Japan’s reconstruction needs civil servant pay cuts, not tax hikes. Redirect savings and bonds into top companies, build a sovereign wealth fund, and turn corporate dividends into national revival.
This text criticizes the easy approach of tax hikes for post-disaster reconstruction funding. It proposes a bold national strategy to cut civil servant salaries and leverage Japan’s massive private assets by investing them into the stock market. For the energy crisis, the author suggests a return to coal-fired power generation, emphasizing Japan’s world-leading emission-cleaning technology as a key export. This comprehensive proposal outlines specific reforms for Japan’s future.

A Proposal on Reconstruction Funding and Energy Issues May 25, 2011

Regarding reconstruction funding, let’s stop the lies and stupidity.

This fiscal year’s tax revenue is 41 trillion yen, while the payment for civil servant salaries is 27 trillion yen.

As I mentioned before, I was shocked when Professor Kishi of Keio University Graduate School taught me this on a TV show, and that shock has stayed with me.

Although I thought the Asahi Shimbun would never publish my paper since I’m an unknown writer, I submitted it according to their rules.

For those who have already read the part about civil servants I uploaded the other day, please continue reading from the section, “What Japan Must Do.”

Who are civil servants? They are politicians (Diet members), scholars and staff at national and public universities, bureaucrats and national civil servants in Kasumigaseki, governors, mayors, and council members, as well as local government employees.

They are now the highest earners in Japan in terms of average salary and absolute stability, or rather, security.

The private sector, while always on uncertain ground, has worked like ants with a diligence and attention to detail—a sense of beauty—that is arguably the best in the world and a spirit rare to find.

We worked like caterpillars, and Japan became a beautiful butterfly, but the fact that this year’s tax revenue of 41 trillion yen is against the civil servant salary payment of 27 trillion yen tells us that most of the ones who became butterflies were, in fact, civil servants.

They say there is no reconstruction funding and that the only way to secure it is through a tax hike.

This is beyond just telling lies and being foolish.

The money is right there, you politicians and scholars who are about to start a chorus for tax hikes! Or all you civil servants!

Taxes are not generated from your labor… but from the blood, sweat, and tears of us private sector workers. Our position is one of high risk and low return. In fact, given this great disaster, it would not be an exaggeration to call it high risk and no return… Private sector workers work like ants without the luxury of enjoying life, and even the true elites who chose to work hard in the private sector live and die in a constant cycle of day and night competition with rival companies and foreign nations.

In any case, private sector workers die having spent almost their entire lives working to pay taxes to the state, with no time to enjoy life.

Civil servants’ pensions are guaranteed even after they die, but what about the pensions for the majority of private sector workers?

They are extremely uncertain.

Furthermore, if a major disaster like this occurs, private sector workers will lose their jobs in an instant, but civil servants will not lose their jobs no matter what happens, even if a once-in-a-hundred-year or even a once-in-a-thousand-year disaster strikes.

Isn’t it obvious?

Isn’t this something you should understand without me having to say any more?

Now, to the politicians and professors from national universities like Tokyo University and Osaka University who are saying a tax hike is the only option.

This is an unprecedented national crisis… half of the country’s body has been incredibly and completely annihilated.

And the nuclear plants you built—that thing that turned Fukushima into “Fukushima”—added to the calamity.

Furthermore, because of your remarkable “competence,” reputational damage has spread both domestically and internationally, making pay cuts for private sector workers an inevitable situation.

Who has been supporting you? Who has been guaranteeing you a “peaceful farming and reading” life that only a handful of private sector workers can ever enjoy, even after you retire, even if you don’t partake in post-retirement appointments or other such perks?

Assuming the average annual income for a civil servant is 7.5 million yen, as pointed out by my readers at Senba Kaientai on Ameba (it’s probably a figure like that), the total number of civil servants is 3.6 million.

Is it a cartoon that these mere 3.6 million people receive 27 trillion yen out of the 41 trillion yen in tax revenue from a country with a population of 120 million?

My argument is not affected by minor fluctuations in the number of civil servants; I’m simply calculating what the total number of civil servants is.

I will speak on behalf of the 97% of the Japanese population who are private sector workers.

As I’ve already mentioned, I am a person who has done work that has resulted in paying over 20 billion yen in taxes in various forms, so I believe I am qualified to represent them in that respect.

Now, you who are starting to say that a tax hike is the only option… and at a time like this!

Politicians (Diet members) and national university professors, we will continue to take care of you. But during this unprecedented great disaster—when half of the country has been gouged out, a tremendous amount of blood has been shed, and half of the nation, including the entire prefecture of Fukushima, is groaning in pain—you should tell the people, “To save the country, we will cut our salaries by 30%.”

“If we cut our salaries by 30%, we can create 8.1 trillion yen. In two years, that’s 16.2 trillion yen. We will use this as reconstruction funding.” Why can’t you say this?

If you truly believe you are servants of the people, you should have been able to say it, and you should be able to say it.

If you can’t, it’s tantamount to publicly declaring to the people that you don’t consider yourselves public servants in the slightest, but rather parasites and blood-sucking intestinal worms that are devouring the country.

“What about the negative impact on consumption?” There will be none whatsoever.

Generally, this layer of society is the one that diligently saves money.

Why? Because their jobs are stress-free, so they don’t need to consume to relieve stress.

Private sector workers are always chased by quotas, so they spend money to relieve stress by drinking, going on dates, etc. They need money.

But civil servants are stress-free, so they go home quickly, feeling warm and content, and are truly like “General Nogi” of Japan.

If there are any fools who are completely out of touch with reality and still worry about consumption, they should know that based on what I have observed, the biggest consumers are private sector workers with an annual income of 5 million yen or less, especially women, and the super-rich.

It’s simple. We should enforce a law that obligates the countless super-rich people in Japan to spend a minimum of 10 million yen or more on consumption annually.

For example, those who spend over 50 million yen or 100 million yen could be treated as a donation, and that portion could be tax-deductible.

For people like Mr. Masayoshi Son and Ryo Ishikawa who donate all their salaries and income to disaster victims, that portion should, of course, be tax-free.

The super-rich should just spend money. They can buy and donate cars, whether new or used, for the disaster victims.

In any case, they should just buy things and use them.

The president of Daiwa Securities Group HD said at a press conference for the establishment of an online bank that “800 trillion yen of personal assets are in the form of cash and deposits, which is gradually increasing.”

I can confidently state that this gradually increasing portion is the savings of civil servants.

In any case, they don’t spend much money, so there is no need to worry about consumption whatsoever.

Below is an excerpt from an email I sent to the OECD Tokyo headquarters the day after the OECD issued a recommendation for a 20% consumption tax increase.

“Civil Servant Salary Cut of 20% is Necessary”

OECD’s Review Report Recommends Debt Reduction for Japan

*Note: In light of the recent major disaster, the OECD has added a recommendation that the more than 3.6 million civil servants, who are estimated to have an average annual income of 7.5 million yen—from the Prime Minister and other national civil servants to governors and other local government officials—should undergo an initial 30% average pay cut in a reverse progressive tax system for two years. This would result in a total reduction of 16.2 trillion yen over two years, and that amount should be used for reconstruction funding… This is considered a natural course of action for civil servants who are supposed to be public servants.

Furthermore, the OECD also recommended that this opportunity should be used to change Japan’s civil servant system to one that is suitable for a capitalist society.

That is, a law should be revised so that when the nation’s tax revenue declines, civil servant salaries also decrease, just like in the private sector.

Otherwise, Japan will be unable to survive as a 21st-century nation, stand tall against the US, and fulfill its role as a leader of freedom and democracy in the world.

It is not sane that out of a tax revenue of 42 trillion yen, 27 trillion yen is for civil servant salaries, and on top of that, their average annual income is 7.5 million yen.

Japan is not a country like Greece but a major power that should lead the world economy. For civil servants, who make up only 3% of the Japanese population and whose lives are supported by the taxes paid by the public, to forget this responsibility and to only try to secure their own and their old age’s security, they can never be a world leader.

This recommendation was also attached.

To the Director of the OECD Tokyo Centre,

I have read your summary, but it is no different from the arguments that have been made by Ministry of Finance bureaucrats, their followers in the media, and scholars for over 20 years. I believe it is the very same argument that created “Japan’s Lost 20 Years” and led to a massive loss of national wealth totaling 900 trillion yen.

Below, I would like to introduce my own argument, as a “21st-century human” who has appeared in Japan.

“What Japan Must Do?”

How about we issue government bonds and buy stocks of representative Japanese companies?

As you know, the average dividend yield of companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange is over 2.2% annually.

We should prioritize purchasing shares of excellent companies that pay dividends above this average.

How much should we buy?

It is a well-known fact that the Japanese government took no action on Thursday, March 11, and Friday, March 12, and the market opened the following week, resulting in a 54 trillion yen loss in the market capitalization of TSE-listed companies in just two days.

It was previously reported in the newspaper that personal assets remaining in banks, etc., due to a lack of investment opportunities, amount to over 150 trillion yen.

We should issue 54 trillion yen worth of government bonds and use them to buy these stocks.

For example, high-dividend stocks like Eisai should be a priority for purchase.

I think we should prioritize acquiring high-dividend, excellent companies that can achieve a target of a 2% profit gain.

*We should declare that all citizens will work together to overcome this great disaster and ask them to buy government bonds with no interest until the reconstruction is complete… although I even think we could eventually make it a law.

The dividends from these companies would be used entirely for reconstruction funding.

We would hold 44 trillion yen of these stocks indefinitely. Of course, we would swap out stocks whose dividend yield has fallen.

We would have leading domestic and foreign securities companies manage the remaining 10 trillion yen in the daily stock market.

We would eliminate these management companies based on their annual performance.

Everyone would work desperately.

At the same time, the Tokyo Stock Exchange would become a massive global market on par with New York, and it would lead the capitalist economy.

As you know, a daily trading volume of over 2 trillion yen is considered active on the TSE today.

Even during the two chaotic days of March 14 and 15, the maximum volume was just over 6 trillion yen.

What would happen if we injected an additional 10 trillion yen into the market?

A world-class large market would be instantly born, and the world would move not just by watching New York but also by watching the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

20th-century capitalism has allowed short-selling. When proposals for short-selling regulations occasionally arose, the TSE’s consistent response was that it couldn’t be done because of the risk of reduced trading volume.

The moment we inject 10 trillion yen into the market, we can impose strict short-selling regulations.

Since the trading volume would increase tenfold, there would be no need to worry.

Since we are a country with nearly 1,500 trillion yen in personal assets, what could go wrong if we do what is possible and make our stock market robust?

There might be other ways to make personal assets work, but I think investing in representative Japanese companies is the best approach for all reasons, especially because they are the very essence of the Japanese nation.

For example, let’s say the TSE collapses with no circuit breakers.

Wouldn’t that also mean the collapse of the country?

If the stock prices of all of Japan’s representative companies were to fall like TEPCO’s did this time, it would mean that Japan is collapsing.

Perhaps it’s fine for us to do nothing, collapse, and have all citizens start from scratch, but why do we need to suffer such a fate?

This might make sense for a country with no money.

But even if a few of the super-rich leave Japan with their money, would they find happiness there?

What would happen if 99% of the population is struggling from scratch while a mere 1% flees abroad?

They would only be viewed with scorn, and they themselves would not feel at peace.

I am confident that this approach would also eliminate most of the negative effects of 20th-century capitalism, such as the abnormal fluctuations in stock prices and exchange rates caused by the futures manipulation of some foreign-affiliated securities companies.

The proportion of foreign capital would instantly decrease, and an extremely stable domestic capital would become the main character of the market.

Any attempt to create an abnormal market would likely be stopped.

The Japanese stock market would become extremely strong.

The representative companies of Japan would also be inspired by the nation’s spirit and try even harder.

The dividends from their hard work would directly lead to national wealth.

We could also buy shares of global companies like Google in the US and Europe… with a preference for high-dividend stocks.

But I think buying shares of Japanese companies is the best option in every sense.

When we do this, the Japanese government should secretly agree on a plan and execute it all at once on a single day.

For example, what if something happens at the Fukushima nuclear power plant?

Isn’t that, or shouldn’t it be, a matter of national crisis management?

On March 14 and 15, foreign capital engaged in panic selling, causing the market to fall by 54 trillion yen in two days.

At that very moment, we should have bought in all at once.

The market does not move on humanitarian logic, so the country has to protect itself.

One of the main themes I continue to write about on the internet is that in a “capitalist society,” those with large sums of money win.

There’s no need to wait for the examples of Singapore or China; Japan must immediately form a sovereign fund.

Big money-making opportunities will come to us on their own from all over the world.

Money created by the market should be returned to the market.

As a result, the market will grow even larger.

We must make our precious national wealth, which is in the form of personal assets, work for us in that market.

I am confident that this is what Japan, a country where the “turntable of civilization” turned more than 20 years ago, must do as an urgent matter.

Lastly, regarding the energy issue:

For example, don’t resource documents state that the world’s coal reserves will last for another 170 years?

Japan probably has the world’s best technology for cleaning up the exhaust gas produced by thermal power generation to a remarkable extent.

Shouldn’t we be selling that technology all over the world?