JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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- Full-time English Teacher - Osaka
- Epion English Language Schools, Osaka
- Salary: ¥200,000 ~ ¥250,000 / Month Depending on your ability and experience
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- Part-time English Teacher - Osaka
- Epion English Language Schools, Osaka
- Salary: ¥10,000 ~ ¥15,000 / Day Depending on how many days a week are worked
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- Core Developer - コアディベロッパー
- Midokura Japan K.K. - ミドクラジャパン株式会社, Tokyo
- Salary: ¥4.0M ~ ¥10.0M / Year Negotiable
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GJDailleult
Does it not occur to anybody that the USA has millionaires and billionaires exactly because the USA runs huge deficits? The country runs a trade deficit and has for decades. Where do they think the money comes from?
Ah, of course it comes from the free market and the private sector. Well if they mean the private sector that gets the whole population to go in debt up to their eyeballs to buy overpriced real estate at artificially low interest rates set by a central planning committee, then they would be right too.
Posted in: Senate showdown may pave way for year-end tax deal
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GJDailleult
That clears up one mystery. The encrypted file is just the complete version of what is being released now, and not some other, more damaging information.
Other reports say that actually he has not been charged with rape. He has been charged with "sex without a condom" and/or something called "surprise sex". As in you wake up in the morning and...surprise! Apparently "surprise sex" is a crime in only one country in the world, that of course being Sweden. The nanny state rides to the rescue of America!
Posted in: WikiLeaks fights to stay online amid attacks
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GJDailleult
I was talking about Private Manning, not Assange. Manning is alleged to have stolen the files and passed them on to Wikileaks. Also, it appears that Manning was only caught because he shot his mouth off on the internet. Otherwise he would have got away with it.
This is a whole other issue from the publishing of the leaks. The system itself is not secure. We are supposed to believe that of the millions of people with top secret and secret clearances, Manning is the only person who figured that out?
Posted in: Noose tightens around WikiLeaks' Assange
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GJDailleult
Sorry, wasn't clear there. I was referring to the media and politicians, not people posting here. People here get unbuttered bread.
Posted in: Noose tightens around WikiLeaks' Assange
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GJDailleult
Amusing to see the "government is bad" crowd rush to defend the US government. I guess some people know where their bread is really buttered, even though they spend all their time saying the opposite. Very predictable. Myself I think there are much more interesting questions here.
One, why is nobody being held accountable for the United States having such clearly inadequate security and procedures in place? Manning had access to stuff that he had no reason to have access to.
Two, what is the evidence against Manning? The only thing I have seen was that he incriminated himself and the government was tipped off. Otherwise they would have had no idea. So how do they know he was the only one downloading files, and that those files have not been handed over to groups other than WikiLeaks? Looks like they don't know.
Three, what are the contents of the encrypted file? Is it a bluff or is there something really big, and does the US government have any knowledge of the contents? Until all that is known, it is hard to really know what is going on here, and how much is just spin and damage control.
Four, what is in the banking documents. Will they just show what everybody who doesn't have their head up their butt already knows, that it there is a lot of criminal racketeering and political influence peddling going on, or will it have something that can't be swept under the carpet? Maybe evidence of criminal behavior at the top level of the bank or government, or the true financial situation of the bank and the system. Would that something explain the sudden obsession with going after Assange, when before he was just considered a nuisance and troublemaker. But then the leaks were just about the military, not the real government of the USA. It is pretty obvious from the actions in the US and Europe that the only priority for those in charge is to keep the present financial system alive and in place. How much of a threat to them is Assange, and if he is, how can they stop him?
Posted in: Noose tightens around WikiLeaks' Assange
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GJDailleult
I have complete faith that, after careful deliberation, the United States government will make whatever is the most economically illiterate and damaging decision. Same as they have done every other time in the last 40 years.
Posted in: Negotiators work on tax deal as House passes bill
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GJDailleult
They paid off the banks. If you don't understand that, and insist on going off on irrelevant tangents, then not much anybody can do to help you.
Debt is money. Money is debt. They are the same thing. That is like saying you don't think money sustains the economy.
Posted in: 2 million Americans lose jobless benefits as holiday season arrives
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GJDailleult
The iceberg has been hit and people are arguing about what to do with the people locked in on the lower decks. Some smug fools think they are safe on their lifeboats.
Wake up. The USA runs huge government deficits because that is what makes people rich. The American public is in massive personal debt because that is what makes people rich. But now the debt machine has flipped into reverse, and the real economy was packed up and sent to China.
The unemployed of today are just the canaries in the coal mine. The fraud was fun while it lasted, but it couldn't last forever. The big question now is what is the endgame. The "rich" think they can keep their "money", but when money starts dieing, who has the most to lose?
Sympathy for the long term unemployed, they are the victims of superstition and ignorance. The economic Dark Ages have arrived.
Posted in: 2 million Americans lose jobless benefits as holiday season arrives
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GJDailleult
Checked a couple of financial websites, and people seem to think the fuss is not about these leaks but what is coming next. Basically the next set of documents are financial and have information that people think could crash some major banks. That is the reason for the sudden rush to get Assange and the much stronger reaction to these leaks than the previous ones. They have to stop the release of the next set, that is what people are speculating. We shall see.
Posted in: U.S. cuts access to files; Interpol seeks WikiLeaks founder Assange
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GJDailleult
Actually I agree. So far, there has been nothing unexpected and the State Department, from what I have seen, comes across pretty well and on top of things. That may change, but it may actually not do them much if any harm in the end.
Posted in: U.S. cuts access to files; Interpol seeks WikiLeaks founder Assange
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GJDailleult
Well for sure they won't be thinking you can keep secrets in the future Mr. Gates. Fact is the US government has only itself to blame for this mess. If you give out so many top secret and secret security clearances (millions) and give access to any low level private, you are asking for trouble. What the hell were they thinking?
Which leads to the obvious question? How do they know Manning, assuming he did it, is not the only one who had the same bright idea? Maybe even somebody with higher level access. It appears they have no way of knowing that. Maybe Putin and Hu Jin Tao have some very entertaining bedtime reading.
Posted in: U.S. cuts access to files; Interpol seeks WikiLeaks founder Assange
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GJDailleult
If Chavez is talking about accounting, then he is right about capitalism. Oil companies for example do not have to account for any potential costs of climate change. They just pass them on to everybody else and put the profits in their pockets. Makes no difference if climate change is real or not, the point is they don't have to put any reserves aside in case it is. If they can't prove it is not happening (and they can't), then the potential costs should be accounted for. Nothing liberal or lefty about it, they are just ignoring basic accounting.
And yeah, I think by now we all know that climate changes over time. And a good thing for many North Americans too, the mini ice-age of the early 1700's in Europe is why many people got on the boats. But the question is not if climate changes, the question is if there are deviations from the natural rate of change. If my fuzzy memory of high school calculus is right it is like saying there is no second derivative because there is a first derivative. Pretty hard to take anybody seriously who makes that argument, but seems many people do.
Posted in: U.N. weather agency: Scorching heat will soon be routine
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GJDailleult
The suicide economics story for the day. The solution to all problems is to keep doing exactly what you have been doing and hope for a different result.
Obama and Boehner are sure a couple of funny guys. Interesting plot lines too, who writes their scripts?
Posted in: Obama, GOP leaders pledge tax talks
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GJDailleult
Five billion dollars!!! Oh my. The usual PR stunt to send the masses off the scent. There is a giant elephant in the room, and he does NOT work for the government of the USA.
I'm with Klein2. The stupidity and/or corruption and criminality being exhibited are indeed destroying us. The leader of the free world is busy planning to save $5 billion, while at the same time the estimates of the true cost of the financial bailout are $12 trillion. That is just for the USA, and there is much more to come.
Keep your head in the sand, and all the bad things will go away! Timmy Geithner says everything is now ok!
Posted in: Obama calls for 2-year freeze on federal pay
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GJDailleult
I know an old guy in Tokyo who knocked down his old house and rebuilt using some company using Swedish design. Claims a 60% reduction in his heating and air conditioning costs. Multiply that over the country and that is a hell of a lot of wasted energy in Japan. Myself, I hate it on those winter mornings when I open the sliding doors and the outside is warmer than it is in my house. Opposite happens in summer. Crazy!
As for buying real estate, the house is a depreciating asset. The value is in the land. There might be some reasons you want to buy - you like fixing things up or just doing what you want with the place, or as a form of forced savings (but there are other ways you can do that). But the Greenspan idea that rising real estate prices are a kind of wealth creation is nonsense. They are wealth transfers. You are basically betting on whether there is going to be asset price inflation or deflation in the future. And, as said earlier, of course it was asset price inflation that in large part caused Japan's and the world's present mess in the first place.
But if people want to think now is a good time and want to try to catch a falling knife, they will.
Posted in: Real estate in Japan: A good time to buy or not?
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GJDailleult
Yes, Mr. Obama, unplug that internet!
DOS attacks already happening. But the more logical explanation for why they don't stop it is because they can't. The files are distributed by torrents as well as on the site, once they are out there it makes no difference if the site itself is shut down. Also, there is an encrypted file that has been distributed, and if the site is shut down or anything happens to Assange the password will be released. A bluff or blackmail with something very damaging, who knows. The interesting thing is that the US government seems to know in advance what information Wikileaks has, at least with this release.
A couple of other interesting points here. How much of the material has been obtained by whistle blowers, and how much through computer hacking and espionage? The media so far has made it seem like whistle blowers turning over information, like the army private guy. But this release would seem to mean there are others. Plausible maybe, when you hand out top secret security clearances like tissues at a train station the potential for leaks shoots way up. But if is "Dragon Tattoo" style hacking and computer espionage going on then yikes! Houston, we have a problem as they say. Second point is the potential that Assange and his group are not acting alone, and that groups or governments seeking to damage the US are behind him in some way.
That is all crazy conspiracy talk now of course. Just like the idea that some Australian guy could get his hands on millions of top secret documents and dump them on the internet was crazy conspiracy talk a couple of years ago.
Posted in: WikiLeaks reveals more sensitive U.S. data
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GJDailleult
I expected to see lots of comments here about the lazy Irish and the lazy Mediterranians being to blame, and instead I see an argument about whether the Euro or the banking system is to blame. A pleasant surprise. Both might be right of course, and a doomed currency was introduced into a doomed banking system.
Anyways, there are big protests planned for Sunday in Ireland, hopefully everybody stays safe. Certain groups have a vested interest in things appearing to be violent, as was seen this week in the UK. And those groups are not the protesting groups.
Posted in: Debt turmoil, contagion fears sweep Europe
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GJDailleult
You have to start wondering exactly how much more and what they are holding. And if Wikileaks is really just about Assange and an army private, or if this is a lot more complicated and he is just the frontman. Just asking.
Posted in: U.S. briefs allies about next WikiLeaks release
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GJDailleult
Bigger crowds at bargain sales means things are getting better? You could just a easily take that as a sign that things are getting worse.
Posted in: What recession? Shoppers eat up Black Friday deals
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GJDailleult
Read somewhere that if this "rescue package" that is being forced on Ireland was being done in the US it would work out to about $9 trillion, when you compare the size of the two countries. Some rescue.
And let's stop pretending this stuff is about rescuing countries, and out of control government spending. Ireland and Spain were two of the thriftiest governments in Europe until everything hit the fan. It is a banking bailout, nothing more.
Posted in: Debt turmoil, contagion fears sweep Europe