Jean ValJean comments

Posted in: Abe likely to reshuffle cabinet after Diet session ends See in context

Reminds of the song, "Send In The Clowns" and the last verse "Don't bother. They're here."

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: Abenomics struggles to deliver public works boom See in context

" The most dangerous thing for any economy is rising wages in the lower tax brackets. The money needs to stay at the top…"

Wow. Not related to Leona Helmsley, are you?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Posted in: Kerry to visit Kiev as Russian forces control Crimea See in context

" A number of high ranking Ukrainian military and security officials in Crimea have sworn their allegiance to the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, as Simferopol pushes for its autonomy from the self-imposed government in Kiev.

The head of the Security Service of Crimea Petyor Zima, Chief of Department of Internal Affairs in the Crimea Sergey Abisov, the head of Service for Emergency Situations Sergei Shakhov and acting Chief of the Border Guards of Crimea Victor Melnichenko all took an oath of allegiance to the people of Crimea.

Earlier rear admiral Denis Berezovsky swore allegiance to the people of Crimea taking control over Crimea's newly formed Navy.

The ceremony took place in the Council of Ministers chamber in the presence of regional government officials, mayors of different cities and regions.

Those who took the oath promised “to respect and strictly observe the Constitution of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea” and to “promote the preservation of interethnic accord and civil peace” on the peninsula."

The loyalties in Crimea favor Russia.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Posted in: Obama warns Putin on Russian incursion in Crimea See in context

Many of the Ukranian servicemembers in Crimeria are switching to the "local" Crimerian side. That means they do not support the current IMF-backed stooges in Kiev.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Posted in: Abenomics struggles to deliver public works boom See in context

Bertie, I got a wage increase. It's less the half of one percent for "excellent " performance. Fortunately, my in-country income is sufficient for a modest living. But, for very many they've gotten a 3-5% effective pay cut thanks to Abe's foolishness.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

Posted in: Abenomics struggles to deliver public works boom See in context

" So....rising wages among construction and others workers are BAD for the working class, eh? Well, Jean, what can I say? You've outdone yourself yet again."

Are you thick? As you quoted me, " "but the costs are on the backs of the working class" clearly referred to the combined costs of inflated materials as well as lagging, but increase labor costs. Pop quiz: How long is the delay in worker wage increases?

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Posted in: Japan pledges $200 million in aid for Palestinians See in context

Which useful idiot(s) made the decision to give away the hard-earned money which was extorted from the taxpayers to be given to an undeserving and most-likely utterly corrupt association?

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Posted in: Japan marks Bikini Atoll hydrogen test bomb anniversary See in context

" (The revisionists who doubt that assessment might want to read the emperor's surrender speech.)"

Have you never played chess? If you only play one or two steps ahead you might as well not play at all.

Other than the standard US public school textbook paragraph on the atomic bombings, there's a wealth of factual information readily available nowadays that clearly expound on the multiple reasons the US dropped the Little Boy and Fat Man.

" Many U.S. military leaders as well as ex-president Herbert Hoover, argued that it was simply an extension of the already fierce conventional bombing campaign, and therefore militarily unnecessary. [254] This, together with the sea blockade and the collapse of Germany (with its implications regarding redeployment), could also have led to a Japanese surrender. As the United States dropped its atomic bomb on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, the Soviet Union launched a surprise attack with 1.6 million troops against the Kwantung Army in Manchuria. "The Soviet entry into the war", noted Japanese historian Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, "played a much greater role than the atomic bombs in inducing Japan to surrender because it dashed any hope that Japan could terminate the war through Moscow's mediation"."

-5 ( +4 / -9 )

Posted in: Abenomics struggles to deliver public works boom See in context

Shortsightedness is a hallmark of bad economics, as is clearly seen in Abenormalnomics.

" The reasons for the Tsukiji problem is that "material costs and wages are rising." Let's see, inflation and higher wages...the original goals of Abenomics! The other "problem" is the labor shortage, and that's thanks to pick up in the recovering economy. What's more, Japan's economic growth is the highest it has been in three years. Now this is an odd "failure," isn't it."

The inflated material and labor costs may benefit the government in the form of taxes, but the costs are on the backs of the working class(the same that liberals proclaim to help) who pay for it all. As for the labor shortage, there's the combination of shrinking workforce (graying population and nonparticipants) and reluctance to do physical work for modest wages. What you see in a massive market distortion.

Moreover, an increasing percentage of public works projects are either starting significantly delayed or not getting off the ground at all. As the article mentioned,

" Japan had to roll over to the next budget 3.7 trillion yen it failed to spend out of the 9.8 trillion yen earmarked for public works in the last fiscal year to March 2013." That means that those funds devalued while in the coffers and now will produce even less result.

"Government-funded construction projects contributed only a third as much to growth in the fourth quarter as they had in the previous two quarters."

Like a sugar high, the law of diminishing returns takes effect.

As any rise in wages will (and are already) lag the rises in prices compounded by increasing taxes significantly, even the near term result is the reduction of average wealth. The longterm result is much uglier.

0 ( +6 / -6 )

Posted in: Abenomics struggles to deliver public works boom See in context

" Wow, you're so... deep! Your analysis of bussiness which you never had is so... superb! What a great guy and visioner who wastes his entire days on the Internet writing how bad Japan is or how bad it's economy is! According to you it should be down for a few years now, exactly from the time when you started your Internet 'career'."

Textbook ad hominem.

5 ( +8 / -3 )

Posted in: Police caution 158 minors for using Internet to solicit dates, sell underwear See in context

@elbuda, why are you shouting? I doubt it helps convey your thoughts.

As we all know, that's the oldest profession. It seems as long as humans inhabit the Earth there will be bartering for ... services. If the individuals are of consenting age, then it's their (unwise) choice. But to those who buy the products or services; Please seek psychological help.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Japan marks Bikini Atoll hydrogen test bomb anniversary See in context

@Barbara Trout, absolutely! Even MacArthur was against them as being completely unnecessary. The reality is that the bombings were really a part of the Cold War which was already underway.

0 ( +5 / -5 )

Posted in: Tokyo fair showcases latest sex aids See in context

Really glad we got advanced notice for this event. Sounds like it'll be a fun and cheeky event to attend.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Posted in: Bridge and tunnels to be inspected every 5 years See in context

With the existing astronomical toll fees there ought to be plenty of funding already for regular inspections, unless the money has been mismanaged by quasi-privatised(mostly national) "companies ".

I cringe every time I drive through an older tunnel. The Aqualine? Not. A. Chance! I take the nice, slow ferry.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Posted in: Abenomics struggles to deliver public works boom See in context

Wow! Whodathunk that Abe's Keynesian experiment would fail so extraordinarily? The only thing he has succeeded in doing is currency devaluation and setting up the entire economy for a huge crash accelerating on April 1st. In the future that date may be known as Abe's Day, similar to UK's Guy Fawkes Day, complete with burning effigies.

5 ( +9 / -4 )

Posted in: Obama warns Putin on Russian incursion in Crimea See in context

Kabukilover, excellent, informed posts! This situation is the direct result of the coup in Ukraine(not in Crimea). Ukraine is not all the same ethnically. As previously noted, Crimea is 60% ethnically Russian and an autonomous republic within Ukraine. Indeed, it's a mess. Russia certainly has the right to protect the ethnic majority Russians and its naval interests. Crimea ought to be it's own independent state.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: 36 'smartphone walkers' hospitalized in Tokyo in 2013 See in context

The Walking Braindead, Dumb Phone-Zombies. This is just the next phase. It's replaced the gamers doing the same thing.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Posted in: Boeing making ultra-safe smartphone See in context

The UltraSafeFone will only be available for Party Elites.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Posted in: Chinese media hurls racist slur at departing U.S. envoy See in context

" If Chinese are attacking him so viciously, he must be an even greater person than I had originally thought..."

The CCP's mouthpiece attacked him like the US hawks attacked Snowden. The attackers must be cut from the same cloth.

-7 ( +3 / -10 )

Posted in: 'Dead' man wakes up in Mississippi funeral home See in context

He got up groaning "Brains!"

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: Plight of minority youths in U.S. an 'outrage': Obama See in context

" ...and my view of giving the death penalty to all drug dealers, drug users etc..may seem too radical for the USA but look Singapore,Saudi Arabia etc..can do it, why can't get with the program??"

Totalitarian fantasy much? If that doesn't border on psychopathology, I'm a monkey's uncle.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Posted in: New online menaces: from spamming fridges to hijackers See in context

More Orwellian are the webcam outfitted TV's. It's just been revealed that GCHQ has been hacking images via folks' Yahoo cam-chats. The spamwich jokes aside, this is really no joke.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Factory output jumps on demand rush before tax hike See in context

To understand all of the stupidity in Abenomics policies, one merely has to read Hazlitt's " Economics in One Lesson."

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: BOJ's Ishida: Recovery on track even if GDP falls after tax hike See in context

" Ishida also said that he saw a strong chance that Japan’s consumer prices will increase enough to reach the BOJ’s 2% inflation target from the second half of fiscal 2014 to fiscal 2015."

Ah, here's the silver lining; the powerless underclass will have to pay more to get less while working more for less. Got it! Rejoice in impoverishment provided by BOJ incompetent practices! All is well!

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Posted in: Aso says he always thought Bitcoin was suspect See in context

As usual, the lapdog media omits significant facts:

" The writing has been on the wall. 2013 was a scandal-laden year for Mt. Gox, as the feds seized $5 million from its bank accounts, a $75 million lawsuit with a former partner manifested, and its US banks accounts were closed resulting in the company's inability to get funds to US customers."

" Mt. Gox worked hard to build up goodwill in the community: in 2011, after the exchange was hacked, Karpeles made good and fulfilled obligations. But things started going awry in May, 2013, as federal agencies seized $2.9 million, shutting down a Wells Fargo bank account belonging to a Mt. Gox subsidiary. This account was integral to paying Mt. Gox's US customers. Things turned for even worse when, one month later, the US government seized another $2.1 million from a second bank account. Thereafter, Mt. Gox suspended US money transfers. Some transfers started coming in from European banks like Deutsche Bank. In mid-2013, according to Karpeles, Mt. Gox was receiving somewhere between $5 million and $20 million incoming transfers daily, and paying out between $300,000 and $1 million. This he told Reuters while perched atop a blue exercise ball without explanation. The feds justified the account seizures by stating Mt. Gox did not disclose that it was in the money transmission business."

Just as the feds were behind the closure of Silk Road and the arrests of some associated people, who do you think is behind the shutting down of the largest bitcoin exchange? Surely the feds have had it in their sights for quite some time.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Posted in: Aso says he always thought Bitcoin was suspect See in context

Pretty much anything Aso says is either incorrect, wrong, or uninformed. MtGox is not Bitcoin.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

Posted in: Plight of minority youths in U.S. an 'outrage': Obama See in context

@Alpha, I had written a post that mostly agreed with your position but which pointed out how many of those at risk youths get lured into the streetgang drug trade by the easy money and the immediate gratification that comes with the bling as opposed to the results of hard work in studying and working.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Posted in: Factory output jumps on demand rush before tax hike See in context

Until March 31 consumer spending will be artificially high, after which sales of durable goods will drop. People's purse strings will tighten further as rising prices exert downward pressure on disposable income. Few will see a rise in salary, Most will only feel the pain. It'll hurt those who can least afford it most. Utter stupidity on the part of those at the helm.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Posted in: Plight of minority youths in U.S. an 'outrage': Obama See in context

The Great Unifier has spoken! Why is it that the incarceration rate(and recidivism) is so high and minority employment so low? Thank the highly successful "War on Drugs". That is what has fomented the cycle of poverty and criminality that has put US urban centers in a stranglehold, that coupled with the militarization of "peace officers".

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

Posted in: Zushi passes resolution banning alcohol, loud music on beach See in context

" So, where do you draw the line between being conservative and being a communist?"

Say what?! Please say you're joking.

I understand the residents of Zushi not wanting to be overrun by hand undesirables(yaks, mostly). I would venture that even if you are tattooed and enjoying an adult beverage that as long as you're not making a nuisance of yourself that you'll not be bothered. I don't foresee uniformed goons patrolling the beaches as in The Land of the (formerly) Free. So, don't get your knickers in a twist.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

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