Decades of LDP mismanagement in Japan: Mega debt to declining population
Kanako Mita, Sawako Utsumi, and Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
Japan is blighted by over three decades of endless political mismanagement. This is down to the “political family chairs” of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Hence – over three squandered economic decades later concerning negative to limited economic growth and static wages – the result is the highest debt ratio in the world and a declining population that will further burden the pension system in the years to come.
The crisis concerning the declining birth rate was known many decades ago by the ruling LDP. Yet, while Japan funds foreign projects and provides an endless economic chain to Ukraine (Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is on his anti-Russia crusade) along with increasing the military budget to the highest level ever: nothing is done to any serious degree about static wages, the declining birthrate, the highest ratio debt in the world, pension concerns, and the declining rights of the working poor.
Hence, many Japanese nationals are resigned to no change under the ruling LDP. Thus in the last election, approximately 47% of the population didn’t bother to vote concerning a lack of interest in the political system of this country that favors the ruling LDP.
The LDP in recent times merely props up the stock market, accumulates debt, increasingly involves itself in anti-China and anti-Russian Federation projects that are stamped in Washington, provides money on grand G-7 international projects – but does little to help people in Japan who suffer static wages and decreasing working conditions.
Hence, news that the population of Japan shrank by over 640,000 people will do little to wake up the ruling LDP. Only Okinawa – of the 47 prefectures of Japan – showed slight growth. The total decline of the population reached a fresh high of a 0.51% decrease. Thus the eleven-year pattern continues with little hope of the LDP addressing this serious issue. Therefore, with the LDP being unable to rejuvenate the economy and tackle the declining population – to other serious issues concerning the pension system – the recent LDP administrations are switching on the nationalist tap aimed at China and the Russian Federation.
Children under the age of 15 now account for only 11.8% of the entire population. Thus it is presumed that Japan will increasingly turn to migrant labor. However, Japan is likely to take a similar approach to Singapore and Gulf nations, where the rights of foreign workers are limited.
In 2019, NHK reported, “The number of babies born in the country last year was almost 30 percent less than in 1989. The decline is expected to worsen in the future.”
Overall, like Modern Tokyo Times recently said, “The nominal GDP ratio in Japan is a staggering 256%. This is the highest in the world. Hence, the debt ratio is approximately 2.5 times the entire annual economic output in this country. Yet – similar to other recent leaders of Japan – Kishida announced the highest budget in history – including the highest military budget in Japanese history.”
The only certainty of the Kishida administration – like recent LDP administrations – is more military spending, increasing regional tensions in Northeast Asia, doing little to address the population crisis, helping to bankroll Ukraine and grand G-7 projects, and doing little to address static wages and the suffering of the working poor who continue to suffer from the consequences of the “do nothing LDP.”
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