Japan's Prime Minister to give up salary

edition.cnn.com...

Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Tuesday that he will give up his salary until the nuclear crisis in the country is over.

He also said he would review the country's energy policy and consider other energy sources like wind and solar power.

Kan said he would give up his prime minister salary which is 1,636,000 yen a month ($20,200 a month), but he would still receive his lawmaker's salary.

Now THAT'S a great idea.
How 'bout our fearless leaders here in the USA take a hint from it??
Huh? Nudge, nudge? Or all the CEO criminal racketeering extortionists?

I can hear all the laughter right now!!!
"Yeah, right. I'll give up mine, what about you, Jamie?"

Well, it shows dignity on the part of at least one official, I have to say. Now, if he'd caused the earthquake, or his negligence caused the nuclear meltdowns, that would be one thing - but if he's doing it out of respect for his people and to aid in the recovery - kudos.

I'm open to any correction on this, but --
well, it's old news that Wall Street and the big Bankers should be paying for what damage they continue to inflict.

How considerate, and noble of him.
S&F

If I remember correctly, Arnold Swartzenegger turned down his Govenor's salary when he was elected. After he won a special election after the recall of the Gov. Gray Davis, he vowed not to take the money. I don't know for how long tho, or if he donated the money to a non profit............

Yeah, I remember some muttering about it after the 2008 demise of our economy - and I thought it a good idea at the time for the CEOs to turn down their bonuses. The govt is bankrupt - but those employed running it are still retaining their salaries, while the middle class is increasingly homeless and broke BECAUSE of them.

I can barely stand to read about Boehner anymore - what an absolute demon, IMHO.

My father died last year after a long, hard-working life, and very smart decision-making, and my mom is now able to breathe easy - in a paid-for home, with savings and a few investments. We never lived high on the hog - my dad was an engineer, a brilliant man, and I only wish he were still here for me to lean on in terms of what to do now --
OTOH, I'm glad he's NOT here to watch this mess, it would've upset him.

I can only pray that my mom's retirement isn't devalued and that my kids will be able to sustain the regular, unspoiled, middle-class lifestyle in which they have been raised. No way my own life will exceed the quality or security of my parents', will never even match it at the rate we're going.

And my husand and I are both intelligent professionals - neither of whom can find work at the moment.
It's frightening. Very frightening.

Kan is a tool.

He needs to give up his job, that would be a move with more lasting benefits.

reply to post by silent thunder


Care to elaborate? I don't know much about him - I just wish the leaders (um, tools) of the USA would do likewise, for all of our sakes.

Why do you feel this way? I'm interested to learn more.

reply to post by wildtimes


Well, I will be fair - It's not entirely his fault for being the way he is. He is more the product and symbol of a system that is not equipped to handle this kind of situation.

Let's back up a bit:

After WWII, the US occupation forces essentially removed the top layer of Japan's military/political/ideological establishment from power for obvious reasons. But with no more of the top leadership around, the US was forced to turn the day-to-day running of Japan over to the mid-level managerial/bureaucratic layer below them -- The people who "actually got stuff done" and knew the practicalities of daily life: what the roads were like, where the sewer lines were, who to talk to if you need a truckload of oranges or nails or whatever, who could get the trains running again the fastest, and so forth. People who were really more engineers than politicos. For after all, the US military, despite its great marital prowess, was not equipped to rebuild the nation without the help of these types of people. Americans had little knowledge of the Japanese language, less of the culture, and almost zero about the detailed mechanics of Japanese society. 1945 was a long time before the intertubes.

At the same time, the new postwar Japanese constitution, crafted under the careful scrutiny of the occupying high command, created a system where the power was widely dispersed rather than centralized. At the time, this made a lot of sense -- to avoid a strong central government and fascist state from reemerging, the power should be spread throughout the system rather than concentrated. Think of a very flat organizational pyramid rather than a steep one. Add this to the fact that the new leaders of the nation were of the "engineer mentality," at home with the minutiae of practical planning rather than the grand sweep of ideology, which had obsessed the mystico-militarists of the fallen regime.

There are a lot of important imacts of this change, especially in the way business in "Japan Inc." rose, thrived, and then hit the rocks in the postwar era. To cut to the chase, the postwar system was characterized by weak central control, an engineering rather than an ideological mindset, a good grasp of systems of all types, and excellent teamwork and harmony underpinned by dispersed power.

It was a very stable system...as long as there was no crisis that required strong, decisive action. It was -- and is today -- a system designed to hum along on smoothly on autopilot. This has a lot of advantages, but in times of crisis, its not only useless: it can be downright dangerous.

So my ultimate frustration against Kan is frustration against this system itself. And even if he left, the replacement would not be likely to be much more effective.

HOWEVER, even beyond the systemic failures, Kan himself is a particularly poor choice at the moment. He is from the DPJ, a party that recently assumed control after a long, multi-decade near-one-party-state controlled by their rivals, the LDP. The DPJ, because it is new to power, lacks the deep institutional ties and long experience that would allow the LDP to perhaps respond more smoothly and effectively. I have other personal reasons for disliking the DPJ, based mostly on the way their foreign policy doctrines impact Japanese interactions with the nations of China, South Korea, and the US. But I freely and honestly admit these views are formed based on what is personally advantageous to me in business, and other people of a different bent would doubtless find more to celebrate in the current DPJ foreign policy direction.

reply to post by silent thunder


Wow! Thank you!

Very interesting read. Informative...
Having stated all of the above, what do you think of the USA's "leader"?
Sham?

reply to post by wildtimes


Obama? Another tool.
His weaknesses are inexperience, stupid idealism and ideology, and lack of command presence. This latter may not sound like a big deal but a commander in chief must project authority and gravitas. He has to be able to command men on a raw, almost neurologal level. This can make all the difference between having your orders followed and being snojobbed by your team. (Bush flubbed this area too, but his sin was idiocy rather than elemental beta-male weakness). Perhaps most disconcering, the cloying stench of narcissism oozes from Obama's every pore.

But again, the system is at bigger fault than the individual, albeit in a different way. Personally I blame the Fed more than the prez but thats a different tale.