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Rosenberg's Advice For Living In A Japanese-Style Economy: Get Small
David's daily musings are as usual a treat, although we are very confused by how his call, that we are in a derpression, made a splash on CNBC - after all the man has been saying this for months now. Or is CNBC not allowed to utter the dreaded D and Double D words, unless the market has dropped by more than 5% in a week? Either way, the most applicable excerpt from today's piece was David's recommendation to "get small" as inspired by the Japanese, who have now lived an entire generation in a deflationary cycle. Alas, this very prudent advice will be lost and most certainly never work in the American culture, where bigger is always better, and living beyond one's means is the rule, not the exception, no matter the cost, or the credit card bills.
GETTING SMALL — SUSHI STYLE
There was really a terrific op-ed piece in the Sunday NYT by Norihiro Kato, a professor of Japanese literature at Waseda University, titled Japan and the Ancient Art of Shrugging. He explains to us how the next generation in Japan was affected by the fallout of the credit collapse and real estate deflation. It’s all about ‘getting small’ — one of our long-lasting post-bubble themes. Deflation at its penultimate. The article was all about how attitudes are changing among young people in Japan, and there may well be some takeaways from this for the rest of us:
“Three years ago, I saw a television program about a new breed of youngster: the nonconsumer. Japanese in their late teens and early 20s, it said, did not have cars. They didn’t drink alcohol. They didn’t spend Christmas Eve with their boyfriends or girlfriends at fancy hotels downtown the way earlier generations did. I have taught many students who fit this mold. They work hard at part-time jobs, spend hours at McDonald’s sipping cheap coffee, eat fast food lunches at Yoshinoya. They save their money for the future.
These are the Japanese who came of age after the bubble, never having known Japan as a flourishing economy. They are accustomed to being frugal. Today’s youths, living in a society older than any in the world, are the first since the late 19th century to feel so uneasy about the future.
I saw young Japanese in Paris, of course, vacationing or studying, but statistics show that they don’t travel the way we used to. Perhaps it’s a reaction against their globalizing elders who are still zealously pushing English-language education and overseas employment. Young people have grown less interested in studying foreign languages. They seem not to feel the urge to grow outward. Look, they say, Japan is a small country. And we’re O.K. with small.It is, perhaps, a sort of maturity.”
Getting small, how novel. Make sure your portfolio dovetails with this theme.
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Too bad the BOJ Plutocrats cannot muster the strength to crawl out of their Opium Dens and start enlisting the millions of housewives to start short-selling the Yen en-masse to stop this global plunge in risk assets.
Funny how there is nothing really to stop them.
They could issue JGB's into infinity with no consequences whatsoever other than perhaps a paltry rise in JGB yields from 1% to 1.5%.
Whoever is in charge of economic policy should be "hammered" with Makita drill, right to the head....
LOL...
LOL...
damn, that pic takes Kamakazie-ism to a whole different level.
I think that pic is Chinese.
LMAO!!!
They all look the same to a robot
I thought they were the same? like jews and the arabs with abraham...
what's wrong with an old fashioned hammer?
http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/259/259,1127804814,1...
anyone catch that move in TSL (hey leo) or CRM today? and those insurance companies PRU and MET look so weak, maybe they gonna bounce but who knows. and LEN and KBH were up today. tooo funny. i guess it was shorts covering on the news.
"Vin drin wa or ba, I don't know. damn gook names all sound the same."
-Col. Kilgore
that's not just an ordinary makita, its a hammer drill. nice.
They are exceptionally hard-headed. You should be able to relate VI!
I use an impact wrench.
That guy is screwed.
Makita bitchez! Hey, ZH should really add a "Bitchez"-button to the post editor so we don't have to write it out everytime!
Makita...one of my favorite stocks of all time.
I like their tools, but I wouldn't buy their stocks today.
Too much exposure to Europe and low profitability in Asia plus too much exporting.
But its a profitable company I will always keep my eye on.
+1
Never work in America.
Manifest destiny bitchez.
Seigniorage Curse!
Here we go folks it is nearly about to begin. New documentary out villifying Wall Street and it will receive the attention of the masses because it is narrated by Matt Damon. Change is occuring slowly but the truth is slipping out and as the economic situation turns to crisis more will unplug an seek answers. One day Zero Hedge will be remembered as one of the most important cogs of the movement that helped restore America to it's greatness..
If we believe otherwise than why are we here hoping justice will be inevitably served.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyW3M-UTIWM
So that is the source of the Mishkin screwup and Hubbard (inadvertent) hammer job.
Be careful of what you think is real - this is nothing more than two factions within our "government" going to war. ANY piece of fluff that is narrated by a globalist tool will most certainly be one sided and is only meant to sheppard the herd's thoughts in one direction, the direction that benefits them the most.
there be no shelter here
+1 While I am excited for change, I don't want it at the expense of true capital formation and true capitalism. Both Parties need a massive cleansing.. if it is even possible. We need people back in government who really don't want to be there. We need people back in business who care about the next great innovation and furthering the good of mankind. We need a Wall Street that cares about the long term again... as in longer then fractions of one second. Not sure if it is possible anymore...
A-EYE, worth your while to read the epilogue to "Big Short" by Michael Lewis, he interviews John Gutfreund, his old big boss at Salomon Brothers.
You'll be even less sure.
- Ned
I find it ironic that CNBC thinks that Lord Blankfein is actually God. While they run a special on a old movie, "Greed is Good". They really do believe it.
Greed is good when the playing field is even. Only the presence of government and its exploitation by those who can not succeed in a free market lead to situations where greed, unchecked by fear, can foment disaster.
this seems simplistic. (good) government is absolutely necessary for a level playing field (fraud, monopoly, myriad dangerous practices, etc. remember how shocked greenspan was). very often those who do succeed in a "free" market (rockefeller, gates, etc.) subvert the market to obtain monopoly powers. it is far from clear that those who exploit (bad) government (e.g. goldman sachs, j.p. morgan) could not succeed in a free market (they just wouldn't reap as spectacular gains).
Start with the premise that any moral or ethical construct must be based on reality. A basic law of human nature is the need to provide first and foremost for the betterment of oneself and one's immediate dependents.
When governments are instituted there is necessarily a gulf between those in command and those who are commanded. Even if the commanders do all in their power to operate a "good government" that power will fall short as each man is an individual with his own individual needs. No commander, no matter how well intentioned can interpret the needs of millions or billions of subject individuals. Such a commander will necessarily come to view this multitude of individuals as members of various special interest groups. Not all individuals will fit comfortably into these groups and some groups will have a greater membership than other groups giving them greater political power and a bigger share of the resources of a society than they require or deserve. The commanders of "good government" will, like any other animal, pursue their own interest first and foremost and will protect their power by playing the political games necessary to retain that power. Those in command will favor groups with the most power and those groups which most closely resemble themselves physically or philosophically.
The success of a society can not be considered from the top down or legislated from the top down. A society can only be called successful if each individual has the freedom to pursue his own goals by his own means. This is the true meaning of diversity.
Such diversity is necessary for the success of a society and is its only method of achieving such success. No commander can determine from who or where the good ideas that will initiate invention or expand production will come from. Good ideas can not be promulgated through fiat.
The best way for a society to both harness the power of its diverse elements and allow those diverse elements to operate in happiness and freedom is to recognize the sovereignty of the individual within the self reinforcing construct of individual liberty.
There is but one just law: No man can hurt another man or take his property and any man can defend himself and his property in proportion to any threat raised against them.
If you have any interest in these ideas, please peruse these articles which discuss some of these issues in greater depth. I assure you, there is a sublime simplicity involved but no naivete.
Society Without a State
http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard133.html
The Truth About the “Robber Barons”
http://mises.org/daily/2317
+10
You ignored his point though. How do you prevent the initial very successful individuals from changing the playing field once they have become kings? Once you're on top, stagnation and wealth preservation starts to set in. The young invigorated hungry start-up is always a threat to the dominance of the Alpha. Nobody takes the slide down willingly. That's the processes of all life form on this planet: birth-growth-top out-decay-death. I really don't see a clear solution to jeff montanye's point. Just look at how this country started, and look at what it has become. Even with its authocratic ruling class, business people are starting to talk about the fact that China has a better business environment than the U.S. CHINA!!! Maybe Armstrong is on to something; it's just the natural processes of time.
In a free market system no one can become entrenched as king. It is only when society allows certain individuals to claim the divine right of kings (in one form or another) and the right to a monopoly on force that such problems arise. When the majority of individuals recognize the absolute need for individual sovereignty man will stop endorsing "the lesser of two evils," which is a method that inevitably leads to the greatest possible evil.
Please review the Robber Barons article to which I linked above. Monopolies exist solely as government creations.
If you truly believe that "Once you're on top, stagnation and wealth preservation starts to set in. The young invigorated hungry start-up is always a threat to the dominance of the Alpha. Nobody takes the slide down willingly," can you not also conclude that the institution of government guarantees such an outcome from the very start?
Except on CNBC the movie 'Wall Street' is edited, only an hour long, and Gecko ends as the hero.
+10
It's a slow process because it was allowed to go on far too long. Because there was an economically engineered disconnect from reality.
But there are other, structural obstacles to "restoring America to greatness". The emphasis on individualism has led to decay in communities, families and the public sector. We haven't had cutting edge transportation systems since the 1950s, for example. Others are way ahead. We're deep in the consumerist woods, so deep that there will be a period of "sock and awe" as withdrawal sets in. It's not clear to me that Americans will be willing to adapt without a big political backlash. And that can lead down a dangerous path.
The emphasis on individualism has led to decay in communities, families and the public sector.
Individualism stands on self reliance, a lack of which is the cause of most social ills in modern America. The entitlement mentality has destroyed everything that once made American individuals and by extension, America itself, great.
Too much individualism puts America at a disadvantage since individuals don't fund basic science research, don't build interstate highways, don't maintain parks and recreation areas, don't pay for medical education etc...
That's not entitlement, in the lame pre-programmed way that you're interpreting it. That's called vision and leadership. Dwight Eisenhower, a conservative, enacted and funded the Interstate Highway Act to accommodate and promote America's growth.
We're way behind in modern transportation systems, infrastructure, engineering, material sciences.
Too much individualism puts America at a disadvantage since individuals don't fund basic science research, don't build interstate highways, don't maintain parks and recreation areas, don't pay for medical education etc...
Right. People lived in caves until 1933. Misrepresenting human history hinders your case rather than helps it.
That's not entitlement, in the lame pre-programmed way that you're interpreting it.
It's interesting to note that the collectivist accuses the individualist of being programed. You're projecting. No matter, the grand socialist experiment is heading for a fall and the self reliant will merely shoe away entitlement minded flies such as yourself in the years ahead. Then you'll get a real world education.
That's called vision and leadership.
Leaders are individuals whose good ideas are adopted voluntarily by others. When the good ideas come to an end so does one's leadership role. Using the power of the state to coerce individuals to act against their own interest is not leadership. It is tyranny.
This discussion between yourself and Caveat Emptor is missing a mention of the element that drives human motivations, and the fundamental economic unit, the family. The collectivists like any type of individualist values that negate the family, because the family is a natural competitor with the state in so much of what a collectivist wants to do, such as program the minds of youth, suppress ideas(held by older family members), garnish ressources for the state rather than let them go to waste as private savings and investment, and generally separate the individual financially from their parents or progeny through various forms of social welfare. Let's make a note here, that the collectivists have done a great job destroying families and inter-generational solidarity, in favor of reducing primary societal relationships to those between the individual and the state...AGAINST ALL INSTINCTS of humans, a species which developed and evolved around huge levels of intergenerational interdependence WITHIN FAMILIES.
I'll go along with that. I would include not only biological relatives in my definition of family but also anyone with whom the individual voluntarily associates and feels a deep bond.
TBT, what a great comment!
Of course, everyone, it is FAMILY that is the glue to a successful society! And the Socialist scum are ever at work to wreck our families.
The Statists are NOT going to get all of what I have for my family! They can (and probably will) rot in Hell before that happens.
Can someone explain why Americans and Anglo Saxons in general are so hostile to the state? Is it because it is always identified with hijacked governments? I was thought the purpose of the state was to cradle the family until its natural dissolution and for individuals to realize the highest level of human freedom without suppressing others taking different paths.
Too Hegelian??
Can someone explain why Americans and Anglo Saxons in general are so hostile to the state?
The state is hostile to us and it would be impolite not to return the compliment.
"Government is not reason, it is not eloquence -- IT IS FORCE!" -- George Washington
Too troll-ish...
<my goodness, why are all you whiteys so worried about Father Obama? Don't you know he loves you?!>
It's simple counterparty risk codified through law. English states have trial by jury among other things, which implied that you trusted your peers more than you trusted the king. It carried over the centuries.
States that followed Roman law had tribunals which implied that you trusted the state more than you trusted your peers. It carried over the centuries too.
Old habits are hard to break.
Yet it is ideological tyranny to believe individualism is always the most efficient solution. Similarly, to argue that the collectivist solution is always the most effective is tyranny also. Empirically there are cases for efficiency on both sides of the fence and hybrids in between--so let ideology be your instict but empiricism be your guide and let the chips fall where they may.
There have been bankrupt communist states as well as capitalist ones, and their ideologues drove them into the ground.
Empirically there are cases for efficiency on both sides of the fence and hybrids in between--so let ideology be your instinct but empiricism be your guide and let the chips fall where they may.
To whom do you address this advice? In a collectivist system such matters are decided strictly by those in power. But the few in power do not have access to the empirical data which consists of the living experience of millions or billions of individuals.
In a system where the individual is sovereign people may voluntarily associate themselves in furtherance of a particular goal and disassociate themselves again at will. In a collectivist society the structure is rigidly enforced by those in power. In the collectivist system individuals are compelled to make associations which they would otherwise avoid and are also compelled to avoid certain associations which are disapproved of by the state.
Let each man choose in his own time and his own way what works best for him. Therein lies humanity, justice and common sense.
In support of what you've stated:
"If Congress can employ money indefinitely to the general welfare, and are
the sole and supreme judges of the general welfare, they may take the care of
religion into their own hands; they may appoint teachers in every State, county
and parish and pay them out of their public treasury; they may take into their
own hands the education of children, establishing in like manner schools throughout
the Union; they may assume the provision of the poor; they may undertake the
regulation of all roads other than post-roads; in short, every thing, from the
highest object of state legislation down to the most minute object of police,
would be thrown under the power of Congress... Were the power of Congress to be
established in the latitude contended for, it would subvert the very foundations,
and transmute the very nature of the limited Government established by the
people of America." - James Madison
Right. People lived in caves until 1933.
Not caves, Hoovervilles.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hooverville
According to Wikipedia, "Eisenhower argued for the highways for the purpose of national defense. In the event of an ground invasion by a foreign power, the U.S. Army would need good highways to be able to transport troops across the country efficiently. Following completion of the highways the cross-country journey that took the convoy two months in 1919 was cut down to two weeks."
Too much individualism puts America at a disadvantage since individuals don't fund basic science research, don't build interstate highways, don't maintain parks and recreation areas, don't pay for medical education etc...
CE- Individuals don't fund basic science research alone, but those individuals of like minds can come together in a free country and decide to allocate capital to do so together. I agree with you that we are way behind in many of the areas you mention, but I believe the root causes of this are: money and intellectual resources were sucked up and wasted in "financial innovation". Also, a general lack of priorities as to how VC allocates their funds... money goes to toys now. (think the next iPad) we don't create new and innovative solutions to problems anymore. (we leave it to the Germans and the Japanese)
I am a business owner and wake up ever morning thinking the government and my fellow countrymen owe me NOTHING. I wish everyone else could wake up the same way.
Oh, but AccreditedEYE, if huge numbers of private associations of free individuals, individuals left with most of the fruits of their labor after taxes, were to decide what to invest in, how could the result ever be as great as centralized planning by giant far away bureaucracies? Get a grip!
Actually, DDE built the interstate system as a reflection of the Autobahn system when he saw firsthand the ability to transfer large amounts of troops/material from warfront to warfront. Any nation vulnerable on a two (or more) front scenario would do the same out of mere prudence. The ability of witless obese amerikans to travel farther/faster in pursuit of consumer goods was a byproduct.
Maybe sure, ok, but there's a big catch in that most people have absolutely no interest in growing food for themselves, and food is one of the great necessities of life.
But who can blame them? It's fucking BORING.
I agree, JM, I agree.
Inside Job
Spare me. I'm not going to spend money to listen to self-righteous lectures from douchebags like Eliot Spitzer and Michael Fucking Capuano - even if Matt Daaaahmon is holding my hand in the dark.
The main event hasn't even happened yet.
@McCoy
I haven't watched the video yet, but something you said caught my eye -
"One day Zero Hedge will be remembered as one of the most important cogs of the movement that helped restore America to it's greatness.."
Are you thinking something along the lines of Mount Rushmore? I have had this fantasy where the names and avatars of those who did battle in the name of Zero Hedge are carved alongside the monument - kind of like a special section of the tour. You have to pay more to see the ZH , but it's worth it. Imagine how you felt when they showed the rock monument in movie Wolverine. Intense.
I have been wondering which voices are going to lead people to the truth. In a way it's almost fitting that some of it come from the same liberal actors who supported hope and change. I'm not sure what Damon's record is on this, but how about, let's say, Sean Penn doing a fireside chat on the realities of the situation. Or Susan Sarandon.
OK, seriously, It's time for the right people step forward. Man or woman. And thank you for pointing out the importance of movement, albeit small. "Keep It rolling"
Edit: with the exception of my sincere plea for a collective call to action, my post sucks. Fuck it, I'll leave it up.
Village, we will act again!
The hell with the collectivists, we will ACT AGAIN. Whenever that is... LOL
I was ready to delete my post.
Well, weee here in USA are going the way of small..it's just kinda bigger and ugly and so embarrassingly mundane.
burning down the house today
a depressed short, that's how I get small.
embarrassingly mundane
Mundane?!
Fasten your seatbelts dude, the shitstorm that is coming down the pipe will blow your mind !!
A lot of people doing that for the insurance.
That drill set the guy back a little.
Just another contrary indicator, everyone assumes the bond market is going to sleep like a baby for the next 20 years. ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz.....
And Rosy deosn't think there is any diffreence between an export creditor nations bond market (20+%savings rate) and the biggest debtor importer nations bond market ?
The difference is like, night and day.
If you gaze for long into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.
- Nietzsche.
I thought Lou Pinnella just said that after quitting the cub's?
I've always wondered who gets more from the exchange, you or the abyss?
Is Nietzsche saying the yields on 30 year U.S. Treasuries are heading into the abyss?
Does Nietzsche think German bunds are heading into the abyss?
Is Nietzsche a long term value-oriented analyst or a market timer?
When Nietzsche says "God is dead", is that a sell signal to short Goldman Sachs?
Where can I get Nietzsche's Newsletter?
Tom I should have to payu you taxes for the laughs you just gave me. Fucking Hilarious!
Rick - Thanks! Glad we can have a laugh.
I'm ahead of the pack here in the states. Got a cheap house upstate NY, gearing up for huge garden next year and raising chickens. Going to build solar air furnace. By next year, I can preach... after I practice, but I'm working on it.
And when the Dow hits 20,000 next year, you'll be dead from your chickens' salmonella eggs.
Are you counting on the Big-Endians or the Little-Endians to get the Dow over 20,000?
Good one. Don't fight the Blefuscu Fed, I always say.
The Myth of the Omnipotent Fed - another big lie.
Don't fight the Blefuscu Fed,
A Modest Proposal: Eat the Fed. No satire intended.
What's your catalyst, or are you just trolling?
never gonna happen. The yolks on u.
$20,000 in FRNs...what'll that buy in purchasing power by then?
Good thinking J. The only thing I'd change is the state, as NY is overtaxed and the gun laws are too restrictive. A blind Governor didn't help, either. What, there wasn't anybody that was qualified AND could see? :)
Being in NY you've already lost, unless you're rural and willing enough to buck the law more than is probably wise at this point in the game.
There are some pretty severe problems with the firearms laws there, and for years the solution has been to not enforce them, assuming they were even noticed at all. But they are there on the books, and that removes the obstacle of having to pass such legislation when the need arises.
And then there is the population issue.
Kinda scary actually when you think about it. For the last few years I've been running restoration and dealing with landowners on a very large scale construction project.
It's amazing the conversations we have. They may have a very simple request regarding the work you do, and you have to say no. When they ask why, you explain to them that an arbitrary surveyor found the perfect combination of vegetation on parts of their land, and now it's a wetland.
That's when you have the pleasure (sarcasm) of explaining to them that they REALLY DO OWN their land in terms of paying taxes, but REALLY DON"T OWN their land in terms of making any decisions about its use.
Anyone who has ever driven by a construction project, seen a passel of dudes standing around doing nothing, and bitched about lazy construction workers not earning their wages..... just didn't see the government beaurocrat/inspector who was inevitably holding up the job. Kinda kidding, but not really.
I didn't junk you, Israhole.
Good luck with the garden/chickens when the Food Safety Act passes (prompted by egg recall/walmart poison beef recall). You too, my friend, will be branded a criminal and maybe a terrorist if you give away or sell any foodstuffs.
Never work in America?
Want to see the future of housing in the USA?
Try: http://www.tinyhousedesign.com/ !
How about an 89 sq ft house?
Consumerism is on life support...
If small means living within your means and never getting in debt so that you're not the bank's bitch and at the same busting your ass so that you can live large some day...I'm all for the new paradigm. Somehow what I'm reading about the Japanese youth comes across as defeated and isolationist
"Go Small Young Man"...Horace Greeley is rolling over in his grave somewhere.
Small is the new big!
"If small means living within your means and never getting in debt so that you're not the bank's bitch and at the same busting your ass so that you can live large some day...I'm all for the new paradigm"
Now that's power.
Does "sarc off" mean - no sarcasm meant? No sarcasm meant, buddy.
So, on Friday at Jackson Hole, if Uncle Ben touches his nose with his index finger and offers up the new coded language telling his best buddy pals the new printing machine is lubricated with KY, what happens to the market, gold, commodities?
Speaking of printing machines, I see the press for the new 5oz silver Amerika the (used to be) Beautiful coin was manufactured in Germany and the German currency printers are upset because the Germans anr now outsourcing their currency printing to (India)?
Those young Japanese, like myself, aren't really interested in Japanese bonds as well.
I am speculating that it is when these young people inherits their JGBs from their grand parants and dumps them,
or when they become bankers and dumps them from their portfolio when the JPY will start to change.
Recently, the BoJ has created an ad targeted towards these frugal Japanese 20 something year olds that says "holding bonds makes you hot".
They have never done an advertising campaing like this in the past and apparantly, none of my friends are not buying that ad.
This is the greatest reason the JPY can't go on forever, although, I bullish on the short-medium term.
I haven't read the attachment to this post, but I'm surprised that this anecdote is some sort of revelation. This has been happening here, too, for much longer than three years. X'ers (Thirteeners, or whatever you want to call us) have been eschewing many of the same things the Japanese are for much the same reasons. Perhaps it's a sort of collective prescience, I don't know. But, it's definitely nothing new here for at least 7-8 years.
This is hot.....JGB 10y at .90
Either that or some manifestation of (fill in the blank) envy.
Many Americans will shudder in horror. But that in itself is the problem: the cult of materialism with ignorance of all else.
We were fed the bullshit all our lives about the American dream. Over time the telling of the "dream" morphed from something family-centerd, proud and achievable to a high-wire act of gilded success at any price including family and community life and personal growth.
Japan has several advantages over us: adaptability, stronger community and family ties, and a culture that favors saving to be prepared for dealing with adversity. We've lost the capacity to even consider let alone face adversity, the consequence of decades of overindulgence.
Listen to CNBC for more than 10 minutes and you will understand that we are no longer viewed as 'citizens' but 'consumers'. We are no longer praised for our independent thoughts and actions to protect our lives and families...but condemned for not being out there 'consumin'. How dare we??!!
+10......you've noticed it too? "Come on, sheeple! Shop!!! What's going on here? We're a consumerist society!" lol
Just wait for the xmas season, they will catapolt the propaganda like the world is ending. I predict the pinnacle of postmodern marketing techniques will be on full display.
...ummmm... but interesting that survival kicks-in and the "urge to purge" becomes stronger than the all the siren songs to "party-on bitchez"... almost as if an onmipotent hand was guiding the game and saying "No dear -- don't listen to them -- do what's right -- and don't look back..."
"Listen to CNBC for more than 10 minutes and you will understand that we are no longer viewed as 'citizens' but 'consumers'. We are no longer praised for our independent thoughts and actions to protect our lives and families...but condemned for not being out there 'consumin'. How dare we??!!"
Just listen to Maria -
"So what should our viewers be buying in this market?" "So how can our viewrs make money in this market?" As the screen bleeds red - what a joke.
mummiflation bitchez!
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/15/world/asia/15japan.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
If the last few years have taught us anything - it's that saving or investing money is a joke. Cash is a "now" thing - blink and the government (whatever the country) will cover up its latest cretinous disaster by printing some more. So I'm not sure it *is* a form of maturity, any more, to save for the future.
Maturity (sadly) is trusting no fucker - however high or low, and having the means to cope. Hoarding money is partly wanting the future world to look like today - with some sort of "automatic" ascendancy into the "old and wise" to go with. Kind of like kids at school do.
Maturity (sadly) is trusting no fucker
It's sad that we've come to that point, but you're right. I trust my wife, and my kids. (to the point that their maturity levels allow).
Maybe, maybe, one or two others, and even then not that 100% trust.
I'm so fucking cynical, that somedays I don't know whether I actually enjoy it that way, or want to eat a bullet.
I hear you, Coronelo! Trust...
F**king hilarious what you and Rusty are doing re JB, although I like to have him post. I like JB's postings, but I have the sense of humor that loves the youtube video you guys post! Hilarious!
...
I do not see how we get out of this box...
Gold bitchez!
Johnny must have pissed the wrong people off. I clearly missed it. But as I read through last nights Gonzo Lira post it got pretty brutal. Whatever happened, JB's semi conspiratorial claim that his posts were being limited to five, or so, was pretty funny. Hope it works out for all.
quite frankly if all the US gets is a 20 year japanese style deflationary grind..that would be making it out quite easy all things considered
that't my thought. - Ned
Yes, me too.
FOGARB -- Friend Of Gold And Rolling Bearings
FOGARB - do you have a link?
http://www.newmoney.gov/equipman.htm
"
Resources for Banknote Equipment ManufacturersA new $100 will be issued on February 10, 2011. Businesses that make cash-handling equipment, or Banknote Equipment Manufacturers (BEM), are encouraged to begin taking steps to ensure machines will accept the new design when it begins circulating. BEMs include companies that produce bill acceptors, develop firmware and build systems, such as bill payment kiosks and self-checkout systems.
"
Are there machines that handle bill's over $20 today ?
Or is "1:5 split" on the dollar in the works ?
Thanks for posting this Mitack..the implications for myself are major as holding too much green back. Thank you again.
A very good reason to buy gold or silver if you read between the lines
..unstuff the mattress Ma we gotta get busy..
Folks, sorry for replying to myself, but I can't get "newmoney.gov" out of my head.
Now, if you were the gov, would you let things slip out of control with [de|in]flation ?
Wouldn't you rather introduce a monetary reform- like say, "new money". Everything gets
multiplied by 5- the bread you buy, your wage, your house, everything ! For both have's
and havenot's no change in standard- same buying power. But notice the effect on assets
on the bank's balance sheets- for example- your house is no longer under water, dare I say
you may be able to turn it into an ATM again ? The "new money" is 5 for an Euro so our
exports flourish ? Hell, I am overheating...
Hell, Nixon unilateraly withdrew from the gold standard once.
I remember someone high in gov said back then "It may
be our currency, but it is your problem". Why not again ?
@ Mitak... thanks for the heads up.
All ATMs in this area dispense only $200 max and it is all in $20s.
Maybe the machines they are refering to are money counters used by many banks and businesses?
Watch those Friday night announcements...
As long as the drill bit was made in China he is perfectly safe.
Small is OK as long as you are efficient. Small & sloppy will destroy your business as quickly as big and sloppy. Efficiency and innovation still rules.
regards
+1000
+ 1000 to you giddy!
Although we buy our bearings from Korea and Japan.
When I first read this post, I didn't know where it was going. Usually, when I see CNBC and talk of Double D in the same sentence, there's usually some anecdotal remark about Michele CC. I thought I missed something.
Here come the "Da Boyz"
Thanks for the the chart.
I was watching as they announced the housing numbers, they probably broke a finger hitting the buy button so hard lol.
What happens to Japan tomorrow will hit us soon enough; one day the Bonds Circle Jerk will come to a crashing end:
http://themeanoldinvestor.blogspot.com/2010/08/us-bonds-circle-jerk.html
Enjoyed the article.
I wonder if they will all fall at the same time or will the 10's and 20's crack first.
When I lived and worked in Japan, not that long ago (06-07), I was struck by their absolute adherence to capitalism as we used to know it: most basic payments, from taxis and food stands, to far higher-end things, such as honoraria, are paid in cash, with no obligation to report. People with no earning history are free of withholding taxes. They do have a progressive income tax, and a general sales tax of 5%. But if one is a professional of some stripe, and working off of a grant, or on an hourly honorarium basis, there is no income tax.
If one lives in a big city, such as Tokyo, rents are high; however, if one is affiliated with a university, and lives in university housing, there is a minor abatement. One must remember that in Japan, a "Family" apartment is 600 m2; it nevertheless can work for a family of 4, under certain circumstances (e.g., using a bunk bed in the other bedroom, and limiting severely what one brings to Japan).
I came to Japan from a huge house in Bethesda, MD, with a 9th grader and husband in tow. The apartment was settled as soon as my husband's appointment was made. I found employment upon arrival. Unlike most US arrivals, we ate out relatively rarely, and I found a number of English-language cookbooks that guided me into Japanese living. It was not much different from what I'd done while I lived in France in the 1970's; one merely needed to buy what was necessary for the day. The Fridge certainly did not accomodate much more than that. I think that that is where this article is leading. One doesn't need huge surfaces to exist (although we were hugely grateful to those who had them in Tokyo for meeting and graduation purposes). We were very happy in Tokyo, and I miss it, and all the wonderful people I knew there, still.
thank you... its nice to be reminded that substance is not "big" or "small" but simply meets every need...
Did you mean 600 square feet?
A square meters is about 10 square feet.
I suspect 600sq.ft. Similar problem in Hong Kong; I recall going to the dorm/apartment of some amahs (maids/domestic helpers)...they were crammed in like sardines.
The oddest thing was one of them literally lived in a cupboard. She was renting out the cupboard - could only lie down with her legs bent, but still somehow managed to also have all her worldy belongings and clothes in there at the same time.
I've been small for years, only pop up for a quick peak and make a few bucks.
Skippy...Malthus bitchez and debt free!!!
Come on! All together now.....Physical Labor Bitchez!
You don’t need to look to Japan to understand how to live small. Americans are figuring it out. The college graduate is not shopping for a Porsche, he still out looking for any job he can get. You do not do dinner; you do lunch for half price and use coupons. The young couple, needing furniture for the first apartment, takes grandma ( a depression child) in and do the deal for 50% off. Some of us never scaled up. We bought modest houses in the 60s and 70s and paid them off. A few like me have never bought a new car—we learned to buy and fix. We bought new dented washing machines at the Sears Outlet for at least half off. And those were the good days of a lot of money. We don’t need the Japanese. We need to ignore the fools with money.
"I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off. " - Tyler Durden
A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.
Henry David Thoreau
Thoreau understood Economy. Emerson understood Wealth.
Once, America was great.
"A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone."
Henry David Thoreau
Funny - I have filled my spaces with toys galore, only to find out that they cause me stress and unhappiness. So I sell everything and feel better. Then I become bored and buy everything back. Newer models of course. I have cycled through this many times. My spouse says I am compulsive.
You could try spending a spring day watching the way thawing sand flows from a dune or observing the loons on a lake like Henry David did. I spend many a day like that down along the river. No loons, but lots of turtles and water snakes, eagles and turkey vultures, catalpa tree worms and odd little spiders. Take a six pack (asceticism can be carried too far, ya know).
Simplify, simplify.
The simple answer is to start buying toys you and your spouse can enjoy together.
Rosie, things are looking gloomy, good time to bask in the shadowy glow, in the event that we some how bounce off this abyss I suspect your message will be as consistent as it has been since 666.
Ive posted this in another forum.. but i think this table of stats speaks somethign about society and the entitlement generation in america..
http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d08/tables/dt08_271.asp?referrer=list
Total Bachelors degress conferred : 1,524,092
Business : 327,531
Education : 105,641
Engineering : 67,092
Computer and information sciences : 42,170
English language and literature/letters : 55,122
Health professions and related clinical sciences: 101,810
Psychology : 90,039
Social sciences and history : 164,183
Visual and performing arts : 85,186
Combining engineering and computer science we have 100k graduates a year.
why do we have 105k graduates in education, 90k in psychology and 164k in social sciences and history? As a society this is excessive in those fields and not enough in engineering. At what point does a society need more people graduating from business than from technology?
Out of 1.5 million graduates a year, just 100k in all engineering fields put together is not a very good statistic..
part of the reason why so many students are allowed to pursue fields which would not help them pay their student debt is i suspect because of laws that dont allow student loans to be discharged through bankruptcy.... otherwise banks wouldnt loan them money and the students wouldnt end up with a college degree and complain that there are no jobs for college graduates...
i wonder if there are any statistics around unemployment in engineering fields for fresh graduates.
Interesting numbers. Learning for the sake of learning is not a bad thing, so one might accept the literature/letters and history types, but to have psychology grads exceeding engineering seems, well.....a waste. Granted there are a lot of angst filled people, but I might speculate that many of them are those very same psychology graduates who left school with debt and few hopes for employment. And visual and performing arts? Are we producing any Franz Liszts? Michelangelos? Or just American Idols and Lady Gagas?
On the other hand, perhaps we'd feel better about ourselves if we compare figures like these with the results of a poll in Japan where young men were asked to name their job ambition. The number one answer: hairdresser.
Chindit13 is one of my favorites at ZH.
Your views on what is happening in Asia are VERY welcome to me!
Shine on you Crazy Diamond! (a compliment via Pink Floyd, perhaps the best, although Leonard Cohen gives them the run for the money).
...
Buenas noches ZH friends of mine! Off to bed I go.
buenas noches mi amigo.
Chindit 13 is probably the favorite poster for me.
He knows Japanese economy more than Japanese.
Although I don't think (and can't confirm with google) that hairdresser is No.1 right now, just to make y'all Americans who live in a seriously screwed up country feel better about yourselves, the most desired job for girls graduating elite Japanese universities is "housewives".(WTF?)
And just to make things more entertaining, smart-ass Japanese housewives comes with the side dish of carry trade forex implosion.
Funny as hell.
""i wonder if there are any statistics around unemployment in engineering fields for fresh graduates.""-------------------- Civil and mechanical not so good
SNL, 02-26-1977
Host: Steve Martin
Excuse me! I feel good tonight, because, uh.. well, I've finally got a goal in life, and that's.. that's what pleases me, is to be able to have a goal, and this is why I'm so happy, because.. it's important - the thing you have to learn, in having a goal, is not to set an impossible goal, something too high you can never reach. You gotta have a series of smaller goals, that you can accomplish, and slowly work your way up. And this is what I have done. That's why I'm so happy. My goal: right now, I want to be the all-being master of time, space and dimension. Then, I want to go to Europe - I think.
I mentioned that, earlier in the show, a drug joke - and I hate to do that, because it creates a mess, and I'm not into drugs any more. I quit completely, and I hate people who are still into it. Well.. I do take one drug now - for fun - and, maybe you've heard of it, it's a new thing, I don't know if you have or not. It's a new thing, it makes you small. [ indicates size with fingers ] About this big. And, you know, I'll be home, sitting with my friends, and, uh.. we'll be sitting around, and somebody will say, "Heeeyyy.. let's get small!" So, you know, we get small, and uh.. the only bad thing is if some tall people come over. You're walking around going, "Ah hahaha..!" Now, I know I shouldn't get small when I'm driving.. but I was driving around the other day, and I said, "What the heck?" You know? So I'm driving like.. [ extends arms high in the air like he's reaching up to a giant steering wheel ] And, uh.. a cop pulls me over. And he makes me get out, he looks at me and he says, "Heyyy.. are you small"? I said, "No-o-o! I'm not!" He said, "Well, I'm gonna have to measure you." They have this little test they give you - they give you a balloon.. and if you can get inside of it, they know you're small. Now, I've already talked it over with the cast - they've been working all week, it's a tough thing to do, come out here live. Immediately after the show, we're all gonna go out.. and get really small!
Okay, we have a great show tonight - Lily Tomlin, special guest; The Kinks; and, uh, the Not Ready For Prime Time Players - [ speedily ] JohnbelushiDanaykroydGarrett... So, we'll be back in just a moment - thanks a lot! Good night!
What are we as a society if we don't maintain our collective history? Forgive the long excerpt but no one in 100 comments mentioned Steve Martin....so....
Excuuuuuuuuuse....MEEEEEEeeeee!
Steve Martin was my first thought on reading the title. I was gonna cut up with that but read through the comments first just to make sure I wasn't echoing existing comments (I thought surely someone would have mentioned him). But then I got caught up in the discussion and forgot about it. Come to think of it, I think that the guy with the Steve Martin avatar posted in this thread and even he didn't mention it.
Couldn't find LGS, here's funky Tut:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgTPH5y1-ZI
Nikkei is imploding !!!!!!!!!!!
Down over 2%
You at least noticed that - not far to go before the cabin steward calls out .................
Ladies and Gentleman - please assume the Crash position !
and a smart ass calls out "what the f#@ck is that"
The Cabin steward - being experienced in these things retorts ........
Put your head between your legs and Felch your own sweet tush good bye
F#@K would I have made a fortune riding the Rising Sun down - 40,0000 to midnight but No f#@ker wanted to sell a 20 year option. Betcha a few Japs are holding on for the sunrise (stupid F#@k's)
PS;:two minutes to sunset
Listen to The Last Mall by Steely Dan
Attention all shoppers
It's Cancellation Day
Yes the Big Adios
Is just a few hours away
It's last call
To do your shopping
At the Last Mall
You'll need the tools for survival
And the medicine for the blues
Sweet treats and surprises
For the little buckaroos
It's last call
To do your shopping
At the Last Mall
We've got a sweetheart Sunset Special
On all of the standard stuff
'Cause in the morning --that gospel morning
You'll have to do for yourself when the going gets tough
Roll your cart back up the aisle
Kiss the checkout girls goodbye
Ride the ramp to the freeway
Beneath the blood orange sky
It's last call
To do your shopping
At the Last Mall
I have a hunch short yen YCS would be worth a try VERY SOON if it doesn't gap up in the off-market...
Deleted.