Thursday, July 07, 2005
Why Can't We Be More Like Japan?
As reported by Chisaki Watanabe of the Associated Press, Japan will accomplish something that libertarians in the U.S. have only dreamed about. And since the Post Office in Japan plays a much larger economic role than the one in the U.S. this is quite a victory for the free market.TOKYO -- In a hard-fought victory for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, Japan's lower house of Parliament narrowly approved legislation that would transform the state-run postal savings and insurance system into a private enterprise over the next 12 years. The privatization would create one of the world's largest financial institutions...
The legislation calls for dividing state-run Japan Post into separate businesses for mail delivery, banking services and insurance starting in 2007. A fourth company would handle employee salaries and manage post office properties. All four companies would be grouped under a holding company at first, but the umbrella organization would then sell its shares in the banking and insurance enterprises by 2017.
PermaLink | 6:01 AM |
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