What’s the plan?

According to the LDP and Komeito, it’s spend more money, help eastern Japan, and fix the electoral process. Sounds good to me, except for that spend more money part, but maybe the LDP has a plan for how to pay for all that spending. It’s not like Japan can afford it under the current revenue model, given the gi-normous national debt (something like 200% of GDP). But hey, I’m not a Japanese politician who just got elected, so what do I know?

大型補正編成で一致 ＝自公党首、連立協 議入り

自民党の安倍晋三総裁は１８日午後、公 明党の山口那津男代表と国会内で会談し、 低迷する景気を立て直すため、大型の２ ０１２年度補正予算案を編成することで合 意した。新政権発足後、速やかに検討を開 始する。両党は今後、連立政権に向けた政 策協議に入り、週内の合意を目指す。 同日は、自民党の石破茂幹事長が首相官 邸に藤村修官房長官を訪ね、民主党から自 公両党への政権移行に向けた協力を要請。 ２６日に予定される安倍内閣の発足に向 け、準備作業が本格化した。 自公の党首会談では、(1)補正予算を含 む景気対策(2)東日本大震災の被災地復 興(3)衆院選挙制度改革と定数削減—を軸 に政策協議を進めることを確認した。 補正に関しては、公明党がこれまで１０ 兆円規模を主張。自民党もデフレ克服のた め大規模な補正が必要との立場で、来年１ 月召集の通常国会に提出し、２月中の成立 を目指す。 ［時事通信社］ http://jp.wsj.com/article/JJ1149360234411647432321772959 6911843794350.html

Agreed on large scale supplementary budget revision – LDP and Komeito party leaders, enter into coalition talks

The Liberal Democratic Party president Shinzo Abe met with Komeito’s party representative Natsuo Yamaguchi at Parliament on the afternoon of the 18 th and agreed to a wholesale revision of the 2012 supplementary budget bill in order to begin to improve sluggish economic conditions. As soon as the new government comes to power, they will begin considering their approach. Looking ahead toward their coalition government, both parties began policy discussions, aiming for agreement by week’s end.

The same day, the LDP’s party secretary-general Shigeru Ishiba visited Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura at the Prime Minister’s residence to seek cooperation in the transition of power from the DPJ to the LDP. Preparations for the planned inauguration of the Abe cabinet on the 26 th have begun in earnest.

At the LDP-Komeito party leadership conference, 1) economic measures including the supplementary budget, 2) recovery efforts in the areas affected by the eastern Japan earthquake, 3) reform of the Lower House electoral process and reduction in the number of seats were confirmed as the three axes on which policy discussions would proceed.

With regard to the supplementary budget, Komeito has been pushing for a scale of 10 trillion yen. The LDP also holds the position that a large-scale supplementary budget is necessary to escape deflation and wants to submit a bill in January of next year as soon as regularly parliamentary sessions begin with the goal of passing it in February.