Editorial
Party platforms disturbingly silent on vital economic issues
Whatever happened to the "once-in-a-century financial crisis"? Though the upcoming House of Representatives election is supposed to be a vital one in the wake of recent global economic upheaval, looking at the parties' election platforms we are hard pressed to find any broad economic ideas or proposals for the post-crisis period. All we hear are empty catch phrases like "anti market fundamentalism," or "anti global economy."
The financial and economic crisis that hit last year did not merely precipitate a major recession. Rather, it posed many fundamental questions to us. Can we prevent economic bubbles from forming and the finance industry from going wild? Is capitalism itself at fault? What shape will the new international economic order take, and to what degree should government regulate the market?
None of these questions has an easy answer, and neither are any of them likely to make good campaign themes that translate into success at the ballot box. However, they are all extremely critical issues that may determine the future of the world economy and Japan's position in it. We should expect our political parties to seriously discuss what triggered the financial crisis and the proper relationship between the state and the market.
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has cited in its election pledges the importance of "breaking away from the excessive market fundamentalism of recent years," but it does not specify what exactly "excessive market fundamentalism" is and how it should be mended.
Opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) leader Yukio Hatoyama has also spoken out against the supremacy of the market. In an article contributed to the September edition of the monthly magazine "Voice," Hatoyama points out that the dominance of economic globalization ideology in the post-Cold War era has damaged the national economy, and that the supremacy of the market has let society fall apart.
However, did the global economy and the dominance of free market principles really undermine agriculture, the environment and medical care, as argued by Hatoyama? For instance, hasn't the agricultural sector been the part of our economy most distant from the global economy and free market mechanisms?
If Prime Minister Taro Aso's LDP and the DPJ are taking aim at the structural reforms initiated under former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi as representative of market fundamentalism, they are completely missing the point. Real structural reforms have yet to begin, and it is ridiculous to say we should "mend" them. If the parties are simply going to militate against market principles or globalization, they are not much different from those voicing emotional anti-Americanism.
Japan should promote reforms to advance globalization and the free market, playing a leading role in establishing a new international economic coordination system, especially as so many countries around the world are now concentrating on inward-looking measures.
No other country owes so much of its development to the fruits of the free market and globalization than Japan. Hence, it is Japan's responsibility to give the world's impoverished countries the chance to follow suit by benefiting from the global economic system, which would ultimately benefit Japan in turn.
Japan is close to losing its status as the globe's second largest economy. At the very least, we hope that Japan can gain attention by getting serious about real change -- before the final curtain is drawn on Japan's economic ascendancy. (By Yoko Fukumoto, Editorial Writer)
(Mainichi Japan) August 22, 2009