JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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- Translator
- ZAIHON, Inc. (日本財務翻訳株式会社), Tokyo
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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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GJDailleult
Well after demonizing Obama/Romney health care reform as "socialism", they now have to appear to be making an effort to repeal it. But their insurance industry sponsors are very happy with having the government deliver millions of new customers, so of course nothing will actually be done. I am sure they have a plan in place for how to look like they are doing something without doing anything, probably blame Obama for vetoing it and then let the issue fade away by 2012 and go off on other tangents. These guys are good if you hadn't noticed.
Basic rule of capitalism - things that can not be provided at a profit will not be provided. If those things are wanted they must be provided by government, and they are called infrastructure, not socialism. Simple stuff understood since the time of Adam Smith, but of no interest to the corporate socialists who rule the USA.
Posted in: Republicans in charge take aim at health overhaul
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GJDailleult
The activist thing is just the front. Look at what the guy does and not what the media tells you he is doing. It is all just part of the big show, obviously you need to have two parties to appear to have a democracy, otherwise people will start to clue in.
As for "trade" with India (and China) they are not doing anything that the USA didn't use to do for itself. This is not trade where I do what I do well and you do what you do well as in traditional economics. This is where I say I will pay much lower wages and not have the same laws and then we split the difference. Just a way to increase corporate profits and keep down price inflation while they continued to pump debt (money) into the system so people could be "rich". It couldn't happen if the exchange rate system wasn't completely messed up, if it worked then the wage differences would get adjusted for. And now the money pumping system has broken down that means the speculative economy has stopped working. Which leaves only the productive economy, much of which got shipped off to India and China. Very, very bright move that.
Posted in: Obama calls India creator, not poacher, of U.S. jobs
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GJDailleult
@rabblerouser- was that a typo or a very witty pun? Poacher, Fowl!!! Very good if intentional.
Posted in: Obama calls India creator, not poacher, of U.S. jobs
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GJDailleult
No mistercreosite, it is about how this "trade" is nothing but wage and regulatory arbitrage, and has nothing to do with any real comparative advantage that China and India have.
But if people want to continue to believe in the "a witch floats because she is made of wood, so if a woman weighs the same as a duck she must be a witch" school of voodoo economics then go ahead. Commit economic suicide, I don't care. But I am safely prepared, and won't be going down with you.
Posted in: Obama calls India creator, not poacher, of U.S. jobs
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GJDailleult
Corporate, neo-liberal nonsense. The rise of India and China is directly fed by the the decline of the USA.
Posted in: Obama calls India creator, not poacher, of U.S. jobs
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GJDailleult
Well my theory has been all along that they gave the Nobel to Liu because the Peace Prize committee wanted and needed to restore some credibility after the Obama prize last year. They figured the Chinese government would freak out and give them lots of publicity, and the overreaction would strengthen the impression that Liu was a worthy winner. Hey, I know that is maybe a far-fetched theory, but if it were true it would be working like a charm.
Posted in: Beijing denounces Nobel prize as a Western tool
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GJDailleult
Get ready for two more years of kabuki theater.
A not very nice guy once said the following - "The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie."
The problems in the USA all come from once source, the inevitable collapse of the debt-based monetary system. And there are two parts - the damage caused to the American economy and society during the building of history's biggest debt bubble (ie. hey let's move this factory to China!), and the damage being done now by the insane and criminal attempts to keep the collapsed system in place. Any politician who, due to either corruption or incompetence, denies that and attempts to place the blame on other sources such as who the president is, big government, socialism etc. is promoting and participating in a lie. They would be wise to think about what the not very nice guy said, because the consequences of that lie seem to be getting bigger and bigger.
Posted in: GOP says main goal is to deny Obama re-election
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GJDailleult
As the Republicans got deeper into the nomination process the candidates who won got worse. I believe Delaware was the final state, and Nevada was one of the last states, to chose the Republican senate candidate, and both of course lost. Either some people got carried away with Tea Party enthusiasm or the these states were intentionally lost to avoid getting a majority, both to set up the party better for 2012 and to allow the Tea Party thing to continue for two more years. Those are the only two explanations.
Posted in: Obama, GOP talk compromise, conflict
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GJDailleult
Make that two votes for much ado about nothing. The real issue was never even addressed in this election campaign, just a lot of alternative reality ideas of what are the causes of the problems. But then a cynic would say that is what American politicians are paid the big money for, to make sure the real problem is not dealt with. In magic I think the word is "misdirection", where the magician directs your attention away from where the real action is happening.
Anyways, QE2 gets announced on Wednesday and the big boys can get back to their main business of running America into the ground, without having to deal with this pesky democracy business.
Posted in: GOP wins the House, falls short of Senate
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GJDailleult
Hey, why else do you think O'Donnell was nominated? When I posted before that the Republicans intentionally were throwing the Delaware race for exactly that reason I was basically called an idiot on this site. Now I see that this result "is better". If they lose out by only one for the senate it will look even more suspicious than it already does.
Posted in: GOP wins the House, falls short of Senate
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GJDailleult
Sorry guy, but wealth redistribution is your system, and that is the whole problem. The issue now is that the mechanisms for transferring the wealth in place over the last 30 plus years have broken down, but those at the top who have received the wealth transfers want to keep the system in place. Those who have profited from the years of fake prosperity want to keep their profits and they want them to continue. They are the people in power and control of all political parties, and they are the ones who do not want the system fixed because they will be the losers if and when that happens. Everything that happens is to protect the status quo, for example the hundreds of billions of quantitative easing that will be announced once the election is out of the way. Will that help the average American? - not a bit (in fact it will hurt him) but that is not the purpose. Same with this election.
None of that is about left wing vs. right wing politics either. It is about the mechanics of a debt based monetary system, and no politician will ever talk about it. It is no surprise that the three recent major elections, in the UK, Australia, and the US have so much in common - PR spin, image manipulation, and disinformation, with no serious discussion of the real issues. Because the people behind the parties do not want the issues discussed, they just need a way to get the public to vote for them (see exhibit A: The Tea Party) so they can continue to not work in the public interest, just in their own private interest.
So does either US party have the best interests of the country at heart? Nope. Will a GOP win change anything in a positive way? Nope.
Posted in: GOP upbeat, Democrats brace for losses in election
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GJDailleult
Agreed, the headline doesn't match the contents of the story. Alcohol causes more total damage, which makes sense, but that is not the same as more lethal.
Posted in: Alcohol more lethal than heroin, cocaine: study
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GJDailleult
No, actually it is choice between one party (Republicans) whose policies helped cause the mess and which has no policies for getting out of it, only policies for getting deeper into it versus another party (Democrats) whose policies helped cause the mess and which has no policies for getting out of it, only policies for getting deeper into it. The only choice is about how much deeper you want to go.
The economy is the only issue that matters, and neither party is talking about it. Just a lot of shouting about nothing. It's the Seinfeld election, an election about nothing. Obama thinks everything can be fixed with PR spin, and the Republicans are so deep in the pocket of Wall Street that their waterboys McConnell and Boehner don't even bother hiding it. And everybody thinks if they just ignore reality it will magically go away. But it won't, and the election results will change nothing. Nothing will change until the US government (and media) stops being controlled by the people with the "trillions of dollars of worthless 'assets'", as said above. Because those worthless assets and the attempts to protect them and keep them alive are the root cause of everything. Face up to that or go down, that is the real choice.
Posted in: Obama makes last campaign stop in pivotal Ohio
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GJDailleult
I'm really getting bored with the sensitive, oppressed right-winger nonsense. It would be nice if people could stick to the issues instead of having to pull out the "who-hates-who more" paranoia. But then the whole point of the pushing the paranoia is to make sure that the issues never get dealt with in the first place.
Divide and conquer, same as always.
Posted in: Obama warns of progress reversal if GOP wins
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GJDailleult
What progress?
All this election has showed is that those in the PR/image/propaganda industry can now pull off anything. Take a country facing a huge economic and financial crisis, and pretend it is a political crisis. Blame the crisis on a politician who showed up after the crisis hit and his party. Eddy Bernays and Joey G. would be very, very impressed.
But no matter how good the PR boys are at their jobs, in the end it won't matter. They won't be able to prevent the inevitable. A Republican win will just speed things up, which maybe is not such a bad thing. Then after the US cleans out the rot and the trash, they can argue if they are a right-wing or left-wing society. That goes for many other countries too.
Posted in: Obama warns of progress reversal if GOP wins
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GJDailleult
There is an amusing/scary poll out there with the question "Who's responsible for the economic meltdown?". About 50% of Republicans blame Obama, and another 40% or so blame Congress. About 50% of Democrats blame Bush, and independents are about 35/35/10 blaming Congress, Obama, and Bush.
In other words most Americans have no understanding at all what has happened and is happening in their country (and no I am not going to waste my time explaining it). It would be hilarious if it wasn't so tragic.
Posted in: Obama tries to salvage Democrats as final dash begins
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GJDailleult
Have to say that MacArthur and Jack Lord both really nailed their roles in the series. Also, maybe the best opening title segment in TV history.
Posted in: 'Hawaii Five-0' actor James 'Danno' MacArthur dies at 72
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GJDailleult
I think Malloy at 3:11 has it right. It is shady, and looks like Universal might even be trying to pick up some sales from any confusion among the punters. Never heard of a "best of" drawn from two albums before.
I've always kind of liked her, and consider her a big step up from most J-pop, but that song "Easy Breezy" is really a dreadful, cringe-inducing song. There has got to be some kind of story behind it. Never understood why she didn't just write English lyrics for "Automatic" and release that either, seems much simpler and with a much bigger chance for success (obviously).
Posted in: Hikaru Utada advises fans not to buy her album
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GJDailleult
Agree with all the talk here about the loss of the social element. It wasn't all positive either, I can remember ridiculous fights and arguments over what the next record on the turntable should be or what radio station should be on. And all the variations of "you're an idiot because you like Band X or Style Y". Now nobody cares, they just all put on their headphones and listen to their own stuff. Music just isn't as important in society and in the pop culture as it once was (although that might have happened anyways without the walkman of course). No doubt digital piracy is the number 1 problem for the music business, but the loss of the social part doesn't help either.
Also, Sony's missing the boat on digital technology was an amazing screw-up. Going with the mini-disc instead of putting the music inside the player was, with hindsight, an unbelievably foolish decision. They gave away the store to Apple basically.
Posted in: A Walkman obit: Remembering the portable player
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GJDailleult
I see this thread has veered off in the predictable direction, but let's get back to the point.
After all the shouting, this is the plan, to NOT spend 100 billion dollars. That is it, that is all you've got? Wow. The day after the election the Federal Reserve is going to start pumping a new 500 billion (that would be half a trillion!) into the US banking system, and who do you think is on the hook for that in the end? So one day after the election you will already be 400 billion more in the hole. In other words in doesn't really matter that the Republican policies of cutting spending in a depression are dead wrong (they are), it is that even if they were right the amounts they are talking about are a drop in the bucket.
The American economy is a multi-trillion dollar train wreck, the result of 30 plus years of corruption and moronic stupidity (don't worry, I am not picking on the USA, it is much the same everywhere). What we see now is a direct line from the ending of the gold standard, the oil price shock, and the rise of free-market, neo-liberal fundamentalist ideology (in reality just an intellectual cover for corruption). And all the Republican have brought to this fight is to say "we will spend 100 million less". The only explanations for their position is that a) they are fools who have no idea what is going on or b) they don't care what is going on, they just want to take the opportunity to find their ideological Holy Grail and take down the federal government.
At a certain point you have to just say who cares if it is a or b. Just get on with it, crash, and get it over with.
Posted in: Republicans, heading for big gains, ready agenda