Time for Change

The lawmakers of the National Diet started routine discussion over policies of Shinzo Abe administration on Tuesday. Representatives of opposite parties accused Abe’s economic policy as inappropriate. Abe defended his job as effective for creating further growth. However, actual economy shows low progress in his agenda. Abe has to realize that it is the time for change.

President of Democratic Party of Japan, Banri Kaieda, raised an argument on “womanomics” of Abe. “One big problem is low wage of women. Average wage of women is as low as seven tenth of that of men. Seven out of ten unofficially-hired workers are women. One out of two single mothers are living under the poverty line. Suffered from low-wage mothers, poverty rate of children in Japan is 16.3% in 2012, marking the worst in developed countries,” told Kaieda.

Co-president of Japan Restoration Party, Kenji Eda, unequivocally criticized Abe’s policy choice, telling that further rise of consumption tax rate would definitely trigger the failure of Abenomics. “Killing the goose that lays the golden eggs loses everything,” warned Eda. He insisted that alternative financial resource could be brought by cutting cost of government both of national and regional.

Abe explained his effort to support mid and small business with subsidy for companies suffering from cheap yen. He also insisted that he would urge employers to trickle down their benefit to the workers in trilateral negotiating table by government, employer and trade union.

However, commodity price is constantly rising. From October 1^st, Starbucks Japan raised the price of latte, because of high price of dairy products. Skymark Airline raised travel fee of most domestic lines, suffering from high price of gasoline. A franchise of Chinese restaurant, O-show, raised price on most dishes on the menu. Cheap yen absolutely cast shadows on actual economy.

As far as following his words, Abe does not care at all. He insisted on his policies as safety net for small businesses and low-income families, which were not so serious compared with former DPJ administration. He showed no sign of changing his policy for encouraging building infrastructure. Attributing to price hike of fossil fuel, Abe administration has been justifying resumption of nuclear reactors in power plants.

However, it is unlikely for employers to release their benefit for the workers. Investing big business will be resulted in concentration of wealth and increasing poverty. Direct care for low-wage workers will be needed, if he sincerely review his policies.