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DEVELOP OF ECONO STR (part1)

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DEVELOPMENT OF ECONOMIC STRUCTURE
               TOWARDS INFORMATION SOCIETY


1. INTRODUCTION
While Japan is in the process of getting out of the Ford Keynes system combined with the Japanese management system towards the information society, current situation of Japan lost sight of its direction as to what kind of economic structure to deploy, drawing a clear line to problematic neoliberalism and market fundamentalism. Just point out that measures to promote economic growth are necessary as a temporary countermeasure against the current situation with deflationary stagnation. Moreover, it is known that the conventional economic stimulus measures such as public works projects are not very effective. Therefore, it is said that neoliberal deregulation and Keynesian countermeasure are necessary, but those are fragmentary measures without unity, often speaking a composite fractional measures, due to the Keynesian countermeasure spreads subsidies even within the budget deficit, even if it is for business related to new industrial development and environmental measures, so it can not be raised such measures that will strategically lead to a future economic structure.
2. JAPANESE ECONOMIC STRUCTURE
The former Japanese economic structure was a structure that is organically combined duties and wages based on the seniority system and lifetime employment in the company, liability decentralized decision-making by agreement formulation in lieu of a meeting, corporate group by stockholding, bank-led indirect finance, adjusting and managing of economy by administrative guidance of government (bureaucracy) to the industry, and management and corporate accumulation through long-term corporate perspectives, and worker protection and enhancement of social security as a cost necessary for stabilizing the enterprises and society. The premise that such a structure is established is that stability of product production is high because of slow product deterioration and long product life, so that profits for investment and innovation are sufficiently obtained, in addition the economy can operate stably and effectively in one country unit, and maintain high export competitiveness through corporate capital accumulation and technological innovation as well as the existence of overseas market of goods export destination.
3. STRUCTURAL REFORM
Such a Japanese economic structure had become impossible to exist due to the decline of profit rate and globalization based on the progress of informatization, and had become clear the necessity of reforming Japanese economic structure. However, the structural reform was brought up as a result of the neoliberal idea forced from the outside (the United States) from historical circumstances. For superficial reasons that structural reform was considered necessary, for reasons why everyone should admit the theory, it is mentioned that corruption and unfair competition by politicians, bureaucrats, and industry groups' consolidation structure are the causes of economic stagnation and advertised as needing to reform it. While, the theoretical reason is mentioned that, the Japanese economic structure has become inefficient because free competition is hindered, therefor the inherent growth potential of the economy is hindered, so if relaxes regulation and incorporates complete free competition it can return to the growth economy again like the United States. However, structural reform based on Neoliberalism was raised as a reform for speculative capital under emphasis on market function in accordance with the request from the United States that "reform the Japanese unfair market" (= "open up Japanese markets, especially financial markets to US speculative capital"). As concrete policies of structural reform, deregulation, privatization and reduction of budget deficit have been raised.
(i) deregulation Regarding deregulation, some of the subject regulations are necessary regulations for the safety and security of social life, such regulation should not be relaxed nor can it be relaxed. However, the interpretation of safety and security of social life gradually expanded, the regulation for industry protection and competition mitigation became to be carried out, and the aspect that the adhesion between such industry and bureaucracy became prominent and the vested interests was actually existed. As far as the deregulation is to relax competition by eliminating entry restrictions and fee regulations that excessively protect existing industries, it can be accepted in principle, but about what was introduced from the viewpoint of prevention of harmful effects due to excessive competition is a matter of degree. In addition, if eliminate the regulations on entry into existing industries that have vested interests, the effect of competition is expected, but on the other hand, there is a problem that many situations occur such as the fact that it will not be provided socially necessary projects due to be eliminating the companies that have taken socially needed businesses by competition. Therefore, highly inquisitive examination is necessary for deregulation. However, the market fundamentalist idea is to make the economy more efficient and activate by thoroughly deregulating and exiting the loser from the market by competition, and it is possible to strengthen the international competitiveness and grow the economy.
Further, what is particularly important for deregulation is relaxation of labor regulations. The reason why it is necessary to raise labor mobility to respond to the progress of globalization and information socialization has reasonable grounds, but it has now been said that the regulations that were necessary for the protection of workers and the stability of society were easily withdrawn without adequately necessary preparations. For example, due to the deregulation that dispatched work, which was limited to sophisticated industries with relatively high wages, extended to general labor with low wages, the irregular workers with low wages expanded at once, when a depression has occurred, dispatched workers who have been temporarily dispatched leave homeless and destitute, which causes social instability. If labor mobility is to be a problem, originally measures should be taken for regular employment workers who form in-house labor unions under the system of lifetime employment and seniority system.
(ii) privatization In privatization, learning from the privatization of the National Railways, it is intended to reduce the fiscal burden by privatization of the Highway Public Corporation, Housing Authority, etc. which forced a useless fiscal burden by bureaucratic and inefficient management. In addition, postal privatization is similar to the above for postal services, but concerning postal savings and simple insurance, it is a question of whether to release postal savings funds of 300 trillion yen to the market from the hands of the government. Originally postal savings funds were used as funds for FIL investment to realize the government's industrial policy and contributed to the promotion of industries in Japan. But, indeed it is recognized that the historical mission has ended from the financing system. It is also pointed out that it was the primary source of unscrupulous fiscal deficits by being used for the digestion of government bonds, and becoming a source of extremely inefficient use of funds that wasteful investment to make bad debts is made. However, if postal savings funds are quickly taken into financial markets, it is obvious that they will become prey to speculators in the US, and originally it should be privatized after taking sufficient time to take necessary countermeasures, that is, after the privatized postal savings bank secure the operational capability of their own funds.
(iii) Fiscal deficit reduction The budget deficit reduction is superficially promoted by the bureaucracy organization to reduce waste but the main body is aimed at social welfare reduction to the last and is aimed at increasing the consumption tax which is indirect tax. Specifically, it is to reduce social security expenditures by absorbing of raising medical expenses by raising the price of health insurance premiums and increasing self-payment of consultation fee, raising the pension payment age, or lowering the pension payment amount. The result is that it is becoming necessary to reform the social security system, such like that there is a possibility that the pension system itself may not be established due to the remarkable decrease of the national pension's insurance premium payment rate in conjunction with poverty due to easing labor regulation.
The ultimate form of structural reform by such neoliberal idea calls for people to earn by their own responsibility in the free competitive market without relying on the government and labor protection system, and for the losers of competition, emphasizing self-responsibility do not provide assistance or subsidies for regeneration except the minimum safety net that drive a situation in which human disqualification is stamped, and also social security and social welfare are placed under private and market to avoid interference by the government. For this reason, many social problems are becoming obvious due to instability of society due to dissolution / extinction of the intermediate layer. It can be said that the market fundamentalistic economic system is based on a system in which not only the economy but also the society and people are swayed by the market, that is, the behavior of speculators with the consideration that "market judgment = judgment and behavior of speculators" is "judgment of God".
4. TOWARD A NEW ECONOMIC STRUCTURE
Currently, structural reforms with such aspects are steadily progressed due to the necessity of economic restructuring while suffering various problems, as well as receiving pressure from the United States and others trying to promote globalization, with progressing complete demolition of the Japanese style economic system. It is impossible to stop this and restore it, and it will go against the information society. However, there are too many problems moving to a neoliberal market fundamentalist economy. Therefore, it is required to present a new economic structure that can smoothly shift towards the information society with decreasing contradictions as much as possible, and the major items will be examined sequentially below. In addition, It can be said that Japan can not shift to market fundamentalism seriously and suffer from the catastrophic collapse of the economic structure due to the delay in the collapse of Ford Keynes' system, so there is a possibility of advantageous and preceding shift to the next-generation economic structure.
5. MARKET ECONOMY SYSTEM - braking of price fluctuations
As a fundamental problem in the new economic structure toward the information society, there is the question of how to do the market economy system. 100% control of production(supply) - consumption can not be 100% impossible, and it is settled historically by the collapse of socialist countries that planned economy fall in an arbitrary evaluation and an inefficient economy unless controlled by an omniscient and omnipotent central administrator. So, the market economy system itself is indispensable. Abstract values of goods, services and information are embodied as prices in the market, valuation of social activities which are not arbitrary is done by the price system in the market, as a result appropriate allocation of resources is realized. Thus, it can be developed into a new economic structure without significant disconnection from the current capitalist economic structure.
However, there is a possibility that price in the market may fluctuate inappropriately even by a slight disturbance factor because the price itself is floating, so it is necessary to provide a braking mechanism for price fluctuation in the market, and a regulatory system is needed to secure a proper competitive market and maintain its proper status. It has been become aware of the fact that how much price fluctuation has greatly adversely affected economic activity, while how speculators covet huge profits. However, as long as we accept market mechanisms that provide adjustment functions due to price fluctuations, it is said that excessive price fluctuations have to be given up and accepted, and in fact it was the case.
However, from the present toward the future, by making computer management for all market transactions by utilizing the progress of information processing technology that is possible to process enormous information and data instantaneously, it is practically possible to control so as to exert an action of proper braking against excessive price fluctuation. By doing so, in the new economic structure while applying market economy system, it is possible to dispel problems caused by excessive price fluctuation due to speculation etc.
6. FINANCIAL SYSTEM - Rebuild bank financing, Right securities market
In Japan's financial system, mainly for large enterprises, a combination of loans and corporate governance made with the main bank as the core is mainstream, and in general, collateral loans, which are mainly collateralized by real estate, were made, but such a financial system has become unable to exist with universality by the bubble collapse with the bad debts and subsequent neoliberal structural reforms. The current situation is that excellent enterprises start debt-free management with a wealth of self-financing, or finance funds procurement at a low cost in the securities market, whereas general collateral loans can become bad debts, so banks who do not have the know-how to finance with risk lose highly profitable lenders except for possession of government bonds and financing to subsidiaries dealing with unsecured individual loans (consumer loan), despite being in a situation where funds can be raised at an extremely low cost.
In the financial system in the new economic structure, it is necessary to rebuild bank financing, which is indirect financing, by constructing a system that banks can finance taking risks based on appropriate corporate evaluation not relying on collateral, and it is also necessary to develop direct financing through issuing bonds and stocks and raising funds in securities markets by righting the market system so that it will not suffer excessive disturbance by the behavior of speculators. In order to hedge the risk in bank financing, rather than creating an opacity securitized product that is securitized multiple times, it is preferable to establishes a loan insurance organization for risk hedging by the bank group and creates a production insurance system for companies. Regarding to companies of the borrower, it is preferable to hedges risk by forming a network of venture companies, centering on prospective excellent quality venture companies. In particular, funds for postal savings should be invested in such projects and used as activating funds for Japan, and it is necessary to promote network business for venture companies as a good investment destination of privatized JP Bank.
7. COMPANY FORM - Alteration in stock company
With respect to the form of business in the new economic structure, the necessity of the corporate form of "stock company" basically disappears with the progress of information society, and "stock company" will gradually decline with gradual change in nature. This is because companies are established as relationships between human organizations within the company and society, and corporations have inherently social responsibility (CSR). Corporate status including "stock company" is more or less public, and "stock company" as "private enterprise" is obviously a deception.
In the stock company, the shareholders who simply provided the capital are supposed to be equivalent on right to other stakeholders of the enterprise, and it can be said that the fact itself that the stock company is owned by the shareholders is a original contradiction for capitalism. It can be said that legally making a company a property of a shareholder, handling a person working at a company like a commodity is in error in the first place, and by lowering the weight of capital with progress of the information society, this contradiction of capitalism has become quite open. Also, in corporate enterprises, because of arising a problem of corporate governance is based on the fact that a company is owned by external shareholders and not an internal person operating the company, and observation and dominance of company from the outside bring about unreasonableness and inefficiency. Of course, in a company that manufactures goods requiring huge production facilities, it is natural that there is a need for a form of stock company to require huge capital, but it will be gradually become the matter related to companies belonging to some special industrial fields.
And even if the form of "stock company" persists, as it is actually shifting in that direction in its existence form, it will become natural that the stock company should not be controlled by just shareholders, and it will become mainstream that such enterprise form realizes in entities. As such a form of business, for example, a form in which the company is practically governed by employees due to employees are primary shareholders can be considered.
Also, the internal organization of the company in that case is not an organization such as business division, department, and section that responds to universal, permanent, rank-oriented seniority system, and also making decisions is not done by responsibility dispersion type consensus forming system that the responsibility of decisions pushing up from bottom to top along the rank in organizations. The organization is structured by the project team for each specific business in each workplace so as to be integrated with each other according to the relevance between the objects. Thus, there is no room for seniority-based office organization to exist. It is thought appropriate organization management that regarding the formulation of corporate management strategy and management plan, reporting / approval of management situation, at the strategic management meeting that is composed of the representative of the company who is the chief executive officer, the special number of expert advisers as necessary, and the representative of all project teams, furthermore all members of project team of target as necessary, discussions are made based on reports from the project management team, and the results are immediately reported to relevant stakeholders.
The report of the company management data required by the strategic management meeting is fully possible by the project team consisting of a few specialized management data processing engineers due to the progress of the information processing technology, and the stratified control and dominance system is no longer unnecessary.