Here’s an interesting Japanese Poll on Abenomics and the Japanese government. The statements are translated by Google Chrome and at times those translations are a bit awkward.
Only 23% of Japanese think Abenomics is going well. Abe Rival, Shigeru Ishiba says Millions of Japanese Are Falling Behind Under Abenomics.
>“Exporters made money on the cheap yen and monetary easing, and they’re all having fun playing golf at Mr. Abe’s vacation home,” said Mr. Ishiba in an interview in his office in Tokyo, which is filled with model planes and books on military and economic policy.
>At a news conference in July, Mr. Abe reeled off favorable numbers including the results of a survey which showed wage growth at small and midsize companies at its highest level in 20 years. “The Japanese economy is making sure and steady progress,” he said.
Japanese Cabinet Approval Rate
Only 38% support the Abe cabinet.
The top reason sounds familiar enough: Abe looks better than the other guy. Meanwhile, only 10.7% cited trust in Abe.
Support for Foreign Workers
Unlike anywhere else in the world, Japanese voters would like more foreign workers.
War Mongering
Article 9 of Japan’s Constitution outlaws war as a means to settle international disputes involving the state. The Constitution came into effect on May 3, 1947, following World War II. In its text, the state formally renounces the sovereign right of belligerency and aims at an international peace based on justice and order. The article also states that, to accomplish these aims, armed forces with war potential will not be maintained.
Abe wants to build Japan’s military. Only 28% of voters agree.
Memories of a nuclear holocaust clearly weigh on the minds of Japanese voters. Warmongers, led by Abe, are ready to fight again.
Next Election
Only 34% of the voting population wants Abe. Yet, Abe is a shoo-in because of Japan’s Electoral System.
>Japan has a parliamentary political system like that of England, members of the House of Representatives elect a prime minister from among themselves by majority vote. The prime minister is usually a leader of the majority party. The prime minister is the head of the government. To help him direct the government, the prime minister forms a cabinet made up of people who are his political allies.
Abe does not have support of the people but that matters not. Abe controls the parliament.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
Parliamentary systems are less prone to the political confusion experienced, for example, in “the US party system” where every politician has his own agenda and can’t agree with anyone regardless of party affiliation. There’s a reason it takes years to get laws through the US senate compared to the week it takes to propose the same changes in the UK.
Nevertheless, the real problem with all modern politics is that it has become populated by self-interested parasites with average levels of education who have forgotten that government is a public service, not just the opportunity for a free lunch.
Everyone makes the mistake of blaming the guy in power but Japan is not a dictatorship, and their parliamentary system is arguably less dictatorial than US democracy; certainly much less prone to clientelism and corruption. In other words the problem with all governments is that, in the face of economic and environmental catastrophe, the only thing they know how to do is preserve their own jobs. People tend to attack the guy at the top but the problem obviously goes a lot deeper. Trump and Abe aren’t making decisions in isolation they still rely on whatever stupid advice they get from their political supporters. The difference in the USA of course is that those supporters come bearing gifts and kickbacks so that laws are rarely made with equity or wisdom in mind.
Japan should bring NO migrant workers and instead continue developing robotics and automation to become a world leader in those areas.
It shows clearly that now when wages are finally increasing in Japan some companies have started lobbying for bringing in immigrants and it is clear these would be mostly low wage immigrants used to lower wages and keep wages low.
When it comes to Japanese businesses they are reaping what they sowed because many businesses are horrified if their female worker gets pregnant and leaves work for a few years and the businesses try to discourage that.
Japan should support mothers more and legistlate that businesses have to be supportive of building a family and give parents who have 2-3 kids tax benefits because many parents have just one kid in Japan.
Germany and France also planned to bring migrant workers for just a few years.
Now Germany has millions and millions of Turks and France has millions and millions of Algerians, Tunisians and other Africans.
If Japan brings immigrants to work they will end up staying forever and bringing their wives and family members also to Japan.
Rising prosperity in the face of falling demand & income stagnation just wont happen. Deflation isn’t over but the tools used to fight it havent worked.
“By 2035, the 65-74yr/old population essentially peaks and begins to decline leaving all population growth solely among the 75+ year olds…the segment with the lowest earnings and spending habits (not to mention taking large withdrawals from unfunded liabilities alongside massively underfunded pensions).”
Will automation compensate for this?
Somewhere in the centre of Japanese dissatisfaction lies demographics & they lead the way. Europe to follow, then USA.
So….., faced with a labor shortage, Abe’s solution is to have the few guys left less than a hundred years old, build bombs instead of doing what they are currently doing….
Dude, there are no military age Japanese left to man the military! What are you going to do, build an army comprised of exactly the same guys who fought WW2? With “mechanized” infantry consisting of shriveled up old dudes in wheelchairs? Sporting riflescope-thick glasses just to be able to read the ranks of their officers? Pushed into battle by foreign laborers (the only ones still young enough to have the required physical strength) speaking broken Japanese, on five year contracts?
Here’s a hint: Start with kicking the weird-porn, tiny-house and kei car addiction for long enough to do conquer your own women and make them more useful than blowup dolls. Then, in a generation or two, when fertility once again starts rendering those islands a bit constraining, start fantasizing about battlefield glory.
I’m not sure that reversing Abenomics is going to help Japan. The problem is that all industrial nations go through a big growth phase, reach a point where all the great inventions that people want are pretty much done, and then settle into low growth. That’s were Japan, the US/Canada, and Western Europe are today. China is in the middle of its growth era which will likely peter out in 20 – 30 years.
No industries are creating millions of good paying middle class jobs in any of the industrialized countries. Those days are gone. It was a good ride, but it was just a blip in history. But I’m certain that making money more expensive and cutting government expenditures isn’t going to help.
You’ve said:
“No industries are creating millions of good paying middle class jobs in any of the industrialized countries.”
I tell you why !
Because welfare state and big government grew so much in industrialized countries that “industries”, taxes must always be paid and on time, so “industries”, consumers are out of money so “industries” have little room to pay good waged.
I live in EUssr and I see this for 20years, a lot, but What I read in USA is no better!
No, it’s because of monetary policy. Nowadays it’s more profitable to receive newly created currency from central banks than it is to design and sell products to the public. Why bother with working for money when you can get it straight from the source?
Since the general public is becoming poorer through this same monetary policy, now there is even less incentive to market to them. May as well restrict the velocity of money to flow through a small elite class.
The eu-japan trade agreement will save everyone’s bacon. No worries.
1/3 rd of the world GDP, 600M people.
But will it show up in increased wages in Japan?