Text: “How Japan’s new PM is promising a ‘new capitalism.'” BBC.com
Extract: “Japan’s new prime minister, Fumio Kishida, has sold his plan to redistribute wealth in the country as the “new capitalism”.
But some critics on social media suggest the plan sounds more like socialism to them – even dubbing it Japan’s “common prosperity”, referring to a key policy from the Chinese Communist Party.
“Does he even understand how capitalism works?” tweeted Hiroshi Mikitani, the chief executive of Rakuten – Japan’s huge online retailer and answer to retail giant Amazon.”
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-58976987
First of all, people familiar with the Japanese political landscape might wonder about the odds of any significant wealth redistribution being implemented under the circumstances.
The changes in global wealth distribution in the last few decades are fairly clear – there is more wealth disparity now due to changes in taxes rates, executive compensation etc. Different sides of the disagreement present different facts and have different ideas about the truth.
In this specific example (the BBC article) the reporting on the topic ignores much of deeper social and political context in Japan and is the reason for the announcement. The “truth” of the motives behind the announcement could actually be very similar to or completely opposite the actual wording of the announcement.