Kishida vows focus on COVID-19 response, new capitalism

Blah blah blah. Does Kishida and his undefined and untested ideas of “new capitalism” that is not state capitalism but does involve…. distribution….(?)…. have a chance of seeing out the year?

I doubt anyone outside of Japan is holding their breath waiting to see the results of Kishida Kapitalism. Let’s go with free enterprise, free market capitalism instead, that hasn’t been tried in Japan.

"I will realize more robust growth, countering intense challenges posed by an economic system operating under what can be described as state capitalism," Kishida said in what was seen as a reference to the Chinese economy.

Unfortunately for Kishida and his reskinned Abenomics China has forgone "urging" businesses to raise wages and just raised the minimum wage:

https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Minimum-wage-hikes-sweep-China-in-common-prosperity-push

China showing how its done?

Kishida's new capitalism ver. 1 = abenomics ver. 3 = utter failure ver. 17 (or whatever version you choose). So many meaningless buzz words make me nauseous.

Very nice.

"resolutely protecting" the lives and livelihoods of the people.

Lower the consumption tax

Raise corporate taxes on companies that refuse to invest their profits in HR.

Get rid of the tax exemption for religious entities that rake in enormous profits (e.g. Meiji Shrine).

Get rid of the inheritance tax for ordinary people. Stiffen the collection of these taxes on the uber wealthy (e.g. Abe, Aso).

Impose a tax on luxury items.

Raise the minimum wage.

Outlaw temp agencies.

for starters

It should be clear by now that the only way to get the or private sector to raise wages is to punish them, with higher taxes or penalties like on procurement .

Even during the severe labour shortage along with record-high profits before the pandemic, they refused to give substantive raises. That's proof enough that wage-suppression is the name of the game. And only harsh action can end it.

It should be clear by now that the only way to get the or private sector to raise wages is to punish them, with higher taxes or penalties like on procurement.

So the rising wages in various developed countries around the world over the past 30 years are because of such policies?

I don’t think so…

So the rising wages in various developed countries around the world over the past 30 years are because of such policies?

I don’t think so…

False.

https://www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/

"I will further enhance prevention, testing and early treatment and reduce the risk that the novel coronavirus poses to society," Kishida said.

Sounds good, but I hope it means that he will finally follow the recommendation from the chairman of the Tokyo Medical Association regarding early treatment.

Let me introduce you to a magician, the Great Kishida.

With the help of the fiscal and economic flux capacitor, Kishida will be transporting us all back to the future all climb in, there is room in the boot.

He vowed to move ahead with what he has described as a diplomatic approach based on "realism for the new era," saying it consists of three pillars -- emphasizing universal values, engaging in efforts to resolve global challenges and "resolutely protecting" the lives and livelihoods of the people.

The three pillars, now where have we heard that before…….

"Pursuing economic sustainability by creating a virtuous cycle of growth and distribution is the kind of new capitalism that I am aiming for," he said, calling for further wage hikes and more investment in human resources by companies.

This is as new as Moses aboard the ark

Remember Abe "three arrows": (i) aggressive monetary policy, (ii) fiscal consolidation, and (iii) growth strategy…..That third arrow?

Now we have the three pillars.

Abracadabra

Don’t raise my salary just give me back the money I earn!

You take one month of my salary for municipal taxes paying a bunch of bureaucrats to do pin pushing…

Sounds good, but I hope it means that he will finally follow the recommendation from the chairman of the Tokyo Medical Association regarding early treatment.

And go contrary to the recommendations of the actual experts on infecious diseasaes and the evidence that guides the scientific and medical consensus? that would be a terribly damaging suggestion, because it would mean going back in time and listen to much worse data than what we have now

False

You wanna argue with the OECD data; be my guest: https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Japan-election/Japan-s-30-year-wage-slump-hangs-over-distribution-debate

There’s a minimum wage for a reason: companies and people would pay less if there weren’t.

I don’t think that’s the reason.

Much fewer people are willing to work if the wages on offer are too low. If the wage was 1 yen an hour, how many takers do you think there would be? Very few, I’d wager. (This is why the true minimum wage is zero, nada.)

If the minimum wage is 100,000 yen an hour (in today’s money), how many employers would be looking for workers? Very few, I’d wager.

Anyone who thinks they know the appropriate level for a minimum wage is dreaming. It has more to o with self satisfaction than actually helping people, who can make decisions for themselves.

I did “child labour” myself as a kid. It was a mutually beneficial experience, and shouldn’t be denied anyone because of some other person’s ideas about how much they must be paid in order to do a job.

Japan is in trouble. There are far too many people with regular employment but irregular salaries.

A law that requires employers to provide 1 hour of benefits for 1 hour of work would really help the 40% of the labour market who are working for large employers but classified as "irregular" workers who are not provided and of the benefits of "regular" workers with the same employer.

Much fewer people are willing to work if the wages on offer are too low. If the wage was 1 yen an hour, how many takers do you think there would be? Very few, I’d wager. (This is why the true minimum wage is zero, nada.)

Great job making arguments against banning slavery and child labor. But that must have been the "central planners" at work.

Employers would pay far less than the minimum wage if they could.

That’s the big if I alluded to in my prior comment.

How many people do you think would offer to work for 1 yen an hour?

The minimum wage is simply not relevant if virtually no one is prepared to work for too cheap a price anyway.

People would have no choice but to accept the wages or starve.

That’s certainly not always the case by any stretch

I’m not certain what your point with this anecdote is.

The point is that some people making decisions that effects others without leaving them to choose for themselves is a bad idea.

"Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Saturday vowed to continue to take all necessary measures to fight the spread of COVID-19..."

Ummm... like what, for example? Not enforcing anything?

Get rid of the inheritance tax for ordinary people.

Inheritance tax is only imposed on any value after deducting the basic exemption, which currently is 40M Yen (350,000 USD) - so the burden on most individuals won't be too high.

"Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Saturday vowed to continue to take all necessary measures to fight the spread of COVID-19..."

Ummm... like what, for example? Not enforcing anything?

As said a hundred times before, forceful measures are impossible under Japanese law.

Lower the consumption tax

Japan already has on of the lowest consumption taxes in the world.

Impose a tax on luxury items.

Do you really want to pay 2x -3x the price of your new car, like they do in Singapore and Malaysia? And btw, what's considered a "luxury item"?

That is not the correct figure.

My apologies. I still had the data from 1988 in my head, at which time it was 40M+ 8M per heir.

It then went up to 50M+10M per heir in 1993 but has decreased to 30M+6M per heir in 2012.