b********n
发帖数: 38600 | 1 Shinzo Abe and the Three Magic Arrows
http://mises.org/daily/6793/Shinzo-Abe-and-the-Three-Magic-Arro
Despite claims to the contrary in the mass media, Japan’s economy is
continuing to suffer mightily under the leadership of Prime Minister Abe
Shinzo. Abe is from a famous family and he’s a convincing talker, so he was
able to bamboozle people into believing that he could make Japan prosper
with his three arrows. These metaphorical arrows stand for “monetary
stimulus,” “fiscal stimulus,” and “structural reform.”
When Abe was elected using his “three arrows” symbolism to attract votes,
I thought the Japanese people were beginning to believe in magic. Perhaps
they were gullible or a little lazy in thinking or thought they would
receive “free stuff” from Abe. No matter, Abe became Prime Minister in
December 2012 and shot off his arrows.
With his “monetary stimulus” arrow, Abe arm-twisted the central bank into
doubling the money supply in just a few months time. I could just imagine
Abe rubbing his palms together and fiendishly muttering “We’re going to be
rich, rich, RICH!” All that the central bank had to do was type a few
numbers into their computers to make this happen. Naturally, the newly
created money was distributed to politically powerful banks.
How did all of this money creation affect the common people? Despite claims
that Japan has less than 2 percent inflation, I can assure you that the
prices of many goods, especially imported goods like energy, have increased
dramatically since the monetary stimulus arrow was fired. Wages, on the
other hand, have remained depressed. With higher expenses to pay, Japanese
people can’t afford other goods they would like to buy and businesses can’
t afford to raise wages, hire, or expand. Only Abe’s bankster friends have
profited from this scheme by speculating in the stock market with the
counterfeited money that had been credited to their accounts with the
central bank computer.
Japanese people are mostly smart enough to realize that typing numbers into
a computer can’t make an economy strong, yet they just haven’t figured out
that Abe’s monetary stimulus is nothing but a sneaky counterfeiting scheme.
At the same time as the monetary stimulus arrow doubled the money supply,
Abe and his gang used their fiscal stimulus arrow to enormously increase
spending on government works projects. Unlike capitalists who at least try
to invest productive enterprises, the government allocates money based on
pull and other political considerations. Wasting money on things like a new
sewer system in Kiev, replacing the perfectly good Olympic stadium with an
expensive new Olympic stadium, and handing out plum contracts for highways
to nowhere will never generate a profit. Government investment is more like
consumption, often creating a 100-percent loss.
These money-losing projects weigh heavily on the people. After all, they
will have to pay for this waste in the form of higher taxes and higher debt
service. Even if by some miracle the fiscal spending created a profit, the
money wouldn’t be distributed to the taxpayer. Heads you lose, tails you
lose.
Most Japanese people are smart enough to realize that investing in things
that lose money can’t make an economy strong, yet they just haven’t
figured out that Abe’s fiscal stimulus is nothing but a sneaky scheme to
enrich his well-connected friends. After nearly twenty-five years and
fifteen rounds of fiscal stimulus spending, you’d have to be totally
bamboozled to still be a believer in this failed Keynesian claptrap.
To pay for his “fiscal stimulus” arrow Abe decided to raise taxes and take
the money he needed by force. He raised car taxes and income taxes and he
raised sales taxes by 60 percent, but he also announced plans to raise sales
taxes by 100 percent. He is considering increasing taxes on married people
and poor people. With each tax increase and threat of further tax increases,
the economy has weakened further.
And what of Abe’s third arrow, “structural reform”? No one knows what
this political slogan actually means. It sounds like some modern day form of
Soviet era Glasnost, but there’s been no significant deregulation or
loosening of government controls that have long stifled the Japanese economy
. We do know that Abe has spent a great deal of effort making enemies with
the neighbors. Effectively, Abe’s aggressiveness in foreign affairs is the
real third arrow.
Abe has severely damaged relations between the peaceful and industrious
Japanese people and their business trading partners in the neighboring
countries of China, Russia, and South Korea. Business deals such as the
effort to build a gas pipeline between Japan and Russia have been scrapped.
Profitable trading in South Korea and especially China has been crushed by
Abe’s undiplomatic actions. Via his confrontation with China and
sanctioning of Russia, Abe has recklessly followed the dictates of the
warmongering US government, all to the detriment of the Japanese people.
Abe’s arrows have been praised in the media by the economically ignorant,
the politically motivated, and those who believe prosperity is parceled out
by some all powerful shaman. However, the arrows, seen in the harsh light of
reality, turn out to be counterfeiting schemes, “investing” in money
losing ventures, taking money from the productive, and squabbling with the
neighbors. These counterproductive political actions won’t ever result in a
stronger economy and have instead left the Japanese people with a crushing
debt and tax burden. Don’t get taken in by the hogwash you read in
mainstream media propaganda pieces.
Abe’s policies are complete and utter failures. | b********n
发帖数: 38600 | 2 Abe’s policies are complete and utter failures | s***l
发帖数: 2769 | |
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