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Action 35. Health Insurance – Apply a Flat 30% Co-payment for Everyone, including the Elderly!
The universal health insurance system is one that Japan can be proud of. It is estimated, however, that national healthcare expenditures will increase on the scale of one trillion yen every year to reach 54 trillion yen in 2025. In a society with a low-growth economy and a decreasing population, maintaining the current level of welfare constitutes nothing less than the exploitation of future generations. To achieve a sustainable healthcare system, it is necessary to incorporate incentives into the system to reduce medical costs and maintain our collective health.
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Jul 30 / 2016
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- Labour & Welfare
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Action 34. Following the New Dimension in Monetary Easing, Introduce a New Dimension in Policy
In 2015 the Nikkei Stock Average, which in 2012 was almost as low as 9,000 yen, recovered to over 20,000 yen at one point. The Bank of Japan’s “new dimension in monetary easing” somehow succeeded in changing people’s mindset. Having said that, the initial commitment of a 2% inflation rate within two years has not been achieved. Nevertheless, having adopted this policy, the government has a responsibility to restore the Japanese economy to a solid growth trajectory as part of its monetary and economic policy.
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Action 33. Make Tokyo Asia’s Number-One Financial Market (2 of 2)
A British thinktank published a “Global Financial Centres Index” ranking financial centers in 79 cities and territories around the world according to their international competitiveness. First was London, second was New York, third was Hong Kong, and fourth was Singapore. Tokyo was in sixth place, but came in third for the number of companies listed on its stock market. A structure for increasing investment in Tokyo needs to be created. For example, Tokyo needs to actively attract foreign financial institutions and become home to large numbers of investors and analysts from overseas.
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Action 32. Make Tokyo Asia’s Number-One Financial Market (1 of 2)
As of 2015, personal financial assets in Japan amounted to 1,708 trillion yen, while corporate retained earnings stood at 354 trillion yen. Despite this, Japan’s money and capital markets are weak by international standards. This is because 1,500 trillion yen in personal assets, corporate savings, pension funds, and university endowments is not being invested as risk money. We therefore want to propose policies for restoring Tokyo’s position as Asia’s top financial market.
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Action 31. Overhaul the Tax System. Strengthen the Country’s Fiscal Foundation through Revenue Reform
In 1990, just before the collapse of the bubble economy, Japan’s tax revenue was 60.1 trillion yen, but by 2009 it had slumped to 38.4 trillion yen. In Japan there’s an expression: “tax is the nation.” What it means is that the behavior of people and companies is heavily influenced by the tax system. In the globalized world of today, an urgent task is to transform Japan’s tax system with reference to international standards in order to ensure that economic growth benefits the national coffers.
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Jul 26 / 2016
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- National Budget
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Action 30. Leave No Stone Unturned in Expenditure Reform – Overhaul Independent Administrative Corporations, Government Procurement, Special Budgets, and Stick the Knife into Administrative Systems
Although the key to expenditure reform is to reduce social security spending, efforts must obviously also be made to implement administrative reform in other fields. Here, we discuss expenditure reform for all the ministries and agencies in Kasumigaseki.
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Jul 25 / 2016
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- National Budget
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Action 29. Leave No Stone Unturned in Expenditure Reform – Take a Knife to the Social Security System
The public cost of social security benefits is 31 trillion yen for the national government alone, and 42 trillion yen when the cost borne by local governments is included. In addition, the public cost of social security has been rising by one trillion yen each year. Japan allocates approximately eight times as much tax revenue to social security as it does defense, and as a result of this, it is impossible to assign enough national government funding for investment in education, in science and technology, for the children’s future, and so on. This “enemy within” is growing larger, and what is more important than anything else is to take it on squarely and begin implementing reform.
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Jul 23 / 2016
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- National Budget
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Action 28. Build a Mechanism for Reducing Expenditure into the Government
Greece’s fiscal collapse is still fresh in the mind. For Japan, which is encumbered with debt worth more than twice its GDP, the situation in Greece cannot be shrugged off as being someone’s else’s problem. However, the cases of countries such as Sweden and Canada, which have succeeded in fiscal reconstruction without experiencing a crisis, are less well known. In both these countries, a success factor was that they worked hard to reduce social security spending and built in a mechanism for reducing expenditure. We also needs to be willing to build a mechanism for cutting expenditure into the Japanese government.
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Jul 22 / 2016
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- National Budget
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Action 27. A Roadmap for Fiscal Reconstruction
Japan’s long-term debt has finally topped 1,000 trillion yen, which is double the country’s GDP. The finances of the Japanese national government, which were in extremely good shape right up until the collapse of the bubble economy, worsened during the “two lost decades.” Government spending swelled by 30 trillion yen while revenue shrunk by 20 trillion yen, and the government came to rely on debt to make up this shortfall of 50 trillion yen. But the solution to this problem is very simple: reduce spending by the 30-trillion-yen increase and boost revenue by the 20-trillion-yen decrease. That is the only way to fix things.
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Jul 21 / 2016
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- National Budget
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Action 26. Establish Preparedness for Immediate Response to Global Emergencies under the National Security Command Post!
The global security environment has changed and it is no longer possible for any nation to maintain peace on its own. There are factors for instability in the environment surrounding Japan, such as North Korea, which could spin out of control at any time, and China, which is vigilantly watching for an opportunity to expand its maritime interests. To protect Japan, it is necessary to establish security in the surrounding region and, furthermore, globally, and to also establish preparedness for immediate response to emergencies.
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