Either one should get a handle on the public debt issue, despite the short-term risks to aggregate demand growth, or one should resign oneself to the sad fact that it is beyond the grasp of public policy to fix. Whether we are talking about Japan, the United States, or most of Western Europe -- the pattern is almost universal. Expenditures are outpacing tax revenues. Almost all industrial democracies are confronted with the same politically unattractive choices: raise taxes, cut expenditures (read: entitlements), or fall deeper into debt. And since the politically expedient choice has been to maintain the status quo by issuing more debt in order to protect entitlements, the problem just continues to grow and grow and grow. "I agree that economic restructuring is important and government programs should be cut," we often hear. It is then followed by "but please be sure to cut the *other* ministry's programs, not ours. Please be sure to cut the *other* group's entitlements, never ours. Ours is important. Theirs is not."
I suspect that some day macroeconomists will once again agree on the drivers of growth. Until then, we can all be sure to sit back and watch the national debt of every industrial democracy grow until bond markets have finally had enough.
When will Japan's bond market collapse? I don't have the foggiest idea. But I know one thing: the politically expedient choice today cannot be the financially prudent choice forever.
(ID:32175174)
>>3
あったり前のこんこんちきだよ。だけどおれはレポート屋じゃないぜ。おれは孫崎にケチをつけるのを趣味としているだけの人間さ。
興味があるなら、次のご意見を読んでみろ。
Either one should get a handle on the public debt issue, despite the short-term risks to aggregate demand growth, or one should resign oneself to the sad fact that it is beyond the grasp of public policy to fix. Whether we are talking about Japan, the United States, or most of Western Europe -- the pattern is almost universal. Expenditures are outpacing tax revenues. Almost all industrial democracies are confronted with the same politically unattractive choices: raise taxes, cut expenditures (read: entitlements), or fall deeper into debt. And since the politically expedient choice has been to maintain the status quo by issuing more debt in order to protect entitlements, the problem just continues to grow and grow and grow. "I agree that economic restructuring is important and government programs should be cut," we often hear. It is then followed by "but please be sure to cut the *other* ministry's programs, not ours. Please be sure to cut the *other* group's entitlements, never ours. Ours is important. Theirs is not."
I suspect that some day macroeconomists will once again agree on the drivers of growth. Until then, we can all be sure to sit back and watch the national debt of every industrial democracy grow until bond markets have finally had enough.
When will Japan's bond market collapse? I don't have the foggiest idea. But I know one thing: the politically expedient choice today cannot be the financially prudent choice forever.