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© 2014 AFPAmari hints at action against companies that don't increase wages
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© 2014 AFP
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Alex Einz
nice move! thats the best way, otherwise they have no incentive to increase wages
tokyoclambake
Free market economics at its best!
Nanraayashimunitarinai
free market doesn't mean anarchy
tmarie
Got to love the freedo m here. Insane. They 'll stomp their feet and punish companies if they don't listen to the "suggestion"? In what way is this legal?
Hey, I know, why not raise the mimum wage! That would actually help the people who need help the most.
Disillusioned
You know, these major corporations only make up 0.3% of Japanese companies and they have only offered a scummy ¥2-3,000 salary increase. The feral irony is, most of these smaller companies do not get any tax cuts, but now they are gonna be forced to increase salaries. Is it just me or does everybody else see how absolutely ridiculous this economic plan is?
nath
Free market economics are a failure. They don't work. To see the effects of unbridled capitalism, take a look at the US and China, both of which have a huge difference between the upper and lower classes. Just as communism, the extremity at one end of the scale, is doomed to fail, so is unbridled capitalism, the extremity at the other end of the scale.
SamuraiBlue
Company that does not record net profit does not need to pay corporate tax in Japan.
HongoTAFEinmate
While I am all in favor of the average Mr./Ms. Suzuki getting a hard-earned pay rise (for all the overtime and "service" they are forced to give), a minister of the government adopting the tactics of a street hoodlum just further demonstrates that the current government is both reactionary and anachronistic. Such tactics were supposed to have been retired when the "computerized bulldozer" left the office of PM 30+ years ago. Moreover, these utterances from the minister have more than a sniff of old "goso sendan hoshiki" which used to be applied mainly to banking policy.
Jean ValJean
Hey! Don't insult the yaks by comparing politicians to them. That's below the belt.
" free market doesn't mean anarchy" No, you mean chaos, not anarchy.
" Free market economics are a failure. They don't work." Absolute rubbish! You've never seen true free market economics. All you've seen is crony-capitalism, the illegitimate sibling of mercantilism proclaimed by the unknowing as "free market ".
Read this:
http://econlib.org/library/Enc/FreeMarket.html
nath
Well, I'd agree with you, same as we've never seen true communism. And this is a good thing, as the closest approximations we've seen to these are failures. Extremism is never a good thing. Ever.
Jean ValJean
@strangerland, true communism fails too quickly to even be seen as it's so devoid of logic.
Read this:
http://econlib.org/library/Enc/FreeMarket.html
nath
Unbridled capitalism is just as devoid of logic. As I said, extremes are never good.
Tom Webb
**WOW!!! This sound like serious Nazi tactics employed by the Abe regime. I can't believe this is happening in a "democratic" Japan.
Jean ValJean
" Unbridled capitalism is just as devoid of logic. As I said, extremes are never good."
The logical and economic fallacy is quite astounding.
fxgai
I'd go with "Stalin era communists" myself.
I hope it is just the AFP spin that makes it look so bad, but from the article one gets the impression that the government has given up on taking hard fiscal decisions that would create a business environment in Japan conducive to sustainable growth, and they are just hoping the business community will suck it up and do it all for them.
Shareholders have the right as owners risking their money to expect that their businesses conduct profitable operations, it's completely wrong for the government to jump in and interfere. The government is sending a very bad message to investors at a time when they are trying to encourage newbies into the markets with their NISA schemes.
Jimizo
'A market looks free only because we unconditionally accept its underlying restrictions that we fail to see them....The usual claim by free-market economists that they are trying to defend the market from politically motivated interference is false. Government is always involved and those free-marketers are as politically motivated as anyone' - Professor Ha-Joon Chang. I wonder how far the 'true' free-marketers would go? A return to child-labour? Unrestricted immigration? Nobody will ever see true 'free' markets and thankfully so.
Serrano
If this action against companies that don't increase wages is taken on a sliding scale, the company I work for will receive some severe punishment, ha ha lol
fxgai
Strangerland,
China has generated some billionaires through capitalism, but in the process they also moved hundreds of millions of people up into the middle class. Hey it's not a panacea but it's sure better than anything they tried before.
Jean ValJean
" I wonder how far the 'true' free-marketers would go? A return to child-labour? Unrestricted immigration? Nobody will ever see true 'free' markets and thankfully so."
Delirium.
nath
Yes, it's definitely had its benefits. The China of now is a significant improvement on the China of 30 years ago. But that said, they have some aweful troubles they need to fix.
kaimycahl
Looks like another form of bullying!
jerseyboy
Sure, threaten companies that don't yield to Abe's economic policy demands, but simply slap the wrist of those involved in crimes like price fixing or mis-labeling -- things that could actually protect the consumer. You have to love how Japan Inc. works.
Utrack
tmarie, Exactly....
hereforever
Higher salaries for the really hard working tax payers and massive cut in bonuses for laid back, kick back, tempura eating vacationing executives.