Japan Press Weekly

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2008 September 17 - 23 [FINANCE]

Japan must end subservience to the U.S. in its financial policy: JCP Ichida

The bankruptcy of the major investment bank Lehman Brothers triggered by the “sub-prime mortgage meltdown” after the bursting of the housing bubble in the United States has put the U.S. financial market into confusion.

Commenting on the Lehman Brothers collapse in the Diet on September 16, Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi said, “It is extraordinary indeed that three of the five major investment banks have gone bust in the United States.”

“This confirms the shady nature of sub-prime loans and its role in decaying the core of the U.S. economy,” he added.

Ichida continued: “In the face of the failure in the drive of securitization of loans, Japan’s subservience to the U.S. in its financial policy must be reviewed.”

He stated, “Amid the recent financial market meltdown, speculative investment has dramatically increased in the oil and grains markets and helped to push up prices.”

“It is impossible to hold prices down without international efforts to control financial speculation. The U.S. Congress is beginning to make efforts to this effect. The Japanese government is also called upon to make a drastic review of its financial policy,” Ichida said.

Ichida went on to say, “The Lehman Brothers case is causing a sharp appreciation of the yen against the U.S. dollar as well as falls in share prices. It is essential for Japan to immediately focus its attention on the household economy by breaking away from relying on foreign demand. The need now is to help increase personal incomes and create domestic demand.”