2009 April 8 - 14 TOP3 [
ECONOMY]
Shii criticizes government’s economic stimulus measures with no policy change
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April 10, 2009
Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo stated, “If the government economic policy is fundamentally changed to one that prevents major corporations from destroying the job market, stops budget cuts in welfare services, and clearly takes the position of protecting people’s livelihoods, it will be beneficial for people’s living standards and the economy in general.”
As the government and the ruling parties were finalizing a 15.4 trillion yen stimulus plan, Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo criticized the proposed measures as “useless for improving livelihoods and the economy.”
At a news conference on April 9, Shii stated as follows:
“The plan provides large amounts of tax money to be spent in particular areas with the aim of gaining electoral advantage without making any critical review of the existing policies or without any plan to change them.
The government has no intention of revising its basic policies, including the discriminatory medical system for the elderly aged 75 and over, the system that requires disabled persons to pay a part of the cost for services they receive under the ‘self-support law’, and the annual 220 billion yen budget cut in the growth of expenditures for social services.
If the stimulus package leaves such issues intact, it will do nothing to protect people’s livelihoods or to boost the economy.
The second point of criticism is that the government seeks to fund the stimulus package by issuing government bonds.
It is important that any economic stimulus plan include measures to secure revenues by cutting the wasteful use of tax money such as the military expenditure and the so-called ‘sympathy budget’ for funding for the stationing of U.S. forces in Japan, and by imposing a higher tax rate on the wealthy and major corporations.
The current government economic policy unashamedly starts with pork-barrel spending aimed at gaining public support and ends up with a huge consumption tax increase.
If the government economic policy is fundamentally changed to one that prevents major corporations from destroying the job market, stops budget cuts in welfare services, and clearly takes the position of protecting people’s livelihoods, it will be beneficial for people’s living standards and the economy in general.”
