JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
-
- Full-time English Teacher - Osaka
- Epion English Language Schools, Osaka
- Salary: ¥200,000 ~ ¥250,000 / Month Depending on your ability and experience
-
- 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
-
- 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
0
GJDailleult
Yeah it is a real tin-hat conspiracy theory. A Google search of "American Plutocracy" only brings up 185,000 hits. But if you need names how about starting with Lloyd Blankfein, Jamie Dimon, Timothy Geitner, Ben Bernanke, William Dudley, Rupert Murdoch, the Koch Brothers, Warren Buffett, Charlie "suck it up" Munger, Lawrence Summers and on and on.
So what does any of this have to do with Sarah Palin? The economic problems of today in the USA and elsewhere go back to the 1970's, when the response to the damage of the oil price shock was to bring in a neo-liberal financialization of the economy to create the illusion of prosperity through public and private debt. That is what it is all about, nothing else is of any importance. Why do you think Reagan and Bush1 quadrupuled the US debt in 12 years? You think they wanted to end up like Carter? And it worked well for about 25 years, until it stopped. The problem now is the people who got "rich" by putting the country into debt were able to use that money to gain control of government so they can try to keep the party rolling. There is no other explanation for why the American government took completely opposite actions in banking collapses 20 years apart.
As Sarah Palin understands none of that, then she is not a serious presidential candidate. You can't fix the problem if you are in denial about the cause of the problem, and pretend the problem is caused by other irrelevant stuff. And of course most people are in denial, it is hard to admit you have been lied to for 30 years.
Actually none of them are serious presidential candidates. And that is not an accident.
Posted in: Sarah Palin: Serious 2012 contender or pretender?
0
GJDailleult
You can live in denial all you want, but it won't go away. In the Savings and Loan crisis 20 years ago, back when America was still a democracy, over 1100 senior level bankers were sent to jail for criminal fraud. Now that the US economy has been flushed down the toilet due to much, much greater levels of financial fraud, the number of such fraudsters who have been sent to jail is ZERO, and the only prison time is being down by a few low level Ponzi operators. Meanwhile, the corporate/banking controlled media ignores all that and focuses on non-entities such as Palin and her family, imaginary "roads to recovery" and "green shoots", and lots of other meaningless, unimportant junk. There is only one explanation for all that. They learned from what happened 20 years ago, and staged a coup. Quietly.
I think Murdoch's reason for backing Palin is pretty clear. Her job is to suck the oxygen out of the room, so that anybody who actually might have the cojones to take on the plutocracy can't get any traction. No Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, Eisenhower, or Kennedy types who might have dangerous, reality based ideas. And if she actually did become president, that would just mean that they don't consider her a threat and that the real power was elsewhere anyways.
Posted in: Sarah Palin: Serious 2012 contender or pretender?
0
GJDailleult
Every time I see this woman I think of "I Dream of Jeannie". "No master, I am not going back in the bottle". "Oh my God Tony, how are we going to explain this to Commander Bellows?" She even has the same look on her face.
To give her credit, if this is all just a money making stunt she is great at it. If it is serious politics you might as well just put your hands up and surrender right now. Just admit the presidency of the USA is a position for a ceremonial figurehead taking orders from the plutocracy. Turn out the lights, the party is over.
Posted in: Sarah Palin: Serious 2012 contender or pretender?
0
GJDailleult
Ireland was a poster child for neo-liberal economic theory. It had one of the world's most "responsible" governments in terms of spending money, because as we all know, all economic problems are caused by governments spending money!!! They are now up the creek because the "bad" government had to rescue the "good" private sector. Socialism and promising to spend may or may not be bad things, but they have nothing to do with what is happening in Ireland.
Posted in: Gloom, anger spreads as European economies teeter
0
GJDailleult
The Euro is only to blame in that it makes crime easier. The German and other foreign banks poured money into Irish banks in order to bankroll an idiotic property bubble. If Ireland had their own currency that would have boosted the currency and made the scam less "profitable". They then justified the situation with the usual neo-liberal economic gibberish about Celtic Tigers and low corporate tax rates, until the Ponzi collapsed and they got their toads in the Irish government to bail them out.
Now the Irish have to pay back the money because that is how capitalism works. WRONG!!! That is how loan sharking works. In capitalism a secured loan is written down to the value of the collateral. Lending money in excess of the underlying collateral is fraud. Forcing the public to pay the difference is racketeering. As Mick once sang "Hey Angie, ain't it time to say goodbye".
Posted in: Gloom, anger spreads as European economies teeter
0
GJDailleult
Saw a bit of the Irish PM Cowan and his finance minister (Linehan?) and their presentation/press conference on tv last night. If I was Irish I would have shot my television.
If the leaders of other countries are equally as stupid, then they, and all of us, are doomed.
Posted in: Gloom, anger spreads as European economies teeter
0
GJDailleult
More than half a century ago. An easy one to miss though, the brain sees what it expects to see.
Militarily it has none due to the geography problem, as anybody who has ever taken a bus ride from downtown Seoul to the DMZ knows. No attack could succeed fast enough to prevent the retaliation. That is what protects the North and is why the Kim's have not been removed militarily. But then they also know that if they seriously attack the South, then they lose that protection. A 57 year Mexican standoff.
As the war has never officially been ended with a peace treaty, only an armistice, technically the US IS involved in a war, as are the UN. Saying they will defend South Korea is redundant.
Posted in: Obama says U.S. will defend South Korea
0
GJDailleult
Actually, the people who are lobotomized are the people who think Ireland HAS a banking system. What they have is an accounting fraud racketeering system which should have been shut down years ago. But it can still be shut down now, and the bailout of the fraudsters stopped.
That is Ireland's only hope, if they give in the country is dead.
Posted in: Political chaos engulfs Ireland, threatening bailout
0
GJDailleult
TimRussert is starting to catch on. Next he will have the shocking revelation that the Republican Party is also a crony capitalist racket, and join the 20th century. If he works really hard he can even catch up to the 21st.
Of course this is cronyism. Does anybody seriously believe the purpose of these machines is anything other than making money?
Posted in: TSA chief calls for understanding; pat-down leaves Michigan man covered in urine
0
GJDailleult
Ireland is not being bailed out here, all they have done is exchange one lender for another. A bailout of Ireland would have been a write-down of debts. This is a bailout of the European banks who poured money into the country to get in on a speculative boom.
That doesn't mean the borrowers are blameless, but it also doesn't mean they aren't being screwed. Tim and rockbuster are both right. There is a right way to deal with bank failures and a wrong way. Ireland chose the wrong way.
A simple rule to remember is that money that can't be paid back won't be paid back. All they have done is kick the can down the road, and that is going to end up costing even more.
Posted in: Ireland swallows bitter pill, asks EU for loan
0
GJDailleult
Stupidity and corruption on an unbelievable scale, and it won't stop with Ireland either.
You can say this over and over but it never sinks in. The repayment of a loan is a private contractual matter between lender and borrower. If the amount of the loan exceeds the underlying collateral, well that is bad banking and either the borrower or lender must take or share the loss. It makes no difference to anybody else.
If a country says "oh we must cover the losses and protect our banks" then that country has just chosen its own economic collapse. The system can not work in in that situation. And if a country allows the banks to gain so much power and to make themselves so complex that the banks know in advance that the country must make that choice, they are toast.
Like I said, Ireland is just the latest, there are many more dominos to fall.
Posted in: Ireland swallows bitter pill, asks EU for loan
0
GJDailleult
I have to say I can't follow the comments on this thread, but then I don't live in a world where every single thing that happens is explained by some imaginary right vs. left war.
You have this equipment because somebody is making a lot of money providing it. Makes no difference if the President is a Republican or a Democrat. And you can't have profiling because then you wouldn't be able to sell the equipment.
Posted in: Obama says he understands frustrations over airport screenings
0
GJDailleult
Sarge, and that it is the catch-22. I might make sarcastic comments when I roll out of bed in the morning about how some people are profiting from this situation, but I am also aware that there are other people who genuinely want success. But the bad guys know they have the ability as long as they wait things out, because they have done it before. They are not going anywhere.
Posted in: NATO and U.S. differ over Afghan combat exit in 2014
0
GJDailleult
Actually Germany is "hunky dory" because their banks lend money to their trading partners to go into debt and buy their stuff. Nothing to do with frugality, and not exactly hunky dory either.
The interesting thing is that other countries still believe they are going to avoid Japan's fate. There are, as the great Eric Janszen has said, two parts to an economy - the productive part and the speculative part. When the speculative part hits peak credit it will go into reverse and start deflating down until you have just the productive part. A simple point but lost on most everybody. It's like "balloon time" at a Japanese baseball game, when you let go all the balloons deflate, none of them stay inflated or partially inflated. No "Keynesian" stimulus (Keynes is rolling in his grave by the way at how his theories have been butchered) or monetary hocus-pocus is going to stop the inevitable.
That doesn't mean governments and central banks should do nothing. Stimulus in Japan has meant the fall has been slow and the society didn't fall apart. Other countries are not so bright. But even if things happen slowly you are still going to have the issues the article talks about. Other countries should start paying more attention, because this stuff is not going to be unique to Japan.
Posted in: The effects of a frugal Japanese society
0
GJDailleult
I'm with Lewis Black too. Would even get me to end my boycott. Something to look forward to at the end of your USA visit, and might boost the tourist numbers too, at least for the number of men visiting.
Posted in: Obama says he understands frustrations over airport screenings
0
GJDailleult
Yes, that is very convenient. And why would they think they can't take over Afghanistan? They have before, so by definition it can be done.
Posted in: NATO and U.S. differ over Afghan combat exit in 2014
0
GJDailleult
His job is not to understand but to do something. Anybody can understand, only people in power can do anything. Or maybe that is what the job of President has been reduced to, a guy who just stands there and says "I understand". The real power has moved elsewhere.
Personally I have boycotted the USA since the idiotic "Canadians must show passports" rule came in. I have heard that tourism to the States is way down, so looks like maybe other people are doing the same due to this screening nonsense.
Posted in: Obama says he understands frustrations over airport screenings
0
GJDailleult
Even if they were out by 2014 (doubtful) that would still be 13 years. WW1, WW2, and the Korean War lasted 13 years combined. What a joke. If you want to know why this drags out at least 13 years, follow the money.
Posted in: NATO and U.S. differ over Afghan combat exit in 2014
0
GJDailleult
$273 million can't be right. That is chump change in the "lining your pockets" business.
Oh sorry, I mean in the "protecting the defenseless public from unnamed enemies" business.
Posted in: Obama says NATO agrees to missile defense system
0
GJDailleult
What Assange is exposing are the symptoms, not the underlying system that allows these things to happen in the first place. Are the charges trumped up? Probably. Are the things he exposed in the leaked documents shocking? Not really, they are just the inevitable things that are going to happen when you have an unlimited line of credit to hang around in Afghanistan and Iraq for years and years. That is the real story.
If you want to think that is just conspiracy talk, go ahead. I wish it was.
Posted in: Sweden to issue international arrest warrant for WikiLeaks founder