[by:www.21voa.com]
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[00:00.16]Japan is struggling with its economy
[00:03.56]as the country hosts the yearly meeting of the G-7 industrialized nations.
[00:10.72]Japan has the world's third-largest economy,
[00:14.44]behind the U.S. and China.
[00:17.72]Many countries copied Japan when it had a strong and growing economy.
[00:24.80]Japan has been dealing with deflation for many years.
[00:29.44]Deflation is "a decrease in the amount of available money or credit
[00:35.64]in an economy that causes prices to go down."
[00:40.40]Deflation can often cause a recession.
[00:45.08]The population in Japan is growing older
[00:48.64]and the country is not diverse.
[00:51.88]Most people in the country are ethnic Japanese.
[00:55.40]Last year, people in Japan criticized Miss Japan,
[01:00.36]Ariana Miyamoto, for not being "Japanese enough."
[01:05.84]She has a Japanese mother and a black American father.
[01:11.76]Many Japanese also do not support mass immigration,
[01:16.48]which other countries have used to make up for,
[01:19.96]or balance, the effects of a declining and aging population.
[01:26.40]Takuji Okubo is the managing director of Japan Macro Advisors.
[01:34.76]He says Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
[01:38.80]does not understand problems the labor market or with pensions.
[01:44.72]He says the prime minister "has been just unable to tackle any reforms."
[01:52.56]Many of Japan's public pension plans do not have enough money to make payments.
[02:00.92]This has caused many families to believe the plans will fail,
[02:05.96]so they save a lot of money.
[02:09.52]The average Japanese family has about $164,000 in savings.
[02:17.12]That is much higher than that of families in other developed countries.
[02:23.08]Young Japanese working in their first jobs do not earn a lot of money,
[02:29.36]so they do not have much to spend.
[02:32.80]And people who are retired and have savings are worried about their monthly payments,
[02:39.76]so they are not spending money either.
[02:44.16]Manabu Goto operates a small, 50-year-old food store in Tokyo.
[02:51.12]Goto has opened the store on weekends and added more products.
[02:56.48]He wants to attract more customers
[02:59.32]and convince them to spend more money.
[03:02.80]However, he says the policies of the prime minister have
[03:07.56]"failed to get citizens to spend
[03:10.60]because people are uncertain about the future.
[03:14.44]So the government needs to try something else."
[03:19.88]Martin Schulz is a senior economist at the Fujitsu Research Institute.
[03:26.28]He says the Japanese "market is shrinking overall.
[03:31.44]It makes it very difficult to get it moving again.
[03:35.36]This requires some major structural changes and these take time."
[03:43.24]Among the needed changes, he says, are:
[03:46.48]to open the economy, to change the structure of the farming industry
[03:52.60]and to help Japanese companies invest in Southeast Asia.
[03:58.36]He says these changes will help the Japanese economy improve
[04:04.20]over a 10 to 15-year period.
[04:08.72]William Saito is an advisor for the Japanese Cabinet.
[04:14.24]He says "it's just confidence.
[04:17.56]If you look at the last 20 years
[04:20.40]-- the economic fundamentals, the infrastructure, government politics
[04:26.00]-- these things haven't actually changed."
[04:29.76]Shin Fukushige is a managing director for the technology company Seikoware.
[04:38.00]He says, "there has been a huge improvement in psychology" in the past ten years.
[04:45.12]But it is difficult for many Japanese who begin new businesses
[04:50.32]to convince workers to join their companies."
[04:56.12]Many of Japan's large companies were created many years ago.
[05:01.96]But many large and successful companies in the United States
[05:06.80]were created in the past 20 or 30 years, including Apple and Google.
[05:14.16]This has helped the American economy grow.
[05:18.24]Experts are asking how to help Japan's old and slow-moving economy grow.
[05:25.64]Some of them believe actions have already been taken
[05:29.84]that will show results in the years ahead.
[05:34.72]After the G-7 meeting this week,
[05:37.60]many people will closely watch the actions of the Bank of Japan.
[05:43.60]The bank's leaders want people to wait a few more months
[05:47.78]for recent government measures to take effect.
[05:52.12]If these measures are not successful,
[05:55.04]the bank could take strong action.
[05:58.80]Some experts hope the bank will place fees on savings
[06:03.48]and force companies to sharply increase wages.
[06:09.12]However, the other G-7 nations do not want Japan's government
[06:14.72]to lower the value of its currency -- the yen.
[06:19.00]That would make the country's exported products less costly
[06:24.72]and could hurt the economies of other countries.
[06:29.56]I'm Mario Ritter.
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END OF TRACK. "END OF TRACK." The two men bowed. "Whoever was that person you were talking to?" she enquired, as soon as they stood together. The took of triumph faded from her eyes, she had grown worn and weary. The roses were wilting on the walls, the lights were mostly down now. Hetty, looking in to see if anything was wanted, found herself driven away almost fiercely. I only saw Master Jervie once when he called at tea time, The year 1747 was opened by measures of restriction. The House of Lords, offended at the publication of the proceedings of the trial of Lord Lovat, summoned the parties to their bar, committed them to prison, and refused to liberate them till they had pledged themselves not to repeat the offence, and had paid very heavy fees. The consequence of this was that the transactions of the Peers were almost entirely suppressed for nearly thirty years from this time, and we draw our knowledge of them chiefly from notes taken by Horace Walpole and Lord Chancellor Hardwicke. What is still more remarkable, the reports of the House of Commons, being taken by stealth, and on the merest sufferance, are of the most meagre kind, sometimes altogether wanting, and the speeches are given uniformly under fictitious names; for to have attributed to Pitt or Pelham their[112] speeches by name would have brought down on the printers the summary vengeance of the House. Many of the members complained bitterly of this breach of the privileges of Parliament, and of "being put into print by low fellows"; but Pelham had the sense to tolerate them, saying, "Let them alone; they make better speeches for us than we can make for ourselves." Altogether, the House of Commons exhibited the most deplorable aspect that can be conceived. The Ministry had pursued Walpole's system of buying up opponents by place, or pension, or secret service money, till there was no life left in the House. Ministers passed their measures without troubling themselves to say much in their behalf; and the opposition dwindled to Sir John Hinde Cotton, now dismissed from office, and a feeble remnant of Jacobites raised but miserable resistance. In vain the Prince of Wales and the secret instigations of Bolingbroke and Doddington stimulated the spirit of discontent; both Houses had degenerated into most silent and insignificant arenas of very commonplace business. "It certainly will be. Miss Widgeon," answered Maria, with strictly "company manners." "One who has never had a brother exposed to the constant dangers of army life can hardly understand how glad we all feel to have Si snatched from the very jaws of death and brung back to us." "Just plug at 'em as you would at a crow, and then go on your way whistlin'?" persisted Harry. "Hurroo!" echoed Hennessey; "that's the ticket." "Come forward, keeper," continued the baron, "and state how these arrows came into your hands!" "Yes." HoMEJULIA京香2018下载
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