Roosevelt Knew About Pearl Harbor Before it Happened

"The official history of that event is that it was a "sneak attack" precipitated by war-crazed Japanese militarists, and that the totally unprepared Americans – kept from arming themselves by evil "isolationists" in Congress and the Republican party – were caught completely by surprise.

.....There is, however, one big problem with this official history: it’s a lie."

Read the rest at Pearl Harbor: Roosevelt Knew (http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2012/12/06/pearl-harbor-roosevelt-knew/)

More: John T. Flynn on Roosevelt and Pearl Harbor http://www.lewrockwell.com/vance/vance189.html

"Japan's Mojo No Go No Mo!" or: Non-Genki Corporate Japan Culture Ver. 2012

There's lots of reasons why the Japanese economy is in the crapper. For a brief rant on that and a few reasons why see: Japan is Collapsing.

But besides the usual suspects in Japan's economic mess, there is another, more subtle player in action here that I think many people have missed. And that is that today's Japanese Corporate environment is not "Genki" at all anymore.

What does "Genki" mean? According to GenkiEnglish.com "Genki" means, "Genki" is a fantastic Japanese word that means "fun", "lively", "energetic", "full of life."

This being Genki is important. It is like Feng Shui! Feng Shui says, in a nutshell, that if your business or life is to be positive, energetic and lively, then don't have things like dead plants at the front door; don't have dirt and filth around; keep it clean. Great ideas and things are nor borne from dirt and filth; they are born from cleanliness... After all, they do also say, in the west that, "Cleanliness is next to Godliness." (read more at: Feng Shui means, "Make More Money!")

In my opinion, one of the big problems with today's Japan and the economy in general is the lack of "Genki" in todays corporate Japan. I think it is well agreed upon that mood is a very important factor in the market economy. And when mood is bad, how can people be positive? It's like Japan is under a curse or something.

It didn't used to be this way.... In the 80s, it was an entirely different ballgame.... In the 80s, the Japanese were Gung-ho as hell. Sometimes it was a bit scary.... I remember those days when people felt that, besides going the extra 150 miles, they had to dress and act like they were going those extra miles too... There was a director at a radio station who showed up for work every morning in a three-piece suit! What the hell for? At the station, no one outside was going to see him. It was just us four or five people and we were all in jeans and T-Shirts.

I asked him why he dressed like that and he told me that it was to "Show the world that I am ready to take over!" He really did say that. He was the Zeitgeist of the Japan of the mid-80s. 

Today? Guys like him seem long gone.

Let me tell you how it is today. Let me tell you about a place I go to work at once a week...

I work at a company that is full of the most un-Genki, unfriendly people, you could ever have the "pleasure" of meeting. 

I always walk in with a big smile and say "Hi!" and "Hello!" to everyone. Even to people I don't even know! Doing that makes me feel good. And you know what they say, "When you feel good, you look good."

When Mike Rogers walks into that company, everyone knows it. The people there always laugh and smile when I come in... Perhaps some people think I am a brash and ostentatious foreigner... But, generally speaking, I know people there like me. I like to think of myself and one of the "fun" people who gets things done and does a top-quality professional job doing so - and doing that while having fun.

The other day I had some fantastically fresh and deeeeee-licious Tuna Fish Jerky I got from my friend David and I walked into the office with them and gave out 40-some packs to all the staff. It was an early Christmas!

I don't want to give too many details about this particular company but I can tell you that they are involved in the entertainment business. Get it? They are supposed to be entertaining people but the place is like a funeral. When I walked in, the atmosphere was quiet and solemn, as usual. 

I shouted "Merry Christmas!" and started throwing packs of Tuna Jerky (did I say the stuff is awesomely delicious? I did? OK) onto everyone's desk. They all smiled brightly and laughed. Then, I went into the next room and did the same. It was fun.

That's what it is like when I, and a few other people, go there. I like bringing light and brightness to people... Other times at that station? When new people walk in, no one even greets them and says,  Welcome!" It's like a funeral parlor; dead, lifeless and grim.

It didn't used to be that way... Like I said, in the 80s, Japanese companies were like beehives; the atmosphere was often electric and buzzing with excitement. Now? Walking into far too many Japanese companies is like walking into the office to get your drivers licence: Dark, damp, and dusty.

What happened?

I remember offices in the eighties when anyone would walk through the front door all the employees would stand up and say, "Ohayou Gozaimasu!" They all did that. Sure, most of the staff probably didn't want to do so, but the boss made them do it. The boss made them act Genki. The boss created that corporate culture....

Where are those bosses today?

Now, at so many companies, when you walk in, not a single person looks at you and says a word. If it keeps going this way, it's going to get like death and that Kurosawa film, "Ikiru." People sitting around and waiting to die...

It's a sad state of affairs and one, I think, that has to be fixed before this country can be Genki both spiritually and economically again. Until then, like I said, "Japan's Mojo no go no mo!"

Come on Japan! Get with the program!

Facebook Advertising and "Promote" Scam is a Total Failure! Judge For Yourself!

I love Karl Denninger. I don't always agree with him but I like his "Take no prisoners" attitude. Today he points out something that I've been complaining about for a long time: Facebook's scams and failure in advertising.

Please refer to: Market Ticker's Facebook's "Promote" Blows Up In Their Own Face?


There's a meme that has been flying around for a while since Facebook introduced the "promote" feature (where you can pay to cause your postings to show up on people's consolidated timelines -- and if you don't, most of the time they won't) that I'd like to address:

Many of us managing Facebook fan pages have noticed something strange over the last year: how our reach has gotten increasingly ineffective. How the messages we post seem to get fewer clicks, how each message is seen by only a fraction of our total “fans.”
It’s no conspiracy. Facebook acknowledged it as recently as last week: messages now reach, on average, just 15 percent of an account’s fans. In a wonderful coincidence, Facebook has rolled out a solution for this problem: Pay them for better access.
As their advertising head, Gokul Rajaram, explained, if you want to speak to the other 80 to 85 percent of people who signed up to hear from you, “sponsoring posts is important.”

What, did you think that you were going to get something for free forever?
Well, no.

But here's the problem -- Facebook apparently can't make any money (so their results show) without trying to ding you on both sides.  In other words not only do they insist that a person with a page pay to reach most of the people who "like" them, they also then spam the users who like the page with their own advertising.

This is tantamount to an admission that their advertising model is a failure.

Yep. FAILURE! There's nothing much that I can add to this. I've written many times about how much I dislike Facebook's business model and how I think mobile advertising is a failure... Recently I've been grousing - on Facebook no less - about how my older posts would get 70, 80, 100, 150 likes... Now? They only get 5 or 6? How did that happen? 

Well, it's obvious isn't it? They see that I was getting many hits and shares so they decided to cut my access in the hopes that I'd buy in to their "promote" scam. 

Well, I don't.

I've also noticed that people coming to my site from seeing a link from Facebook has dropped off a cliff while Twitter is still there. Facebook launched their "promote" scam in May. The results six months later are a disaster. Evidence? See for yourself:

The traffic to my blog over these last six months from May ~ Dec. 2012. Facebook that used to rank with Twitter has dropped off a cliff. It's obvious why.

You know what they say? The proof is is in pudding.

Facebook is a marketing, advertising and strategic planning failure.

Read more at the Market Ticker: Facebook's "Promote" Blows Up In Their Own Face?

Cool (and Funny) Videos for Christmas (Part 1)

I remember when I was in a punk band in Los Angeles in early 1978. All the guys still had long hair and very few people had even heard of punk music. So of course we never could buy an cool new clothes... We had to make our own or we'd go to the local Good Will store and buy all the clothes the grandmas and grandpas sold.

Me in 1979 with silver hair....

The old folks had the coolest sh*t! They had, by far, the coolest sunglasses too!

Also, I thought it wasn't fair that, while we young people had short hair and colored it purple or silver, everyone though we were freaks but the old people were all walking around with green and blue or purple hair. Heck they still do! No fair!

OK... Well, it's not exactly the Twelve Days of Christmas.... But funny just the same and sure to bring a smile...

*I like the message to this entire production: The collapse of the USA economy. But the more subtle one is a criticism of a consumer society that bases status on how much junk one owns.

Americans Just Don't Get it... Iraq Had Nothing to Do With 9/11

This was over at Facebook. This shows just how illiterate (and ethno-centric) far too many Americans are. My friend posts and article about Iraq and writes, "You can't erase a mistake like Iraq." Then his dumb friends make they typical ignorant American comments...

After Eric's dumb remarks, I post how even the Bush administration admitted Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11... Eric then tries to retract and, funnily enough, he tries to "Erase his mistakes on Iraq"... (To see that video in Youtube, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_A77N5WKWM) If you can stomach this lying sack of sh*t Bush, watch it here.

Then, in typical, shameful fashion, Eric runs away..... But! Gotcha! Sorry, Eric.... Better luck next time!

Nope, Eric. You and the rest of America's cheerleaders for war of Aggression cannot erase your mistakes. Never!

Small Physical Silver Bars Disappearing From Dealers in Tokyo!

Several pieces of news have really gotten me worried about the Japanese (world) economy (again). The biggest one was reported in Proof Again Japan IS (Has?) Collapsing - Bank of Japan Posts ¥233 Billion Loss - Red Ink on Balance Sheet Hits ¥156 Trillion! From articles like this, I have been getting a ton of direct mail from folks asking me where they should buy physical silver and gold in Tokyo.

I saw this gold teapot in the window at a metals dealer near Ueno... ¥2,300,000!!! (that's about $27887.00!!! Sales tax would come to another ¥139,385 ($1690)! Grand total of: ¥2,928,085 (about $35507.73 USD)!!!..... No, thanks, honey. The instant coffee is good enough for me! 

Good question.

I have also been reading in many places that while the price of silver continually fluctuates up and down and that the performance of silver prices in 2012 have been disappointing, the real story is that those price fluctuations are paper silver, not physical silver. The real story, or so I have read, is the difficulty of obtaining physical silver from dealers.

With that, I have been noticing the tightening of the rules for buying silver. One of the big red flags for me was Australia's Perth Mint listing standard one-ounce silver rounds as often being sold out and no longer offering delivery to foreign countries. I also noticed that the US Mint lists this year's silver as sold out.

I have been recommending to my friend that he buy only silver or gold bars from reputable company with a good name. If something bad happens, then you'll want an easily recognized and trusted name so that you won't have a hard time selling your metals if you must. Tanaka is about as good as you can get in Japan. Last week I went with a friend to Tanaka Precious Metals to investigate the status of the market availablity of silver. What I found was a shock.

The last time I was at Tanaka over a year ago, they sold silver bars in sizes from 25, 50, 100, 500 and 1000 gram bars. A 1000 grams is a kilogram. After that, they sold only 30 kilogram bars (that's a hefty piece of metal!) 

When I arrived at Tanaka Precious Metals, they were packed with customers - selling metals! But they had a notice up saying that they no longer sold bars of silver in any size under 30 kilograms! 

There were no longer small bars that the regular folks (like you or me) can buy. The 30 kilogram bars are for industrial use and corporate investors. Sure. A 30-kilogram bar of silver costs about ¥2,790,000 (about $34,000 USD!)

My friend only wanted a 1000 gram bar that's about $1000 ("only," right?)... So we called around.

The results blew my mind. After calling five dealers, we only found ONE Tanaka marked 1 kilogram bar in all of 6 Tokyo dealers I called. I took him over to the one that had the bar and he bought it. 

It was the last one. What's going on?

I asked the clerk about the situation and she told me that it is still relatively easy to obtain shiny silver rounds as those carry a high premium price over spot, but standard bars are getting harder and harder to obtain.

That's points, my friends, to something going on here.

Some folks say that gold and silver prices are in a bubble. That's doubtful. Why? From what I witnessed, regular folks were selling off yet the dealers had no stock.

What's going to happen when Japan's currency crisis really hits and those people who are selling all of a sudden turn around and realize that they need to have those 50, 100 gram bars and they can't?

We are living in interesting times. Scary.

--------------

PS: Reader Ron in Ibaraki asked me the best place to store precious metals. Well, Ron, if you have a good built-into-the floor safe and total alarm system built into your home or office, then I would say that is the best place... (Yeah, I know. I know. "Who has one of those!?") So may I recommend what I do? Try the small (never-heard-of) local Savings and Loans. I use Kosan Shintaku Ginko（興産信託銀行）. My bank is NEVER crowded. They have been in business for over 90 years. They are not a part of the Japanese banking giants so they are not in serious debt and close to fialing. Also, since they are small and unknown (virtually) if there is a bank rush, I know that I can just leisurely walk over there and get my money. Even on payday I have never had to wait in line (not like the 30 minute waits you have at a Japanese Mega-Bank!) If you go to Kosan, tell them, "Mike sent me!" 

PPS: I like Ishifuku for buying small bars of gold... But forget them for silver. Their silver markup is waaaay too high. Their silver bar was priced almost 10% higher than the Tanaka that my friend bought at a different dealer than Tanaka.

1st Annual Wal-Mart Auto Show!

One of the things that most impresses a Japanese person upon visiting the USA for the first time is how many junky cars litter Americas roads. You rarely see busted up cars on the roads in Japan because of the law concerning automobile upkeep.

Now to celebrate that wonderful tradition my good friend Phester Swollen sends me his photos from the 1st Annual Wal-Mart Auto Show!

Enjoy! Taste the quality and style!