風知草：どこで間違えたか＝山田孝男

カフェ友が読んだら怒り狂ってしまうような内容の記事ですが、あえて掲載しました。
AIJの事件はまだ真相がまったくわかりませんが、ライブドア事件みたいに日本の景気回復に悪影響を与えるのではないかと心配しています。
記事はイモーショナルに過ぎるきらいはありますが、楽しく読まさせていただけました。
やはり、どこまでも経済成長を続けないといけないということでしょうかね。それとも足下をみつめなおす。
団塊の世代はそれでも我慢しましたが、若者にそれと同じものを求めるのは酷なような気がしています。
我々の新入社員のときには土日も働くのがあたりまえでした（民間のみ）。
中にはそれが耐えられないで退職した人間もいましたが。そちらがまともだったのかも。

スラチャイ

(Mainichi Japan) February 27, 2012
Zero-growth plan from decades ago applies to Japan today
風知草：どこで間違えたか＝山田孝男

The scandal surrounding AIJ Investment Advisors Co., an asset-management firm where some 200 billion yen in corporate pension money has gone missing, follows the same plot as the American film "Tower Heist" (Japanese title: "Penthouse") that's currently showing in theaters across Japan.
　投資顧問会社が、企業から預かった年金資金２０００億円をパーにした。公開中のハリウッド映画「ペントハウス」を地でいく事件である。

In the Hollywood version, Josh, the protagonist played by Ben Stiller, joins forces with ex-convict Slide, played by Eddy Murphy, to win back the hidden assets of wealthy businessman Arthur Shaw played by Alan Alda. In the unfolding Japanese case, it's still unclear who the bad guy is, and there are no prospects of the missing money being returned to its rightful owners.
　映画の方は、金融王に年金資金を巻き上げられたベン・スティラーが、ムショ帰りの泥棒エディ・マーフィーと組み、金融王の隠し財産を奪い返す。現実の事件は、誰がどう悪いかまだ読めず、消えたカネが元に戻る見通しはない。

I read the transcript of a Feb. 8 lecture given in Osaka by investment banker Hideki Mitani, who even while working in the finance sector, has warned against the kind of avaricious capitalism that drives people to live large even if it means going into debt to do so.
　折も折、金融業界にいながら「借金してでも羽振りよく」式の強欲資本主義に警鐘を鳴らす投資銀行家、神谷（みたに）秀樹（５８）の講演（８日、大阪市）の記録を興味深く読んだ。

Investment banks are financial institutions specialized in issuing corporate securities, brokering mergers and acquisitions, and offering investment advice. Following stints at Sumitomo Bank (now Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.) and The Goldman Sachs Group, Mitani founded the investment bank Roberts Mitani in New York in 1992.
　投資銀行というのは企業の証券発行や合併・買収の仲介、投資アドバイスを専門とする金融機関である。神谷は住友（現三井住友）銀行、米ゴールドマン・サックスを経て、９２年、ニューヨークで投資銀行ロバーツ・ミタニを創業した。

"The root of the problem lies in the belief that 'infinite growth equals good,'" Mitani said in the lecture. He explained that the Occupy Wall Street movement, the euro crisis and the Fukushima nuclear disaster are all consequences of "indiscreet financial expansion" that require fundamental change.
　「誤りの原点は『無限の成長＝善』という信仰にある」と神谷は言う。ウォール街の占拠騒動も、ユーロ危機も、福島原発震災も、すべて「無分別な経済膨張」の帰結であり、根本から改めなければと。

I first learned of Mitani through a book titled "Nihon wa warukunai, waruino wa Amerika da" (It's Not Japan's Fault, It's America's), written by the late Osamu Shimomura, the brains behind Japanese economic policy rolled out during Hayato Ikeda's tenure as prime minister. The paperback edition of the book was published in 2009 and came with a preface written by Mitani that said: "This very book indicates the correct path that Japan should take."
　私が神谷の名を初めて知ったのは、池田勇人元首相の経済ブレーンだった下村治の遺著「日本は悪くない／悪いのはアメリカだ」の文春文庫版が出た０９年である。神谷は文庫版の序文にこう書いた。「本書にこそ日本が進むべき『正しい道』が示されている」－－。

So what, then, is "the correct path?" It is the path in which we prepare ourselves for a worldwide depression, and start anew from a state of diminished equilibrium. It's a path in which we scrape away the gold-plated surface of our abnormally-bloated everyday lives, trim the fat, and move toward health. It's a path in which we are not swayed by frivolous money games, and instead reclaim a sober national economy.
　正しい道はどんな道か。世界大不況を覚悟し、縮小均衡から再出発する道だ。異常に膨張した生活のメッキをはがし、ゼイ肉を落とし、健康体へ向かう道だ。浮薄なマネーゲームに振り回されず、堅実な国民経済を取り戻す道だ……。

It was in 1987 that Shimomura made these arguments, but Kamiya stated that they still applied to us today. At the time, Ronald Reagan was in his second term as U.S. president, and the administration of Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone was coming to an end. The biggest concern then was Japan's excess of exports over imports in its dealings with the U.S. A large number of Japanese called for a cooperative stance toward the U.S.; in other words, market liberalization.
　下村がそう論じたのは８７年だが、今なお通用すると神谷は言う。当時、アメリカはレーガン政権２期目、日本は中曽根政権末期。日米間の懸案は日本の対米輸出超過だった。日本国内も対米協調優先、市場開放促進が大勢だった。

The 77-year-old Shimomura strongly objected to such thought. He pointed to Reaganomics -- which promoted excessive consumption through major tax cuts -- as distorting the U.S. economy, and said that there was no reason for Japan to buy U.S. products, or create unnecessary domestic demand simply because it feels apologetic for its trade surplus.
　そこへ「バカを言うな」と斬り込んだのが、当時７７歳の下村だ。米国経済をゆがめているのは、大減税で過剰消費をあおるレーガンの政策ではないか、日本が恐縮して米国製品を買ったり、無用な内需を掘り起こす必要などどこにもない－－と火を噴く反撃に出た。

The book's title sounds so obviously exclusionist and aggressive, which matches the image of a lone aging economist's rage. Surely it was the publisher who decided on the title, but I suspect Shimomura green-lighted it not as an expression of his anger toward the U.S., but rather toward Japanese leaders who ingratiated themselves with the U.S.
　「日本は悪くない／悪いのはアメリカだ」という書名はいかにも排外的、攻撃的だが、孤高の老エコノミストの憤怒と釣り合っている。決めたのは出版社に違いないが、下村は、アメリカではなく、相手がアメリカと見れば過度に卑屈になる日本の指導層への怒りを込めて受け入れたと想像する。

Mitani's father was Shimomura's subordinate in the Ministry of Finance. On the recommendation of his father, the younger Mitani familiarized himself with Shimomura's writings from the time he was a student. Although Shimomura was originally the theorist behind Japan's high-speed economic growth policy, this changed with the oil crisis in 1973, after which he advocated zero economic growth. "The conditions for growth have been lost," he explained.
　神谷の厳父は大蔵省（現財務省）で下村の後輩だった。神谷は父の勧めで学生時代から下村の著作に親しんだ。下村は高度成長政策の理論的支柱だったが、７３年の石油危機からゼロ成長論に転じ、「成長の条件が失われた」と説明した。

With the spread of energy-saving technologies and policies, Japan once again ran headlong onto the path of growth. Shimomura was forgotten. As he had explained earlier, however, an increase in domestic demand led to the burst of the economic bubble, turning Japan into a country plagued by suicides and solitary deaths. The U.S., meanwhile, became a country in which the wealthiest 1 percent rode around in Ferraris while treating money like water.
　省エネが進んで再び成長が始まり、下村は忘れられた。案の定、内需拡大の末にバブルがはじけ、日本は自殺と孤独死の国になった。アメリカは１％の富豪がフェラーリに乗って札ビラを切る格差大国になった。

Shimomura had been right.
　下村は正しかった。

Mitani closed his aforementioned lecture with the following plea: "Why don't we reconfirm the meaning of Shimomura's turnabout from promoting high-speed economic growth to advocating zero growth?"
「下村が高度成長論からゼロ成長論に豹変（ひょうへん）した意義を、もう一度確かめようではありませんか」。そう呼びかけて神谷の講演は終わっている。

(By Takao Yamada, Expert Senior Writer)
（敬称略）（毎週月曜日掲載）

毎日新聞　2012年2月27日　東京朝刊