Modest Step Ahead for Anti-China Trade Framework
US President Joe Biden celebrated an economic agreement last week among fourteen Asia-Pacific countries, including Japan, which implicitly aims to counter China’s regional economic influence.
Category Archives: Economy
UK Conservatives Aim to Crush Labor Unions
The United Kingdom’s Conservative Party government has unveiled an anti-strike bill which has been branded a “full-frontal attack on working people” by the nation’s largest trade union. This legislation arrives amidst a continued campaign of industrial action by workers across the United Kingdom against “real-terms pay cuts.”
Russia Looks East to Overcome Sanctions
Economic sanctions and corporate boycotts have not caused the rapid collapse of the Russian economy, as some Western commentators had hoped. Sanctions are, however, pressuring economic lifelines for the Russian people and forcing Moscow to embrace Eurasian ties.
Gen Z Forms Backbone of US Labor Union Renaissance
Saddled with student debt and, in many cases, spending the early years of their professional lives working during the Covid pandemic, members of Generation Z–often defined as those born between 1997 and 2012–are proving to be the most pro-worker generation in the contemporary United States.
Suruga Bank Allegedly Targeted Foreigners for Dodgy Loans
Suruga Bank is facing allegations of fraudulent lending practices that disproportionately targeted Japan’s foreign residents, wiping out personal savings, and placing the safety of tenants at risk.
SoftBank Financialization Throttles US Local News Media
SoftBank Group, Japan’s second-largest public company, has quietly acquired a massive stake in US local media over the past few years. It is part of the financialization movement which critics argue is hollowing out local news media and eroding the nation’s democracy.
Millions Threatened with Starvation in Somalia
Millions of Somalis are facing starvation in the coming months as 90% of the Horn of Africa nation experiences a severe drought.
Reassessing China’s “Debt Trap Diplomacy” in Africa
China’s “debt trap diplomacy” has been widely denounced by both the West and Japan, and it formed an underpinning theme for the latest edition of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD VIII). However, the fact of the matter is that G7 countries, not China, are the largest holders of African debt.
Richest 1% Now Owns Over One-Third of US Wealth
New US government figures have revealed that the wealthiest 1% of Americans now own over one-third of the country’s wealth, prompting renewed calls from progressives for systemic reforms to tackle the highest economic inequality of any major developed nation in the world.
No Progress for Japan’s Working Poor
Due to rising inflation, the recent decision to hike the average minimum wage appears set to offer little or no advance to the real quality of life for low-income Japanese. This comes in spite of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s economic policy theme of “New Capitalism,” which is supposed to create a fairer society by enhancing the living standards of ordinary citizens.
