Nothing could be further from the truth. The richest people have the most interests to defend and the biggest muscles to get it done.. Therefore they remain the most corrupt in our society. If anyone wants to follow their trail they must first work with them and for them. Taro Aso whose family used Korean slave labor to explode mountains and hills to make cement and concrete, owns the biggest concrete conglomerate in Japan.. The well know Aso Lafarge company. Lafarge is known in France as the most corrupt company and one of the biggest enemy of all environmentalist and nature loving people. Aso-Lafarge is no exception, they have transformed the entire japanese coastline into a concrete dump, and reduced local people, cultures and tradition into rotting garbage in most coastal villages along japan. Now, there is no opportunities for economic independence based on local-ecofriendly tourism. It’s dead. Once beautiful villages along the coast look like post apocalyptic concrete hell. Japanese people need a wake up call and reverse the destructive trend that has been going on, so Japan once again may look beautiful and attractive. This will require a movement towards restoring natural environment while recycling the trillion cubic cubes of concrete walls that have been raised along all coastal towns, villages, beaches, rivers and mountains. People like Aso in power means exactly the opposite will happen. Their economic stimulus package is for the same old pork barrel projects that benefit companies like Aso-Laforge while destroying the Japanese landscape and any future chance for economic development based on tourism and eco-friendly tourism. Japan is an aging country that needs to rely on tourism now and in the future, but it continues to make the landscape totally unexploitable for its stated goal.

In its idealised form such elite rule is embodied in the Platonic Republic, a system in which coppers (such as ourselves) are ruled over by the gold elite, and the silver armed forces to maitain ‘order’. Providing you have a jot of imagination, independence or backbone it is not a system you would want to suffer under.

Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso on Wednesday hit back at critics who questioned his nightly ventures to high-end bars and restaurants when the country is on the verge of recession.

“Fortunately, I have money. I pay by myself,” Aso, who is from an elite family, told reporters in a forceful voice. “It’s my style. I won’t change it.”

I think this is a bit misleading.

「例えば、安い所に行ったとしますよ。周りに３０人の新聞記者がいるのよ、あなたも含めて。警察官もいるのよ。『営業妨害』って言われたら何と答える？　今聞いてんだ。ふふふ」などと、得意の逆質問をまくし立てた。

　結局、首相は「ホテルは一番、人から文句が言われない。これまでのスタイルだし、これからも変えるつもりはない」と明言。飲食費については「幸いにして自分のお金もありますから、自分で払っています」と、ポケットマネーであることを強調した。
http://www.zakzak.co.jp/top/200810/t2008102228_all.html

His answer was;

Suppose I visited a cheap place surrounded by 30 journalists including you, with the police present, what would you answer if somebody claimed I was obstructing the business. I am asking you now, hehehe

A hotel is the right place: nobody complain. That is how it has been and I have no plan to change it. ・・・・besides,fortunately i have money, I pay it out of my pocket.

The emphasis is not on the fact that he has money but the fact that it is the best for the business and security.

“What example is he for his people in this times of financial instability”
Actually, not a bad one. When things get shaky, people stop spending. When they do that, the flow of money slows or stops, which means the service and manufacturing industries slow down, so more people get laid off, the flow of cash constricts more, and the spiral continues.

There is a lot to be said for consumer spending to counteract an economic downturn, as long as the money being spent is on things that lead to the money circulating within the economy that needs boosting. That is one reason why “parasite singles” 10 years ago were getting such a bad rap. Living at home meant their money wasn’t going back out into the economy in the form of rent paid, major purchases (such as househld appliances), daily needs type of stuff. Instead, spending on designer bags and such went up, and guess where that money ended up? Not in Japan!

When it all boils down to it, I think it’s those who handle the wealth based on the character they’ve held over their lifetime in combination with the current pressures.

Vague answer I know…but shit, I just saw Iron Man today and Tony Stark was a changed man from his greedy riches.

But looking at it from a security point of view, I suppose it would be much safer for a country’s prime minister to go to more secluded places. I am sure foreign spies and terrorists love the easy access to Aso in hotel restaurants. Aso’s guards must think that they had an easier job more with his predecessors than with him.

His excuse that he doesn’t want to change his previous lifestyle is a perfect example of why he, and most politicians, shouldn’t hold public office. Public service is meant to be a responsibility and if done well will be a burden rather than a perk. While some time for R&R obviously a neccesity, people holding the top position in any country simply shouldn’t have the time to hang out in bars every night of the week when they have a laundry list of national problems they could be working on.