Posted on 03/05/2015 3:45:06 PM PST by blam
03/05/2015
Simon Black
Tyler Durden
It’s entirely possible that we may see interstellar space travel in our lifetime. And what a dream that would be.
But in the meantime, for anyone that’s losing patience with space technology, I would recommend you visit Japan. Because for anybody that has been here, this place is as close as it gets to being on another planet.
Japan is a land of irony and dichotomy. It is one of the most conservative cultures in the world, while simultaneously being one of the most perverted.
Business culture here is yet another thing that seems totally alien. Creativity and innovation are constrained by process and procedure. The individual is never celebrated, and dutiful compliance is everything.
In Japanese corporate culture, business meetings follow a strict agenda. New ideas, no matter how valuable, are simply not welcome.
They actually have a term here called nemawashi, which is a meeting before a meeting. The idea being that if you have an idea to present at a meeting, you need to discuss it first so that nobody’s caught off guard or embarrassed by not having a prepared response.
This is a cultural nuance that is completely lost on most Westerners. It stems from this mindset that everyone has an obligation to make sure that nobody else looks bad.
This carries over especially into Japan’s economic and financial situation. As a percentage of GDP the government here is carrying more debt than anyone else on the planet.
At one quadrillion yen, the debt level is so high that it now takes the government 43% of its central tax revenue just to pay interest this year.
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at zerohedge.com ...
Doesn’t sound sustainable
Quantitative Easing.
Priming the Pump.
Phillips Curve.
Keynesianism.
How do you say, “How’s that voodoo economics workin’ out for ya?” in Japanese?
The US would be there now were it not for the zero interest rate the “Fed” has imposed.
I think a more accurate way to describe things is that the Bank of Japan printed the money which they now use to buy their bonds.
It takes just a small, small nudge up in interest rates and they will QE themselves 100%.
Magic! It’s the Krugman way!
Nearly all the Japanese bonds are held by Japanese individuals and companies. Japan can just print money and hand it out to them. There won’t be any inflation, because everyone is too old to buy anything, and just puts the interest they receive in the bank.
It will be interesting to see how the debt bubbles get passed around. The debt will keep popping up and will never be reduced.
Don't Japanese baseball batters have to inform the pitcher if they intend to bat the next ball for a home run?
Everybody can be a Babe Ruth, and call their shots!
What do ‘Keynesians’ call spending 43% Of Tax Revenue To Fund Interest On Debt?
... A good start!
See, there always is a day of reckoning. Eventually, the world will realize that all of dollars that are being created out of thin air in order to keep interest rates down are diluting the dollars that they now hold. This will result in a massive sell off causing the value of the dollar to crash. Up until now, the U.S. just printed and printed figuring foreigners would blindly continue to hold them. They are living off of a century long good reputation. If the dollar crashes (and that is what I think will be the next financial crisis) the United States will have to quickly ratchet up interest rates to stop the bleeding. This will kill business activity, as well as make service on the debt more expensive. No free lunch. Grandma was right.
Ha! Those debt spending fools!
Philadelphia is paying 50% on their teacher pension and 30% on dept on the school money and 14% for health benefits so 94% gone leaving 6% to buy pencils and books unless they buy iPads and.....
Good thing we are not on that same tract!
We will be there soon.
Always loved this representation, ‘cause I can only count ~20% that is Constitutional.
Ah, if we only had such a thing again...
Yeah...we're not that stupid, eh?
Exactly.
Japan also has a huge demographics problem since they currently buy more adult diapers than kids diapers.
However, that might be part of the perversion thing.
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