They say a picture speaks a thousand words. Here's a comic that does. It shows why we should be against all nationalization of industry and bailouts of industry and banks as well as tax increase and adding debt to our already un-payable debt.
Of course the free market system (which, by the way, we haven't ever really tried - there's always government control and cronyism) has its warts... But the way we do things now (bailouts, credit rate control, printing money, government take over of industry, government controlled education, medical care and retirement) just doesn't work. The fact that we're heading for bankruptcy (Greece is showing us what's going to happen to us soon enough) shows that we must stop this big government mentality.
If an industry like banks or big companies like General Motors or TEPCO in Japan go bankrupt, let them! Why do private companies get to keep profits but when they lose money the government wants to socialize their loses and stick it to the taxpayer?
And some taxpayers actually agree with this twisted logic?
Say in the case of a company like GM. If we bail them out, the same incompetent management get to keep their jobs. If they go bankrupt, a new group comes in and buys them up. The new group gets rid of the bad parts. The factories are still there, the buildings are still there, the new company needs someone to run those factories; they get rid of bad management and bad workers and start again. That's why they buy a bankrupt company in the first place; they think they can make it profitable!
But, when the government bails them out? The incompetents keep their jobs (and donate to the next election of those government people) and confused people in the public sector think that those industries should be nationalized. Yes. Nationalized and run ostensibly for a profit. Like the profitable venture that our, say, Japanese government has us at public debt of 229% of GDP.
What's wrong with this logic and this picture?
Anyway, the same old same old way of doing business that we've been doing for the last 40 years, since 1971, has got to stop.
Haven't we screwed up the world for our kids and their kid's kids enough as it is?
But first, watch this video of a sinking ship and you'll get the idea of what I'm talking about here:
You back? OK. Well, the video is relative because, first; the passengers are oblivious to dangers coming (the passengers represent us "the people"). Second; when the ship started sinking, the captain and crew were splitting. The captain & the crew represent our politicians and bankers.
Not a pretty picture. People going along, as usual, in their ignorant bliss. The "leaders" knowing full well what's going on but trying to get out with what they can, while they can! The only difference between the sinking ship and the economy is there won't be any rescue coming for us.
While the entire world watches Greece and Italy, it seems, from looking at this chart, the real action is the UK, Japan, Spain and France.
Business, government and household debt in Japan show a 492% of GDP problem for Japan. The tax and spend days are coming to an end soon in Europe, the USA and, of course, in Japan.
This entire house of cards is going to collapse around our heads. When the collapse does come, it will come suddenly. Hope you have cash readily available and at least a few weeks of food and water ready. Because when the crash does come, stores will be empty in a matter if a few hours - if it takes that long.
A reader sends in this video. Kyle Bass on the BBC saying that Japan is "next":
Every morning, like clockwork, I turn on my computer to do work and to write this blog. Every morning I see something on the top page of Yahoo that just makes me roll my eyes. (Yes, I know everyone uses Google, but I use Yahoo to get the financial and stock market news).
Everyday, at the top of the page, Yahoo has their 5 "hot" stories. These are always incredibly stupid and useless. Usually it is about an unusual football play (when, upon clicking, you see that it is not so unusual at all)... Or it it about some idiocy involving some Hollywood person getting a divorce or the dress s/he is wearing or something else.
Here's what was at the top of Yahoo this morning: $2.5 million dollar bra, Wal-Mart's sales, Golfer gets angry, 10 strange sports venues, Billy Crystal hosts Oscars? Hoo hum...
In a few words, God! American society is stupid!
You know this stuff is there because Yahoo is "giving people what they want"... There is never any news about anything that actually matters.
The article is just Hollywood fabulous. Let me quote:
Each season of "Dancing With the Stars" features a revolving line-up of contestants and professional dancers, but one thing remains the same: spray tans are a big part of the show. And that's where Julie Nostrand, the owner of South Seas Skin Care, comes in. All season long, she's spent every Sunday flying from Loveland, Colorado, to Los Angeles, to ensure celebs look luminous in the ballroom and in front of the camera. omg! caught up with Nostrand to find out more about what the stars do to get glam.
Isn't that just ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz......... Oh, where was I?
According to the A.C. Nielsen Co., the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day (or 28 hours/week, or 2 months of nonstop TV-watching per year). In a 65-year life, that person will have spent 9 years glued to the tube.
The average child will watch 8,000 murders on TV before finishing elementary school. By age eighteen, the average American has seen 200,000 acts of violence on TV, including 40,000 murders. At a meeting in Nashville, TN last July, Dr. John Nelson of the American Medical Association (an endorser of National TV-Turnoff Week) said that if 2,888 out of 3,000 studies show that TV violence is a casual factor in real-life mayhem, "it's a public health problem." The American Psychiatric Association addressed this problem in its endorsement of National TV-Turnoff Week, stating, "We have had a long-standing concern with the impact of television on behavior, especially among children."
Millions of Americans are so hooked on television that they fit the criteria for substance abuse as defined in the official psychiatric manual, according to Rutgers University psychologist and TV-Free America board member Robert Kubey. Heavy TV viewers exhibit five dependency symptoms--two more than necessary to arrive at a clinical diagnosis of substance abuse. These include: 1) using TV as a sedative; 2) indiscriminate viewing; 3) feeling loss of control while viewing; 4) feeling angry with oneself for watching too much; 5) inability to stop watching; and 6) feeling miserable when kept from watching.
OK, 4 hours a day or 6.7 hours a day of watching TV!? Are you kidding me? Don't these people work? How can anyone, in this day and age, have the time to watch that much TV? Why would anyone want to watch that much TV? These people are truly sick, especially when they feel miserable when they cannot watch enough TV!
What's to watch on TV? Nothing good.
I heard from my friend who works at NHK that recent surveys in Japan show that the average Japanese under 30-year-old watches an average 20 minutes of TV per day.
If these statistics are true then the USA is definitely done for. People in the USA no longer read books, they don't know their basic geography. They don't know the difference between John and Yoko staying in bed to protest the war or Lenin doing the same. They think Falafel is a political party in Pakistan and the people in Eye-rack had nooklar weapons.
They think Mexico is in Central America even though Central America doesn't exist... And, they think Napoleon is an ice-cream sundae at 31 Flavors. They couldn't pick out "Grease" on a map of Europe and don't care about "Cheese eating surrender monkeys" anyway.
The night closes in. Read the surveys of what children know, what students in universities know. Approximately nothing. We have become wanton morons. As the intellectual shadows fall again, as literacy declines and minds grow dim in the new twilight, who will copy the parchments this time?
No longer are we a schooled people. Brash new peasants grin and peck at their iPods. Unknowing, incurious, they gaze at their screens and twiddle, twiddle. They will not preserve the works of five millenia. They cannot. They do not even know why.
Twilight really does come. Sales of books fall. Attention spans shorten. Music gives way to angry urban grunting. The young count on their fingers when they do not have a calculator, know less by the year. We have already seen the frist American generations less educated than their parents. College graduates do not know when World War One happened, or what the Raj was. They have read nothing except the nothing that they read, and little of that. Democracy was an interesting thought.
Ours will be a stranger Dark Age than the old one. Our peasants brush their teeth and wash, imagine themselves of the middle class, but their heads are empty.
We are witnessing the end times for the USA as we've known it for all these years.... It's too bad that, when the drunken giant in the room finally collapses, his fall is going to break everything on everyone else's tables.
It's been written on these pages since the beginning of 2011: Groupon has BIG trouble. Now, with events in Greece completely throwing a wrench into the Eurozone and markets, it looks like Groupon could suffer greatly from events in Athens. It must be confirmed by the latest news today: There must be crisis in the EU and the Groupon boardroom bordering on a full-blown panic.
Nov. 1, 2011. Two days before Groupon pricing Dow Jones
drops nearly 2.5%... Situation in Europe up in the air.
Groupon must IPO. Their situation is getting serious. They have yet to turn a profit and, if the books were closed today, they'd be over $221.7 million dollars in the red. Groupon is running out of cash.
Groupon remains unprofitable. The company had $243.9 million in cash at the end of September and still owed merchants $465.6 million. The 8.4 percent increase in cash from the prior period was outstripped by the rise in marketing costs, which jumped 37 percent to $234.4 million.
The company has used 85 percent of the $1.11 billion it has raised from venture capitalists and other investors to buy equity from early investors eager for a return, instead of funding growth. That is contributing to a potential cash crunch, said Sam Hamadeh, chief executive officer of PrivCo, which provides financial data on more than 20,000 private companies. With two days to go until IPO and the stock market's crashing worldwide, then Groupon must be in a panic... If not, then the stuff they were smoking when they rejected the $6 billion dollar offer from Google must be really killer weed!
Monday morning (Sunday for most people who read this blog). I've got a ton of things to do but here's a few things I've been thinking about... Especially how, even a few days after press release, you can see proof of how messed up a company Linkedin Japan is. Linkedin Japan is a FAIL!
First up, though, before the bashing begins, for your enjoyment, a very cool video Mash-up by Hexstatic of Nancy Sinatra's sixties smash hit "These Boots Were Made For Walking"
The picture in Greece, whose troubles kicked off the crisis almost two years ago, is bleaker than ever. A new report from Athens' international debt inspectors -- the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund -- proved that a preliminary deal for a second package of rescue loans reached in July is already obsolete.
The report showed that in the past three months Greece's economic situation has deteriorated so dramatically that for the bank deal to remain in place, the official sector would have to provide some euro252 billion ($347 billion) in loans. Alternatively, to keep official loans at euro109 billion ($150 billion), banks would have to accept cuts of about 60 percent to the value of their Greek bonds.
….
100 Million Euros is insufficient. The IMF pegged the amount between 100 million and 200 million. There is absolutely no reason to suspect the minimum is needed. Indeed, there is every reason to expect 400 million euros is insufficient.
….
I believe 400 million Euros will prove way insufficient once Portugal, then Spain, then Italy get into trouble.
Like I said, I think we could see the bankruptcy of Greece any day now. If that happens, all bets are off and it's every man (family) for itself. I think people would be wise to draw out a good sum of money from the banks and have it at home for a few weeks just to be safe until we can see what is going to happen. I fear a "bank holiday" where it might not be possible to withdraw money (or possibly even use credit cards) from banks for a few days or even a week or two (or more?)
I always follow my own advice and I think I've done pretty well. I always mess up dates, though... But I predicted a bad situation in Autumn on 2011 and, well, here it is, autumn. Please refer to: Japan's Financial Armageddon is Coming in 60 Days?
I warned people in October of 2008 to buy gold and silver and to stock up on food (click the links for proof). At that time, gold was $724.08 an ounce (today gold is $1562.30) and silver was $9.11 an ounce (today silver stands at $47.40).
If you had taken my advice, you would have easily more than doubled your investment in gold and taken over a 520% profit on silver. It's still not too late to get into gold and silver but a price correction is coming so wait a bit.* There will be no price correction on food. Stock up now, while you can.
After the big Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, when the stores shelves were bare for a week or so (and no one knew at the time how things were going to turn out on the food and water situation) my family was fine; we had 6 months of food and water, enough for 5 people, stocked up and ready to go. When people panicked and ran away from Tokyo or when they were fighting for parking spaces at the local grocery store, or fighting for bottles of water, I only watched and shook my head in disbelief.
How can people be so gullible and foolish? How can people be so negligent and irresponsible not to be prepared?
…..
Let me give you fair warning again. Especially if you live in Japan:
1) Store up enough water for at least 2 months (6 months preferable)
2) Fill your bathtub with water every night (if water stops you can use for cleaning)
3) Today or this week, buy at least 2 months of canned food (6 months preferable)
4) It is still not too late! Start saving money every month by buying gold and silver. If you have some savings, take 33% of it out of the bank and buy gold. Take the other 33% and keep it at safe place at home.
It looks like we are headed for some really rough times. Better be prepared to stay out of the way.
The point I am ultimately making is that of course no one can predict the future but just because of that fact not being prepared is just plain foolish. I'm sure that there were many people in Tohoku before the earthquake and tsunami who could make the same claim that "No one could have predicted the future" so that's why many did not have food or water or the means to escape (same as many in Tokyo)... But this is not about predicting the future, this is about protecting yourselves and your family.
If you think this is about predicting the future, then use that same logic next time you buy auto, car, fire or life insurance. Don't need them, right? No one can predict the future.
While I mention Greece, another curious thing about the situation there is that it is not being mentioned on the MSM. There's lots about demonstrations in the USA, where things are peaceful for the most part, but in places like Greece, where the sh*t is about to hit the fan? Not a peep.
I had been looking at many videos on Youtube and others showing some very heavy fighting between rioters and police. I wish I would have bookmarked them. This one, though, give a good idea. This is not a friendly party.
The most worrisome point about the situation in Greece is that the government needs the police and military to stand by them to protect them from and increasingly angry and militant civilian gathering, yet, at the same time, even the Greek police and civil servants are furious about getting pay cuts and massive slashes to their pensions. I wonder how long until they switch sides?
What would that mean for Greece and the other countries in immediate danger (Spain, Portugal, Italy, Ireland?)
And, finally, I see the ridiculous announcement from Linkedin that they finally "launched their Japanese site". Well, that's one big strike against them; they're lying. The service was actually launched sometime before May of 2010.
How to correctly handle a new product or service release? (in Japan)
A new company/product/service will need to appoint somebody in Japan to handle PR for them in Japan and work with that company to make a plan.
A necessary part of any good plan of attack would be that the representatives in Japan arrange meetings with major media at least 1 - 2 weeks before Japanese release day, as pre-press release. This is critical.
If this sort of ground-work is not fully prepared by the company and their reps in Japan, I strongly suggest that the company postpone the release of the product/service (and fire their representatives and hire a competent company) and then get properly prepared. If this sort of pre-press release is done correctly, the Japanese media will then follow-up and prepare and study the circumstances of the product/service and company so that they may be able to publish and provide better information for the Japanese audience (don't forget that the Japanese media are competing with each other, too, to provide up-to-date concise information, so this has to be done. No short-cuts here). This is critical for the success of any new company in Japan.
Even after years of repeated failures byvarious companies, to this very day, foreign companies come to Japan and repeat the mistakes Pepsi Cola and Seven-Up made decades ago. Some recent examples are Linkedin; E-Bay Japan, Google.jp, and a few others. (I strongly suspect Sugarsync is about to make the same mistake too!)
Take, for example, Linked-in. Linked-in came out with a Japanese version quite a while back but no one here in Japan uses it because no one knows about it; they had no local representation; no pre-press release information.
Kind of shocking, when you think about it; a supposedly forward thinking company coming to Japan and making such an amateurish mistake.
Well, Linkedin made that mistake. I also am quite familiar with this as I wrote a letter to Linkedin twice in early 2010 offering them a partnership with some companies that suggested tying up with Sony and placing the Linkedin software with all new Vaio computers sold. I sent them the letter twice. Twice, no response. Chuckle. Now, they've realized almost 1.5 years later that no one uses their Japanese language product (and probably won't). They blew a golden opportunity to tie up with one of the biggest companies in Japan... Now, what are they going to do?
You don't penetrate the Japanese market on the cheap and you usually have only one chance to get it right.
Let me make a prediction that I will stand by completely: Linkedin Japan will be a flop and failure along the lines of E-Bay in Japan.
Well, it's the start of another week. Keep positive. Write down your goals and smile.
Is the financial Armageddon coming soon? Many people are now warning that it is inevitable. I agree. It may not be in 60 days, but I think it is coming Autumn 2011. I'm not sure, but things are lining up poorly so I think you had better get prepared. This is a warning.
People should listen to my warnings. I warned people in October of 2008 to buy gold and silver and to stock up on food (click the links for proof). At that time, gold was $724.08 an ounce (today gold is $1562.30) and silver was $9.11 an ounce (today silver stands at $47.40).
If you had taken my advice, you would have easily more than doubled your investment in gold and taken over a 520% profit on silver. It's still not too late to get into gold and silver but a price correction is coming so wait a bit.* There will be no price correction on food. Stock up now, while you can.
*Note: A few hours after the posting of this article (check the dates and times) the price of silver dropped almost 10%.
After the big Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, when the stores shelves were bare for a week or so (and no one knew at the time how things were going to turn out on the food and water situation) my family was fine; we had 6 months of food and water, enough for 5 people, stocked up and ready to go. When people panicked and ran away from Tokyo or when they were fighting for parking spaces at the local grocery store, or fighting for bottles of water, I only watched and shook my head in disbelief.
How can people be so gullible and foolish? How can people be so negligent and irresponsible not to be prepared?
The repercussions of the Japan earthquake and tsunami followed by the nuclear accident has created shock waves throughout the world. Throw that on top of the soon-to-come collapse of the Euro...
Either preceded or followed by the collapse of the US dollar....
A lot of people predicted an economic calamity after the earthquake and tsunami. But, now some are saying it didn't happen. The fact is that the earthquake and tsunami are blips on the screen in the overall picture of the world economy.... But taken together with the information contained in the videos above, and they stat to cause one to consider.
Consider the Euro zone and the US dollar - along with Japan's aging problem and public debt problems - in the context of the repercussions for the business world of the Japan disaster. For a small example of how the Japan calamity is affecting foreign nations and companies, consider the fact that Japanese cars manufacturers have closed many of their plants as they are unable to obtain parts.
On initial inspection, this doesn't seem to be such a problem. But these plants, and including Japanese plants in the USA, employ tens of thousands of people. Now, what about the satellite businesses that deal with cars? The list is long, but here's two easy ones; Tire makers or service stands? What about other businesses that cater to auto worker employees? How about them? Home manufacturers, clothes makers, shoes manufacturers, the entertainment sector, banks, credit card companies, etc., etc.?
Now, consider the fact that nearly ever company must file their quarterly business report, well, every quarter. That means that the earthquake occurred on March 11... Let's just use March 30th as an easy calculation... This means that all of these corporations will show the effect of the Japan disaster - added to an already overloaded world economic crisis - and you just might have one more straw added to the camel's back... Could it be the straw that breaks the camel's back?
I don't think so. But throw on the extremely high probability of a Greek, Irish and Portuguese default on public debt and the ground swell rumors now abounding that Spain and Italy are next ( and are "Too big to bail") then you have a serious problem.
Let me give you fair warning again. Especially if you live in Japan:
1) Store up enough water for at least 2 months (6 months preferable) 2) Fill your bathtub with water every night (if water stops you can use for cleaning) 3) Today or this week, buy at least 2 months of canned food (6 months preferable) 4) It is still not too late! Start saving money every month by buying gold and silver. If you have some savings, take 33% of it out of the bank and buy gold. Take the other 33% and keep it at safe place at home.
It looks like we are headed for some really rough times. Better be prepared to stay out of the way.
If you want to find the best places to buy gold and silver, search those keywords on this blog's search function. I've warned people so many times up until now, that I'm tired of linking to it over and over.
Will people pay attention this time? If history is any guide, the answer is "No!"
