War or Peace, if not Money or Love
(Guerre ou paix, sinon l'argent ou l'amour)
Handwriting is very important, if you mostly use a PC or a cellular phone for writing.
But, if you do not write manually for a very long time, you would really feel like writing something by hand. In that case, you need a notebook, a pocketbook, a datebook, or sheets of paper.
However, Christ Jesus only once wrote something, crucially, on the ground.
SECTION I: Social Expenditure, Tax Burden & Deficit per GDP
The most difficult social/political issue for Japan is ever increasing costs of social expenditure by the government, due to aging society.
Though the share of governmental social expenditure in Japan's GDP is not so large, it is a major factor for huge (accumulated) deficits in national budget and finance.
-----------------
(a) Index of social expenditure, 1990 to 2003
(b) Social expenditure as a percentage of GDP, 2003
http://www.defra.gov.uk/sustainable/government/progress/international/34c.htm
-----------------
But, individual tax burden on the Japanese people does not look so large in comparison with other advanced countries; for example, a consumption tax rate is still 5% in Japan while a tax rate above 10% is norm in Europe.
http://www.economist.com/node/10835581?story_id=10835581&fsrc=nwl
But, should the Japanese Government increase this consumption tax rate? The state of deficit per fiscal year in Japan does not look so bad as the U.K. or the U.S. in terms of GDP as of 2010.
(Click to enlarge.)
http://druidsrevenge.blogspot.com/2010/09/cuts-separating-fact-from-fiction.html
If we look at an accumulated amount of public debts per GDP, raising a tax rate looks more reasonable, since it is just 5% in Japan while 10% looks the worldwide norm.
(Click to enlarge.)
http://druidsrevenge.blogspot.com/2010/09/cuts-separating-fact-from-fiction.html
Yet, an increase in tax would cause a decrease in consumption by the people, resulting in worse economic conditions and deflation as well as more unemployment.
Even today, the yearly number of those who commit suicide in Japan is 30,000 among its 127 million population. This rate is almost twice larger than that of the U.S. and four times larger than that of Britain. (http://www2.ttcn.ne.jp/honkawa/2770.html) A tax raise will affect a much larger number of poor Japanese, probably resulting in twice more suicide victims. Of course, it cannot accept that Japan has a four-times higher suicide rate that in the U.S. and a eight-times higher rate than in Britain.
Therefore, the Japanese Government must take another measure: the issue of government notes to cover social expenditure.
I rather regard it as a scheme where the government pays tax of its own to sovereigns, namely the people, in the form of government notes.
And this new paradigm of new economics can apply to any nation in the world.
Note 1: However, the size of economy, namely GDP, and production capability in addition to growth potential of national economy must be large enough to enable provision of materials, goods, and services to offset inflation potential generated by the issue of government notes. It must be also able to accommodate an expected change in the currency exchange rate toward the lower side in the international money market. Yet, so far, Japan seems to satisfy all these conditions.
SECTION II: Interest Payments for Public Debts
The ratio of accumulated public debts to GDP in Japan is so large, but the Japanese Government has various assets to cover its deficits. The amount of outstanding government bonds, 93% of which is owned by Japanese citizens and businesses, is also huge, but an interest rate is very low.
Put simply, a ratio of yearly total interest payments for public debts to GDP is lower in Japan than in most of G20 nations as the following figure suggests.
The following figure shows a ratio of the amount of ordinary public debts against tax revenue and a ratio of interest payment over tax revenue in each of G20 countries.
Though the Japanese Government has a higher ratio of debts compared with its tax revenue, its interest payment ratio is lower than Italy, the U.S., Canada, Germany, France, and the U.K.
(Click to enlarge.)(http://www5.cao.go.jp/j-j/wp/wp-je10/pdf/10p01032_1.pdf )
So, as long as Japanese people and businesses continue to possess Japanese Government bonds and the Bank of Japan supports lower interest rates, Japan will not go bankrupt. It is so, since interest payments are relatively small in terms of the size of Japan's GDP.
But, introduction of government notes is better than a virtual compulsory possession of the government bonds by the Japanese people, Japanese banks, and other Japanese companies.
Anyway, new economics must be created in Japan sooner or later.
*** *** *** ***
Abraham travelled to Egypt.
Moses came out of Egypt.
Jesus the Nazareth was taken around Egypt by His holy parents.
Now, it is your turn, if not to Egypt.
But, there would be an easier place than Iraq or Afghanistan.
(http://il.youtube.com/watch?v=UVxqTMU1h9g&feature=related
Is it snowing in Paris?)
Gen 12:8 And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD.
Gen 12:9 And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south.
Gen 12:10 And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land.