Hatoyama to create economic recovery post

Hatoyama can do anything he wants, but until the decision making power, and the ability to use public money unfettered, are removed under pain of death, from the unelected pen-pushers who actually RUN Japan (unaccountable to the people), not a cotton-pickin' thing will change. Trust me.

wait and see

The Japanese word for this is 泥縄式 -doronawashiki - the equivalent of closing the barn door after the horses have bolted.

Guaranteed, if the current economic downturn, caused 100% by gaikoku, had never happened, Minshuto would still be an opposition party.

Guaranteed, if the current economic downturn, caused 100% by gaikoku, had never happened, Minshuto would still be an opposition party.

When you say "gaikoku" I assume you're referring specifically to Bill Clinton and the US Democrats.

As for Minshuto and opposition, do you honestly think the LDP could have sustained itself in power indefintely? People were getting sick of them even when economic conditions were substantially better than they have been recently. Koizumi turned the tide for a while, but after he quit they tried to go back to pork-barrel politics as usual and they finally paid the price. The simple fact is that the LDP went overboard with the supply-side economics, so desperate were individual legislators to reward local businessmen who'd kept donating to their campaign funds. They were too short-sighted and stupid to realise there cannot be supply without demand to match it.

At least the DPJ are willing to do something to increase ordinary people's spending power. All the LDP could manage in the circumstances was more pork-barrel spending and a one-off handout that basically made no positive difference whatsoever.

Gee Sarge, the Japan economy has been off for 20 years now. That includes the Clinton years when the US economy surged at the highest levels ever.

Where do you come up with this stuff? Cant be Limbo cause he does not know where Japan is located.

"when you say "gaikoku" I assume you're referring specifically to Bill Clinton and the US Democrats"

You would assume that and you would be wrong.

"The Japan economy has been off for 20 years now"

Gee, zurcronium ( tee hee! ) Where do you come up with this stuff? Even with the current downturn, Japan is STILL the second largest economy in the world. And my company was doing great the past several years until the world economic crisis reared its ugly head.

"the Clinton years when the US economy surged at the highest levels ever"

The dot.com bubble? Heh.

I'm Japanese. japanese people don't like The Democratic Party of japan[MINSYU-TO]. but they voted to The Democratic Party . because they tried of LDP. and they said"NO！".

p.s. it is difficult in english. i'm a junior high school student. sorry…

Sarge,

must I school you all the time? The .com crash occurred while bush was president in 2000 and 2001. And the Japanese real estate crash occurred in 1989, twenty years ago now. The Japanese economy has been stagnant for the last two decades. What has happened lately is the the external markets for Japanese goods had died, the LDP let Japan be over dependent on exports for way too long. The DJP will fix that, as they have stated.

New Japanese leader may look more to Asia and primilary China for future stability and growth. Hatoyama has been vocal in criticizing U.S. over the global financial crisis and has urged closer ties to Asia, a stance that has led to speculation of possible friction with U.S. He will pursue his desire for more independent relationship with the U.S. and wants to create a "East Asian community". This is going to be a difficult task to revive Japanese economy and in reality you might not see much of change.

Well that's a plan, solve the economic crisis through more talking, meetings and bureaucracy! After all it's not like there's a finance ministry or anything.......

Just as long as he doesn't start calling them czars...

"when you say "gaikoku" I assume you're referring specifically to Bill Clinton and the US Democrats"

You would assume that and you would be wrong.

Really? Then I take it you were just being sarcastic. If not, do you agree with Hatoyama's opinion that a lot of Japan's problems have been caused by unhealthy adherence to American-style market fundamentalism?

"Then I take it you were just being sarcastic"

Really? Why? All I said was, "Guaranteed, if the current economic downturn, caused 100% by gaikoku, had never happened, Minshuto would still be an opposition party."

"do you agree with Hatoyama's opnion that a lot of Japan's problems have been caused by unhealthy adherence to American-style market fundamentalism?"

Heck, no! A lot of Japan's current economic problems are due to the world economic crisis ( or gaikoku, as I previously referred to it ).

But I would agree with the assertion that Japan's prosperity over the years after the war is largely due to unfettered access to America's markets.

How about this idea? raise the minimum wage.

Really? Why? All I said was, "Guaranteed, if the current economic downturn, caused 100% by gaikoku, had never happened, Minshuto would still be an opposition party."

Oh, I see. I wasn't entirely sure what you meant by "gaikoku." Still, as it's generally thought that the economic crisis started in the US and was exacerbated by insufficient government regulation, I'm guessing that if you acknowledge this to be generally correct you'd rather blame Bill Clinton for it than George W. Bush. Moreover, I think the writing was on the wall for the LDP long before the current crisis blew up - they were pretty much doomed from the moment Koizumi quit and they picked that feeble non-entity Abe to take his place. I seem to recall that the economic situation seemed to be more or less okay when the LDP got their arses handed to them on a plate in the 2007 upper house election, so the worldwide crisis was just one of the final nails in the coffin.

But I would agree with the assertion that Japan's prosperity over the years after the war is largely due to unfettered access to America's markets.

A prosperity built on an unhealthy over-reliance on exports. While the major exporters were doing a brisk trade, the domestic economy was allowed to remain chronically weak, which I think was a deliberate ploy to keep businesses dependent on political patronage, and no one in the LDP or bureaucracy ever anticipated the overseas demand drying up. So, while a lot of Japan's current problems were doubtless caused by the international economic crisis, the others were caused by the LDP. I hope the new 'minister for economic recovery' will look back at LDP financial policies as a good example of what NOT to do.