101–110 of 123 posts
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except salsa and guacamole are interchangeable. it doesn't seem to me you can easily exchange one component of CPI with another?
What Americans typically refer to as "salsa" is not interchangeable with guacamole.
It is for people who don't want either one.
This effect explains why different people see different amounts of inflation.
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There's quite a bit of disinformation in your comment. * that people live with their parents is only "shocking" if you happen to come from a country where that is considered taboo. In many countries it's not considered shameful to live with your parents while you're single. It didn't start after the bubble, it started like 1000 years ago. Yeah, there's a downside to it, but then there's also a downside to getting int…
* Internet banking has been around for years. ATMs are open 24/7 in convenience stores. Except on public holidays when said ATMs magically cannot process credit card transactions. Japanese banks are most certainly a joke. I know of one large Japanese bank that completed all transactions on paper (they would process it electronically then print it out and hand verify the details) until a few years ago. Think of a vast…
Over the last few years 24/7, 365 days/yr ATMs are have become much more common. As have ATMs that accept foreign banking cards. As has a more generalized acceptance of CCs.
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> In many countries it's not considered shameful to live with your parents while you're single. I can completely understand that you want to live with your parents when you are studing (or a young working adult). But 28years+ is becoming a bit ridiculous. Maybe it is because a lot of people are not getting married anymore. But the point is that many people (and some of my friends) can not afford a really expensive ap…
I'm with on most of that, but what do you mean by "FAtkins" diet? Severe carbohydrate restriction may be to difficult for most people to stick with, and therefore not optimal for keeping the weight off. But there is is irrefutable evidence that carbohydrate restriction will result in weight loss.
But it is a simple fact that such a diet is impossible in Japan. The price of meat, especially red meat is extremely high.
PS: I agree with you that a carbon restricted diet has obvious healt benefits. My point was that following an unhealthy red meat diet in Japan is impossible due to price.
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* Internet banking has been around for years. ATMs are open 24/7 in convenience stores. Except on public holidays when said ATMs magically cannot process credit card transactions. Japanese banks are most certainly a joke. I know of one large Japanese bank that completed all transactions on paper (they would process it electronically then print it out and hand verify the details) until a few years ago. Think of a vast…
This was the case until the mid- 2000s (to the point where if you didn't take money out before New Years, you might find yourself penniless for a few days). Over the last few years 24/7, 365 days/yr ATMs are have become much more common. As have ATMs that accept foreign banking cards. As has a more generalized acceptance of CCs.
Words do not exist to explain errors in this article. The world's most populous island improved internet infrastructure? Wow! Life expectancy increased, just like in every other OECD nation? Wow! The appreciation of the yen is a result of the deflationary pressure that crippled the Japanese economy from 1995-2005. He links to shadowstats, a known internet cook hangout. It's like linking to a global-warming denial sit…
In 2005 my friend had a Japanese phone which had high speed Internet, video calling, and an ssh client among other things.
The US had the Razr.
Don't change history, smartphones were widely popular in Japan well before anywhere else in the world. The iPhone was just the first usable smartphone for the rest of us.
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Wolfram Alpha displays the debt in your local currency (SEK to me). Which currency did it show to you? Look at this video and tell me how that is sustainable: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-quUyId2WZ0#t=0m13s
If I citizen of a country buys that country's bonds then a portion of their interest is collected back as capital gains. Thus the country actually pays (interest rate * (1- capital gains rate) - inflation rate). So because the overwhelming majority of Japan's debt is owned by it's own citizens and it's in it's own currency they can easily drive their loan servicing costs below zero at fairly modest inflation rates. T…
Why will Japanese people buy government bonds that return a negative interest? Stuffing cash in a mattress seems like a better option at that point.
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There are limits to how much you can print without creating a currency crisis. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperinflation#Examples_of_hype...
You can pursue an economic policy that creates high levels of inflation without necessarily triggering hyperinflation. The goal of course would be to gradually inflate away the value of the debt, not to pay it all back immediately.
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It reminds me of my first time visiting South Korea. While there I observed people who's job it was to wear a cute uniform and bow to cars entering the parking garage at the local department store, people hired by companies to stand in the aisles at the local supermarket holding packs of coffee or shampoo or whatever and dance to loud techno music (usually young women in short skirts and thigh high boots, bizarre to…
All marketing is "keep people busy" work. In Australia, people don't like service-people. There's this weird pseudo-independence thing, where we'd like to believe that we haven't oppressed any workers to get our cup of coffee. It's not a problem if the coffee was grown by plantation slaves, and made by a Philippino guest-worker on an exploitive H1B1 equivalent visa, but the waitress had better be quick, efficient, an…
But people still prefer them. Why? I think it's a social anxiety thing. You don't want to think that you're wasting someone's time on your goods—showing them what you've bought, having them fuss over each item and acknowledge that you bought that—when you could instead check yourself out in relative anonymity. You don't have to make any small-talk, or even take out your headphones if you don't want to. It's really about eliminating the "friction" of the social norms involved with the manual checkout process as much as it is about automating anything.
Let's look at one metric that supersedes all (in my opinion): According to, Japan's unemployment rate has been no higher than 6% over the last 32 years (1980-2012).It's currently at 4.5%[1] Compare that to the US, who's unemployment rate has been at worst 10% over the last 32 years (1980-2012). It's currently at 8.5%[2] Why does this supersede most other stats? Because we simply need to keep people busy "doing things…
Because we simply need to keep people busy "doing things" I suppose we could employ people to dig holes and pay them for the job of digging holes for no purpose. That's not productive or is a good use of their time, unless it is spent digging useful holes. That's because we have a million other things that people could do help and help out. All we need to do is figure out how to employ people. I ask why? What is the…
Doesn't that just mean that "what we want in life" is status?
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This was the case until the mid- 2000s (to the point where if you didn't take money out before New Years, you might find yourself penniless for a few days). Over the last few years 24/7, 365 days/yr ATMs are have become much more common. As have ATMs that accept foreign banking cards. As has a more generalized acceptance of CCs.
It happened to me last year during Golden Week so not that much has changed. I should have known better because I'd seen ATMs turned off during public holidays before. I even had large hotels refuse to accept credit cards but eventually I found accommodation and a restaurant that accepted Visa.