Current location:entertainment >>
VOX POPULI: Leadership skills of the past are missing in the politics of today
entertainment4People 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.
Tags:
Reprint:Friends are welcome to share on the Internet, but please indicate the source of the article when reprinting it.“Planet Perspective news portal”。http://chile.argoasecurityeu.com/content-05d899987.html
Related articles
Everybody may love Raymond, but Ray Romano loves Peter Boyle
entertainmentNEW YORK (AP) — “Baffling” is how Ray Romano calls the continued success of “Everybody Loves Raymond ...
Read moreFamily members of mainland fishermen to go to Kinmen after fatal expulsion incident
entertainment(Xinhua) 09:39, February 20, 2024BEIJING, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Family members of fishermen on a mainl ...
Read moreVital China on the move
entertainmentBy Qiu Chaoyi, Li Xinping, Han Xin (People's Daily) 09:27, February 20, 2024The Spring Festival trav ...
Read more
Popular articles
- Investigators return to Long Island home of Gilgo Beach serial killing suspect
- Wrexham are PROMOTED to League One after thrashing Forest Green 6
- HK textbooks on territorial sovereignty should meet national standards: education association chief
- Latest data shows China's economic resilience
- Supreme Court rejects an appeal from a Canadian man once held at Guantanamo
- In pics: Hami melon cultivation underway in NW China's Xinjiang
Latest articles
Nadal returns to Roland Garros to practice amid doubts over fitness and form
Interview: Chinese cars hold promising future in Egypt: auto businessman
Back to countryside, new trend amid China's rural revitalization drive
Direct flight links China's Fuzhou with Seoul in ROK
NBA playoffs: Edwards leads Wolves to 98
New productive forces play key role in growth
LINKS
- Siblings trying to make US water polo teams for Paris Olympics
- I'm an influencer and I don't understand why men always want to go for a walk on dates
- Student fatally shot, suspect detained at Georgia's Kennesaw State University
- Analysis: Larson enters conversation with Verstappen as best drivers in the world
- I was 'brokefished' by my friend for £400
- Uber and Lyft say they'll stay in Minnesota after Legislature passes driver pay compromise
- Red Lobster seeks bankruptcy protection after closing some restaurants
- Hall of Fame outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. to lead Indianapolis 500 field in Corvette pace car
- Ben Whishaw lights up the Croisette as he joins his co
- Liverpool confirms Arne Slot as Jurgen Klopp's replacement