politics

'Suganomics' will target quick wins, not grand visions

13 Comments
By Leika Kihara and Tetsushi Kajimoto

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13 Comments
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It’s promising that reforms have top billing rather than being a 3rd arrow that never gets fired.

Still, need to see reforms to believe them.

I think "furusato nouzei", the diversion of local taxes away from the place you actually live and make use of services, is completely crazy.

It depends. Not all of the money spent locally is money spent that benefits myself and other residents. I’ve seen cherry blossom trees chopped down as part of a project ostensibly related to the Olympics, for which I received no benefit really. Instead, I can direct my money to a furusato that does spend it on something that does benefit me. That’s a positive thing, for those who benefit from the arrangement.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Suga -daddy,

What about tax slashing..??? Too much tax man. To high percentages.

How about lowering heath insurance costs? How about raising a pack a cigarettes to 2000 a pack? Get you money there at the 7-11 register.

He'll initially focus on pragmatic goals that directly affect people's livelihood."

Then get the foreign worker compensated like your fellow Japanese. We pay taxes, nenkin all that is asked for us. But were still treated poorly when it comes to the comp plan. I work twice as hard as my Japanese co-workers and paid less.

Suga -daddy equality FOR ALL!

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Suga's slogan urging the public to "look after yourself before seeking government help" reflects his background as a self-made politician who made his way up from a son of a strawberry farmer to Japan's leader, people who know him say.

Let's see how that philosophy applies to LDP voters and donors in over-represented rural party strongholds.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Short term thinking :QE which is UBI for financial institutions to prop up the markets, weakening the yen to prop up exports that has done wonders for the economic stability of the Japanese populace so far right?

And so many richly ironic quotes here:"He hates people with vested interests."Then Suga should have a hatred for the LDP like the white hot fire of a thousand suns.

"Suga's slogan urging the public to "look after yourself before seeking government help".

This is the urging to the public. When Dentsu and Keidanren come around as the economy continues to struggle into next year and companies are saddled with Olympic debt, time for another tax increase to bail them out.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Suga relaxed visa requirements to boost inbound tourism, overcoming push-back from the justice ministry. He also cut through bureaucratic opposition and expanded a scheme that gave tax breaks for donations to Japan's regional areas.

"Suga may not be charismatic, but he gets things done," said Taimei Yamaguchi, a ruling party lawmaker close to Suga. "Some of the best advice I got from him was to make the most of the expertise the bureaucrats have."

This quote follows two examples of him fighting bureaucrats.

Getting more tourists in is good, but I think "furusato nouzei", the diversion of local taxes away from the place you actually live and make use of services, is completely crazy.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

"He hates people with vested interests."

Amazing he's got so far in the LDP, then. Slashing phone costs, getting regional banks to merge and letting zombie firms go under sounds okay though, if he gets any of that done.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

There is a distinct a lack of ambition.

Little or no bold measures to tackle the institutional and regulatory framework to address J domestic economies deficiencies.

An example would be agriculture, direct inward investment, and dealing directly with the significant decline in labour force, the decrease in agricultural land, stagnation of levels productivity that affect and inflate price at consumption,

My next-door neighbours (Farmers), rice cultivation, pursue an inefficient cooperative stand alone “patchworks”, all at the determinant to land management.

A consolidation of all their resources, women/man power under a single organization.  

They are all, with respect, in the later stages of their lives.  

A methodology needs to be vigorously adopted to take agriculture and the benefits to rural communities seriously.

And especially to schools, what has happened to rural science? It seems to have fallen off the back of a tractor

'Suganomics' will target quick wins, not grand visions…….

Another meaningless sound bite, no more, no less.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

At his age long term is next week, so why would he care.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

"He hates people with vested interests."

And I'm sure the feeling will be mutual.

But if he makes promises and keeps them, works for the benefit of the people then he will be returned to power a year from now.

Good luck Suga, you'll need it!

4 ( +4 / -0 )

"He isn't after visions. He's someone who wants to accomplish small goals one by one," said political analyst Atsuo Ito, a former ruling party staff. "He'll initially focus on pragmatic goals that directly affect people's livelihood."

Japan's new prime minister will pursue economic structural reforms through a mixed bag of policies that target specific industries, rather than a grand strategy to reshape society and boost long-term growth.

Sound like previous one, just different person.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

"He hates people with vested interests."

One of the biggest problems in Japan is that too many industries have heavy government involvement (tourism, agriculture, construction, even tobacco).

And the people working in city and prefectural offices who are assigned to manage these tasks (and rotated out to other positions every couple years), who have little or no skills in these massive industries, and who have control over huge budgets, and who get paid their salary no matter what their performance.... these people specifically do not have vested interests. And due to this lack of vested interest in seeing what they manage actually perform well, it makes them the main problem that should be dealt with.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

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