Japan Press Weekly

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2008 November 12 - 18 [JCP]

JCP proposes emergency economic measures

The Japanese Communist Party on November 11 published its proposal for emergency economic measures focusing on improving people’s living standards instead of giving handouts to large corporations and financial institutions that are in decline due to the global financial meltdown triggered in the United States.

The JCP proposal consists of measures three steps to take:

(i) Prevent burden of failure of casino capitalism from being shifted onto the general public;
(ii) Fundamentally restructure the Japanese economy to putting emphasis on efforts to increase domestic demand instead of continuing with heavy dependence on foreign demand; and
(iii) Outlaw “casino capitalism”.

Explaining each of the three main directions at a news conference on the same day, JCP Chair Shii Kazuo said, “The current economic downturn has a serious impact on small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). They are being forced to cut jobs and are on the verge of bankruptcy.”

Shii criticized large corporations, such as Toyota Motor Corp., for planning to stop renewing the contracts of contingent workers and implementing massive restructuring schemes to continue their enormous profits.

Pointing out that Japan’s three major financial groups are leading the way in refusing to provide new loans to SMEs and forcibly collecting SME debts, Shii demanded that the government make these banks set goals for providing financial support to small companies and monitor the implementation of such policies.

“What is needed to boost the country’s economy is a fundamental shift of policies from supporting large corporations and banks to supporting the household economy,” said Shii.

Key proposals:
(i)
* Stop large corporations from conducting self-centered mass restructuring;
* Use six trillion yen in savings for employment insurance to support unemployed people’s search for jobs;
* Stop banks from refusing to lend money to SMEs and from conducting forcible debt collection practices, and require banks to fulfill their social responsibilities to finance small businesses; and
* Stop large corporations from shifting the burden of losses from the high-valued yen onto subcontractors/suppliers, and from imposing extraordinary cuts in unit prices of supplies.
(ii)
* Create rules to ensure stable employment;
* Establish decent social services to support people’s lives;
* Support the development of agriculture, forestry, and fisheries; help small- and medium-sized enterprises, and revitalize local economies;
* Stop attempts at consumption tax increase and implement tax breaks to stimulate ordinary people’s households; and
* Fiscal sources for these measures should be secured by removing two political impediments, subservience to the United States and large Japanese corporations.
(iii)
* Establish rules aimed at regulating excessive financial speculations; and
* Break away from the financial liberalization policy that follows the U.S. model.