Japan's current problems can be solved by taking a fucking holiday. Seriously. In Japan, most full-time employees receive more than two weeks of paid holidays. Most of these paid holidays, however, go unused. The reason? Because workers are such pussies that they can't work up the testicular fortitude to ask for a day off. They are entitled to the days off but would rather exhaust their bodies and minds for the rest of their lives, than simply grow a pair of balls.
Japan's economy is shit right now. People simply do not have enough opportunities to go out and spend money because they are constantly working. When they have time off, workers usually change their tampons, have a nap, and get ready for going back to work. If workers took a few days off, they could collectively save Japan from the pool of shit it is falling into. Seriously, there are 65 million workers in Japan. If everyone had the balls to take 5 days off, spending an average of 10000 yen a day for their vacation, the National GDP would increase by 16 250 000 000 000 yen ($211 billion). That amounts to almost a 3.8 percent increase in nominal GDP.
In addition, deflation has threatened Japan for years, and the central bank has done all it can to eliminate it. They are caught in the zero-interest trap (they have lowered the interest rate almost to zero but it still isn't enough to encourage spending), and the only way out is to take some fucking days off. This increased spending would act as a parachute for falling consumer prices, and could potentially eliminate deflation altogether. In essence, taking a fucking holiday could end this two-decade-long recession.
Some pussies might disregard everything I have said and counter with the "but it's a cultural thing." Fuck off. Lacking balls is not cultural. Even if that's what you believe, there's no reason why the government could not simply create new legislation, stipulating a minimum number of paid holidays which you must take. However, it seems unlikely that 65 million spineless pussies that can't ask their bosses for a day off could muster the collective gonads necessary for asking the government to do something productive.
Jesus Christ...
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Japanese rice farmers are inefficient, have too much political clout, and are weighing down the economy.
Japanese rice farmers are inefficient bastards with too much political clout. Any industry that requires a 778% protectionist tariff in order to stay afloat is better off sinking. In essence, the Japanese poor and middle class are paying artificially high prices for their food, just to support farmers that haven't had an innovative idea since the tractor was invented.
Granted, that's not all their fault. Long before they were born, the government of Japan set this problem in motion.. Modern farmers are the illegitimate children of post-war land reforms.. Honestly, consider that your average rice farmer in Japan only tends to 1.65 acres of land. I could do that in addition to working a full time job. It really a pittance.. If a Japanese rice farmer came to North America, he might be surprised to find that American farmers do in minutes what he does in days.
These primitive Japanese farmers are, at least in part, responsible for the high cost of living in Japan and the subsequent decline of population. They are, for the most part, responsible for the controversy in Japan over the TPP. They are holding Japan back from improving and evolving as a society and as a country. Just as Japan has seen the end of many distinct eras, so must the era of the inefficient rice farmers come to an end. Let the markets decide...
Granted, that's not all their fault. Long before they were born, the government of Japan set this problem in motion.. Modern farmers are the illegitimate children of post-war land reforms.. Honestly, consider that your average rice farmer in Japan only tends to 1.65 acres of land. I could do that in addition to working a full time job. It really a pittance.. If a Japanese rice farmer came to North America, he might be surprised to find that American farmers do in minutes what he does in days.
These primitive Japanese farmers are, at least in part, responsible for the high cost of living in Japan and the subsequent decline of population. They are, for the most part, responsible for the controversy in Japan over the TPP. They are holding Japan back from improving and evolving as a society and as a country. Just as Japan has seen the end of many distinct eras, so must the era of the inefficient rice farmers come to an end. Let the markets decide...
Stupid voters are just as bad as apathetic ones.
Japan is financially screwed right now, and nobody is willing to make sacrifices. I have been asking people lately about their views on the economic situation, and it has caused me to realize that everyone is thinking only about their own situation with no regard to the society as a whole.
Example 1:
One woman advocated cutting government expenditures, and was fine with raising the consumption tax, as well as a tax on alcohol, but disagreed that tobacco taxes should increase (it currently costs 410 yen, or $5.40). The reason? Because she smokes.
Example 2:
One man was fine with cutting government employee wages and increasing consumption tax, as well as a tobacco tax, but he thought it was a bad idea to raise the tax on alcohol. When asked why, he replied that he liked to drink.
Example 3:
One young lady declared that she hated prime minister Noda because he intends to decrease public salaries. Her motivations, like everyone else's, were purely selfish: she works in the public sector.
These voters actually oppose policies that they KNOW are good for the country. When half of the people vote AGAINST the interests of the country, and the other half are too uninformed to hold an opinion either way, democracy cannot function. Indeed, it has not been functioning in Japan for years. Voters have no knowledge of important issues in government or the rest of the world, so they openly criticize policy which is clearly good for the country and, in many cases, necessary.
Example 1:
One woman advocated cutting government expenditures, and was fine with raising the consumption tax, as well as a tax on alcohol, but disagreed that tobacco taxes should increase (it currently costs 410 yen, or $5.40). The reason? Because she smokes.
Example 2:
One man was fine with cutting government employee wages and increasing consumption tax, as well as a tobacco tax, but he thought it was a bad idea to raise the tax on alcohol. When asked why, he replied that he liked to drink.
Example 3:
One young lady declared that she hated prime minister Noda because he intends to decrease public salaries. Her motivations, like everyone else's, were purely selfish: she works in the public sector.
These voters actually oppose policies that they KNOW are good for the country. When half of the people vote AGAINST the interests of the country, and the other half are too uninformed to hold an opinion either way, democracy cannot function. Indeed, it has not been functioning in Japan for years. Voters have no knowledge of important issues in government or the rest of the world, so they openly criticize policy which is clearly good for the country and, in many cases, necessary.
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