Current location:Culture Craft news portal > travel
VOX POPULI: Leadership skills of the past are missing in the politics of today
Culture Craft news portal2024-05-01 07:28:50【travel】6People have gathered around
IntroductionU.S. economist Joseph Dodge (1890-1964) arrived in occupied Japan in 1949 as the financial adviser t
U.S. economist Joseph Dodge (1890-1964) arrived in occupied Japan in 1949 as the financial adviser to the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers.
Tasked with implementing postwar economic stabilization programs, which came to be known as the Dodge Line, he stated during a news conference on March 7 of 75 years ago that Japan’s economy had been standing on stilts.
Noting that the pair of stilts consisted of U.S. aid and Japanese government subsidies, Dodge called for a super-balanced budget policy.
In the immediate postwar era, Japan was supported by massive amounts of U.S. aid that far exceeded its own annual budget.
And Japanese government subsidies were used to pay the difference generated by export import controls.
Dodge insisted that the only way to curb Japan’s hyperinflation was to lop off those “stilts.”
This seriously alarmed the then-Democratic Liberal Party (Minshu Jiyu-to) Cabinet of Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida (1878-1967), who had just won the general election of January 1949 by a landslide after pledging massive tax cuts.
Implementing an austerity policy would constitute an outright breach of the party’s election pledge.
His finance minister, Hayato Ikeda (1899-1965), was in a bind.
He held repeated negotiations with Dodge, hoping, at least, to carry out partial tax cuts.
But the budget outlook could not have been more different from what the party had pledged, and intraparty dissatisfaction erupted.
At one point, Ikeda was said to have been prepared to step down.
Ultimately, Yoshida basically “shut everyone up and got the budget approved,” recalled former Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa (1919-2007) in his memoir.
Miyazawa was Ikeda’s policy aide at the time.
The drastic budget-balancing “remedy” served to bring the nation’s hyperinflation under control, but it also caused severe side effects.
A great number of small and midsize enterprises went belly-up, and many workers were let go around the nation in what came to be called the “Dodge recession.”
In July 1950, the stock average plummeted to 85.25, the lowest level ever.
And on March 4 this year, the Nikkei stock average topped 40,000 for the first time.
The nation’s “stilts” economy is a thing of a long-past era, but I feel uneasy.
Perhaps that’s because I don’t see any politician today agonizing over the weight of their election pledge or asserting leadership to forge party unity.
--The Asahi Shimbun, March 5
* *
*Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.
Address of this article:http://france.downmusic.org/article-05c599987.html
Very good!(839)
Related articles
- Democrats vow to protect Speaker Mike Johnson from being ousted from office
- Braunwyn Windham
- 2024 NFL Draft: From Caleb Williams' gorgeous long
- Marlins place opening day starter Jesús Luzardo on injured list with left elbow tightness
- Former Italian foreign minister convicted for role in sale of Monte Carlo apartment
- Oregon State and Washington State face player exodus amid realignment
- J.D. Martinez makes his Mets debut after he was sidelined by back issues
- China to establish modern eco
- Trainer and Brehm can find a few perks amid New Orleans disappointment
- Vibrant Q1 consumption mirrors China's economic stamina
Popular articles
- Box office: ‘Challengers’ scores with $15 million in ticket sales
- Police in Washington city issue alarm after 3 babies overdosed on fentanyl in less than a week
- Takeaways: AP's investigation into fatal police sedative encounters
- Korey Cunningham, a former NFL lineman, found dead in his New Jersey home. He was 28
Recommended
North Carolina shootout that killed 4 law officers began as task force tried to serve a warrant
Four months after being fired by Atlanta, Arthur Smith is hitting the reset button in Pittsburgh
Uzbekistan knocks out titleholder Saudi Arabia in Under
Tornado tears through Nebraska, causing severe damage in Omaha suburbs
North Carolina shootout that killed 4 law officers began as task force tried to serve a warrant
Giannis Antetokounmpo ruled out, Khris Middleton to start for Bucks against Pacers in Game 3
Salma Hayek shares rare photos from her wedding to Francois
Shocking moment father and son brawl with middle
Links
- New energy capacity to surpass coal in 2024
- China's tech giants spend big on digital 'red envelope war' to gain more mobile users
- Climate change risks for fish across world: UW researchers
- BIRTV 2017 held in Beijing
- Xi, Assad Jointly Announce China
- China's research vessel finishes month
- Flu season sees spike in drug production
- China, Timor
- China's second
- Major lithium reserves discovered in Sichuan