Old Skool Yakuza Gangster Assassination - New Skool Government Fear Mongering

"You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before." - Rahm Emanuel

Well, as it has been said, never to let a good crisis go to waste, a gangland killing in Japan has gotten the police and the mass media in a huff to show the population of Japan just how much serious danger they, and their children, are in. What ever will we do? Well, obviously, we need to rely on the police to protect us from these senseless gangster killers who are out to kill us all and eat our children. Read on.

Yakuza are going the way of the samurai... The ones I see never dress nice like this anymore.... They only dress nicely like this in the movies...

It looks like the Yakuza gangsters in Japan have really fallen on tough times. It seems that things are so bad that they've started eating out at crummy family restaurants. What ever happened to the classy joints these guys used to hang at at? You know, guys like Don Corleone who would only go to those ritzy members-only clubs that were filled with those classy hot dames like you see in the movies?

Yeah. Like this. High class women... Gentlemanly attitude

Gangsters hanging out at family restaurants!? I mean, has business gotten that bad? My business is bad too but I never go to family restaurants like Denny's. I hate that place. Family restaurants are over-priced and the food isn't good at all (excepting the salad bar at Sizzler's). And trust folks, even though I don't go, I do know that Denny's in Japan is MUCH better than Denny's in the USA. Denny's in Japan is actually kept very clean and the service is good (well, this is Japan, after all).


But, that's not the point. Never mind.


It seems that in Chiba, a Yakuza guy walked into a Denny's restaurant, pulled out a gun and blew away another Yakuza guy who was sitting there. I think it was a planned "hit" because there was no big scene or fight before the shooting.   


The Japan Times Reports in "Mobster Dead in Eatery Shooting":

CHIBA — An apparently underworld member gunned down another yakuza in a crowded Denny's eatery in Togane, Chiba Prefecture, and then fled, police said.

The shooter, thought to be a gangster in his 60s, remains at large. The victim, Yoshiaki Furukawa, 62, from Kujyukuri, also apparently a yakuza, was shot in the chest. The gunman fled by car from the Denny's Togane Bypass outlet at around 10:05 a.m.

Police, who suspect the killing stemmed from money troubles, set up checkpoints on key routes.

Furukawa entered the Denny's with four others at 8:45 a.m. He started talking with the gunman, who came in shortly before 10 a.m., at another table near the door before he was shot.

"I heard a loud bang real close, just a few meters away from me," said one customer. "When I looked over my shoulder, a man was lying on the floor, bleeding."

So, the Yakuza are out shooting each other in what looks to be a planned event and what to the police do? They scare the entire eastern half of Japan by telling people to take their little children home from school and setting up roadblocks for someone who they don't even know what he looks like.

The female news reporter on the left at the start of the video is amusing in how much she tries her best to look serious and that she actually cares. Also notice the dozens of police and intentionally high visibility at the crime scene. They must have sent every single policeman available to make for great news video!

From the description of the Japan Times quote above the only thing that this news report adds is that the shooting was near a Denny's that is near two schools. I hate to sound like a Negative Nelly, but, well, yeah. The Denny's is near a train station, like probably every Denny's in Japan. Nobody in their right mind puts a family restaurant - or a school - too awfully far from a train station, especially when we're talking about big Japanese cities. Nevertheless, this gives the broadcasting station enough "gunpowder" to be able to scare everyone that the Yakuza are coming for your children! The underlying message being that we need the police to protect us from these out-of-control demons.


Once again, the police will use this incident as some sort of proof that we need more police protection and more laws clamping down on the Yakuza (which has been ongoing for this last year). I think that sort of notion is complete and absolute nonsense. Let me explain and add some perspective to this.


From the Associated Press:

Japan, where very few people own guns, averages 124 gun-related attacks a year, and less than 1 percent end in death. Police often raid the homes of those suspected of having weapons. 

And may I add this from the Asia-Pacific Law Review: 

Gun crime does exist, but in very low numbers. There were only 30 crimes committed in 1989 with shotguns or air rifles. With no legal civilian handgun possession, Japan experiences in an average year less than 200 violent crimes perpetrated with a handgun, of which almost all are perpetrated by Boryokudan, organised crime groups. Most gun crimes involve only unlicensed possession, and not the commission of another crime. 

Anyone can see that the hype doesn't reflect the reality. We don't need more laws curtailing whatever it is that the Yakuza are doing, especially ridiculous things like scalping tickets and we certainly do not need to increase police or government budgets.


We need to cut government spending. With our public debt at 229% of GDP, we certainly do not need to use these sorts of excuses to increase police budgets for crimes that kill 127 people a year (and nearly all of them perpetrated against gangster by gangsters - not regular people) in a country of 127 million people. Heck, in 2010 over 350,000 people died of cancer... 


But laying in a hospital bed with tubes in ones nose doesn't make for good or exciting TV news, now does it? Shootouts and panic are much better for increasing budgets and asking for more taxation. 




Thanks to Japan Times and News on Japan

Japan's SM Police! Why in the World are the Japanese Police Raiding SM Clubs? A Policeman is Caught Naked in One of Them! Ridiculous Laws Must Stop!

I hate to sound like a broken record, but why in the world are the police wasting time and taxpayers monies on chasing people around for victimless "crimes" like smoking herbs, prostitution, gambling, paying for sex and other "favors," and now standing around naked at a Sadomasochist club? You got to be kidding me!

Japanese Dominatrix: Beautiful and sexy Japanese girl? Yes... But not my type... 

Different strokes for different folks, I guess... Me? I've never been one for pain. 

Pain hurts. Funny that; I don't like things that hurt... 

(Probably wouldn't kick her outta bed for eating rice crackers, tho')  

It gets worse and just shows how stupid and hypocritical our masters and the police are in that, at this particular raid on said SM club, one of the 15 patrons arrested was an off-duty police officer! (I wonder how many of those other tax-feeding cops are involved in other so-called "illegal" past-times when they are not busy crashing parties and bizarre past times that other people are involved in?)


Hell, they arrest people for getting their jollies at an SM club? What the heck? Why don't they arrest people for going out and wasting a full day at a golf course too? If you ask me, that is a waste of time. As Mark Twain said, "Golf is a good walk spoiled."

I don't know, honey... You sure a nice dinner 

and a glass of wine wouldn't be more fun?

The Tokyo Reporter has the story that makes me want to pull my hair out: Sapporo cop busted for nudity during raid of SM club:

TOKYO (TR) – Sapporo police early Saturday arrested a fellow officer for public indecency during a raid of a SM club in the Susukino entertainment district, reports the Asahi Shimbun (Feb. 11).

Naotoshi Okuzawa, a 28-year-old senior patrol officer from the Atsubetsu Police Station, was taken into custody after officers entered Club Patio and found the officer on the stage naked and in the company of female employee, who had tied him with a red rope.

“There is no question that I was naked,” Okuzawa is quoted in admitting to the allegations.

When officers entered the premises at 1:15 a.m., 15 customers were present. Initially, Ozawa did not reveal his occupation, but later investigators discovered that he is a fellow officer.

“We seriously apologize for arrest of a policeman,” said Minoru Okumura, a spokesperson for the Hokkaido prefectural police. “All the facts will be investigated, and we will deal with this matter in a very strict manner.” 

"We seriously apologize for the arrest of a policeman"??? Yeah, what he really means is that "We made a mistake. If we'd have known he was a policeman, we'd have never arrested him. We only arrest mundanes and peasants (regular people like you). We promise to make sure that it doesn't happen again..."


Pardon me for being so stupid, but what is it that they are arresting these people and this cop for? Being stupid? Having weird hobbies? Being a bit twisted (who isn't a bit twisted?) Being naked inside a building? Well, funny that, I have a strange notion that it is inside of buildings and not outside of buildings that people are supposed to be naked when that dress (or lack thereof) situation occurs.

"Hands up! I'm taking you in... Dead or alive! Your call!"

Great. Just great. Japan's total debt is 492% of GDP and our national financial situation is desperate and these clowns are chasing around people with fetishisms and other silly habits. It is even stupider when you realize that the government wants to make laws that are supposed to make us "better people"!!!??? As I wrote in: Man Dies Smoking "Legal Herb"? Japan's Newest Drug Craze and More Unnecessary Drug Laws

The government has no business passing laws on what people wish to put into their bodies. If people are stupid enough to want to huff airplane fuel, drive without a seat belt, drink until they kill themselves, or eat junk food all the time, will we pass laws making that illegal too? (Look at the idiocy in England whereby teapots must be labeled, "Sugar leads to diabetics." (sic))

This comes down to private property rights. The poor guy who died, as with you or me, are the owners of our own bodies. There is no one who has the right to tell us what we can and cannot consume. Guidelines are welcomed, but these draconian laws are a waste of taxpayers money.

These idiotic laws are passed, but our lords, masters and politicians get caught doing the very same things that they don't want the mundanes, peasants and  public (that's where you and I come in) to do because of their hypocritical public stance. Remember: "Don't do as I do. Do as I say!"

Cops? Out of control everywhere!

When is the public going to finally stand up and say, "Enough is enough!" of this nonsense.

Japan's Crisis Has Arrived? Japan Has First Trade Deficit in 32 Years!

The floodgates are creaking. If Japan needs foreign loans to float the government debt, the country is sunk. The other option is to destroy the value of the yen.

Will the Japanese public stand hyperinflation? If interest rates go to just 3% they would consume ALL of Japan's tax revenue. Even doubling the Sales Tax won't help.


Mish Shedlock reports in Japan Faces Moment of Truth:

Japan is in deep serious trouble the moment it enters a sustainable period of negative or neutral current account balances. If Japan becomes dependent on foreigners to finance rollovers on its debt either the Yen sinks or interest rates rise. Interest rates at a mere 3% would currently consume all of Japan's tax revenue.

Bloomberg reported; “Japan’s government said it will probably miss its goal of balancing the budget by 2020 even with its proposed doubling of the sales tax, underscoring the scale of the nation’s fiscal challenges.

The primary budget deficit, which excludes the cost of servicing debt, will be the equivalent of 3.1 percent of gross domestic product for the year through March 2021, the Cabinet Office said in Tokyo today. Hours after the release, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda reiterated his call for opposition lawmakers to engage in talks on boosting the sales levy.

‘To balance the budget, the rate needs to rise further.’”

What did I tell you the last time I wrote against an increase in Sales Tax? No matter how much the taxes go up, the government will always spend what it takes and, no matter how much it is raised, it will never be enough. History shows us that! When the first Sales Tax came in at 3% in the early 1980s they said that was going to fix the budget problems. Guess what? Surprise! It didn't.


Why didn't it? Because they spent the money!

The article above really goes into how stupid and into the outer limits of insanity the current government of Japan is by stating that there are some who think Japan should have a 25% Sales Tax.

Like I predicted, this prime minister, Noda something or other (no need to remember his name, he is a goner) will be gone this summer. Bank on it.

Instead of raising taxes, how about cutting spending?

A Pig Farm in Beverly Hills and Downtown Tokyo Where Pigs Crap Diamonds - Government Laws Preventing it too!

"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws." -- Tacitus


There are far too many people living in a fantasy world. There are far too many people who have been brought up under our socialist and nanny state environment for too long, or their entire lives, that they know no different. It reminds me of stories I heard about communist Poland or the Soviet Union in the 1960s: I was told that many people were happy and satisfied with a quarter cube of butter for an entire family once a month because they didn't know any better.


People in our society today think it is normal for people to expect handouts "from the government" or a "free education" or "free medical and health care" or "retirement income."


It's shouldn't come as any surprise to anyone, but, unfortunately it might; folks, few things in life are free anymore. And I don't mean that rhetorically. Not even the air we breathe is free. We get taxed even for that. But they don't call it that. They call it the Clean Air Act. 


Whatever the government can tax, it will. It's no joke to think that governments have considered how to tax even the act of sex. 


Of course, they wouldn't call it that. They'd call it something like "Protect the Babies Act" or something like that. When it comes to taxes and government boondoogles everything the government does is named the opposite of what it is actually designed to do. Rick Santelli had a funny rant the other day. He was talking about this very same subject. How about SOPA, the Anti-Piracy Bill? Who could possibly be against fighting piracy? Is there anybody out there who is for piracy? But the law was actually a law designed to curtail our rights of free speech. Or how about the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)? Who couldn't be for protecting the environment? Or the Consumer Protection Agency? Can anybody be against protecting American consumers?


Or how about when Reagan was president and the USA launched a new series of super high speed nuclear tipped missiles that could hit the Soviet Union within 5 minutes and called them, "Peace Keeper Missiles?" 


It's always a diversionary tactic and things are named for the opposite of what they are actually designed for because people are too stupid to put down the TV remote control and read a book to find out what's really going on.


Hey! Am I talking about books again? Yep. Do people read books anymore? No. So that brings me to my next question: What's the difference between a college graduate in the west who doesn't read books and, say, some native villager up in the mountains who is totally illiterate has never even seen a book their entire life? Nothing. Neither of them read books.


Back to that part a while back talking about the government care and "free" medical and education, etc. etc. Listen, like I said, nothing is free. Another big surprise that people in this day and age might find out is that, psst, don't tell anyone but the government doesn't have any of their own money! Yep. That's right. Every single penny the government has is from taxes taken from people like you and me. The government does not own any industry and has no way to create income so they get monies from taxing the working class (that's you and me). So whenever you say that people should, say, get free healthcare, what you are actually saying is that you think you should be taxed to pay for someone else's medical care.

Well, far be it from me to tell you how to spend your money. But, I, for one, have my hands full paying for myself and my family as it is without to paying for someone else's AND have a government office middleman taking a cut off the top for running and "organizing" (I use that term quite loosely) such services. 


It's very simple: the government functions by taking taxes from the working class. In most cases (like, for example, our trash collection services) the government doesn't even run that. It is an job assigned out to a private company, usually on a no-bid contract. Each municipality does it different, but you can bet your bottom dollar that, as no-bid contracts are wont to do, there are favors being handed out.


To think that the government hires and organizes our trash collection services and those guys picking up our trash cans are government employees is another fantasy world which many people seem to believe in... It is much "cheaper" for the government to hire a outside company with outside workers to do it (insurance, employee compensation problems, etc.) and then take a margin off the top for arranging the services. 


I mean, really, sitting at a desk and organizing is what government employees do best. Of course, everyone has seen that and knows it, right? Or has anyone seen that Clark Kent super government employee office worker jetting around town recently?

Yes. In the 1930s, even American students saluted the flag this way

In our modern society people have been so brainwashed by big government and so-called big society that, as I said, they gotten used to this nonsense and think it is normal.


Well, it wasn't normal not that long ago. In the USA, it started in the 1930's with FDR and got greatly expanded and completely out of hand with Lyndon Johnson in the 1960's in America's so-called "Great Society." Nowadays, through years of government run public education, people have come to believe that the state is our benevolent leader and is here to protect us from cradle to grave. 


I won't go into too many examples of how the government protects it's own populace excepting to mention that, in the 20th century alone government's of the world instituted wars that killed over 160 million people. 


As an aside please don't counter the above paragraph with "diseases killed more people than government!" Yes. That's true. Diseases did kill more. But consider the fact that the doctor who discovered the prevention for a disease like Smallpox, Dr. Edward Jenner, did so in the very late 1700's and he did not work for a government agency. Or French chemist Louis Pasteur who found the Germ Theory of disease and prevention for infectious diseases did not work for the government. In fact, I think you'll find that government employed scientists are usually involved in exploring science for military purposes; not disease and sickness prevention or cure.


But I digress.


Today. Over 1/2 of all American households receive some kind of government assistance. Over 45.8 million Americans are on food stamps. Over 25% of all American children are under the poverty level (Japan has a total poverty level of 15.7%). Both the USA and Japanese government to GDP debt levels are unsustainable and the governments of both countries just keep spending and spending...

Your tax dollars at work

Oh, and did I forget to mention that the government has no money of their own and that the money that they are spending is your money? That money  comes from your pocket? I did mention that? Okay. Thanks. Just wanted to make sure you understood that.


A while back, I had a discussion with a guy who was the typical brainwashed American. He thought that we needed more laws, more taxes and he thought that the government was benevolent and good.  


I told him to consider the notion that "Laws are the anti-thesis to freedom." He scrunched up his face and looked confused.


We were at his house in Den en Chofu overlooking the garden area. Den en Chofu is the ritzy part of Tokyo. Imagine Beverly Hills in Japan and you get the idea. As we looked out from the balcony, he insisted that we needed the government and more laws on the books. This really surprised me as I didn't expect that people who were living upper middle class would want more government control over their lives but I would find out that, to my surprise, he wasn't an independent businessman, he was a government employee and in a sort of public union!


He insisted that we needed the government to make laws like no smoking in restaurants and seat belt laws. I said we didn't. 


In the case of smoking laws, people need to understand the difference between a public building and a private building. A government owned building is a public building, the government can make laws about smoking and rights concerning what goes on inside that building. A privately owned building, like your house, is none of their business. If you want to smoke in your house, or allow others to do so - or not do so - that's your business. If people don't like it that you do or do not allow smoking in your building they can go somewhere else.


Nowhere in the US constitution does it say that the federal government has the power to enact laws pertaining to smoking in privately owned buildings or even that you have to buckle your seat belt (It doesn't say that in the Japanese Constitution either). In America, the individual states might. But the federal government does not. And those go for drug laws and smoking laws and laws concerning prohibition too!


Say your mom and dad work hard all their life and save enough money to quit their jobs and they use their saving to buy a building and open a restaurant. It is their building. They own it. The government has no right to tell them who they can and cannot serve to. If your dad wants to allow his customers to smoke in his restaurant, that is your father's right. The government should make no laws pertaining to that.   


But my friend would have no part of it. He insisted that we needed laws like smoking laws or helmet laws. Like I said, people are indoctrinated by public schooling and taught to not be able to think.


Folks we don't need laws like ones that prohibit smoking in privately owned buildings, or must wear a helmet or ones that say you can't build a pig farm in the middle of Beverly Hills. You know why? Well, I explained about public versus private buildings. Helmets? I think only stupid (or really cool and a tad bit crazy) people would ride a motorcycle without one. (I think I also mentioned something about trying to outlaw stupid.") And pig farms? Well, making a business like a pig farm is a huge investment. I don't think people do it to lose money. Pig farmers are not so stupid. People don't usually start businesses - any businesses - to lose money. 


The government cannot outlaw stupid (though sometimes I wish they'd try!)


Pig farms aren't such high income generating businesses, I suspect. The cost of land in Beverly Hills (or in Den en Chofu, Tokyo) run astronomical amounts. Last I heard Den en Chofu was $120 a square foot! Now, most pig farms are out in the country where land runs about a dollar a foot or so for a reason. It doesn't take much of a mathematician or rocket scientist to figure out that a pig farmer could never afford to make a pig farm in Beverly Hills profitable at those land prices unless those pigs were crapping diamonds.


In which case, the government would find a way to make even that unprofitable with a new tax by calling it something like the "Protect Romance and Precious Diamonds Act of 2012."


So, does anyone think we need laws to stop someone from attempting to make a pig farm in rich neighborhoods? I don't think so.


Things are quickly spinning out of control The biggest problem is most people are walking around like nothing is happening and are hoping for the best. Folks, "Hope" is not a very good business plan nor is it a good plan on how you are going to take care of your family. 


We need to cut down on government and government spending in order to get out of the mess we're in. In Japan's and the US government's case, increasing our debt is not the answer to our debt problems. If the average Joe Blow doesn't start to figure this out really soon, we are in for a world of hurt.


If that happens, then I might like to be a pig farmer and get away from the rat race. I read about pig farming in Charlotte's Web. Now, that fantasy world sounded wonderful.

Still Believe in Global Warming? Jan. 19th, 2012 Was the Coldest Day Globally Since 2002

Man Made Global Warming is a scam? It always was a scam? There is one thing that we can all take as a lesson in life and society and politics: When the government says that there is some problem and to fix that problem they need to tax "We the People" more, you'd better run as fast as you can the other way.


Like the war on terrorism, the war on poverty, the war on drugs, the war on whatever you want; they are all scams and failures. Think about it: Is there anyone of us who thinks the government is competent? Is there anyone who thinks the government can fix even a pothole in the road without being over budget and way past deadline? No, right? Why does anyone think that the government could increase our taxes and fix the weather? 

The government of Florida wasted $78,000 dollars on, get this; buying Super-Hero capes for unemployed people. The Japanese government wasted $78 billion on Global Warming research. 

It's nonsense. The weather reports can't even predict correctly the weather next week, it is astounding that "scientists" and government claim they can predict the weather over the next twenty to one hundred years!   


In early 2006, when the Man-Made Global Warming panic was just getting into full swing, I was the producer of an early morning drive time FM radio show in Tokyo. That show was what we in this business call a "Wide Show." A Wide Show is a variety program that also has news, weather, sports and the like. Our show also had music and bits of comedy dispersed here and there. It was lots of fun and a great experience.


One day, we had a Monty Python-esque comedy skit on the show whereby we parodied the great BBC program. The skit was "The Great Global Warming Debate." In that debate, we had on two "professors" with opposite opinions and asked them to argue the question of "Is there or is there not a problem with Man-made global warming?" 


The build up to the skit was tremendous. We made it sound like the definitive argument was going to take place on our show. When the host asked the first professor, "Is there man-made global warming?" and that professor answered, "Yes!" then the host asked the next professor the same thing and he answered, "No!" That was the end of the debate and we ended the program. After all that fanfare and build up, it was a comedic anti-climax. We thought it was hilarious. One listener didn't think it was funny at all.

Writer's rendition of listener who "Didn't 'get' it."

Soon after the skit ended, the office telephone began ringing. It was unusual for that line to ring as it was early in the morning before office hours so I thought it might be an emergency so I answered. It was an extremely irate man on the other side. He was furious. He insisted that making light and fun of such a serious catastrophe as Man-made Global Warming was blasphemy and that the people responsible should be fired immediately. I told him it was and is a comedy skit and that he shouldn't mind about it.


He'd have none of that. He then demanded that I put the station manager on the line. Little did he know that I was the station manager. I told him to hold the line and then I composed myself and calmed down. I picked up the phone again and told him that I was the station manager. He reiterated his claims and I repeated mine. Finally, after he started cursing and threatening me, I told him that, "I'm sorry you are unhappy listening to the content of our station. If you really don't like it, there are other stations that you can listen to." Oh! That really set him off (I hate people who want to use censorship). It finally got so bad that he threatened to come down to the radio station and, get this, are you sitting down? He threatened to come down to the radio station and set it on fire!


I can never figure out how these Greens and earth and nature lovers can be so peaceful and at one with the universe and nature on the one hand and so militant and ready to kill people on the other. 


After he threatened to burn the station down and kill us all with it, I told him that he was welcomed to try and that we'd be waiting for him with the police and fire department when he comes. Since his phone number was registered on the call list at the telephone company I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to find him. I also promised to visit him in prison. I never heard from him again after that.


That was 6 years ago. At that time, I had predicted on air and to many friends and people who would listen that this Man Made Global Warming business was all a scam.  I knew it was a scam because, even from the start, it was government's of the world claiming that they needed to increase taxes and payments from the people to finance the fight against this new global terror. As a person who has been keeping track of this sort of thing and the current financial calamity that is upon us (and has been building up for 20 years) it was obvious to me that, if you followed the money trail, there was something awfully suspicious about the government's claim of Man-Made Global Warming.

Anything to sell magazines, right? The fiction of Climate Science 1977.

Throw on top of that, my own personal experience of writing a 120 page thesis for my senior year in high school science class of "The Coming Ice Age" that we were lead to believe that was coming in 1975 ~ 1978 or so.


I predicted that this entire facade of Man Made Global Warming would collapse within 5 years. Just now, I was bragging to my wife about it and she said, "No one is talking about Man Made Global Warming anymore are they?"


Nope. Not in Japan, they aren't. That's why Japan is dropping out of the Kyoto Protocol this year. That's why any other countries, like Canada, have already quit. 

"What do you think you are, for Chrissake, crazy or somethin'? Well you're not! You're not! You're no crazier than the average asshole out walkin' around on the streets and that's it." 

Like my wife said, "No one is talking about Man Made Global Warming anymore, are they?" Well, honey, they aren't in Japan. But, unfortunately, some people overseas still are. 


Yes, that's right, Mr. Martini, there is an Easter Bunny!


Well now, here comes some more information that's just going to bunch up the underwear of some believers in the polemic of Man Made Global Warming. It seems that Jan. 19, 2012 was the coldest day globally in 10 years.


Real Science Reports it: 

Global temperatures are plummeting, and the temperature recorded by AMSU satellite of 251.858K on January 19 was the coldest of any day since at least 2002.

Yep. That's it. One sentence. Facts, ma'am. Just facts. 


I wonder if this will make some nature lovers want to set people's houses on fire? After all, that is a brilliant counter argument, isn't it?

The Japanese Titanic: Japan's Public Debt Will Surpass ¥1 Quadrillion Yen Any Day Now

How much is a quadrillion? That's a thousand trillion....


Recently, I've been getting my daily money market news fix from the usual suspects: Mish Shedlock, Karl Denninger and Mad Max Keiser but there's another blog that I've found that hits the mark consistently and updates more than several times a day. It's called Zerohedge. I highly recommend it because the guy that runs it seems to get the scoops on what's going on days and even weeks faster than all the rest.

The latest one rings the alarm bells for Japan once again. Japan's Public Debt is about to surpass ¥1 Quadrillion any day now. Jeez! How many zeroes are there in a quadrillion? I didn't even know without having to look it up.


Let's see that's a one with fifteen zeroes after it. Like this: 1,000,000,000,000,000.


Zero hedge reports in Japan Will Raise More Cash From Debt Issuance Than Taxes For Forth Year in a Row


Japan's marketable public debt, already the largest in the world at $11.2 trillion compared to America's $10 trillion (of course this assumes the whole SSN sleight of hand is funded, which it isn't), is due to surpass ¥1 quadrillion any month now (aka the exponential phase). And that's just the beginning. As Bloomberg reports, "Bond sales to the market will climb to a record 149.7 trillion yen ($1.9 trillion), while the national budget’s reliance on debt for funding will rise to an unprecedented 49 percent in the year starting April 1, Japan’s government said Dec. 24.


The article goes on to stomp on these Keynesian "economists" (read: clowns) who claim that the government should increase spending to pick up on falling consumer spending and loosen monetary restraints (read: print like hell) in order to pump up the economy before a recovery starts:


In other news, and to all the neo-Keynesians out there, we post the following thought experiment: according to the head priest economic growth derives from debt issuance. And since apparently every country (yes, yes, that has its own currency) can issue infinite amounts of debt, why doesn't the US and Japan (and the EU post Eurobonds), simply announce it will monetize, aka print, an infinite amount of debt tomorrow? Shouldn't that lead to global GDP promptly rising by infinity %? Or is there an actual problem with this hypothetical scenario which takes current debt trends to their ludicrous extreme.


Want to see what a quadrillion pennies look like? Here ya go!

Here we have buildings (in front) used for scale at a trillion. They're now dwarfed by the large cube of pennies in back (quadrillion). The large cube is a quadrillion, or a thousand times one trillion. This cube is roughly a half-mile wide and would weigh an astonishing three billion tons.

Translation: Japan is doomed. 2012 and beyond are going to be rough ones.


Happy New Year! If you are in Japan, may I suggest drinking as much as you can, while you can. 

Legislating Morality - a Yakuza Case?

"Those who deny freedom to others deserve it 
not for themselves." - Abraham Lincoln

Just a short post today about how I think people are confused with their ideas on how the government should legislate what we do and do not do in our daily lives. The idea that the government is here to help and protect the population flies against the historial record and defies common sense and the public's common experience. Examples? Need I remind dear reader of WWII? Minamata, TEPCO, Fukushima, tainted HIV, etc. etc. Oh! I could go on and on!


It's been decades of constant government growth and legislation (in Japan and elsewhere) on how we act, what we eat, who we associate with, what we put in our bodies, how our money is to be handled and who we go to war with... 


Decades of this and look at what we have today!


In Japan alone, a short list of recent debacles would include a graying and dying Japanese economy with no good prospects for the future; crippling debt that the Japanese people will never be able to repay; over 15.7 percent of the Japanese population under the poverty line; an increase in crime and a decline in morals... Do I even need to mention inept government handling and a constantly rising tax burden?


And yet, even with this record of repeated and consistent failures over the last two-plus decades, people still wish to legislate the behavior of others!!! 


Astounding.

Being a true anarcho-capitalist and a true conservative at the same time, let me state my opinions in a few points:

1) No wars

2) Limited and decreased taxes

3) Small government (#2 fixes that)

4) People are free to do as they please as long as they do not interfere with others

#4 means that people can do whatever they want - anything they want - as long as they do not bother or burden other people. That includes drugs, gay marriage, abortion, worshipping Zoroastrianism, dressing like Sailor Moon, driving drunk, drinking in public, smoking in public, refusing to serve anyone you wish in a private establishment, buying AKB48 CDs... etc. etc.

As an aside: I know many will say, "But drunk drivers kill people!" Yes. They do. It's illegal to drive drunk now, but people still do it. 

I suggest, instead of criminal court, these things are settled in civil court... Instead of going to jail for killing someone while drunk driving (and becoming a cost burden to others) I think, should you lose in civil court, you could be fined millions of dollars. Perhaps you'd pay 25% of your income for the rest of your life if so deemed in court, perhaps your wife and kids would lose your house and a place to live. I think that might motivate people to have insurance and think twice about drinking before driving.

The current laws prove that legislating this sort of behavior has had limited success at best.

But, this post is not about legislating drinking and driving, it is a complaint about how I still, to this very day, read curious stuff from people asking "Why doesn't the government outlaw this or that?" These questions are often asked by the very same like-minded people who, last March after the nuclear accident at Fukushima, asked "Why doesn't the government take over Fukushima Dai-ichi?" Sure. They ask this question a few sentences after they had just, moments before, complained how the government was in bed with TEPCO and allowed TEPCO to do shabby work and cut corners on safety.

Am I the only one who doesn't see this huge contradiction?

One group arbitrarily will stop you for no reason whatsoever.

The other won't talk to you unless they have a reason.

Today, I read an interesting blog about Yakuza in Japan. The writer posted;

"The yakuza, Japan’s organized crime groups, have close to 79,000 members. It’s very hard to understand why they are tolerated in Japanese society and not simply banned."

I wrote: 

Mike in Tokyo Rogers says:

23 October 2011 at 9:58 am

“It’s very hard to understand why they are tolerated in Japanese society and not simply banned.”

Am I the only one in the room who finds this sentence completely ridiculous and absurd? What the writer is asking is “why doesn’t the government outlaw an underworld organization?” Duh? If they weren’t outside the law already, they wouldn’t be underworld, would they? Or do you think they need to file a business permit with the government to run a Yakuza organization?

This writer confuses issues here. Seems like another socialist who thinks the government can legislate morals, habits and associations… You know, like how drunk driving is banned or driving without a seatbelt or even eating Fugu not prepared by a pro or even gambling?… Wow! You mean even though those are against the law, people still do it?

Who’d a thunk it?

And, to be fair, the writer of the article, Jack Adelstein graciously replied: 

Jake Adelstein says:

23 October 2011 at 10:06 am

The yakuza are recognized organizations by the Japanese government. They are regulated and monitored but their existence is not illegal per se. You note: “why doesn’t the government outlaw an underworld organization?” That’s not what I wrote.
If you’d like to understand more about how the yakuza are semi-legitimate entities please go to the National Police Agency Website and download the following file. It should answer most of your questions.
It may be that regulating organized crime groups rather than banning them works better at maintaining public order than banning them and driving them completely underground.
http://www.npa.go.jp/hakusyo/h22/english/White_Paper_2010_5.pdf

Thanks Jack. You are a good guy! I guess my writing must be poor because that wasn't really the point of my comment at all. My point was - what I consider to be - an absurd notion that anyone would even want to government to pass anymore legislation on anything? Especially if that something has any isues to do with our daily lives? Haven't the government passed enough laws already? Haven(t they done enough damage already?

(I am of the thinking that whenever these laws are passed, they create far too many bad effects. It's the law of unforeseen consequences as written in Henry Hazlitt's classic, "Economics in One Lesson." This is, after all, not really a legall question but an economic one....

But I digress.

Jake Adelstien is a well known (and excellent writer). He is an expert. Of anyone, he knows that the Japanese government and police have traditionally had many ties to the Yakuza too. I am thinking that, whenever I hear about this sort of thing, I am reminded of the great quote by Thomas Pynchon from Gravity's Rainbow:

"If they can get you to ask the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers."

In short, what I mean is that Japan has so many huge problems that affect people's daily existence and lives, worrying about the Yakuza is a side-show and just another excuse for the the police to insist that their budgets are kept up for next fiscal year... Just like prostitution, drugs, seat belt laws, blah, blah, blah. 

This is a very broad topic. Please refer to: "Sex Services in Japan First to Get Back to Business After Earthquake." 

Prostitution and the free exchange of time and services between two consenting adults is a free market ideal and a business that's been around since the beginning of society. No amount of government legislation will ever change that. Making laws that makes these activities illegal is pure nonsense.

You cannot legislate morality.

I applaud these businesses for getting back on track early and creating jobs for people. The economy needs it.

Anyhow, my point is back to the government interfering with our daily lives too much as it is already. Enough is enough!

If more government control and legislation over our lives were the answer to our problems then the Soviet Union would have been a very successful country.

The mere fact that the Japanese government has taken much more control over the Japanese economy over these last 20 + years - and the results of that control - shows that we need much less legislation and not more.

Writers who call for more legislation on anything just haven't been paying attention.

More: 

First They Came for the Smokers... But I Said Nothing Because I Wasn't a Smoker

Visit Jake Adelstien's wonderful blog, Japan Sub-Culture Research Center here: http://www.japansubculture.com

I also recommend Jake's great book: Tokyo Vice

http://www.japansubculture.com/tokyovice/