HOOSIERS TRIBUNE　on 1/10

フージャーズの皆様へ

*****今週の出欠確認*******************

今週例会の出欠確認です。
参加できない場合も1/8 PM 9：00までに返信してください。
-------------------------------------------------
氏名：（　　　　　　　）は参加します。
氏名：（　　　　　　　）は不参加です。

氏名（フルネーム）と上記の参加・不参加の一文のみコピーandペーストして
送って下さい。またこのメールの件名は変えずに返信してください。
*********************************************


フージャーズ土曜会の皆さん、明けましておめでとうございます。
本年もよろしくお願いいたします。

皆さん、お正月はどう過ごされましたか？私は年末の疲れのためか、ほとんど
寝正月でした。寝てばかりいるのに、おせちとお餅を山ほど食べて体重が
2キロほど太ったので、ダイエットしなければ。。

さて、今年最初の例会では新年の抱負を語ってみてください。私はとりあえず、
元の体重に戻すことが今年の目標です（笑）


☆★☆　今回初めて参加される方へ　☆★☆

集合場所については、まずこちらを御覧ください。

http://www.h-sanbangai.com/floor/b1f_s.html

上記地図の18番の店舗（三井住友銀行）の下側と19番の店舗
（Intiful）の左側に囲まれたコーナー部分のスペースに、
今週土曜日の夜7時にお越しください。阪急梅田駅
ビッグマン正面の階段・エスカレーターを1フロア降りると、
地図上の「阪急電車のりば→」と記された辺りに着きます。

集合後、会場の喫茶店に移動する予定です。

できれば、以下のトピックを印刷してお持ちください。

☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆

A stormy start for 2009

What a gloomy start to the new year.

The financial earthquake that first rocked Wall Street, the glittering symbol of American prosperity, 100 days ago continues to
shake the world. The effects of the financial crisis could be greater than even the Sept. 11 terror attacks, which felled the twin
towers of the World Trade Center in the same city in 2001.

With credit tightening in the global financial system, consumer spending, investment and trade are all shrinking around the world.
The world economy is sinking at an unprecedented speed. Stock prices in most major countries have been sliced in half.

Anxiety about the future is crushing consumer and business confidence. The bottom is nowhere in sight, which makes the situation
even more frightening. The world is now shuddering at what appears to be shaping up as a deflationary spiral.

But we must not be too upset. To help us weather this economic downturn, we should take a deep breath, ponder the meaning of the
crisis and learn the lessons it offers for ushering in a new era.

Free markets that are supposed to make people wealthier can, at times, cause economic disasters. This risk inherent in the
capitalist economic system exploded accidentally in the U.S. market under the administration of President George W. Bush, who
brought financial deregulation to extremes. The resultant crisis has quickly engulfed the globalized world. That's the long and
short of this crisis. Market failures

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which graphically symbolized the collapse of the world order
during the Cold War era of East-West rivalry. Since that time, the world has been turned into a huge integrated market. A
liberalized flow of capital and goods as well as information, which was accelerated by progress in information technology, has
greatly increased wealth and convenience.

The United States has been the principal driving force of this globalization. Its economic creed has placed the highest importance
on the interests of shareholders and investors. It views the ability to generate profits efficiently as more important than workers'
well-being and corporate social responsibility.

The market-oriented system has been supported by neo-liberalism, which started in the 1970s and was the guiding principle for former
President Ronald Reagan's economic revolution in the 1980s. The system has now spread all over the world.

But this doctrine--the free market can act as an infallible guide for economic activity--created the excesses that have resulted in
this catastrophe.

The dramatic economic downturn has caused tremendous numbers of Americans to lose their jobs or homes, widened the economic gap in
society and devastated the country's key manufacturing industries, especially the auto industry, which was once the icon of
America's economic might.

The situation in the United States is a natural consequence of an economic system that puts more importance on the profit-generating
market itself than on individuals and social harmony. Gap widens between rich and poor

What has happened in Japan in the meantime?

About 10 years ago, the nation started a sweeping deregulation campaign based on U.S.-style market principles as part of efforts to
pull the economy out of the prolonged slump following the collapse of speculative bubbles. The structural reform driven by former
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi accelerated the process.

The reform enhanced the efficiency of the old Japanese-style economic structure to some extent, leading to the longest economic
expansion in the postwar era and record corporate profits.

At the same time, the decade of reforms has produced some totally unexpected disastrous social effects. The gap between the rich and
the poor has widened markedly amid the loud chorus of calls for self-responsibility. The ranks of the "working poor," or low-wage
workers who can barely make a living, have grown rapidly.

Temporary, part-time and other nonregular workers now account for 30 percent of the nation's work force, a consequence of labor
market deregulation. More than 10 million workers are earning less than 2 million yen a year.

The middle class that was once the backbone of stable society has all but disappeared.

Broad spending cuts made under the banner of fiscal rehabilitation have significantly weakened the social safety net, including such
vital social security services as unemployment insurance benefits, health care and public financial aid.

People who become stuck in the trap of poverty cannot easily escape the hole. This grim reality has become a familiar part of life
in this nation. The economic crisis has hit Japan just as it is struggling to deal with these problems.

We have to look squarely at the reality and no optimism is warranted under the current circumstances. However, excessive pessimism
would cloud our vision for the future.

Former U.S. Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan described the current financial crisis as a "once-in-a-century credit
tsunami." Many people now quote that phrase.

But we must not shrink back. Japan successfully rode two other serious crises during the past nearly 150 years that could have
ruined the nation.

Yukichi Fukuzawa (1835-1901), an author and political theorist, said he felt as if he had lived two different lives, referring to
the turbulence he experienced when the feudal reign of the Tokugawa Shogunate ended to usher in the cultural enlightenment in the
Meiji Era (1868-1912).

The nation overcame another crisis only 60 years ago when its defeat in World War II brought an end to militarist Japan and paved
the way for a restart as a democratic nation.

In both crises, the nation survived by achieving fundamental reforms. Drastic overhaul needed

The situation now facing the nation is a multiple crisis caused by a mixture of the global-scale credit crunch and the stalling
domestic economic and fiscal system, which is plagued with problems.

Overcoming the current crisis will be a formidable challenge, requiring huge efforts to drastically overhaul the nation. In
addition, Japan must fulfill the task with its own wisdom and abilities, instead of caving in to outside pressure for the nation to
introduce Western technologies and democracy in the two previous crises.

Japanese people long for a bold policy vision that transcends simple short-term measures to stimulate job creation and economic
growth. They also want strong political leadership that will realize the vision.

The age when economic growth was the top priority has ended. Japan should be rebuilt in line with a drastic change to our sense of
values.

Such a grand vision could focus on the environment, education or welfare. It should be designed to concentrate resources on crafting
a decent future for the nation and job creation. Again, strong political leadership is essential to realize this grand vision.

The unipolar world dominated by the United States is now being replaced by a multipolar world where countries like China and India
are gaining increasing clout. Given the growing importance of international cooperation to overcome the crisis and protect the
environment of the planet, political leadership has a crucial role to play.

American people have entrusted President-elect Barack Obama with the task of correcting the imbalances created by market
fundamentalism and financial bubbles. They are trying to ride out the crisis under a new leadership.

Will the upcoming Lower House election in Japan, which must be held this year, shape up as a similar sea change for the nation? The
20 years since the end of the Cold War have led the nation from the heyday of the bubble economy to this glum new year, a period of
constant turmoil.

Voters must now be more critical of the nation's politics than ever before.


1. What was the year 2008 like for you? Were you lucky in total? What event do you remember most in your private life?

あなたにとって、2008年はどうでしたか？総じて、幸運でしたか？私生活ではどんな出来事を一番よく覚えていますか？

2. What did you do during the New Year's Holiday? How many Omochi did you eat?

新年は何をしていましたか？お餅は何個食べましたか？

3. What is your New Year's resolution? Do you want to try something new?

あなたの新年の決意は何ですか？何か新しいことにチャレンジしてみたいですか？

4. What is your resolution as a Hoosiers' member?

フージャーズのメンバーとしての決意は何ですか？

5. Who or what do you believe in the best?

あなたは誰をあるいは何を一番信じていますか？