Working With Thieves, Liars and Crooks

I hate working with people I don't like and people who are thieves, liars and crooks. Most people will say that they agree with me but the actual fact is that, unfortunately, most people who are thieves, liars and crooks don't think that they are. Or, perhaps, to give them the benefit of the doubt, they don't realize that they are.

If they did realize it, and the extent of it, they'd have difficulty looking in the mirror and sleeping at night.

Most people who lie and cheat do so to protect themselves. Their number 1 priority in life and their work is protection of their position. It is not the success of the project or the success of those around them. It is a narcissistic image of themselves that they feel they must protect. Even if it is a lie.

The largest group of these kinds of people are, in Japan, for example, middle management level executives (I'm sure the USA is the same). These are the kinds of people who will extol the troops to work hard and honestly and diligently and to be dedicated to their coworkers and company, yet, while not at work, they do things like run around and have affairs with other women or they lie about small details. 

It's a case of "Don't do what I do. Do what I say."

I hate working with people like that. I have no respect for them.

Some might say that the part of lying about small details is a minor problem and that everyone does it. It's probably true. But, on the other hand, consider this: If someone will tell lies about small insignificant things, you can bet that they will lie about important things too.

I want to be happy that's why I try to always tell the truth no matter how difficult it is. This makes for a situation, though, that is not conducive to having many friends. I've been complained to before at work by coworkers that my way of talking is too direct and some people don't like it... But I think beating around the bush and not saying things directly can often lead to a situation that leads to an untruth being spoken so I'd like to avoid that whenever possible.

I have at least two friends who I know who try to live the way I do. Of course, we are humans and so not perfect so every once in a while a lie might slip, but I know that I, and they too, make every effort to never tell a lie, even a tiny one. 

It sucks having a guilt complex that makes one worry and contemplate stupid fibs we've told to others... So much so that we worry about it overnight or for days on end.  

There's a famous book about this subject that I'd like to recommend to everyone. It's called "The Road Less Traveled" by F. Scott Peck. It is about this subject and how difficult living really is when you make every effort to tell the truth all the time and not say even the tiniest of white lies. It also is about how trying to live this way is a true way towards real happiness.

Here's an example that I like to use about what I call "Silly lies". Many people lie all the time. Say coworkers want you to go a party with them one night. But you don't want to go. So, instead of saying, "I don't want to go." You fib and say, "Oh? Sorry. I have to do some studying that evening." (or some other excuse). Later, on the party night, your friends are walking home and they bump into you by chance. You've obviously been out having a good time.

You've been caught in a fib. You are embarrassed. You've lost credibility and respect. They know you lied.

Come to think of it, why did you lie? Why didn't you say the truth? Why is it so difficult for us in this society to come right out and say, "Gee. Thanks for the offer. Please don't be offended, but I don't want to go." That sounds easy, but it's not and people do get offended.

But in our society, lying all the time is accepted. And, in spite of what we say, we teach our children to lie all the time too!

You are sitting at dinner with your wife and kids. The phone rings. It's the boss. Your wife covers the phone. You say, "Tell him I'm not here right now."

Why did you do that? It's just postponing the inevitable. And, you just taught your kids that it is OK to lie. Great work. You get the parenting award for the day.

Yes, you did! Don't deny it. You just showed your kids by your actions and your words that it is OK to lie. Thanks a lot. Now, who is to blame when they get in trouble at school for lying or, later, learn and practice the same lesson to you?

Many years ago, I worked at Prudential in the USA before coming to Japan. From that experience, I vowed that I would never work with liars and dishonest people again. That vow has been very hard to keep.

I sold, insurance, annuities, financial instruments, etc. I had several bosses and some of them were some of the most dishonest people I have ever met.

When joining a company like that one is taught that we are to help people with their finances and make sure they have money for retirement, emergencies and things like that. The fact of the matter is that 97% of those people work to churn people's accounts and generate commissions.

Even though I was the youngster in a district of 60 some guys selling these instruments, I was always a top 5 salesman and made a lot of money. I bought a big house and had three cars. I was a top salesman because I always tried to do what was best for the clients.

Some of my bosses wouldn't have that. One guy even said to me once, "Yeah. That's great that you worry about the customer, Mike. But what about the health of the company?" (I think he is a executive at Prudential now).

What a fool. Doesn't this guy realize that doing what is best for the people and the clients and making them all happy and satisfied customers automatically protects the health of the company? I guess not. Profits were #1. The people be damned. I started getting real disillusioned around 1982.

EXTREMELY COOL COVER VERSION OF 

STEVIE WONDER'S "HIGHER GROUND"

The last straw was a wonderful lady named Mrs. Lopez (not her real name). Mrs. Lopez was 44-years-old at the time. She didn't drink nor smoke cigarettes. She had a handsome husband and a beautiful 10-year-old son.

She was my client and I had never sold her anything. She didn't need anything. The Lopez family weren't rich, but they weren't poor. The Lopez family had all their life and health insurance. They had a paid for house. Her husband had a great job and they had savings and some investments. 

They also had a cat. The cat had kittens. We became such good friends that I even took one of the babies.

One day, at the young age of 44, Mrs. Lopez has a stoke. Everyone was shocked. After leaving the hospital, her entire left side of her body was paralyzed. I went to see her.

I could tell that she was devastated too. She was sitting when I arrived and seemed embarrassed when she had to use her right arm to lift her left arm up and rest it on the table. Poor woman. I will never forget that moment. She seemed ashamed of herself when she meekly shot a glance into my eyes as she raised her arm. Oh, the tears she must have silently cried. 

She didn't need to feel ashamed. She was still a wonderful human being and a great mom.

Under the rules of her insurance policies, some sort of disability like that automatically made the insurance policies paid up for life. That meant she didn't need to pay for anything and they were worth thousands and thousands of dollars tax-free. I went to her house and explained that to her and her husband. They were relieved.

I was shocked. How could this vibrant and wonderful woman who didn't drink or smoke have to suffer such a terrible fate in the prime of her life?

When I returned to work the next day, I reported to my bosses what had occurred and the advice that I gave those good people (the correct advice). My boss was upset because he thought I missed the good chance to make a sale and generate commissions. He insisted that we go back the next night. We did.

There he lied and broke the law by doing what is called, "twisting." He bent the facts to make it look like it was a good idea for her to cancel all her old insurance contracts, and buy a new one. Get it? These contracts are worth thousands of tax-free dollars and this crook tricks them into cashing them in and buying a new one so that he can collect a 55% commission on the first year's premium payment!? 

What an a*shole!

He was at least 25 years older than me and psychologically dominated the conversation over me. I couldn't say a word. I walked out of that house shell-shocked.

I went home and spent the next three days crying and getting drunk. After the first night I decided that I wasn't going to do this anymore and I was going to quit my job. When I told my parents, they thought I was nuts. It was 1982. I was 24-years-old and I was making more than $96,000 a year and I was going to quit.

But, before I quit, I was going to make damned sure that Mrs. Lopez didn't get ripped off. I sobered up and went to see her.

I told her that, under California law, when a new policy is issued, the insurance company had 14 days within that they must deliver the policy otherwise it becomes null and void. I told her that, if she was afraid to talk to this guy (understandable) then to ignore him. No matter what, "DO NOT MEET HIM NOR ACCEPT THIS DOCUMENT WITHIN THE FIRST 14 DAYS!"

I fully explained the law to Mrs. Lopez and her husband. They were, of course, noticeably upset. I told them that I was resigning because of this and that this case wasn't the first time that something like that had happened but that this was the most blatant breaking of the law that I had ever seen so far. They understood and the policy was never delivered and so it was cancelled.

A few weeks later, my boss found out (or figured out) what I had done. I was called into the district office manager's office and there, with alcohol on my breath, I quit just as they began to reprimand me. I stated my disgust for their dishonest way of doing business and walked out.

It was then and there that I decided that I would never work with dishonest people like that ever again....

Unfortunately, it is a very difficult promise to keep. So far I have been pretty successful, but have found myself in times when new people came in and realized that they were, well, untruthful; they were living a lie.

I tried to get out of those situations as soon as I could. I still try.

There's a lot of bad people out there who lie and cheat and steal. Our duty to our kids and ourselves is to not become one of them. It is a very hard thing to do.

Telling the truth and trying to live a good life is not like flipping on a switch... It is like climbing a high mountain and, what really matters, is not so much always telling the truth, but being conscious of the effort to do so always, everyday, every second.

The truth is a very high mountain to climb. It is a very long, steep road. Even with telling the truth everyday, you will still never reach the top before you die. The point is to make the effort to tell the truth everyday...   

Oh, and try to avoid working with thieves, liars and crooks... Their disease is infectious.   

Too Many People Are Missing Out on Their Own Lives

I just had a mail exchange with a nice young person who was working on a Sunday... When I realized it, I felt sorry for them....(I'm in Japan, my early Monday morning is still Sunday in most of the west...)

This story came to mind: The Paradox of Our Time

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings, but shorter tempers; wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints.

We spend more, but have less; we buy more, but enjoy it less. We have bigger houses and smaller families; more conveniences, but less time.

We have more degrees but less sense; more knowledge, but less judgement; more experts, yet more problems; more medicine, but less wellness. We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry too quickly, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom and hate too often. We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life. We’ve added years to life, not life to years.

We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor. We’ve conquered outer space, but not inner space. We’ve done larger things, but not better things. We’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We’ve split the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion; big men, and small character; steep profits, and shallow relationships.

These are days of two incomes, but more divorce; fancier houses, but broken homes.

These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill.

It is a time when there is much in the show window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete.

Remember, spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever. Remember to say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again. Give time to love, give time to speak, and give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER: Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

By Dr. Bob Moorehead

How to Stop Worrying So Much and Be More Successful at Life!

“I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.” - Mark Twain

In today's world, there are plenty of things to worry about and the list seems to grow everyday. There's war, the safety of the food we eat, nuclear accidents, car accidents, "Will our children be safe?" There's diseases, pollution, taxes, will we still have a job next year? The list goes on and on. There' a million and one things to worry about. Take your pick.

You want to be a worrier or a warrior? Take your pick.

I have plenty of friends who seem to worry constantly. The biggest thing they worry about is work. I think it is pretty safe to say that they are their own worse enemy. 

The funny thing is they think I don't worry about work or these other things at all. But I do worry! I am a "worrier" for certain. They just don't know! I think, up to a certain point, worrying is perfectly normal human behavior, and we all do it. But my friends think I don't worry because I've found a good way to control it and I'm glad I did. It's easy to do and just takes 3 minutes every morning. That's a better deal than worrying all day, right?

Many years ago, I used to worry so much that I wouldn't sleep well at night. The funny part is that I'd be worried about work! Think about that! I'm worried about work so much that I cannot sleep well. Then, the next morning I go to work and I'm tired. I'm so tired that I don't do a good job. So I worry so much about losing my job that I lose sleep and then, on the job, do a poor job because I'm sleepy because I didn't sleep well because I was worried about losing my job! What an idiot I was!

Doesn't make any sense, does it?

Worrying all the time is a proven cause of unhappiness and stress. Stress is a proven cause of a wide array of physical and mental illnesses and disorders. Life is rough enough as it is without our own thinking placing a heavier burden on our shoulders than we already have.

Think about it, is there any one of us who can do our best and achieve to our capacity - or even higher than that - when, in the back of our mind is this crawling negative fear - a worry - that binds us? Of course not.

So why do we do this to ourselves?

Today I want to give you two really good tips that can help you control your worrying. First off, I'd like to recommend that buy yourself a $1.00 pocket notebook and that you write down your top 5 or 10 goals first thing in the morning when you wake up everyday. Do it like religion or brushing your teeth.

Writing down your goals will help your subconscious mind to focus better on what is really important to you in your life and it will also allow the Law of Attraction to work in your favor. (There are several links at the bottom of this post to other articles with more details that you might enjoy reading).  

My notebooks so far this year with my most recent opened.

Here's how I do it: I wake up and sit down and think about what is really important to me. Do not cheat by looking at what you wrote the day before. Think. Really think about what is important for you and write it down. If you do this everyday and do not look at the previous day's goals, the things that are important to you and your life will naturally flow to the top. I used to write things about money and business as my top goals, but after doing this for so many years, I came to realize what is truly important in my life is not that. It is my family.

These are my recent top four goals (and I always add today's date at the end):

1) I am a wise and patient father and husband. I am a kind person.

2) Thank you god for all the wonderful things I have and am about to receive today.

3) All my loved ones are healthy and prosperous today.

4) I am a very successful businessman and 2012 is my best year so far. 2013 is even better!

Recently there are another 4 on the list, but those have to do with my work and financial goals. Everyone would be different, of course.

Actually, writing these things down is not my original idea. It is the method of success in life and business for many extremely wealthy people and the basis for a best-selling book: "Goals! How to Get Everything You Want - Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible" by Brian Tracey. May I suggest that you do yourself a great favor and read that book and apply some of the simple rules to your life? 

By the way, one of my dearest friends read this book and later I asked him about it. He said that he does write down his goals in his iPhone. Folks, the advice of millionaires say to buy a handy pocket notebook. It is extremely difficult for any computer or hand held device to be faster than a pen and paper. Why ignore the advice of these people who have succeeded and are rich for the $1.00 it costs to buy a pocket notebook? 

Also, I find that having a handy pocket notebook is great for lowering stress in that I never forget anything. Anytime I have a good idea or something that I must remember to do, I jot it down. It's so much faster with a pen and paper than any electrical device could ever be!

The second good piece of advice I have for those of you who find yourself in a serious pinch whereby you are worrying so much that it has engulfed your entire being is to realize that your brain can only think about one thing at a time. Seriously. It's true. The human brain can only process information about one thing at a time.

There will be people now who think I am wrong about this, but I am not. Just because you can multi-task at work doesn't mean that your brain can think about more than one thing at once. It cannot. Your brain can switch back and forth quite quickly so that the skilled person can multi-task but that doesn't mean that the brain can focus on more than one matter at any given moment.

Here. Let me prove it to you. Here is a sentence. Read it and them repeat it over and over in your head. You will see that, as you are repeating it, you are unable to think about anything else, unless you switch off the repetition. Here is the sentence:

"I am a positive and hard working person and today is the best day so far this year and tomorrow is going to be even better!"

Read it and memorize it. Now, repeat it over and over in your head. Do it many times. 

See? Your mind can only focus on one problem at a time. This is why constant worry is so dangerous. Because if you are only worrying, you will begin to make things worse as you will focus your entire being on that worry. It is a vicious cycle.

Stop it right now!

Anytime of the day, if you catch yourself starting to worry, stop. Take a phrase like the one I have given you above and repeat it in your head over and over until the worrying goes away. If the worrying (or panic) comes back, then start up the phrase and repeat again until the fear and worrying subside.

Some astute readers will recognize what I have written here as a form of meditation, chanting, or prayer. Call it what you want, it will help you to defeat the worrying that is destroying your health and your life. 

I hope that, if you start to worry, that you'll try these these two simple exercises that will help you set your mind free and help you to relax. They've helped me greatly. I know they will help you too.

I do recommend the book, "Goals! How to Get Everything You Want - Faster Than You Ever Thought Possible" by Brian Tracey but, if you are a cheapskate (like me) and need more evidence, I've written extensively about it here below:

One Easy Step To Becoming a Better Parent and More Successful at Life

Pocket Notebooks: The Secret of Millionaires and People Won't Listen!?

Vacation is a State of Mind - How to Get The Truly Wonderful Things in Life

Reminders of Why I Love Japan so Much

Sometimes we get snowed under with all the daily things going on.


There are many things on my mind this morning. For one, there is a parents and teachers meeting at my son's school today and I suspect (but hope not) that I will get asked many questions about the poor boy who passed away. I don't know anything more than I have already written. What more is there to know, anyway?


My mind and heart are heavy.

Jimbo's Japan

Though, through it all, god (or the giant electrode in the sky) sends me a message and reminds me of why I love Japan so much and why being here is such a wonderful thing and why right now is a great time to be alive.

See my friend's blog, "Jimbo's Japan": http://www.jimbosjapan.com/2011/09/tochigi-prefecture-2.html

Children at a festival

Beautiful shrine in Tochigi in spring

For much much more see Jimbo's Japan!

Japan is Freer Than the USA #3

The recent blogs about how bad the USA have become have really hit a nerve with some Americans. I keep getting more comments from one guy who seems like he just can't stand it when someone makes a remark like "Japan is better place to live than the USA." 


This entire conversation started with an letter I received from a friend. I reprinted it in "Japan is a Much Freer and Better Place to Live Than the United States." The letter, from an ex-pat American living in Northern Japan was just a slice of life that, for me, represents how much better and safer and freer Japan is than today's USA. 

PIANISTAR HIROSHI

I used the anecdotal story in the letter to say Japan was a better because Japan has much less crime and much more personal freedom than today's USA does.


This reader got upset and made some strange remark about how I always talk about facts, but had no facts to back up my claim. Gee? The statement "Japan is a Freer and Much Better place to Live than the USA" is a pretty subjective statement. Do I even need to back up subjective statements with facts? 


If I say that the Beatles are better than the Rolling Stones, is it normal to be asked to show some sort of proof? 


I think, like in the letter I reprinted, the fact that kids can play on the beach without adult supervision shows a very safe society without fear of crime and the ability to smoke or drink in public - while small things - and something that one cannot do in the USA anymore - are a sign of a society that shows common sense. These things are in very short supply in the USA police state. Small freedoms add up to a lot of freedom.


He wanted facts about why I thought the USA has lost it. I gave him an entire list of them.   


The first on the list, "The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world and the largest total prison population on the entire globe" should have ended the discussion, but it didn't. 


This is an embarrassment to every American. They should be ashamed. But, once again just shows another problem with the USA; A lack of freedom of the mind.  

"None are more hopelessly enslaved than 

those who falsely believe they are free."

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Some of the other items on this list should have ended the argument too... They were: There are more reported rapes in the United States each year than anywhere else in the world. There are more reported murders in the United States each year than anywhere else in the world. There are more total crimes in the United States each year than anywhere else in the world. The list went on.

Anyway, for the sake of fairness (and fun) let me print this reader's letter in entirety. His comments are highlighted in yellow.

Anonymous said...

As the writer who so rankles the blogger enough to warrant a follow-up blog post,

Don't flatter yourself. This is a blog. Good bloggers interact with the readers I think that is common knowledge

I would like to respond that I agree that the military industrial complex, the drug war, and our privatized prison system represent detestable facts. 

OK. That's a huge chunk of what life is the USA is all about nowadays. The military industrial complex is responsible for the drug wars, foreign wars, loss of freedoms (even the loss of freedom of speech)... But he wants to move on and ignore the 900-pound goriila in the room. He writes: 

But so is Japan's 99% conviction rate. 

It strikes me as odd that a person from a country that has so many lawyers and such massive litigation going on all the time, that they point out to anything involving the legal system. And, he is not looking at the entire picture. Japan has a high conviction rate because lawyers and the police will not go to court unless they are pretty damned sure of winning. Here's your proof of that: 

J. Mark Ramseyer of Harvard Law School and Eric B. Rasmusen of Indiana University examine if the accusation is in fact warranted. In their paper ("Why Is the Japanese Conviction Rate So High?") they examined two possibilities. One is that judges who come under the control of central bureaucracy are pressured to pass a guilty verdict, ensuring high conviction. Another possibility is that, given that non jury system under inquisition system has predictable ruling on guilt, prosecutors rarely ever bring a case which have even minute chance of failure.  

Entire Japanese court ruling is accessible in digital format and the two academics examined every case after WWII in which the court found the defendant not guilty. The result is mixed. 

...by examining the individual cases, the two academic founds that all of those cases which negatively affected judges career had political implication (such as labour law or electoral law) and that the facts of the case (i.e. the defendants committing the accused deed) itself was never in dispute. However, Judged delivered not guilty verdict on technical basis such as statute of limitation or constitutional argument, which was subsequently reversed in higher court. In cases in which the judge delivered not guilty verdict because they ruled that there are insufficient evidence to ascertain that the defendants did the accused deed, the judged suffered no negative consequence. For this reason, the paper argued that Japanese judges are politically conservative in legal interpretation but are not biased in matter of fact.

In the matter relating to Japanese prosecutor being extremely cautious, the paper found ample evidence for it. In Japan, 99.7% of case brought to court result in conviction while in U.S. it is 88%. 

According to a cited research, In U.S. the 22% of federal case and 11% of state case, the accused contest the guilt while in Japan, the ratio is modestly less. The paper attribute this difference to greater predictability of the outcome in Japanese case. This is due to two reason. One is that it is judge rather than jury who determine the verdict. As judged "have seen it all before" and the lawyers on both side "have seen them seeing it" as they can read judge's previous ruling, which include written reasoning for previous verdict, the way judge think and argue is very predictable.

So is the deep control the LDP government exerts over the press. 

This guy has got to be kidding me, right? Talk about people in glass houses throwing stones! Are we talking abut a guy from a country complaining that the government controls the media? A guy from the very same country that has a lap dog media that cheered the USA invasion of Afghanistan, Iraq? This point is so absurd that it is laughable. Perhaps the LDP "controls" the media? It can't be any worse than the USA whose media cheers on wars that bomb and kill hundreds of thousands of brown-skinned men, women and children 24/7. Let's not forget that the USA also has a public that gave its president a 92% approval rating while doing so. 

So is the power of the bureaucracy and the corruptive, malignant influence of amakudari. 

Seriously. This is another joke again, right? Never heard of Washington's revolving door? This guy complains about revolving door politics and business yet  he comes from a country where a president's son becomes president 8 years after dad? Name one other country like that! Quick! 

Like father, like son

So what I have a problem with is absolutist statements like "Japan is freer than the U.S." 

No. He has a problem with a subjective statement like "Japan is Freer Than the United States." Even so, I stand by my subjective statement, "Japan is a freer nation and a better place to live than the USA". I've given a list of facts and data. I've even given anecdotal evidence and the guy gets difficult - and rude on top of that! 

But, I know the truth is that he probably fears what I have made an opinion on is too close to home and is an ugly truth. People just don't like to admit it and they get mad at someone like me stating so. I suspect that he's had this argument with others before and is taking it out on me. The Internet is full of articles on America's loss of freedom. And, as if it really matters what I think. A good example for this guy's chip on the shoulder attitude is like a guy who buys a crap car. He knows he bought a lemon and the car is no good, but doesn't like it if you tell him that.  

Why does the guy get pissy with me? I don't know. I never insulted him! Why do Americans take everything so personal and are so abusive? Do a Google search on "America is Losing Freedom" and you'll get 61 million results. Do a Google search on "America Police State" and you get 108 million results. This guy needs to wake from his slumber.

And I have serious doubts about whether your way of defining freedom are sound. 

Gee. I gave an anecdotal example. The reader asked for data. I gave him that too. Japan has much lower crime, a much safer society, people live longer, universal health care, the best public transit system in the world, people have more respect for each other (say, if you drop your camera in the park, it will probably still be there a few hours later when you go looking for it), and many small personal freedoms that are not available in the USA, etc. etc. 

Make no mistake about it. These above are freedoms. At the very least they are the freedom from fear and worry.

You write so much about critical thinking but I find obesity, divorce rates, and drug abuse have little to do with a society's freedom. It seems you conflate lifestyle choices with freedom, misrepresenting your argument. 

This guy is confused and needs to read more and study. For one, obesity is not a "lifestyle choice." Obesity is a disease. Obesity is a prison. Does anyone in their right mind think people want to be fat? Two, drugs? Drugs are a sickness and a sort of prison too. Healthy people do not abuse drugs. America's well documented problems with over-the-counter and illegal severe drug abuse is the sign of a very sick society. Divorce is just another sign of unhappy people. Nobody wants to get a divorce either. They do it when they find that they need "out." This is caused by many factors; extra marital affairs, drug and alcohol abuse, money, etc. etc. Getting a divorce is a very expensive process it is not a "lifestyle choice." Either way, a high divorce rate is also a sign of a very ill society. 

A lifestyle choice is things like how people dress, wear their hair, where they want to live... These things he mentions are not lifestyle choices by any stretch of the imagination.

It would have been much more sufficiently argumentative had you described the difference as one of quality of life rather than freedom. Linking your Lew Rockwell articles doesn't mean diddley-squat to me. I don't give a hoot who Rockwell is. The guy carries nothing in the way of legitimate scholarship as far as I'm concerned. Just another American fringe movement. 

This guy complains about subjective statements but thinks "Quality of Life" is less subjective than "Freedom"? I don't follow that reasoning at all. He also wrote, "I don't give a hoot who Rockwell is. The guy carries nothing in the way of legitimate scholarship as far as I'm concerned. Just another American fringe movement." Well, pardon me, your royal highness! Lew Rockwell only gets between about 600,000 to 1.8 million unique users per day and is the #5,677 most popular blog on the entire Internet. Not bad when there are over 1 trillion sites according to Google. That blows away sites like New Republic. He also only has some of the best political and social writers in America today (and Canada and Europe) on his roster. And, just because this guy is not clued in and doesn't know, Lew Rockwell is the #27 most popular political website on the Internet in the entire world today. 

And what the hell is a "free market anarchist?" Would love to read your blog on that one.

This guy sure likes to act intelligent but he isn't well-read, is he? Not only does he need to read more, but he also needs to learn how to use Google search engine. Open Google.com. In the box type in "Free market anarchist." You will see nearly 4 million results. Gee! It's so unknown that there's even a Wikipedia page for it. 


I'm sure as usual it will be extremely offensive.

Well, have a nice day to you, too my friend. The only thing offensive here is this guy's self-centered attitude. I write a statement that Japan is a freer place than the USA and mention safety and smoking and drinking in public and he calls that offensive? Someone certainly has a problem here. 

This guy is the perfect example of one more thing about Japan that blows the USA away. In the USA, way too many people are very rude and argumentative. If you go to, say, a bar and state an opinion about something like politics (or some other trivial matter) if someone disagrees with you, you could get into an argument. Or worse, you could get into a fist fight. Or even shot! Americans are famous the world over for being loud, interrupting each other all the time, being argumentative and boisterous.

But, in Japan, if you state some opinion that someone disagrees with, you won't get into a fight. If I say something like, "Tokyo is a better place to live than Osaka." The typical Japanese reaction would be, "Oh?" And that would be the end of it. But not that American. He gets angry and rude. Typical.

This reader is in serious denial. Its because of people like him that the United States keeps going downhill: You can't get better until you get out of denial and face the problems truthfully.

I remember living in Southern California a long time ago and thinking, "This would be the best place to live in the world... If only there were no people."


Another good reason Japan is a better place to live: People have manners and still have respect for each other. Something that seems to have died off in far too many Americans long ago. This reader doesn't seem to have much.


For more on how badly life has gotten in the USA, read; "18 Signs That the Collapse of Society is Accelerating." I highly recommend reading the commentaries by Americans who despair the decline of that country.


UPDATE: Escape From America
Life is mellower almost anywhere else, says Jeff Berwick.

Japan is Much Freer Than the United States #2

This part two of an article I wrote about how the USA is not a free country at all anymore and that Japan is a much better place to live hands down.


I received several mails from irate Americans who just can't handle the truth about how much of a hellhole that country has become. One guy even wrote::


I find it amusing that this blogger constantly ballyhoos the importance of facts and then writes an editorial with the provocative headline above without any exercise of facts save you can smoke in restaurants and drink at the beach-- if that's your definition of freedom, then I feel sorry for you. This is black-and-white writing, emotional, if not hysterical.

If you're going to be provocative at least put a little effort into it. This just feels like lazy writing. And your characterization of Japan is maudlin.


Look who is talking about being maudlin! Check the rear view mirror for knee-jerk emotional reactions, my friend. Why do I need to re-state old facts that everyone - who has been paying attention - already knows? Take off the rose-colored glasses and read on....


Here's some selected tidbits from Lew Rockwell.com from an article entitled, "Number One? 20 Not So Good Categories That the United States Leads the World." Here's your freedom facts. (Read them and weep): 


#1 The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world and the largest total prison population on the entire globe.


#2 According to NationMaster.com, the United States has the highest percentage of obese people in the world.


#3 The United States has the highest divorce rate on the globe by a wide margin.


#5 The United States has the highest rate of illegal drug use on the entire planet.


#6 There are more car thefts in the United States each year than anywhere else in the world by far.


#7 There are more reported rapes in the United States each year than anywhere else in the world.


#8 There are more reported murders in the United States each year than anywhere else in the world.


#9 There are more total crimes in the United States each year than anywhere else in the world.


#10 The United States also has more police officers than anywhere else in the world.


#11 The United States spends much more on health care as a percentage of GDP than any other nation on the face of the earth.


#12 The United States has more people on pharmaceutical drugs than any other country on the planet.


#13 The percentage of women taking antidepressants in America is higher than in any other country in the world.


#16 The United States has the largest trade deficit in the world every single year. Between December 2000 and December 2010, the United States ran a total trade deficit of 6.1 trillion dollars with the rest of the world, and the U.S. has had a negative trade balance every single year since 1976.


#17 The United States spends 7 times more on the military than any other nation on the planet does. In fact, U.S. military spending is greater than the military spending of China, Russia, Japan, India, and the rest of NATO combined.


#19 The United States has the most complicated tax system in the entire world.


#20 The U.S. has accumulated the biggest national debt that the world has ever seen and it is rapidly getting worse. Right now, U.S. government debt is expanding at a rate of $40,000 per second.


I'm being maudlin when I rail on what the USA has become? Ha! I'm maudlin!? These facts I have linked to above are old news. It is astounding, though, that many Americans seem blissfully unaware of them. If anyone should know these facts, the Americans should.

Oh, and if that's not enough, at Lew Rockwell.com there's more. Read: "Number One? 20 Not So Good Categories That the United States Leads the World." Also,   a reader wrote to Lew and added on the blog:

About that USA #1 article you published. Curiously the author didn't mention the USA as:#1 in nuke and other WMD stockpiles.

#1 in WMD sales to other countries

#1 in lawsuits and lawyers per capita and, of course,

#1 in invading other countries!

Smoking & drinking are small things? Yes. That's why Japan blows away the USA for freedom. In the USA you can't even do these small, trivial things. Is that my definition of freedom? Yes. What's yours? (Feel free to choose from the multiple choice list above).