Abe gets middling marks on his economic performance from analysts: poll

The average score of 58 says it all - a big fat F

Middling?

Perhaps it's a mistype and the first letter is a "P" not an "M."

"It is difficult to proceed with fiscal reconstruction without medical and social security reform," said Harumi Taguchi, principal economist at IHS Markit.

A euphemism for pursuing relentless austerity. Shrink the social safety net, raise our taxes, hope prices continue to rise. Meanwhile, our beloved PM in perpetuity continues to politely urge corporations to use some of the trillions of yen they're sitting on to raise salaries, even though they've ignored him for the entirety of his term.

I can not believe the voting public put up with the LDPs constant attacks, corporate tax is reduced, that's such a misnomer as Companies like Toyota have never paid tax anyway. Then just because the regime needs more money to enhance their fiscal mismanagement raise taxes on a population that 60% are on short term contracts and barley able to support themselves. And blame them for not producing future tax payers.

It must be nice to have two brand new jets while it's a joyous thing to get a cup of noodles for the rest of us.

CrickyToday 09:37 am JST

I can not believe the voting public put up with the LDPs constant attacks...

In actual fact a lot of them don't, but thanks to first past the post LDP candidates can get elected even if they get less votes than all the other candidates combined.

Asked to grade Abe on a scale from zero to 100, 29 analysts gave him an average score of 58 points, with most clustered between 50 and 70 points. That suggests they believe he's doing modestly well, making more progress than failing - but not doing an outstanding job, either.

Shows how much those "analysts" know. I'd have given him a big fat 0, as I cannot think of one thing he's done well.

The article is so wrong that I don't even know where to start, and one doesn't need to be

an economist even me with the little economics that I learned in middle school knows that

more women are participating in the work force not because of Abe's lip service but because

most families haven't a choice but for both husband and wife working prices of every commodity

or services that you can think of has skyrocketed while salaries have stagnated or plummeted for

some because a large number of workers are on short contracts or are temp staffs and under the

shackles of Job placement agencies with virtually no working rights.

The economist who took part in the survey are lazy and completely out of touch with the reality or

hardship of most families, they are on eight, nine digit income and have never taken their lazy off their

posh offices to go out and check prices of basic foodstuffs or salaries of families.

Analysts also said areas of success were "accepting foreign workers," with 12 votes, and "promoting economic partnerships," with 11 votes. Immigration is a delicate subject in Japan, but job shortages have prompted the government to announce plans for new five-year work permit categories for foreign workers in areas such as farming, construction and hotels.

Foreigner are accepted not out of choice but because of necessity due to the falling birthrate and ageing of society and exacerbated by workers retiring and not picking good paying jobs (except you were a director or career bereaucrat) but rejected and treated like disposable napkins. There is no job shortage it is a hoax, the job market is not vibrant as most of the jobs are low paying and you don't expect one to leave a low paying that he/she is used to for another low one. Besides, the foreigners being accepted to come and do the low

paying jobs are young and single who won't really add much to the economy as consumers but a tremendous savings to the employers for securing cheap labor and in the long run consumer spending will remain tepid at best.

"It is difficult to proceed with fiscal reconstruction without medical and social security reform," said Harumi Taguchi, principal economist at IHS Markit. "Sustainable growth by improving productivity and to ease worries about the future by raising wages are also important to raise consumer spending."

How about reducing gov't waste and raising the basic wage to 1500yen and placing some restrictions on the job placement agencies the major cause of the low salaries.

Economists forecast that the core consumer price index, which excludes fresh food, will likely rise to 0.9 percent in the current fiscal year to March 2019, and the same rate the following year -- stripping out the effects of a scheduled sales tax hike in Oct 2019, the poll found.

Foodstuffs should be excluded from CPI calculations, it does nothing but skew the figures.

One of Abe's main goals has been to lift Japan out of an extended deflationary rut, and the core CPI has gradually improved, reaching 0.8 percent in July

The CPI has not translated to any improvement even slight of the livelihood of a majority of the population.

Economists predict the economy will expand 1.1 percent this fiscal year and 0.8 percent the following year. Some economists responded to the survey before revised growth data, which showed the economy expanded at an annual pace of 3 percent in April-June, the fastest since 2016.

The growth if there was really one was due to companies investing rather than consumer spending

"Industrial production and external demand is weak, partly affected by trade friction," said Akiyoshi Takumori, chief economist at Sumitomo Mitsui.

What a shame, the lamest excuse I have read for a very long long time, I guess if you are chief economist in a major banking corporation you have a carte blanche to make any utterance and it is taken as fact.

I would have given him a much lower score around 30-40. He has achieved none of his campaign promises like, increasing childcare, lowering the child poverty rate, decreasing the public debt, increasing salaries and family payments plus many more. He has increased the public debt twice and he gave corporations tax cuts. His three arrows of economic reform are just hot air. Ask any small business owner what they think of Abe and Abenomics, but make sure there are no children around coz the reply will not be suitable for young ears. All he has done is bolster profits for corporations at the expense of small businesses. Families are nearly 20% worse off than before he took office. He’s a fraud!

first glimpse of the pic - looked like Abe was releasing a dove of peace or something from the clasp of his hands

Do the hustleToday  12:18 pm JST

I would have given him a much lower score around 30-40. He has achieved none of his campaign promises like, increasing childcare, lowering the child poverty rate, decreasing the public debt, increasing salaries and family payments plus many more. He has increased the public debt twice and he gave corporations tax cuts. His three arrows of economic reform are just hot air. Ask any small business owner what they think of Abe and Abenomics, but make sure there are no children around coz the reply will not be suitable for young ears. All he has done is bolster profits for corporations at the expense of small businesses. Families are nearly 20% worse off than before he took office. He’s a fraud!

However the ultra-nationalist nut-jobs love his right wing macho talk and that's great for LDP polling figures. What's the big hurry to fix the economy and keep your promises if your job's safe no matter what you do?

If it was a board game yes! It's a pathetic display of leadership. But as he and Nippon Kaige are pathetic and their base tittering on dementia with more than 60% of voters not giving a damn as their lives are so destitute of any hope. So good on Shinzo, he might replicate his grandfather but who really cares. Obviously he cares but not a huge percentage of the population.

mediocre

Pretty good performance given that Japan is depopulating and a growing chunk of the labor force is beyond 65 and lacking in dynamism and creativity. Yes, statistically speaking, oldies are less productive and less creative, all else the same.

rubber stamps are way up though

Good job Abe-san and please keep it up. Work hard and bring forth a new era for Japan. I personally give you a grade of 78% and that is a B+. Doing great but you need to work harder. Please boost Japan's military strength so that your fellow countrymen can live without fear of foreign enemy invasions.