Global leaders have forgotten to clean up their economic mess
TOKYO —
The health of the global economic system will take a turn for the worse over the course of the next 20 years.
This is no longer an opinion, but a fact. The United States is $15 trillion in the red, showing no signs of scaling back its wanton spending habits. Countries across the eurozone are struggling to control their levels of public debt. The finances of Japan need not be mentioned. With three of the world’s largest economic powers set to hit brick walls in the near-future, the world will face the perfect economic storm on a scale unprecedented in human history.
With the tumultuous weather in the horizon, many are looking to scapegoat a single group or individual as the source of the world’s problems. Occupy protesters blame the one percent. Democrats blame Republicans. The Germans blame the Greeks. The LDP blames the DPJ. The public blames the government for getting them into this situation, and the government blames the public for taking on too much personal debt. Everyone is getting fed up of each other; nobody wants to take the heat.
There is, however, a fundamental issue of short-sightedness in the approach of many to all of the above. It does not matter if the accused pleads guilty or not guilty; the fact of the matter is the crime has already been perpetrated. The act of admitting to a fault by itself will not solve any problems. This has been none the more evident than in Japan, where prime ministers have resigned in an act of taking responsibility. Has responsibility really been taken when the fundamental issue behind their resignations is left unsolved?
As a child, you learn to clean up after your own mess. Global leaders seem to have forgotten this fundamental lesson in their transition to adulthood. What we end up with are a group of politicians and individuals crying over spilt milk, who subsequently leave the spilt milk on the floor for someone to trip over.
If we as a global community are going to overcome the troubles ahead, cooperation can no longer be a vague, conceptual word thrown around by the media or by public relations. Cooperation must be applied. Cooperation must be practised. Everyone will have to sacrifice for the collective good of the community, with no exceptions made to special groups. Raising taxes on the top one percent in any country is a simplistic and ineffective means of solving a series of complex, underlying problems.
Cuts will have to be implemented in all areas of society, and complaints voiced cannot and should not drown out the primary message of survival. Whether in Japan or elsewhere around the world, what would be the point of preserving universal health care when the government has no more money to pay out to doctors? What would be the point of keeping income taxes firm at where they are if there will be no income to speak of? It does not matter if you are a proponent of small government or big government; at the end of the day government is needed, and a bankrupt government is a non-functional one.
No one wants to make sacrifices to their quality of life. The survival of our existing society, however, is now hinged on the willingness of not only the top one percent, but of all of us to do so. Cooperation is the only means by which such can be achieved.
Author Infomation
- Peter Dyloco
- My name is Peter Dyloco. I hope to bring a fresh perspective to the issues that face Japan. I enjoy learning new languages and study them during my spare time. I’m able to speak English, Japanese, Taiwanese Hokkien, Mandarin, Cantonese, Tagalog and French to various levels of proficiency. I was born and raised in Hong Kong.
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12 Comments
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1
gaijinfo
For years, politicians have gotten elected by telling the people the following:
1) Your problems are not your fault, they are somebody elses
2) I can give you what you want, by taking it from somebody else, and giving it to you.
And now the chickens are starting to come home to roost. We've come to a tipping point where the people on the receiving end outnumber the people on the "giving" end. This has been the downfall of all civilizations since the beginning of time. We're next.
-2
j4p4nFTW
It is a shame that the global economy really is faltering. Trying to find ways to get it back on track should be a priority of our policymakers, but sadly it often is not. However, those of us who have worked hard, invested wisely and led moral lives have worked our way up to high income levels and we really don't have much to worry about in terms of ourselves. In Japan of course we do all we can to take care of the poorer members of society, but we're starting to see that is not the case in the US.
-1
ExportExpert
Ok then they should just wipe all debt owed by every country, govement and person and rest everything to zero and start fresh.
Seems there is no cutting it back and no paying it back either.
0
AiserX
The problem with this is that in order to accomplish this, you would also have to wipe out the assets involved. Which means you would have to start out absolutely fresh all over again. It would be a more painful ad destructive scenario that really you just have to find someway of paying back all this debt. Now imagine the total global debt clock which currently stands at $40.698 trillion and wiping all those assets out of existence. It has to be payed back somehow.
1
nec123a
@ExportExpert,
Your idea is the only thing that makes sense. We live with a financial system that creates money out of the 'thin-air' that is debt, Tied to no real tangible thing other than more debt.
Debt forgiveness on a global scale and the pegging of money to actual resources PLUS the removal of banks' ability to create money. There problems solved.
1
MaboDofuIsSpicy
How about slip on?
0
seaforte03
Let's start with politicians - reduce their number, term limits to prevent chrony-ism, nepotism, and the resulting despotism - apparently prevalent in all democratic governments today. Corruption is rife in Japan, the USA, and other democratic governments because good government depends on a vigilant public. Not sure about Japan - but I know most voters in the USA are apathetic and irresponsible - typically voting for the "good looking" candidate or blindly following party recommendations as opposed to voting for the "right person".
0
GW
j4p4n,
incorrect, if economies start to really crumble, ala along the lines of this article, it wont matter much if your bank book shows $1 or $1million, in other words things wud be quite chaotic & the norms wud no longer apply, we wud all be forced to start from scratch in what might literaly be free for all kind of world, think about it
0
naruhodo1
Gw, thats why u should invest in tangible assets and not stocks bonds. Land, house...
0
gaijinfo
Until the Govnt comes knocking with their imminent domain papers and some soldiers.
0
GW
naruhodo,
it wudnt matter a single bit whats in yr account, what land you own it everything goes south, EVERYTHING wud go out the window, if peoples money evaporates, EVERYTHING stops, food, good luck, you will have to fight for it, $$$ & land ownwership wud mean ZIP!
0
sassarma
The greaterst beauty of politicians all over the world is they tell lies all the time for the people, by the people and of the people, so they they live comfortably without knowing anything about economics and art of governance. They sell the conscience and sell our self-respect in the name of globalisation. They look busy and take our life lightly and their lives seriously.
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