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. 

Japanese Politicians Bizarre? Nah! Unbelievable But True Hilarious TV Speeches!

Readers of this blog know that I am a solid Ron Paul fan and have been writing for Lew Rockwell (LRC) since 2004. I remember years ago, when my book was released, I was savaged by some critics in Japan because of being a columnist for LRC. One woman wrote something along the lines of, "Mike writing for Lew Rockwell proves that he is amongst the lunatic fringe."


Ha! That's a laugh. (But, seriously, if you need a laugh, read on and watch these videos. They are hilarious.)

Zero Income Tax - Zero Wars - Zero Federal Reserve. Who could possibly have a problem with that?

Getting those negative comments was in 2005. I don't think people consider us the lunatic fringe anymore. Freedom, no taxation, no wars is now mainstream thinking (and just plain common sense - We've been doing it the opposite way all these years and how has that worked out?) 


Gee, I wonder what is so lunatic about being against wars, foreign entanglements and being for freedom and pro-constitution and anti-police state. If that is lunatic, then I am it.


Yesterday, I was inspired to write to Lew and sent him these great videos of some real Japanese who ran for political office. I think these guys are funny crazy. Are these guys really lunatics? You be the judge.... Frankly speaking compared to any US politician running for the US presidency, excepting Dr. Ron Paul, these guys are probably much saner than the rest. 


Here's what I wrote to Lew:


Dear Lew,


Happy Holidays to you and your readers. 

I think you'll be happy to watch these videos of some Japanese politicians. You guys only have Ron Paul to tell the truth.

We have several.... The problem with ours is that, as opposed to Dr. Paul, these Japanese politicians have nothing positive nor constructive to offer.

First up, Rock and Roller, Uchida Yuya as described by Keith Cahoon (extremely well known and regarded music industry beast):

"Yuya Uchida, who long aspired to be a rock'n'roller, decided to run for mayor of Tokyo in 1991.

This is his official alloted TV campaign speech. In 2011 he wrote a book about himself (including recent nude photos) and of course, rock 'n' roll. He was also arrested for various charges related to stalking a former girlfriend."

Yuya Uchida lost the election but still received over 54,000 votes.

And, please witness the glorious wisdom of Toyama Koichi. Scary like Hitler at first, this guy starts to make more and more sense as he goes along (actually when he says that nothing will be changed by elections, I find myself agreeing with him):

The best part is that he got over 15,000 votes. Who says that there's no hope for politics? (The middle finger at the end of the speech is awesome.)

And, now, going from a pissed off revolutionary to a really nice guy, who could forget Mack Akasaka? Mack always smiles and he founded and ran the "Smile Party" whose basic platform only held that people need to smile more to fix all the nations problems. This guy really does seem like a nice guy. He's pretty nutty though. Probably would make a great next door neighbor. 

Even though he lost in this election, he got 6,408 votes.

And, finally, what political and social commentary about Japan could be complete without a word from Yoko Ono? And I do mean, "Without a word." 

Japan has the best politicians (though they never get elected). In America, you have all these scum and liars, at least these Japanese people are sincere in their beliefs.... Perhaps Ron Paul can change the idea that good honest and sincere men cannot get elected in today's America.

Happy New Year's to you all!

NOTE: You can read my archives at Lew Rockwell here.


Thanks to Keith Cahoon, Lew Rockwell

Shopping on Christmas Day!? Are You Nuts?

I just had the misfortune of being tortured for thirty minutes in being seated in an area where a TV set was on and the channel was on Fox News.


Oh, the horrors!


Besides the usual litany of fluff, they actually showed shopping malls packed with people doing their Christmas shopping on Christmas Day! Are these people nuts?


Haven't any of them ever heard of the Internets?


Time is the only nonrenewable resource, my friends. Don't waste it on shopping (or going out anywhere for that matter) that is packed with people, during a rush, and the parking lots are full.


Spend that time with your family instead.

This is what I do every year instead of the Christmas rush.

You can do this too!

Here's my hint (and it's no big secret): Do all your Christmas shopping starting 12/26 until 1/30. I do. In fact, I've done that every year for the last ten years or so.


I have an eight year old son. I finished all his big Christmas items shopping at the start of 2010. I bought this year's presents for him in 2010...In fact, I have his big Christmas items already bought for 2012 and 2013.


In my case, it's pretty easy, I suppose. It's simple to figure out what a Star Wars crazy six-year-old kid would want in the next few years. I bought the big Star Wars items that retailed for $500 - $600 at 44% off (about) through Amazon.


You can do it too.


Save yourself time and money. Start your Christmas shopping (preferably online) from tomorrow until about Feb. Save a ton of money and time.  

Christmas Eve Wish to You

It is now Christmas Eve December 24, 2011...

Here's my Christmas wish for you...

A poem....

T'was the night before Christmas
and all through the house,

Not a creature was stirring,
not even a mouse,

Jeez Louise, dude! It's Christmas eve,
do yourself a favor and if you have kids,

Try to stay away from the computer and turn off digital devices for at least two days of the year.

Turn it off....

And then you can take one step towards a
very merry old fashioned Christmas like when we were kids...

Remember?

Have a Merry Christmas!

Spending Time With Your Kid

It's a day after Christmas and things have really started to wind down. Most dad's are home from work - excepting in Japan and other non-Christian countries and, trust me, there's lots of those. So most of these dad's will take the time, hopefully, to spend some time just being a kid and playing with their kid.

There's nothing more important that a dad can do with their kid than just being with them and doing what the kid wants to do. That's so important. We always take the kids someplace to do what we want to do. But how often do we sit right down with them and do exactly what they want to do? 

Guam December 2011

Sure. "I do that all the time." But do you really? I think most dads, when the child says, "Daddy! Let's do this (or that)!" Will do it for 10 - 20 minutes or so, but get bored quickly and stand up and say, "Well, that's enough for daddy right now" and walk off.

I am reminded of my son wanting to play with Thomas the Tank Engine toys when he was 3 or 4. I thought it was totally boring. That is, until, I got right down and looked at it from his point of view. I got low to the ground and imagined that I was the train conductor and that I was driving the trains. I had to slow down at the dangerous curves and be careful of trains crossing my way. I actually became involved with the game and interacted, rather than just push some cars around in an uninterested fashion.

It soon became fun! The next thing I knew was my wife came up to us and smiled, "My! You two seem to be having lots of fun!" It was! It was fun and time went by really quickly. The next thing you know two hours had passed. We had a great old time.

I am reminded of that time often and, since it is the Christmas and New Year's holiday season, I'd like to remind you fathers and mothers too (but I suspect that most mothers don't need reminding). Recently, I went to a southern Pacific Ocean island with my wife and son and we stayed at a resort. The resort was geared towards families and so they had a water park and a game center. Of course, my son wanted to go to both all the time.

The first day there, I took my son to the pool and water park then to the game center. I found the game center extremely boring as most of the machines were broken and the change machine was in disrepair. Even so, we had  a good time playing Foosball.

The next day. I was exhausted and took a nap. My son was frustrated because he wanted to go play with me. But I had to sleep. After an hour or so of napping, I woke up feeling guilty. That's when it dawned on me again; I am not on vacation here for my pleasure, I am here for his pleasure (we are on vacation after all). I woke up and asked him what he wanted to do.

It was during the day time and he said wanted to go play Foosball. I thought that was a waste of daylight and wanted to tell him, "No! We are going to the pool." but I decided then and there that I would do whatever it was that my son wanted to do.

After all, it was his vacation time too. If he wanted to waste daylight playing Foosball then what difference does it make to me? I'd decided to go have fun with him so whatever he wanted to do was fine by me. I mean, what difference does it make to me if we go Foosball for the first two hours and swimming for the next thirty minutes or so, then swimming for the first hour, then Foosball for the next two hours?

Whatever we do, I had decided that I was going to make him happy by doing what he wanted to do. Whatever it was.

Remember dads and moms... Our true happiness comes in making someone else happy, especially our kids. They aren't going to be kids forever let them enjoy it while they can...

And, if you can allow yourself to do so too, become a kid with them while you play. It is wonderful to return to the purity of our childhood, if even for a moment, if you can.

Try to do this for a day or two this holiday season... I'll bet it will truly be the present that your child remembers. 

Everyday is an Audition

A few night's ago I had the simple pleasure of watching George C. Scott in the movie adaptation of Charles Dicken's "A Christmas Carol" (1984). In that movie, Scott played Ebeneezer Scrooge. It wasn't the greatest performance I've ever seen Scott in. I saw George C. Scott in the lead role of the classic "Patton" when I was a school child and, then again, later on as Buck Turgidson in Dr. Strangelove and Scott was magnificent both times. Scott was called "One of the greatest actors of his generation." So serious was he about his trade that he even refused to attend  the Oscar ceremony in 1971 for his role in Patton. He thought the awards ceremonies were "demeaning" and a "two hour meat parade." He wanted no part of it.

As I watched, "A Christmas Carol" I sometimes felt sorry for Scott. His performance seemed strained in parts. I thought, "Oh how far the mighty have fallen." Why such a triple AAA class actor has to appear in a B-Grade movie? Oh, well, one has to pay the bills.

Then I thought about what is an actors life? I know only too well how show business works; one day you are on top of he world, the next? You haven't a friend around.

The movie "A Christmas Carol" was good, but it seemed quite a drop from the lofty heights of Patton and Dr. Strangelove. I considered how such an excellent and fine actor such as George C. Scott had to actually go to an audition in order to get that part. Imagine! Once the winner of the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1971, auditioning for a part in, what surely was a well-made movie, but not nearly a classic in any sense of the word.

Like I said, it was a "nice movie."

I guess we all have to remember that no matter what we've done in the past, every day is a new day and we have to start again and find the fire and the muster to bring ourselves to an Academy Award performance.

Everyday is an Audition  

A Message for Fathers: Most Men Die With Regrets

... They die that way because they became fathers and then, one day, they realize that they missed out on their child's childhood. My 80-year-old father mentioned this to me before he died this year.

What a waste.


Most men don't realize this until they are in their late 50s through 80s - until they die.


I am one of the lucky few. I realized it when I was in my mid thirties. The reason why I was lucky enough to realize it is because most dads get married and then they have two or three children within a few years. They also consistently repeat the same mistakes with the second and third child that they made with the first child. Then they don't get a second chance. They raise the children together, of course. Not me, my kids are 20 years apart in age.


I have four children. Julie (27) and Sheena (22) were born to my first wife. That wife and I divorced after seven years of marriage and I raised those two girls by myself. I remarried three years later and Wendy was born. When Wendy (17) got sick as a baby and then recovered from cancer, she wasn't able to live with her sisters for at least 6 years due to chemo-therapy treatments so her mother and I divorced and Wendy went away to live with her mother. 


I remarried again for the third time and Wray (8) was born.


Julie and Sheena often had trouble at school and sometimes with the police when they were teenagers. I regret that I didn't spend enough time with them, but with trying to pay to raise them, I didn't have the time I needed. I hired several nannies and they raised them. One nanny was the main one, but she wasn't full-time. I will always regret that I missed their childhood and didn't spend the time with them that I should have.


So, one day, my second wife, a wonderful woman, married me and my two daughters and Wendy was born.


When Wendy got cancer, I was devastated. One day she was fine. The next day she couldn't walk. A few days later she was in the hospital for the next 2 years. Then, when she was released she had to move away to save her life. I will always regret that I missed her childhood and didn't spend the time with her that I could have.


But, like I said, I am lucky. God gave me more chances (so, perhaps there is a silver lining to divorce). I don't want to miss Wray's childhood. When he was born, I often took care of him. I spent time with him and took him for walks everyday for the first two years in his baby carriage. Then, from age 1 1/2 until 7, I went to bed with him every night at 8 pm and we read books together before going to sleep. I make his breakfast at least 320 days a year and eat dinner with him at least 3 or 4 nights a week. I still do.


I always try to come home before 5:30 pm.


I want to live with Wray with no regrets. God gave me another chance I won't waste it. I cannot get back the time with my other children but I can make sure that I don't repeat my mistakes. I will always regret about my first three daughters, but I am trying not to regret with Wray.


You fathers please listen to me. Take my advice. 


Yesterday, Sunday afternoon, the piano school Wray goes to had a Christmas piano concert. I looked at the crowd in attendance. I estimated that there were 27 moms and about 5 grandmas there. The dads? A pretty poor showing. Seemed like 7 fathers and 4 grandfathers. With 27 moms, there should have been 27 dads but there were only 7. Where were the others? What is so important that they miss their child's performance?

The children all performed their hearts out and smiled brightly when their performances ended. Even when it wasn't my son playing, I cried at some of the performances.


Here were these innocent, pure and bright young children playing their hearts out for their moms and dads and grandmas and grandpas. Oh what a joyous occasion it was.


What an even more joyous occasion it could have been had those other 20 fathers bothered to attend. I wonder if any of those fathers were you, dear reader? Or were they you at a different time at a different occasion?


Where were those fathers? Were they Golfing? At home sleeping? Working? Like I said, ultimately what is more important to all of us than our children?


Think about it my friends, what do we work for? Why do we chase the all mighty dollar?


We do it to give our families a place to live and a roof over their heads and food and a happy family.


Think about that last part, "... a happy family." Is a family truly happy when the father is not around? Take, for example this Christmas concert. How many Christmas concerts will your 8-year-old son or daughter perform at? Well, when you stop to think about it, kids are only eight once and Christmas comes only once a year.... That means once.


How often can you go golfing or work or sleep on the couch?


I hope that you, in the New Year, will think about what I am saying. Like I wrote, very few people have the luck to have raised children that are 20 years apart in age. I do. Listen to what I say. 


Share time now with your children because now isn't coming back ever again. Give your child a hug and spend time with them while you can. 

The future is coming sooner than you can imagine. Don't kid yourself. No matter how much time you spend with your children, one day, you'll wish you had spent more. Do it now.