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April 05, 2006
can things get any worse?
AP: Emergence of rich and poor rattles Japan
A very interesting peice outlining yet another problem with the local economic planning (or lack of) here in Japan.
Japan, a county that for decades has firmly embraced the concept of a strong middle class could be just years from watching it all dissapear in smoke.
With a quickly growing poverty rate (8.1 to 15.3 in just 6 years!) and a record high number of households without any savings, things can only get worse for the "have-nots" here.
Just think about it. 22.8% of Japanese households are "scraping by", meaning that they basically spend money as fast as it comes in. No savings, no investments, and a national pension plan that is managed by a team of brain damaged circus monkeys (on loan from Sony Corp.). Now with rising tax rates (another due in 2 months), skyrocketing consuption tax increases (up to 450% in the next 10 years), and interest rates ready to start rising again, this means that within just a few years, one in five Japanese (or more) could be classified as "poor" in one of the most expensive countries in the world.
Has this been planned for? Is the welfare system in Japan ready to deal with this increased load?
What do you think?
Posted by Kakyou at April 5, 2006 03:49 PM
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