Editorial : The Japanese Economy and Inflation: Updated October 29, 2024.

Editorial: Japan's parties must provide fresh economic vision for inflation-hit populace

Article Source:  Article deleted by mistake:

Ideas:

But at the same time, prices continue to remain high for many many months in Japan, as there doesn't seem to much hope for Japanese households get back back to some kind of normalcy.

Japanese households are struggling, and it seems like, of course maybe not true, but the Japanese Diet, doesn't seems to be in touch with with the average Japanese household, as most of them are probably very rich or close to it.

Wages might have have increased at a rate not seen in 33 years, but it must be remembered, that 70 percent of Japanese wage earners don't work for large Japanese companies, and the small and mid-size companies might not have gotten the same wage increase as the large company workers.

Yes, as the article suggests, its only the large company workers who got the wage increases, and as usual everyone else including up to 40% of the workforce didn't see the wage increases.

But unfortunately, that might be global, as large company workers worldwide enjoy the benefits of the market economy, while everyone else might not see the same benefits.

Non-regular workers, again, which makeup 40% of the work force because companies are cutting costs and not highering full-time full benefit workers, as even Japanese companies have gone to western style governance and trying to keep the stockholder happy, and not really thinking about its workers.

Its very unfortunate that companies try to take advantage of workers, while maybe giving them a wage increase, but then cutting their hours to keep their costs down. Its very immoral and unethical that the only thing they think about is the bottom line and not the welfare of their workers.

Of course they probably know she is not going to complain and that might cause her to lose her job or have her hours cut even more.

This situation with the family with two young children is very sad, and Japan used to be known, somewhat as a rich country, but not any more, as there might be many young families in Japan like this that are barely getting by if even that.

Most likely, maybe Japanese companies, in reducing costs and being more like western-style companies they have gone too far in cutting costs, as at one time, maybe before the asset bubble crash of 1989, companies took care of the workers and paid wages that didn't put families in despair.

Its seems obvious that the Japanese government either doesn't know what do to about the situation and or they can't care about the 40% of workers who might be non-regular workers as that is a large portion of the workforce, but because of increased expenses and low wages they are not really participating in the Japanese economy.

If 40% of the Japanese workers in the workforce are non-regular workers, again, that is a large group of workers that don't have a voice in the economy, by that meaning they don't buy like large company workers in the Japanese economy, and no wonder consumer spending in the Japanese economy is never where it should be.

All politicians, globally, always promise many things but hardly ever really follow up on their campaign pledges, 

At one time, Japan might have been headed toward being like some Northern European countries, with a large share of its population somewhat well-off, but those days seem to be long gone, as now maybe even some up and coming developing countries have surpassed Japan in terms of its population being somewhat above the poverty line and well off.

But to be fair, Japan is still a somewhat rich country, but at the same time its inequality has grown more and more since the asset bubble crash of 1989.

There might be a significant number of Japanese now living at or near the poverty line despite the image of a rich country.

Japan has an ageing population problem and yes, they need to keep the social security situation under control. There might not be any easy solutions to solve the debt problem in Japan, as yes, the sales tax, while not liked by many, might be needed as maybe Japan doesn't have any other possibilities besides the sales tax.

Unfortunately Japan has the highest debt to GDP ratio in the advanced world now, with it getting even bigger with every year.

But the only thing is the debt that Japan has is mostly owned by Japan, and mostly owned but the Bank of Japan, as Japan is not in a place like Greece was in 2010.

So Abenomics and trick-down economic growth didn't work like it should have as the small and mid-size companies didn't see the benefits of Abenomics.

Small and mid-size companies, with good intentions can't help or pay their workers wage increases like the large companies can.

Back before the asset bubble crash of 1989, most likely, many small and mid-size companies had better wages and better benefits maybe even comparable to some large companies, but again, those days are gone. as there are huge gaps, now between small/mid-size companies and large companies in Japan.

Its seems, unfortunately, Japan is spiraling down, more and more, with its income inequality getting larger by the year.

It seems Japanese politicians have no ideas really what is going on and or they really don't know how to solve the challenge that many Japanese households are facing.

It's possible, that Japanese politicians are scared of large Japanese companies as maybe they have too much power now, and don't want to force them to give good wages to the non-regulars workers, which, again, might make up 40% of the Japanese workforce.

All of the above ideas are good and very much needed in Japan as the disparities are huge and can no longer be ignored.

And yes, there will be no real healthy economic growth until the disparities are fixed, but fixing is the challenges will be difficult, as maybe the Japanese politicians don't have the strength the do what is needed for the Japanese economy and society.

Maybe many small and mid-size companies know and feel their employees are struggling but they can't do anything about it as their sales are too low and their costs are too high at this time.

And yes, if the average Japanese workers's anxieties are reduced they might begin to participate more in the Japanese economy with buying more products and even buying more from small and mid-size companies too, but its not going to happens unless the average Japanese feel good about their wages and can see and feel and decrease in their expenses.

South Korea has had the same problem for many years, as the South Korean government, over a period of 5 years or so, implemented increases in the minimum wage, and to help small companies, they gave the subsidies as a way to help them cope with the increased minimum wage.

But the subsidies didn't help that much, as they unfortunately reduced the hours or workers, or didn't hire new workers, or even laid-off workers.

Some even started using more un-manned kiosks in their businesses as a way to reduce labor costs.

Japanese politicians, again, might not have the resolve or strength to do what is needed, as sometimes there are just too many competing factors involved. They might have good intentions with good ideas, but they never are implemented.

And yes, again, most likely many small and even mid-size companies are just getting by, if even that, and they can't handle increased labor costs at this time.

Have a nice day!