Monday, September 5, 2011

Could Kaizen economics raise again?

I was talking to my grandfather recently about America's current economic situation and he brought up an economic philosophy/theory that was used by Roosevelt in the 1930s that might work today. Its referred to as the Kaizen economic philosophy. I am sure many of you have heard of it before. It is a pretty straight forward idea. Basically under the Kaizen philosophy of economics people believe it is the governments responsibility to get economy back making jobs, even is that means taking out loans to do so. Once the people are back to work they are then spending money and boosting the economy. The government needs to create jobs in order to boost the economy. Pretty easy concept right? One I am sure many have thought of on there own.


Obama is set to address the nation this week regarding a new job plan. According to ABC News, Obama will focus on 3 areas in hopes of bring down the current unemployment rate of 14 million Americans. 
  1. Tax Relief: President Obama will propose tax relief incentives for companies that create jobs and hire new workers.
  2. Infrastructure Investment: The president wants the government to invest in clean energy and new construction projects to build schools and transportation.
  3. Assistance for Long Term Unemployed: Obama wants to help those who have been out of work for six months or more, which adds up to about 6 million Americans. Specifically the president is looking at a program such as Georgia Works – which gives unemployed Americans eight weeks of training at a local company while allowing them to still collect their unemployment benefits. And it’s no cost to the participating company.

This plan seems to be of a Kaizen philosophy. Obama seems to realize that the current economy is the number one problem that needs to be address. New jobs need to be created. Guess we will have to wait and see how this plan takes form since he did have a job plan in September of 2010 as well that does not seem to have done much :/ 

Related links:
http://www.france24.com/en/20100906-obama-50-billion-dollar-plan-revamp-transport-infrastructure-job-growth-usa
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/08/president-obamas-job-plan-new-details-unveiled/
http://articles.boston.com/2011-08-31/business/29949980_1_tax-credit-jobs-plan-major-jobs-package

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2 comments:

  1. Phil WolffOctober 5, 2011 at 10:01 AM

    That philosophy is actually already hear. In 1946 the Employment Act was passed that required the government to act to ensure and “promote maximum employment, production and purchasing power” whenever the economy was is peril. From that point on the violent market swings that brought about the depression subsided. The truth is that whenever the government interacts with the economy, whether it be tax cuts for business or regulating banks, that is Keynesian Philosophy.(I hope this doesn’t make me sound like an arrogant jerk but that’s how you spell it : ) It was after John Maynard Keynes) Whether we should see it to the extent of Roosevelt’s New Deal days is a subject of hot contention between liberals and conservatives. Personally, I don’t think it’s all that necessary to go to that extreme. I think government has a role to play but needs to be collaborative with the private sector and not necessarily overwhelmingly active. Great Discussion Katie!

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  2. Phil WolffOctober 5, 2011 at 12:44 PM

    Whoops...that first line should be "The philosophy is already here" Maybe I shouldnt be telling you how to spell things. HAHA!

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