'Recovery' is only for selected large corporations -- Akahata editorial, January 21 (Excerpts)

The Cabinet Office's Monthly Economic Report for January said that the economy is steadily recovering, supported by business investments and exports. This is the first time in three years that the government assessment was so positive.

In contrast, people's living conditions and small- and medium-sized enterprises are experiencing hardships far removed from the government judgment about a steady recovery.

Increasing uncertainty

The unemployment rate continues to stand at the 5 percent level, and the number of the employed and their income continue to decline.

The Koizumi Cabinet's policy of imposing extra burdens on the people through tax increases and further cuts in social services has made people more concerned about their subsistence than ever before.

Business recovery among small- and medium-sized businesses lags far behind large corporations that are making rapid improvements in their performance.

Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro is praising himself for reducing 9 trillion yen in bad loans held by major banks in the last 18 months. One must not forget that small- and midsized businesses have been betrayed by the government.

The prime minister and the state minister in charge of economic and fiscal policy have argued that writing off bad loans is the first step toward revitalizing the economy. This shows that they are just espousing irresponsible propaganda.

As the monthly report shows, good performance is limited to exports as well as the earnings and investments of major manufactures that account for the majority of exports.

An economic newspaper's survey shows that only 20 percent of listed companies can expect record profit in FY 2004 and that their profit accounts for 60 percent of the profit of all industries. This means that only a handful of large manufacturers are raking in profits.

Shift focus onto livelihood

In this we can see a major distortion of the Japanese economy.

These large corporations enjoy government favors in tax cuts, restructure themselves, and cut unit prices for supplies they buy from sucbontactors to increase their profits. We must not overlook that such huge profits for large corporations are secured at the sacrifice of the household economy.

If the household economy (which accounts for 60 percent of the national economy) is made to suffer more, the base of the nation's economy will be further undermined. To get the economy out of the prolonged stagnation, the focus of economic policy needs to be drastically shifted to improve people's livelihoods. (end)