TOKYO Cheap Dante Pettis Jersey , Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- Japan's Cabinet approved a record 96. 34 trillion yen (about 814 billion U.S. dollars) government budget for fiscal 2015 beginning in April to accommodate rising spending for social security and defense, local media reported Wednesday.
The budget draft, the third since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took power, marks a rise from this fiscal year's initial 95.88 trillion yen, said Kyodo News Agency.
Rising revenues following the sales tax increase last April enabled Abe to raise spending without increasing the proportion financed by new government bonds, though the total national debt is still about twice the annual gross domestic product, the highest level in major industrialized countries.
According to the budget draft, Japan's policy spending will reach a record-high 72.89 trillion yen, up 2.79 trillion yen from the fiscal 2014 original budget, suggesting Abe's administration has failed to streamline expenditures, mainly those for social security programs.
As Japan's population ages quickly, social security spending, including swelling spending on pensions and medical costs, will rise 3.3 percent from the previous year to a record 31.53 trillion yen in fiscal 2015. The expenses#2# accounting for around 30 percent of the total spending, will exceed 30 trillion yen for the second straight year.
Defense expenditures will also climb 2.0 percent to a record 4. 98 trillion yen (42 billion dollars), up for the third consecutive year, as Abe aims to strengthen surveillance and defense capabilities of the country.
The increase mainly covers new equipment, including P-1 surveillance aircraft, F-35 fighter jets and amphibious vehicles for a new unit similar to the U.S. Marine Corps.
The fiscal 2015 budget also covers the cost of purchasing parts of "Global Hawk" drones, planned for deployment in 2019#3# two Aegis radar-equipped destroyers and missile defense system development with Washington.
Since Abe took office in 2012, Japan's defense budget has been on an uptrend and could top 5 trillion yen in fiscal 2016.
The prime minister favors a stronger role for Japan's military in the name of "active pacifism," while it is worth noting that the size of the country's defense budget, is an indication of " whether or not Japan can follow the path of peaceful development," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said during a regular press conference on Wednesday.
Spending on public works projects, which the government views as having an immediate impact on the corporate sector, will stand at 5.971 trillion yen#4# with little change from the previous year.
The Cabinet plans to submit the draft budget to the Diet session to be convened later this month. Since Abe's Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner Komeito have majorities in both houses of the parliament, the passage of the budget is almost certain, said local media.
The first Jewish Miss America Bess Myerson died at age of 90, according to media reports on Tuesday.
Born to immigrant Jews from Russia, she was raised in a Bronx housing project and embodied an up-from-poverty success story that made her an overnight sensation and possibly the best-known Miss America in the contest's history.
Media reviews said her death marked an uncharacteristically obscure end to a life of dazzle and tumult. Her death was not announced publicly. She was reportedly dead on Dec. 14, 2014 in Santa Monica, California#5# U.S..
The raven-haired, hazel-eyed beauty was crowned Miss America of 1945. She was considered as the glamorous groundbreaker and pioneer of consumer-protection laws in New York City.
"In the Jewish community she was the most famous pretty girl since Queen Esther in ancient Persia," author Susan Dworkin wrote in "Miss America, 1945: Bess Myerson’s Own Story," a book published in 1987.
Behind the scenes, Myerson faced a thornier reality. In a time of rampant anti-Semitism, the Miss America pageant director urged her to change her name to make it sound less Jewish. She refused. As a Miss America representative#6# she found country clubs canceling her visits and corporate sponsorships dropping away.
She became a spokeswoman for the Anti-Defamation League and raised millions of dollars for the new country of Israel. She lectured high school students about tolerance.“You can’t be beautiful and hate," she often said.
Finance > Insurance > Home InsuranceCompetitive premiums in home insurance
Posted by adairsawyer in Finance on July 14th, 2013
Home insurance is probably one of the most important policies you will ever take out; it can also be one of the most stressful, safeguarding one of your largest financial and emotional investments or assets. You can expect to be overwhelmed by many insurance companies trumpeting their competitive premiums and in this situation, if you are looking for the cheapest insurance policy, you will have to keep a cool head and to meticulously analyze all of the quotes you are offered, or you face the reality of getting only what you pay for.
Home insurance#7# or homeowners insurance as it is also known, refers to a property specific type of insurance, providing coverage for your dwelling. Insurance companies offer a variety of home insurance policies, each with their own advantages that are specific to your requirements. These policies vary from insurer to insurer providing different policy coverage at competitive premiums.