politics

Diet passes Y90.3 tril budget, adding to Japan's debt mountain

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It is impossible to repay all government debt (in any country). All money in existence is created by debt. If all the debt was repaid, all money in circulation would disappear. It is called the debt money system and it is a global cancer.

The debt money was introduced 'by bankers' to the government. Once you understand how the debt system works, you will begin to realize how insane it really is. Trouble is, 99% of the population are just too busy to stop and pay attention...

The only winners (as usual) are the Mega Commercial Banks.....

5 ( +6 / -1 )

49% financed by debt! Run!

3 ( +3 / -0 )

50% of the budget goes to social welfare - pension and health care. What a difference compared with America where birth, aging, sickeness and death are on their own responsibilities. The current government is spoiling the weak.

My guess is that you have not been keeping up with the extent of the creeping socialism in the US. America has the same exact deficit and debt problems as Japan. We are just a few years further away from bankruptcy.

Okay - I know you were just kidding....

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Will Japan ever be in the black? Not in my lifetime or my kids, or my kids kids, or my...

3 ( +3 / -0 )

"49% is debt? Hey, no problem! Not mine, anyway."

Japanese government can "finance" it, as long as Japanese people believe it and never EVER come collecting nor ask questions.

In western standards, most of Japanese banks are already insolvent, and invoices within the same keiretsu are habitually ignored. But as long as everything is ignored, they continue freely. THAT is the "unique" (thank god for that!) Japanese system, a.k.a Ponzi scheme.

3 ( +7 / -4 )

How many zeros is that?

why count zero which is a positive integer...here it's all negative a huge deficit :)

2 ( +2 / -0 )

50% of the budget goes to social welfare - pension and health care. What a difference compared with America where birth, aging, sickeness and death are on their own responsibilities. The current government is spoiling the weak.

That's the kind of atitude that makes America such a great place to live. I agree, much better to spend the money on bombs and bullets. (sarcasm off)

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Dalkrin: Banks and pension companies are buying most of the debt. Therefore, when the government defaults make sure you don't have too much money in a Japanese bank, or a pension fund (if they haven't gambled the money away already).

2 ( +2 / -0 )

This will be an Asian debt crisis someday soon

2 ( +2 / -0 )

What happens when people stop buying bonds????

2 ( +2 / -0 )

heir debt is the biggest in the world now, for each yen the goverment earns they spend 2,35yen, totals to 235%. 90% of tax earnings are used to pay of the debt. and 95% of the debt is bought by their own people via goverment bonds for 1,1% interest.

japan population getting older, now 130mio by 2030 they will have under 100mio and 1 young person has to take care for 6 older....

on the other side they have huge problem with energy, shut down all atomic reactor but have to buy expensive oil/gas from overseas. thats means export industry will leave and leave another big hole.

they have two options in future, print print money to get inflation going like usa is doing or open up to foreign investors and sell parts of japans industry or they will beg other countries for help....

most people here have no idea how deep this economy is in the shits.."

2 ( +2 / -0 )

If you were paying all my salary then the government would not need to go into debt.

(tax payers already pay ALL Your salary) I've got choice about taxes. If it were up to me, I wouldn't pay "half your salary" as you say, but instead I would give walking papers to half the government work force, starting with the Diet.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Against the backdrop of one of the world's fastest aging populations, one of the lowest birth rates on the planet, a renewed reliance on foreign energy, and a yen that is so expensive that Japanese corporations are offshoring production, it won't be long before the country eventually plows through its savings.............. meaning all Japanese private savings in the country are in the National debt.....

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I am employed by the government, so I guess my children are going to have to pay my salary.

I certainly hope they pick up the tab coz at the moment I pay your salary.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Japan,the US, and the Euro countries are all very far in debt,so far in debt that the debts will never be repaid..IMO the time is approaching when no one will any longer be willing to purchase all this debt..In Japan much of the debt is held in bonds purchased by Japanese citizens, but these bonds are really worthless papers with no true value. It's all a big shell game that is being played by governments in many countries,increase the debt and then increase the tax rates to cover the spending. When the day comes that no one will be willing to purchase the debt the economy will crash and the Yen/Dollar/Euro will lose considerable purchase power,taxes will remain high and the people holding Japanese bonds will not be able to sell the government bonds because there will be no Yen/Dollars/Euro available to redeem them with out again finding a non existent buyer of debt...All this increased debt does not increase the supply of Yen/Dollars/Euro available it decreases availability.. The amount of debt in Yen/Dollar/Euro exist only as numbers in a computer or on obscure spread sheets at banks and within government.. The Money's we call Yen,Dollar and Euro are fiat money with nothing except the citizens debt to back them. IMO Hard times are coming and the situation in greece will look calm compared to the citizen revolts/riots that will break out unless change is imposed soon and governments start operating on a more fiscally responsible manner to pay down debts.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

correct tyler, and the japanese people would not say a thing and let the savings go. another interesting issue is how many other companies cooking books? olympus, aij who is next and what havnt they discovered yet?

as long as they can manipulte the mass and control them they can play this game a long time.. but the airballon one day always blows up..

does anyone know if banks have insurance here for the deposits and how much per customer is insured?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Balance the budget!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Imagine a salaryman who made $40,000 last year but had expenses of $45,000 (he's got a mortgage, kids to feed, that kind of thing). Looking for ways to cut his expenses is the ideal solution, but a suggestion to raise his income by doing a little part-time work on the weekends or in theevenings might make some sense. Either side of the equation has some leeway for improvement.

Now consider someone who made $40,000 per year but spent $100,000, mostly on useless trinkets. You ask him about how he's going to handle that huge shortfall, and he doesn't say a single word about cutting any of his ridiculously profligate and useless spending.

Wouldn't you laugh in this guy's face?

Here's an idea, GOJ: look at your revenues first, and then decide how much money will be spent on what, and what the budget has room for. That's how we human beings in the real world manage our money. You can do it too!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Let it be..!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

How many zeros is that?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

As noted, this just happens to be another country reduced to a dangerous dependence on deficits for effective functioning. Japan racked up most of this debt heap long before March 11 last year. My only question is who is buying all this government debt? Must be the banks and private citizens I am sure, yet still is there no limit to the enabling of financial malfeasance present in the concerned holders?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I am employed by the government, so I guess my children are going to have to pay my salary.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

problem is greece is far less than the problem in japan.

their debt is 235% of the GDP and they spend 90% of their tax earnings for interest repayments.

only fools buy those ponzi scheme goverment bonds cos it all can implode any time. also asked your jap bank if ur money is insured in case of default. keep enuff cash at home that you can survive fpr 6month and exchange the yen to other currencies. buy us dollar and euro now!!

jap goverment will inflate the yen by 30-40% next years to keep its export going.. euro will go around 130yen and dollar back to 100.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

oops! "no choice"

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Last year Japan's debt was about $93,000 Debt per citizen maybe they can get to $100,000 per citizen by next year.......

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Well, at least the Japanese Diet can pass a budget. The US Congress (more specifically, the Democrat-controlled Senate) hasn't been able to pass a budget in three years because they are preoccupied with more important matters like contraception, gay marriage and some hoody getting popped in Florida...

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Paul Grignon's 47-minute animated presentation of "Money as Debt" on YouTube is a must see video series.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

About 49% of the budget would be financed by issuing new bonds, a plan fiercely contested by opposition lawmakers who are aiming to push Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda to call snap elections, according to reports.

Japan, the U.S., EU member nations...what difference does it really make now? The simple fact of the matter is that the best "plans" of these countries to tackle their debt issues would really do little other than slow the growth of their mountains of debt, not push the countries' budgets back into the black on an annual basis.

So far, Japan has been able to fund most of its deficit spending by domestic bond purchases, instead of looking so much abroad like the others. How much longer can this continue?

The Bubble Days of the 1980s and all the fantasies that the Japanese populace fell for concerning Japan being the richest country in the world based on...B.S. land values, insane stock market manipulation etc....are long over. The country has been stuck in an economic malaise for two decades or so because Japan has nowhere to go for the time being but down.

The politicians have no answers for an economic rebound for the country because there are none. Raising the consumption tax might make sense to PM Noda and his ol' Finance Ministry pals. I doubt that it will, though. I guess we'll find out after it's been in place for a few years.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Japan has no choice but to print money....

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Kids, grandkids will want to know why there is no pie? What will we tell them?

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

The government should print the money to devalue the yen. The yen is too strong and inflating the currency would be a benefit.

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

I certainly hope they pick up the tab coz at the moment I pay your salary. Than you for pay for half of my salary. If you were paying all my salary then the government would not need to go into debt.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Money is the problem and not the answer. Let's barter instead.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

In order to balance the budget, they have to spend less, tax more but most importantly return to being an export economy. In order to do that you need to devalue the yen so Japanese products can be competitively priced outside of Japan. Print lots of money and devalue the Yen! make it cheaper than the US dollar. 120 to 130 yen to the dollar would do wonders for Japan's economy.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Green Panda..Money manipulation is another big problem,not a solution. Printing more Yen for the sake of devaluing The Yens value may increase exports in the very short term but it is a two edged sword that will slice deeply into Japans economy...Imports of existing inventory will increase in the short term but that trend will not last because devaluing the yen also increases the price of the raw materials and energy sources that must be imported into Japan to allow further production..A country with no coal,oil,Natural gas, Metal ore,forest industry,Fishery resource, or any major domestic supply of needed resource must import in order to build products for export..Japan used to have one great resource, a huge labor pool and low cost of labor, that was long ago..Japan has few natural resources,no coal oil and NG ,nor metal ores to speak of, and the labor pool is shrinking in ratio to the population . Also the Domestic food supply has been greatly reduced post disaster and japanwill probably see some food product shortages in the future as more of Japans cropland is deemed unsafe to grow crops. The Pacific fishery resources near Japan are also being destroyed/poisoned and this will lead to more demand from Japan for imported seafood, this will cause Japanese consumers to pay ever more Yen for a slice of the world supply of fish. Bottom line...Japan is in dire straights.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

And what will the government of Japan do with all of this money!! Spend it on the nuclear reactors in Japan. If anyone here does not believe what I am saying, you just watch and see.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

"The government should print the money to devalue the yen. The yen is too strong and inflating the currency would be a benefit."

@YuriOtani. Would it be OK with you if I wrote your name on the ballot sheet for Prime Minister in the next election? That is the best and most obvious solution to get help get Japan back on its feet.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Different party, same crap. The world focuses on Italy, Greece, Spain... all because of the EU and yet, Japan is where the focus and pressure needs to be.

Mind you, I guess Japan really isn't that important globally anymore. "Made in Japan" means nothing, Korea and China are producing cheaper and in many cases, better goods.... Nah... let Japan sink and leave them be.

-4 ( +5 / -9 )

50% of the budget goes to social welfare - pension and health care. What a difference compared with America where birth, aging, sickeness and death are on their own responsibilities. The current government is spoiling the weak.

-6 ( +0 / -6 )

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