Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Sunday said the “crisis of the middle class” was advancing in various parts of the world, and was a problem shared by all countries.
Delivering a special address at the opening of the 15th Asia and the Pacific Regional Meeting (ARPM) of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) here, Mr. Noda said statistical data showed that the gap between the rich and the poor was widening in many countries, including industrialised nations, and a trend depicting an ongoing polarisation of society could be seen.
He pointed out that it had been 43 years since the ILO ARPM was last held in Japan and the country had recovered from post-war devastation and hurtled headlong on the path of an unprecedented level of economic growth.
“This was an era overflowing with the hope that each individual could enjoy the affluence linked to the burgeoning national economy,” Mr. Noda said. The biggest driving factor behind this was the existence of the “large middle class” and the fruits of high-level economic growth spilled over from the wealthy class to this section.
Disparities
Mr. Noda spoke of the Occupy Wall Street movement and the disparities it reflected and said that in Japan the talk of a divided society had already been around for several years. He called for a safety net to counter the various forms of crisis that could easily cross borders in a globally connected world, and to strive to achieve the principle of decent work. The New Growth Strategy drawn up in 2010 identifies employment creation as a central task and places the focus on green jobs, enhanced linkages in the field of health care, regulatory reform and human resource development. He said he would like Japan to establish a system of social security that was sustainable, even with its declining birth-rate and ageing population, and make it a model for the entire region.
ILO Director General Juan Somavia said that while growth and output were rebounding, productivity was rising, and investment was back, “dark clouds are gathering again”. Asia is now more open than ever before — this means openness to both positive and negative developments elsewhere. While the global growth model developed over the last three decades may have served some countries of the region well economically, it had also proven to be unbalanced, unfair, and unsustainable, Mr. Somavia said.
It had created inequalities, new environmental challenges and major decent work deficits. If left unaddressed, it would threaten social cohesion, political stability and long-term development, he said.
The world and Asia needed a new vision of growth and development that could open the way to a new era of social justice.
Mr. Somavia said it would be a serious mistake to misread the crisis as being primarily one of confidence, in financial markets in the Eurozone.
Uprisings
On the contrary, there was a growing feeling in many quarters that multilateral governance frameworks and even many national political systems were not coping well with the power of global financial operators.
Popular uprisings as in the Arab world, mass protests, demonstrations, riots and other expressions of anxiety and danger were on the rise, Mr. Somavia said. Young women and men had led many such actions expressing frustration and anger over economic exclusion and lack of genuine opportunity.
In this context, global policymakers needed to reconnect with the needs of working families and tackle the global jobs crisis at its root. It was vital to put in place global policies and measures that stimulated investment in the real economy by productive enterprises that generated decent jobs and significantly reduced the space for unproductive financial operations, Mr. Somavia said.
Comments:
The general public is usually very tolerant and passive in their attitude to the large scale problems faced by the nation.They have their own day-to-day problems, to make both ends meet.They do not usually spontaneously come out agitating against the system of governance.Their belief in the power of the Supreme,is so deep rooted that they blame themselves for all the ills they have to suffer. It is only when somebody initiates a movement to create awareness about their backwardness and finger point towards the government as the cause for it,the mobilization against the government starts.Thus an opportunity arises for the initiators to exploit the situation to their advantage.Then starts the lucrative job of fund-raising and organizing agitations followed by accounting for fictitious expenses.The longer the agitation the better for the perpetrators Most of the NGOs are using this well-beaten track.But,much larger international sharks make use of these groups to demolish our democracy.
Well after reading this i am wondering are we moving towards another revolution. Whenever middle class has been subjected to unequal treatment revolution has come let it be french revolution which was started by peasants or in great Britain where farmers stirred the revolution against the capitalists. With the increased in the taxes and corruption levels, middle class is suffering more and more and their patience level are getting glimmer and glimmer, Due to increase unemployment and lack of political will to counter these problems. I just hope all the countries specially the developed and developing countries works toward this or we may see coming of an another revolution on the lines that happened in Europe in the 18th and 19th century.
A troubling article, given that we in North America are feeling the negative effects
of the decline of the middle class since the early 1980s. To learn that Asia (as well
as Europe) is also experiencing the same effect tells us that the system is truly
spinning out of control. Without equitable redistribution of wealth only the top
income groups can win. The rest of us will lose. That does not make for peaceful
societies.
Should this trend not be checked (by our national governments) that leaves only
two paths: popular revolution or war, induced by the power elites to circumvent
revolution. Given that the US has been in a permanent state of war for decades, my
guess is we're heading for war.