March 27, 2006
SINKING ISLANDS:
Panel: If no spending cuts are taken, how about 22% sales tax by 2015? (Japan Times, 3/28/06)
The consumption tax will have to rise to 22 percent from the current 5 percent by fiscal 2015 if the government is to achieve a sound balance between tax revenues and outlays, unless major spending cuts are made, an advisory panel to the finance minister said Monday.For the government to put its fiscal house in order without any tax hike, it would have to slash its general-account expenditures by 26.9 trillion yen by fiscal 2015, the Fiscal System Council said in a report on the nation's long-term financial outlook.
Household assets down 11% from '99 (Japan Times, 3/28/06)
Financial assets and home equity held by households averaged 39 million yen as of the end of November 2004, a drop of 11.1 percent from 1999, when the last survey was conducted, according to a survey by the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry released Monday.The assets include savings, securities and personal pensions, home equity including land for housing, and durable goods, including automobiles and furniture.
But they've got the immigration limits, trade protection, and isolation that our Left and far Right dream of! Posted by Orrin Judd at March 27, 2006 8:26 PM
The end stage of the "Reformation" of Shinto.
We all know which "Reformation" is next
Posted by: Lou Gots at March 27, 2006 8:46 PMFirst, I'd like to thank you for not deleting the string of comments in which I point out how you're wrong.
However, if I continually point out how you're wrong, shouldn't you examine the underlying reason why?
I am going to imagine that there are an extremely small number of non ethnic Japanese who are granted citizenship each year in Japan. (Related: I think there's about 40 naturalized Mexicans per year).
Their immigration system - with one exception - is not like anything any even slightly mainstream U.S. politician supports.
Their use and abuse of Filipino workers, now that however, is close to what a Bush "guest" worker scheme would look like. Except, of course, for the fact that their "guests" leave, whereas our "guests" would only leave if they wanted to.
Posted by: TLB at March 28, 2006 12:33 AMHow would a "Bush guest worker programme" result in more abuse than already occurs to illegals ?
Illegals are vulnerable in ways that documented workers are not.
There will be less abuse of guest workers.
Posted by: Michael Herdegen![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://brothersjuddblog.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at March 28, 2006 2:54 AM
If you're saying I said it would result in more abuse, I didn't say that.
But, I will.
"Guest" workers would have to constantly be on their guard against being booted out of the program. If they did something wrong - like, say, complaining about something - they could be threatened and never get employment in the program again. There might be safeguards, but they could probably be overridden.
OTOH, at least illegal aliens have a bit more freedom and they only have to be on their guard against the unlikely event of them getting deported and then having to come back.
The other reasons to oppose "guest" worker programs are many, but they include the fact that Bush's version was NOT just intended for low-wage workers. It was intended for *every* middle-class job. In other words, it was designed to convert America into the two-tier society found in most areas of California.
And, as I said above, our "guests" won't leave, at least not after they've had their first U.S. citizen child.
Posted by: TLB at March 28, 2006 11:57 PMWhy would we want them to leave?
Posted by: oj at March 29, 2006 12:01 AMTrackBack
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference SINKING ISLANDS::
» No Sex, No Drugs, No Wine, No Women from Ed Driscoll.com
Orrin Judd writes that Japan has "the immigration limits, trade protection, and isolation that our Left and far Right dream of". The consequences of which include a cratered-out stock market, household assets down 11% from '99, and the enticing prospec... [Read More]