Do not allow government to abandon livelihood protection

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Do not allow government to abandon livelihood protection
Akahata editorial (excerpts)

The Fiscal System Council (FSC), an advisory panel to the finance minister, published on November 22 a set of proposals for measures to be taken for the next fiscal year's budget.

The FSC calls for the withdrawal of the government from contributing to unemployment insurance funds and an abolition of the additional benefits for single parent families and for child-rearing in the livelihood protection subsidies.

These proposals will make the government shirk its responsibility for protecting people's living conditions and improving social security as is mandated by Article 25 of the Constitution.

The FSC argues that it is no longer necessary for the government to share the burden of unemployment insurance funds on the grounds that the condition of the funds has been improved. If resources are available, however, the government should take measures such as extending the unemployment benefits, creating livelihood assistance for unemployed people after the term of benefit expires, and drastically upgrading job training programs.

The proposal to abolish the additional assistance to single-parent families in the livelihood protection program is to follow the abolition of the additional assistance to the elderly in the program that the former Koizumi cabinet implemented. This policy of abolishing the measures to supplement insufficient amount of benefits hurts the socially vulnerable in particular.

The FSC recommends that the livelihood protection benefits be reduced on the grounds that the amount of the benefits exceeds the amount of national pension benefits. However, the problem that needs to be addressed here is that the pension benefits are too low to support the pensioner's living expenses in the first place.

Some members of the panel argued that this policy will eliminate the moral hazard of receiving benefits without real need. In reality, however, incidents have taken place one after another in which needy persons commit suicide or die from starvation because the government's restrictive policy rejects their applications for benefits. It is the government that is causing the moral hazard.

A sharp increase in the number of households receiving public assistance that has reached a record-high of one million is caused by the drastic increase in poor families due to the government dog-eat-dog structural reform policies. Therefore, the government is to blame for the increase of expenditures in the livelihood protection programs.

The Abe Cabinet is planning a drastic cut in corporate taxes to meet business circles' demands, while cutting social welfare programs under the pretext of financial difficulties.

This government policy is also harmful to the economy. A true reform that puts an end to wasteful use of tax money for the military and for large-scale public work projects, and spends more for sectors and public works that support living conditions of the public will contribute to economic growth that benefits the majority.

The Abe cabinet is about to embark on a new course of gutting social welfare programs by throwing away the accepted principle of "according to needs." Let us band together to prevent the policy from being implemented.
- Akahata, November 24, 2006