JCP proposes to revise draft FY 2008 budget

   Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi at a news conference on February 18 made public a JCP proposal for a drastic revision of the draft FY 2008 budget with the aim of reconstructing the Japanese economy by prioritizing people’s livelihoods and the household economy over large corporations.

   The government argument that large corporations’ profits will trickle down to the public at some stage is bankrupt since this argument has disappeared even from the government Monthly Economic Report, Ichida pointed out.

   He stressed the need to change the framework of the government economic policy and said, “This change is urgent and vital for the betterment of people’s living conditions and for a sound development of the Japanese economy.”

   Ichida expressed his determination to make use of the proposal in upcoming Diet deliberations.

   The outline of the JCP proposal is:

   Social security - to stop the implementation of the new “medical-care system for the elderly aged 75 or more” and to enhance the living conditions of the public by increasing the budgets for social welfare programs;

   Employment ? to drastically revise the Worker Dispatch Law, increase the minimum wage, and establish rules for decent work

   Public works ? to turn the budget earmarked for road construction into a general purpose budget and to trim down wasteful large-scale public works projects;

   Agriculture/food - to overcome crises in agriculture and food and to ensure food safety;

   Small businesses/local economies - to overcome crises faced by small- and medium-sized businesses and local economies and to strengthen the foundation of the Japanese economy;

   Education - to put an end to cutting back the education budget and to fundamentally improve educational conditions, including an increase in the number of teachers;

   Environment - to introduce effective measures to fight global warming and to accelerate solutions to environmental problems threatening residents’ health;

   Military spending - to cancel the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan and the strengthening of functions of U.S. bases as well as the creation of a setup to enable the Self-Defense Forces to be dispatched abroad;

   Taxation - to secure resources for improving the people’s livelihoods, welfare, education, and businesses by imposing fair burdens on large corporations and the wealthy
- Akahata, February 19, 2008