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"GFJ Commentary"
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"GFJ Commentary" presents views of members and friends of GFJ on the relations of Japan with the rest of the world and other related international affairs. The view expressed herein is the author's own and should not be attributed to GFJ.
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No.68:
"Shadow of Mr. SOROS Behind the Helicopter Money Debates in Japan"
By TAMURA Hideo
Journalist
Debates on "helicopter money," a monetary theory that dropping money from a helicopter would trigger economic upturn, has been active in Japan. Behind these debates is the shadow of a renowned investor, George SOROS. Mr. SOROS has promoted helicopter money campaign through Lord Adair TURNER, former Chairman of the Financial Services Authority (FSA).
Lord TURNER is an old hand at UK financial community and was even nominated for the governor of the Bank of England (BOE). Soon after he was invited in April 2013 as a Senior Fellow at the London branch of Institute for New Economic Thinking, a think tank funded by Soros, he started to advocate his own theory of helicopter money, called OPMF (Overt Permanent Money Finance by BOE).
OPMF is an idea of integrated fiscal-monetary policy of writing off the national bond by turning BOE-owned national bond to interest-free permanent national bond so that the government could put into fiscal action without debt constraints.
Mr. SOROS and Lord TURNER have contacted Japanese key figures and economists near Prime Minister ABE to convince them energetically of the necessity of introducing helicopter money policy.
Such being the case, Ben BERNANKE, former chairman of the United States Federal Reserve Board (FRB), was invited to Japan by Prime Minister ABE on July 12th. Mr. BERNANKE is an adherent of late Professor Milton FRIEDMAN, an originator of the policy of helicopter money, and has been called "Helicopter Ben."
Although Mr. BERNANKE did not directly cite the word 'helicopter money' at the meeting with Prime Minister ABE, he is said to have admitted the necessity of increasing public spending and referred to the variousness of monetary policies.
Mr. HONDA Etsuro, former Special Advisor to the Cabinet (now Japanese ambassador to Switzerland) who earned a strong credit of Prime Minister ABE, has had an interest in helicopter money from early on. He met Mr. BERNANKE a few months earlier and urged Mr. ABE to meet him.
Before the visit of Mr. BERNANKE, Mr. HONDA had proposed to Prime Minister ABE to launch combinational monetary and fiscal policy. According to Mr. HONDA, it is possible to produce an effect identical of helicopter money without taking its policy in obvious way, if quantitative and qualitative monetary easing is strengthened as well as engine of finance is raced. This implies utilization of current framework with CMF (Covert Money Finance by central bank), so to speak.
Based on this standpoint, it reveals that the theory of Lord TURNER and Mr. BERNANKE has generated much strong effect on economic advisors to PM ABE such as Mr. HONDA. Whether it is overt or covert, permanent or temporary, the discussion of innovating a Japanese version of helicopter money policy, which is based on driving both fiscal management and monetary easing, will be lively in the process of formulating hefty supplementary budget in this autumn and next year's budget formation.
We are also concerned about how SOROS, speculator, would take his attitude towards yen market and Japanese stocks in the meantime. The point is that the government and Bank of Japan should keep pace up with each other coordinating the most effective policy to put an end to deflation and advance economic restructuring in a steady way.
(This is the English translation of an article written by TAMURA Hideo, Journalist, which originally appeared on the e-Forum "Giron-Hyakushutsu (Hundred Views in Full Perspective)" of GFJ on August 2, 2016, and was posted on "GFJ Commentary" as no.68 on August 31, 2016.)
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For more views and opinions in the backnumber of "GFJ Commentary," the latest of which are as follows, please refer to:
http://www.gfj.jp/e/e-letter/back_number.html
No.67: Can The Path Really Teach About the Good Life?
by KURANISHI Masako, Political Scientist
(28 June 2016)
No.66: Japan Should Hold and Secure "Potential Nuclear Capability"
by KATO Seiichi, former attorney-at-law
(12 April 2016)
No.65: Terrorism causes prejudice and discrimination against Muslims - the collective responsibility of Muslims
by KURANISHI Masako, Political Scientist
(25 February 2016)
No.64: The presence of U.S. and Russia lent weight to G20
by KAWAKAMI Takashi, Professor, Takushoku University
(16 December 2015)
No.63: Prime Minister ABE Should Retract His Pledge to Mark "A Departure
from the Post-war Regime"
by TANIMOTO Taku, Corporate Staff
(31 October 2015)
No.62: Greece and Korea - Analogy of the two peninsulas
by KURANISHI Masako, Political Scientist
(31 August 2015)
"GFJ Updates"
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"GFJ Updates" introduces to you the latest events, announcements and/or publications of GFJ.
Event
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"Japan-China-ROK Dialogue" on "Japan-China-ROK Relations in the Global Perspective" Held
The Global Forum of Japan (GFJ) organized the "Japan-China-ROK Dialogue" on "Japan-China-ROK Relations in the Global Perspective" in Tokyo on September 21, 2016, under the co-sponsorship by Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat (TCS).
This "Dialogue" was attended by 101 participants including such eminent experts on the theme as follows:
From the Japanese side: President ITO Kenichi of GFJ, Prof. FUKUSHIMA Akiko of Aoyama Gakuin University, Prof. AMAKO Satoshi of Waseda University, and Prof. NAKAGAWA Junji of the University of Tokyo.
From the Foreign side: Prof. WEI Ling of Institute of Asian Studies, China Foreign Affairs University (CFAU), Mr. SHIN Dong-ik of Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security, Korea National Diplomatic Academy (KNDA), Mr. LEE Jong-heon of TCS, Assoc. Prof. GUO Yanjun of Institute of Asian Studies, CFAU, Prof. KIM Hankwon of KNDA, Dr. UMEZAWA Akima of TCS, Prof. CHOE Wongi of KNDA, and Prof. ZHU Caihua of School of International Economics, CFAU.
Lively discussions were held in the two Sessions of "Seeking Possibilities of Japan-China-ROK Trilateral Cooperation amid the Turbulence of the Global Politics" and "Prospects of Japan-China-ROK Cooperation in the Global Economy."
For the Conference Papers distributed at the "Dialogue," please refer to;
http://www.gfj.jp/e/dialogue/20160921_cpe.pdf
Event
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Outline of Discussions of "The Japan-Asia Pacific Dialogue" on "International Order in the 21st Century and the Security of Maritime Asia"
The Global Forum of Japan (GFJ) organized the "Japan-Asia Pacific Dialogue" on "International Order in the 21st Century and the Security of Maritime Asia" in Tokyo on July 12, 2016, under the co-sponsorship by the Japan Forum on International Relations (JFIR), Meiji Institute for Global Affairs (MIGA) / Meiji Institute of International Policy Studies (MIIPS), and Western Sydney University.
Lively discussions were held in the two Sessions of "The Security of Maritime Asia from a Global Perspective" and "How to Maintain Maritime Asia Open, Free and Peaceful."
For the Outline of Discussions of this "Dialogue," please refer to;
http://www.gfj.jp/e/dialogue/20160712_roe.pdf
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