Japan Press Weekly

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2013 July 24 - 30 [WELFARE]

Abe to slash welfare benefits ignoring people’s hardships

Akahata editorial (excerpt)

Prime Minister Abe Shinzo of the Liberal Democratic-Komei government will drastically cut welfare benefit payments in August.

The budget for welfare benefit payments will be reduced by 67 billion yen or 6.5% in stages over the next three years. No cabinet has ever proposed such a massive reduction since the livelihood protection program was established. More than 90% of recipient households will be affected by the reduction in payments. A monthly payment for a household with two children will be slashed by up to 20,000 yen. This clearly goes against the goal of a law on measures to counter child poverty which was unanimously passed in the last ordinary session of the Diet.

Welfare payment recipients are already suffering from a rise in food prices caused by Prime Minister Abe’s economic policy or so-called “Abenomics”. Some recipients are not using their air conditioners in this heat wave in order to save on electricity bills despite the high risk of heat stroke. If these recipients are forced to cut their expenditures any further, it will threaten their health and even their lives.

People around the country have started to raise their voices against the slash in welfare benefits, demanding that the constitutional right to a decent standard of living be maintained. The Abe Cabinet is attempting to drastically weaken social security programs with the slash in welfare payments as just the beginning. The need now is to increase public awareness to counter Abe’s attempt to dismantle social welfare programs.