Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has set up a panel, the council to realize New Capitalism, which held its first meeting October 26. The organ consists of 15 academicians and experts, of which two are MPs belonging to the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy. The entity will compile a plan in the first months of the year 2022.
PRIME MINISTER’S PLEDGE IS PROVEN A LIE – NO FAIRER REDISTRIBUTION
Premier Kishida instructed, in the first meeting of the panel, Minister Yamagiwa Daishiro, the Ministry of State of Economic and Fiscal Policy, to urgently prepare a draft on the digitalization plan, carbon-free society and economic-security strategy by first days of November 2021. Minister Yamagiwa told that the package would contain an economic plan amounting to several dozens of trillion Yen. In such a short period of time it will be hard for members from the private sector to commit in.
Panels one after another be set up
Reportedly, the new premier will establish a panel to discuss reforms on public services, an organ to provide all generations with public services, and another structure will be placed under it to analyze salaries for nurses, elderly-care and childcare workers, a council to review assessment values. New panels include a council to build up a nation of digitalized garden cities, and, another for digital, interim administrative investigation. Just in the first weeks of its inauguration the Kishida government has established several panels.
As of November 7, the proceedings of the first meeting and the questions & answers held during the press conference are not publicized. According to the proceedings of the meeting, seven members from the private sector presented written opinions. One of them, Chairman Tokura Masakazu of the Japan Federation of Business, emphasizes ‘firstly economic growth. Distribution should be combined with growth when it is analyzed, a wage-hike must be dealt with from a point of improvement of productivity’ and ‘it is necessary to consider over the fiscal conditions of the government and the government is more appreciable in terms of its quality than in its size’.
Mr. Toyama Kazuhiko, an employer, says that the focal point lies in how to expand sphere of innovation up to workers in the industries and companies where labor productivity is lower (80% of workforce) and how to heighten productivity in these sectors. This is a return to a classic theory of a scrap-and-build scheme.
Professor Yanagawa Noriyuki of the Graduate School of University of Tokyo explains his opinion softly, saying that ‘human resource development should not be limited to the most advanced fields, but to be extended to the intermediate strata, where workers’ skills must be trained. Give chances to those employed on the irregular basis.
Chairman Yoshino Tomoko of the Rengo, the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, demanded the government to ‘bring easier transfer of labor without unemployment’ by carrying out a series of packages of appropriate benefits, on-the-job training and assistance for job hunting and ‘to build up a safety net of the society’ and ‘to secure financial rules to remove anxieties of younger generations’, taking advantage of the My Number registration system and digital tools. These pieces of advice have certainly pleased the government and the business circle.
Which one is a new idea?
Premier could deceive easily
Premier Kishida, when he raced to be President of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), had expressed doubts on neo-liberalism and had attempted to emphasize redistribution of wealth, but he changed attitudes during the campaign of the general election. And the reduced number of seats gained by the pro-constitution opposition parties made him relaxed. The administration will be reluctant to engage in the redistribution issue. The social atmosphere that led the LDP-Komeito coalition to victory will be deceived soon. Prime Minister himself, too, will see the raison d’etre of the newly established bodies as a kind of ornament.
首相は会議でデジタル化や脱炭素、経済安全保障などの課題について11月上旬にも緊急提言案をまとめるよう山際大志郎経済財政・再生相に指示した。山際氏は数十兆円規模の経済対策も緊急提言に含まれるとした。こう短時間では民間委員の意見が入り込む余地はあるまい。
早くも｢会議｣乱立
首相は、この他に社会保障改革を議論する「全世代型社会保障構築会議」を設け、同会議の下に看護師や介護士、保育士らの給与を議論する「公的価格評価検討委員会」を置くという。デジタル改革を進めるため「デジタル田園都市国家構想実現会議」と「デジタル臨時行政調査会」も新設。早くも会議の乱立だ。
初会合の議事録及び記者会見のやりとりは11月７日現在、公表はまだ。議事次第によると７人の民間委員が意見書を提出した。その内、日本経団連の十倉雅和会長は「まずは成⻑。分配は成⻑とセットで議論→賃上げは生産性の向上とセット第によると７人の民間委員が意見書を提出した。その内、日本経団連の十倉雅和会長は「まずは成⻑。分配は成⻑とセットで議論→賃上げは生産性の向上とセットで議論」「政府の財政状況にも配慮→政府の大小ではなく質を重視」と念を押す。
経営者である冨山和彦委員は「イノベーションの射程を労働生産性が低い産業、企業で働く幅広い人々（ ８ 割の人々）の生産性向上にどう広げるか」。古臭いスクラップ＆ビルド論の再来だ。
柳川範之東大大学院教授は「最先端の人材育成だけが重要なわけではない。中間層の能力アップが重要。非正規社員に対する技能習得・能力開発の機会を」など無難に提言する。
連合の芳野友子会長は、適切な給付・職業訓練・就労支援をパッケージで提供する「失業なき労働移動」に向けた枠組み作り…マイナンバー制度やデジタルを活用した「安全網の構築」「将来世代の不安払拭に向けた財政規律の確保」を求めた。政府や財界も内心喜んでいるだろう。 さて、これらのどこが「新しい」か。
安心して裏切りへ
岸田首相は総裁選では新自由主義に疑問を呈し、分配政策強化に傾くように見せかけたが、総選挙中に手のひら返しをした。そして立憲野党の議席減少は現政権に安心感をもたらし、分配は一層軽視される。自公を勝たせた世論は裏切られる。そして首相にとって会議の存在意義は、お飾りとしても早くも薄れた。
英訳版↓
No. 1234 Not a ‘New’ Capitalism
Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has set up a panel, the council to realize New Capitalism, which held its first meeting October 26. The organ consists of 15 academicians and experts, of which two are MPs belonging to the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy. The entity will compile a plan in the first months of the year 2022.
PRIME MINISTER’S PLEDGE IS PROVEN A LIE – NO FAIRER REDISTRIBUTION
Premier Kishida instructed, in the first meeting of the panel, Minister Yamagiwa Daishiro, the Ministry of State of Economic and Fiscal Policy, to urgently prepare a draft on the digitalization plan, carbon-free society and economic-security strategy by first days of November 2021. Minister Yamagiwa told that the package would contain an economic plan amounting to several dozens of trillion Yen. In such a short period of time it will be hard for members from the private sector to commit in.
Panels one after another be set up
Reportedly, the new premier will establish a panel to discuss reforms on public services, an organ to provide all generations with public services, and another structure will be placed under it to analyze salaries for nurses, elderly-care and childcare workers, a council to review assessment values. New panels include a council to build up a nation of digitalized garden cities, and, another for digital, interim administrative investigation. Just in the first weeks of its inauguration the Kishida government has established several panels.
As of November 7, the proceedings of the first meeting and the questions & answers held during the press conference are not publicized. According to the proceedings of the meeting, seven members from the private sector presented written opinions. One of them, Chairman Tokura Masakazu of the Japan Federation of Business, emphasizes ‘firstly economic growth. Distribution should be combined with growth when it is analyzed, a wage-hike must be dealt with from a point of improvement of productivity’ and ‘it is necessary to consider over the fiscal conditions of the government and the government is more appreciable in terms of its quality than in its size’.
Mr. Toyama Kazuhiko, an employer, says that the focal point lies in how to expand sphere of innovation up to workers in the industries and companies where labor productivity is lower (80% of workforce) and how to heighten productivity in these sectors. This is a return to a classic theory of a scrap-and-build scheme.
Professor Yanagawa Noriyuki of the Graduate School of University of Tokyo explains his opinion softly, saying that ‘human resource development should not be limited to the most advanced fields, but to be extended to the intermediate strata, where workers’ skills must be trained. Give chances to those employed on the irregular basis.
Chairman Yoshino Tomoko of the Rengo, the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, demanded the government to ‘bring easier transfer of labor without unemployment’ by carrying out a series of packages of appropriate benefits, on-the-job training and assistance for job hunting and ‘to build up a safety net of the society’ and ‘to secure financial rules to remove anxieties of younger generations’, taking advantage of the My Number registration system and digital tools. These pieces of advice have certainly pleased the government and the business circle.
Which one is a new idea?
Premier could deceive easily
Premier Kishida, when he raced to be President of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), had expressed doubts on neo-liberalism and had attempted to emphasize redistribution of wealth, but he changed attitudes during the campaign of the general election. And the reduced number of seats gained by the pro-constitution opposition parties made him relaxed. The administration will be reluctant to engage in the redistribution issue. The social atmosphere that led the LDP-Komeito coalition to victory will be deceived soon. Prime Minister himself, too, will see the raison d’etre of the newly established bodies as a kind of ornament.
November 17, 2021