Obama’s State of the Union: Questioning the Worth of “Reform” in Growth Strategy

Published in Yomiuri Shimbun
(Japan) on 27 January 2011
by (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Stephen Barlow. Edited by Gillian Palmer.
President Obama has indicated the direction of his administrative policy in his State of the Union address this year with a new economic growth strategy that aims at reinvigorating the U.S.' international competitiveness and creating jobs.

The background for this is the president's strong sense of danger as he expressed the need for “reform.”

The spread of the Internet as well as technological innovation has brought about a great change in the world. We've also seen the rise in power of China and India. As it is, America's economic strength has been whittled away as its jobs have been snatched away.

Even though they did escape the financial crisis, the unemployment rate is still as high as nine percent, and for two consecutive years they have been burdened with a budget deficit of over $1 trillion, a historical worst. Financial reform and job expansion are burning issues.

The president revealed his plan to put a five-year freeze on the public health care insurance and pension budget, excluding defense expenditures. According to this plan, over a 10-year period the deficit will be cut by $400 billion (about 32.8 trillion yen).

As for job expansion, the president is mainly investing in technological innovation, including IT and clean energy development, rapid rail transit and infrastructure improvement and training.

He also plans to include a world-class corporation tax rate cut — a first in 25 years — to help stimulate corporate business.

However, this strategy is merely speculation; whether it can be implemented is unknown.

In last year’s midterm elections the Democrats had a crushing defeat when the Republicans took control of the House of Representatives and increased their seats in the Senate. After implementing his strategy, the president will still need to pass several important bills; it will be difficult garner the necessary support from the Republicans.

The situation in the U.S. — i.e. trying to execute this growth strategy with both the increasing pressure from emerging nations and a leadership struggle in their Congress — is not so different from Japan.

For the United States, which is preparing for a presidential and congressional election next year, this is a very serious problem. The Republicans, now aiming at regaining its political power, probably won't be giving in so easily.

The Republicans, who have always touted their policy of “small government” emphasizing public finance relations, have already begun to decry the president's deficit reductions.

If the U.S.' policy management continues to be held up in the chaos of a faction war, such a bad influence will spread to Japan and the rest of the world.

Coping with the troop withdrawals from Afghanistan and Iraq, international terrorism counter-measures, the nuclear cooperation between Iran and North Korea and diplomatic relations in the U.S.-Japan security treaty — all of these important issues just keep piling up on top of each other.

For the president's idea of reform to come to fruition, he is going to have to demonstrate his leadership qualities by gaining the cooperation of the Republicans.


オバマ一般教書 成長戦略が問う「変革」の真価(1月27日付・読売社説)

オバマ米大統領が、今年の施政方針を示す一般教書演説で、国際競争力の回復と雇用の創出を目指す新たな経済成長戦略を打ち出した。

 背景には、「変革」の必要性を訴えてきた大統領自身の強い危機感がある。

 インターネットの普及など技術革新によって世界は大きく変わった。中国やインドという新興国が台頭して来ている。このままでは米国の雇用が奪われ、経済の活力がそがれはしないか。

 金融危機は脱したとはいえ、失業率はなお9%台に高止まりし、2年連続で1兆ドルを超える史上最悪の財政赤字を抱える厳しい状況に変わりはない。財政再建と雇用拡大が喫緊の課題である。

 大統領は、赤字削減策では、今後5年間、公的医療保険や年金、国防費を除く予算の伸びを凍結する方針を示した。これによって、10年間で4000億ドル(約32兆8000億円)以上の赤字削減が見込まれるという。

 雇用拡大では、技術革新を加速させるため、情報技術(IT)やクリーンエネルギー開発、高速鉄道など次世代インフラ整備、教育に重点的に投資していく。

 企業の活性化を狙って、世界最高水準の法人税率を25年ぶりに引き下げる意向も盛り込んだ。

 だが、この成長戦略を単なる呼びかけに終わらせず、実施できるかどうかは不透明だ。

 昨年の中間選挙で、与党・民主党は大敗し、共和党が下院で過半数を占め、上院でも議席を増やした。成長戦略を実行する上で必要な法案を通すには、共和党議員の協力を得ることが欠かせない。

 新興国に追い上げられ、議会では野党に主導権を握られる中で成長戦略を遂行しなければならない状況は、日本とよく似ている。

 来年、大統領選と議会選を控える米国では、問題はより深刻だ。政権奪還を目指す共和党は、そうたやすくは妥協すまい。

 財政規律を重視する「小さな政府」路線を掲げる共和党からは、早くも大統領の赤字削減は不十分だと批判の声があがっている。

 米国の政策運営が党派対立で混乱し、停滞すれば、日本を含め世界に悪影響が及ぶ。

 イラクやアフガニスタンからの米軍撤退時期、国際テロ対策、北朝鮮やイランの核問題への対処など、外交・安保上の重要な懸案も山積している。

 変革を軌道に乗せるため、共和党との協調を含め、大統領は強い指導力を発揮する必要がある。

(2011年1月27日01時49分 読売新聞)
This post appeared on the front page as a direct link to the original article with the above link .

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