Thursday February 16, 2012

adm_kenshin's past comments

  • 1

    adm_kenshin

    The diet could look at the cabinets of the fifties and sixties and see what made them so successful. They'll find that a key ingredient was that politicians did as few decisions as possible, leaving that process to the professionals (MITI etc).

    Of course, in that day the goals of the large keiretsu advanced the country and the quality of life of Japanese people, the same might not be true today. Therefore, my suggestion is that the diet should create a new body, fill it with engineers (No politicians!) and tell them to device a solution for Japans many problems, fund them adequately (but not too much), but otherwise leave them alone for a few years. If they find something out, it'll probably be much cheaper and much better than what a political body could have accomplished, and if not, no big loss.

    Posted in: Defense, consumer affairs ministers to be removed from cabinet

  • -3

    adm_kenshin

    pamelot: While I agree with your sentiments, please do not redefine words. The effort to redefine the words theft or stealing in particular has led to much trouble here in Sweden.

    Posted in: Vandals target metro subway lines nationwide

  • 1

    adm_kenshin

    smithinjapan: The temple is not allowed to ban visits by specific groups of people, that would be discrimination, which while widespread IS illegal in Japan. Interesting though that the police is encouraging this behavior. (The discriminated group in this case is people who are suspected to be criminals but haven't been proven so yet, or ex-cons who have served their time. I have no love for the Yakuza, but unless we follow the law ourselves, how can we demand that others do?).

    Posted in: Shiga temple bans visits by gangsters

  • 2

    adm_kenshin

    Now this is probably rather naive. I am not an expert on national economics.

    So, the yen is too highly valued against the US Dollar and the Euro? Since Japan is a sovereign nation, can it simply not print more yen? This, using the supply and demand idea, should devalue the yen, right?

    Then they could use that money to finance the Tohoku rebuilding effort. Or, give it out evenly to the people to raise domestic consumption.

    If for some reason, printing money is not possible, perhaps buying products prized in Dollars could change things? Basically, go on a shopping spree now that the yen is high. Increase the size of the strategic oil reserve. Buy some small pacific island. Anything but dollars!

    Posted in: Japan unlikely to win currency 'war of nerves' against speculators: analysts

  • 0

    adm_kenshin

    I think one of the reasons there is such perceived "indifference" toward child porn in Japan is because we have a different image of what it is.

    When someone says child porn in Sweden, most people think of a young (elementary school age or younger) girl, kidnapped and exploited for money. Whereas, in Japan, most people probably think of a high school girl doing enjou kousai and allowing it to be filmed.

    Posted in: 14 men, aged 16-45, busted over national child pornography ring

  • 0

    adm_kenshin

    Usually when politicians mention the word 'hero', they talk about soldiers going to other countries to do their bidding, or police officers who keep the tax money rolling in. Unlike them, Shige and his group are worthy of that title.

    Posted in: I will continue until the government finally gets its act together and takes over. I can’t let their inaction cost another precious life.

  • 0

    adm_kenshin

    And all of this could have been avoided if the US hadn't propped up the Shah against Iran's earlier secular government.

    Posted in: Iran to try 3 Americans who crossed Iraqi border

  • 0

    adm_kenshin

    Well, he did break state protocol. Then again, the US does have some things to apologize about, even to Japan. Such as the direction the country took after the crisis in 1989.

    It might also be gratituity. Without 'loans' from Japan, Obama would not be able to keep Capitalism going and thus would be out of a job (as Politics is closely tied to the monetary system).

    Posted in: Obama's bow to emperor causes outrage in Washington

  • 0

    adm_kenshin

    Wether a monarchy is irrelevant or not is besides the point, Japan is a democracy (in name at least) and the majority of the people wishes to keep the monarchy. As it is not a technical matter, of which the best solution can be scientifically identified, the subjective view of the majority is the best grounds for making decisions in this field.

    Article Unavailable

  • 0

    adm_kenshin

    Now that I think about it, the US might need the games the most. Chicago is a dump, and only receiving the games would let Obama convince the congress to let him rebuild it with tax money. A giant project like this is just what the US needs to move into the next financial bubble and get the economy going.

    Tokyo has a much greater political ability for deficit spending, and thus doesn't need the games as much. I don't know about Rio or Madrid.

    Posted in: 2016 Olympic race too close to call ahead of vote

  • 0

    adm_kenshin

    Well, Madrid wont get it, as London will have 2012, and the main reason people say Tokyo wont get it is that the 2008 games were in Asia. Unless, of course, that wasnt the reason at all ;).

    Chicago shouldnt have it either, the US has already hosted olympics at least twice. Japan has also had the games once, but that was quite a whie ago, and so I'd say they are the Nr2 deserving to win.

    SA has never had the games, they deserve it the most.

    Still, money will decide this, like usual. Money and Obama's skill at manipulating feelings, maybe.

    Posted in: 2016 Olympic race too close to call ahead of vote

  • 0

    adm_kenshin

    It's interesting to see just how many problems would disappear if we stopped using money.

    Posted in: Low-income bachelors victims of widening 'sex gap'

  • 0

    adm_kenshin

    Monoflow, I agree with you, but what do you suggest to use instead? Democracy is not an economic system, as you know.

    Posted in: Hatoyama backs fiscal regulation; says he's not turning to socialism

  • 0

    adm_kenshin

    GJ: His policies, as far as I can see, is only temporary measures at best. As you say, Capitalism (in the US) ended with the great depression, for reasons that anyone even remotely knowledgeable about supply and demand should be able to figure out.

    Japans 'exportism' is dependent on the export market being capable to buy all the produce of the factories. If this is true, then wages will increase with productivity, and unemployment stay low. However, this stopped working in the 1980's. The physical characteristics of the world economy changed when South Korea and China became capable of advanced industrial production, thus there is NO way to return to the past.

    This does not mean that Japan is screwed however, just that we need to rethink our economic plan. In the 50’ｓ, the new Japanese government let the technocrats in MITI run stuff. Thus, they looked scientifically at the world situation and developed a plan to make Japan powerful and rich. This plan succeeded quite well, but it was never supposed to go on forever. The plan had a limit of 50 years or so, after which a new plan had to be devised.

    By the 1980's, when it was time to change to the next plan, MITI was no longer in power. The Japanese technocracy had changed into a bureaucracy, which goal was to maintain the status quo, not improve the nation. Additionally, bureaucrats does not use science to determine the best method, but they use their own policies. The result should astonish no one.. The politicians themselves, when they did make decisions, made them in favor of big business.

    Exportism no longer works, this is evident. Japan needs a new tool.

    Posted in: Hatoyama backs fiscal regulation; says he's not turning to socialism

  • 0

    adm_kenshin

    Bamboohat: Actually you are wrong here. Redistribution of wealth is a necessity to keep the economy going. This is because the purchasing power of the consumers is drained, as money is funneled into savings and corporate profit. This money was traditionally invested into new factories, but nowadays we have enough factories so it is instead invested into financial systems, and so the money does not create new jobs.

    With few new jobs, there is a reduction in consumer spending and while there is an abundance of goods on the market, the consumers cannot afford to buy it all. Demand is reduced, which leads to a recession, and as more people are laid off, a depression.

    As Japan has been an export country, most of the industrial production was bought and thus we didn't have these problems. However, in the US the consumer had been living on credit for a long time, and as more and more of their salaries are tied up with servicing loans, they can buy less Japanese imports. Especially if their main asset, their houses, would decrease in value...

    Now US consumers cannot buy all of Japans industrial production, and thus Japan is entering a depression. The solution the Japanese politicians have suggested is to increase consumption by Japanese consumers. The only way to do this atm is to increase their purchasing power. That means redistributing wealth.

    1) Redistribute wealth from the future (ie deficit spending, to be paid by future tax payers). This is at most a temporary solution, and it will have repercussions in the future. 2) Redistribute wealth from the industries to the consumers by raising wages. This would work, as all those profits aren't doing anything good for the economy anyway. However, prices might increase, as the owners of industry would like to keep their profits, or they might move the industries abroad. 3) Expropriate money invested in financial instruments, and use it to finance government deficit spending. This would work too, until civil war broke out that is ^^. Furthermore, the old would be in trouble since their savings are in the same financial instruments.

    As you see, all three methods are painful and success is not guaranteed. I therefore suggest that working within the economic system might not be optimal. However, if the DPJ tried to change the economic system the result might be as in No 3, ie there would be resistance by the wealthy.

    Posted in: Hatoyama backs fiscal regulation; says he's not turning to socialism

  • 0

    adm_kenshin

    jbro888: Fiat money is not naturally scarce, but it is kept artificially scarce. The central banks CAN make it abundant, yes, but if they do, the result is hyperinflation. The money will lose its value.

    So to summarize: Gold is naturally scarce Fiat is artificially scarce

    Posted in: Some wonder if Japan's new leaders have economic vision

  • 0

    adm_kenshin

    tkoind2, it is not only the 'right thing' to change the system, it is necessary. Measures to prop up the system will only have temporary successes, until we have another depression.

    First, however, Hatoyama & Co must decide what the goal of the economy should be. Is it a sustainable way of living? Is it a high living standard for the populace? Is it to take advantage of all the latest innovations of technology? The market capitalism is incapable of providing any of these. I won't bother explaining why, because we are all faced by the fact.

    If we decide on a number of goals. we can from these design a system that will work using the common method of engineering. It is not difficult, and it does not take a long time. It does however take some radical thinking...

    If we look at the subject of money, we see that wether it is fiat currency or gold, it all has one common feature: it is scarce. This is a necessity, as money in itself has no value. Only the fact that it is scarce makes it useful in trades.

    This leaves us with a problem however: as money is scarce we can never have enough to provide a decent standard of living to every citizen. We can never have enough to even buy all the production of our factories, and if we can't do this the result is ever increasing unemployment. If we tried to make enough money by printing more, it would lose its value. This is called hyperinflation.

    So the radical thought required is this: the system we device cannot use money.

    There are a few suggestions for a money-less method of distribution (of both goods and labor), but I feel that the most relevant one is Technocracy. I am currently working to design a technocratic plan that would work for Japan and other resource-deficit nations, but in the meantime if you are interested you can read more about it here: http://www.technocracy.ca/simp/begin.html

    tokyokawasaki: No, nothing will change. This is because the current situation is a result of our economic system.

    Posted in: Some wonder if Japan's new leaders have economic vision

  • 0

    adm_kenshin

    All of those who are against massive deficit spending: Do you have an alternative that doesn't imply radical reduction of people's living standard?

    For those of you suggesting that unemployed should be retrained: retrained for what? There are not enough new jobs to soak up the unemployment, without government creating new ones.

    Without deficit spending, the economy would collapse, as the purchasing power of the consumer class is not enough to buy the production of the factories. Still, deficit spending is not a long-term solution, as eventually it will lead to hyperinflation, when foreign countries are no longer interested in buying the debt.

    Money, mankind's oldest and most revered tool, have reached its limit. It's time to try something new.

    realist: The LDP, for better or worse, have kept Japan rather free actually, at least up until 1999 and the terrorism hysteria. I hope the DPJ will continue with these liberal policies. Otherwise we will get moralist hell as in Sweden.

    Posted in: Calls already coming in for fast action after DPJ sweeps LDP out of power

  • 0

    adm_kenshin

    I just can't understand these people. Just look at the numbers, do a little math, and you'll see that even if the consumers' purchasing power could be increased temporarily, that won't automatically lead to an increase in spending. The fact is that Japanese people already can afford all they need to. The market is saturated. Foreign markets are also either saturated or lacks purchasing power. There can be no more (long term) growth, because supply is already way above demand. This is a physical fact.

    Furthermore, attempts to increase demand for consumer products will lead to little success. Most people already have their essentials, and can't afford luxury products. The same is true for most export markets.

    A rethinking of the economy much more radical than DPJ's suggestion will be necessary. Or, we could lower supply by starting a war. Guess which one the politicians will pick ^_-

    Posted in: DPJ looks to reshape Japanese economy

  • 0

    adm_kenshin

    "A sustainable growth path with price stability"? Is Japan going to abolish capitalism and look for a new solution?

    Posted in: Recovery? What recovery?

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