safety reports. This kind of dishonesty cannot be tolerated when they are playing plutonium! It is a criminal act and not just against the Jaoanese people. It's a criminal act against all humanity!