Time for frugality!

One of the early quotations heard from elders who have "seen the world":
Spread your legs to the extent your blanket allows!
(or else..., I inferred, you might get frost bite. On the serious side, this means, spend within your means)

But looking around, governments of today lost track of how big their blanket is, they are embracing the satanic spirits of debt and loans with open arms, mindless of that day in winter when the frosty days of severe-winter strikes and the blanket size turns out to be that of a handkerchief.

I am flabbergasted looking at the current national debt of Japan.

882.92 trillion Yen!! This increased by 36 trillion Yen over last year alone.

What is worse, this debt is 180% of GDP!

Economists say that in spite of this, the JGB (Japan government bonds) remain stable because of significant public reserves. Yet, I mean - $9.45 trillion! How can you not panic!!

Source: Visualeconomics

And what measures do you see the government taking? Plan/policies for future direction?

There are few committees here and there for a "austerity drive" within the government. But when you are handling this mammoth of a debt, cutting few billion Yen is similar to trying extinguishing the forest fire with a garden hose. And forest fire it is, of proportions never handled before!

On the other hand, Japan continues to be one of the biggest lenders on the world stage, to the tune of billions of $ every year, through its direct channels JICA, JSDF, JBIC and indirect ones such as ADB and World Bank. This significant outbound flow of money might even be labeled by some as a Ponzi scheme of gigantic proportions.

The need of the hour is practicing frugality at root level for any lavish spendings, making everyone aware of the problem at hand and tackling it together. Gather the think-tanks and start formulating strong fiscal policies to tackle this problem now rather than wait for a J-Greek crisis hitting the shores...

Many want to spend their way out of the crises. But if strategies are not formulated wisely, even the handkerchief will vaporize, as does wisps of mist when the sun comes out.

Some observations on the debt statistics:

• The debt is ~7 million Yen for every person(including kids) in Japan. And it is growing!

• Emptying the complete Japan-post savings deposits will pay only 1/5th of the debt

• If you take out the total currency in circulation in Japan, still the debt cannot be paid off

• With the amount of debt, you can get a tuna-mayo onigiri 「ツナマヨおにぎり」 for every person in Japan, everyday, for next 108 years (~200Yen for one onigiri)