January 13, 2011
At an inner-party meeting on January 12, the leadership of the Democratic Party of Japan came under criticism from its Dietmembers, who insisted that the party’s policies are no different from the neoliberal “structural reform” policies promoted by the former Liberal Democratic Party-led government.
Referring to Prime Minister Kan Naoto’s sudden proposals for a consumption tax hike and Japan’s entry into the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) pact, Lower House member Saito Yasunori said, “We are now seriously losing citizens’ trust. Raising the consumption tax rate is making fools of the people.”
Meanwhile, the prime minister, looking back on his seven-month administration and the past 15 months since the change of government, said, “I can proudly tell citizens that what we have done was generally going in the right direction.”
“For instance,” said Kan, and raised “today’s stock price” as the reason for his remark. “It was just over 10,000 yen. This wipes away the concern of a double-dip recession,” he added.
Without mentioning the worsening unemployment rate, the prime minister stressed, “We could successfully create the national budget centering on employment and economic measures.”
Referring to Prime Minister Kan Naoto’s sudden proposals for a consumption tax hike and Japan’s entry into the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) pact, Lower House member Saito Yasunori said, “We are now seriously losing citizens’ trust. Raising the consumption tax rate is making fools of the people.”
Meanwhile, the prime minister, looking back on his seven-month administration and the past 15 months since the change of government, said, “I can proudly tell citizens that what we have done was generally going in the right direction.”
“For instance,” said Kan, and raised “today’s stock price” as the reason for his remark. “It was just over 10,000 yen. This wipes away the concern of a double-dip recession,” he added.
Without mentioning the worsening unemployment rate, the prime minister stressed, “We could successfully create the national budget centering on employment and economic measures.”
