Japan child poverty rate hits record high

[Hasbara Buster]

Japan child poverty rate hits record high

A new report shows that child poverty in Japan is at its highest level in the last three decades as critics rap Tokyo for failing to address the crisis.

The child poverty rate increased to over 16 percent in 2012, Japan’s Welfare Ministry said in a report published on Tuesday.

The figure marks the worst rate since the country started taking records nearly three decades ago.

Japan's child poverty rate is also one of the highest among the 34 countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The report revealed that over half of single-parent families are living below the poverty line, while nearly two-thirds of families with children said their financial status was bad or very bad.

Decline in household incomes is the main reason for the country’s high poverty rate, the report added. Japan is also showing a growing wage gap.

An increase in the number of low-paid contract positions in Japan has been the result of a weak economy coupled with deflation over the past two decades.

The Japanese economic slowdown comes despite aggressive measures taken by the government to boost economic growth after years of stagnation.

Economists say the Japanese government should implement promised economic reforms. Tokyo’s bold pro-growth program, a mix of big government spending and central bank monetary easing, is not enough to boost the economy, experts argue.

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who came to power in December 2012, has vowed to revive the economy by unveiling a series of measures, known as Abenomics, to help ensure long-term economic growth for country.

PressTV - Japan child poverty rate hits record high

 

[SrNair]

Far better than South Asia at any way.

 

[Götterdämmerung]

Far better than South Asia at any way.

This kind of relativised statement does't help, because a Japanese child can only compare to the children in his/ her surrounding and not what poverty means in India.

 

[Hasbara Buster]

Far better than South Asia at any way.

That is not the point of the article; the point is that it's going in the wrong direction. Basically, everything is going downhill in the entire 'developed world'. And this means there is increasing immorality and greed in those societies.

 

[Aepsilons]

That is not the point of the article; the point is that it's going in the wrong direction. Basically, everything is going downhill in the entire 'developed world'. And this means there is increasing immorality and greed in those societies.

Immorality and greed are found in any society, civilization. Whether or not there are measures set in place to educate the population on the negative consequences in failure to inhibit said factors. And even when or if policies are implemented effectively to reduce "immorality" and "greed" (boy are these independent variables rather --qualitative in nature) , it would be nearly impossible to keep it in minute levels. I mean, in a perfect world, yes.

But we don't live in a perfect world. Unfortunately.

 

[Imran Khan]

their poor are rich then our upper class

 

[Jlaw]

To be fair to Japan they are a developed country. I rather be a poor child living in Japan than most other countries in the world.

 

[+4vsgorillas-Apebane]

I grew up poor. You don't know how good you have it unless you experience poverty.

All rich kids should undergo a span living poor to give them perspective, humility and appreciation.

 

[Aepsilons]

I grew up poor. You don't know how good you have it unless you experience poverty.

All rich kids should undergo a span living poor to give them perspective, humility and appreciation.

I agree. Its always good to know the value of a dollar / yen / euro. One can't be spoon fed all the time.

 

[DarkElf]

I grew up poor. You don't know how good you have it unless you experience poverty.

All rich kids should undergo a span living poor to give them perspective, humility and appreciation.

Bad idea, unless you want them to stay rich. There's good reason why most family businesses can't survived for three generations. If the 2'nd and 3'rd generation rich stays hungry and sharp, the entrepreneur among us will have much more difficulty breaking their monopoly.

 

[BigDaddyWatch]

The reason why this is happening is because of the monetary policies of the Japanese central bank. Which is the same policy as those in the US. By printing money and keeping interest rates so low they are inflating asset prices (like bonds, stocks, houses, etc.) but at the same time they are suppressing wages. So the rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer at a very rapid pace. You can say why don't they just stop the program ? They can't. Because they have created gigantic amounts of debts by printing and needs to print more to cover the older debts and if they stop the printing then the day of reckoning will be upon them. Then Japan won't go into a slowdown or recession but a depression. All those Japanese salary man who have invested their life savings in Japanese government bonds will be ruined.

 

[Nike]

Compare to Iranian (the article is came from Iran), the Japanese children is much more fortunate to born in Japan than in Iran

 

[indiatester]

I grew up poor. You don't know how good you have it unless you experience poverty.

All rich kids should undergo a span living poor to give them perspective, humility and appreciation.

True... must throw them into either a good boarding school or there must be compulsory military service.

 

[Schutz]

Nothing wrong with being poor as long as your basics are being met, if you have the potential within you when your an adult it will only make you a stronger better person, on the flip side you could become some angry yakuza.