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Politics : A US National Health Care System? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Road Walker who wrote (9108)	9/5/2009 10:44:50 AM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42652

And obviously our government has A LOT to do with that. Indeed. The question remains, though, what it is about our government that makes a critical difference. Since we don't have more of it than anyone else, you can't credit large size. " International comparison of size of government spending and fiscal burden Among industrialized countries, Japan can be characterized as having a "small government" in terms of the scale of government spending. According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) statistics, the scale of spending by the general government in 2004, including central government, local government and the social security fund, is, for Japan, about 37% relative to GDP. Although this is higher than 36% for the United States, it is less than 49% for the average of the eurozone and 41% for the average of OECD countries (Figure 2-1-1). With regard to the components of spending, the weight of economic and public spending including public investment in Japan is somewhat high compared with other countries, but spending on such general public services as defense and public security, and on health care and social security is relatively small (Appended Table 2-1). Figure 2-1-1 Level of general government spending of OECD countries (Relative to nominal GDP) (2004) The size of fiscal burden expressed in terms of the national contribution ratio calculated by dividing taxes and social insurance premiums by national income is about 36% for Japan (FY2005). However, if the future burden associated with fiscal deficits is factored in by adding this portion to the national contribution ratio to calculate the potential national contribution ratio, the result is about 45% (in FY2005), with the economy carrying a fiscal deficit of nearly 9% as a percentage of its national income. The figure of about 45% is low compared with 68% for France (2002) and 71% for Sweden (2002), but is high compared to 38% for the United States (2002) (Figure 2-1-2). Japan carries a public debt outstanding of about 150% relative to GDP and it is expected that the scale of government spending and fiscal burden will expand reflecting declining birth rates and rapid aging of the population. If policies are left unchanged, Japan is expected to head toward "big" government in terms of spending and fiscal burden. Figure 2-1-2 International comparison of potential national contribution ratios " www5.cao.go.jp