b> You are talking about some radical solutions.

Don't get me started.

I might end up rambling about how weird it is to have an economic
system seemingly dependent on infinite (both population and economic)
growth lacquered onto an obviously finite world.

Then we'd *really* be in trouble, and you would instantly grok the
limits of my imagination. ^_^

Not to belabor a point, but yes, the world is full of hardworking,
talented folk. But the Christians do seem to have one point solidly
nailed (to the cross?): the utter fallibility of human nature. Sorry
for the bad pun; sometimes I just can't resist.

Your grammatical lapses? Shirley, you jest!

My book? Somehow, I just can't organize (organise?) large projects
like that. It's a wonder that I made it through graduate school,
especially in the day before word processors. (Do today's kids have
any idea what it's like to type hundreds of pages on a manual
typewriter?) Besides, I don't really have that much to say other than
the occasional, hopefully pithy, barb. (I sometimes think about the
organizational ability necessary to conceive and maintain Amibroker,
and I am humbled by the mere thought of it.)

I did "ohaka mairi" this week. This is the annual visit to the
family grave -- the place where I will eventually end up. Ours is in
Kumamoto prefecture (Kyushu), on a nice little hill absolutely
covered with mikan trees overlooking the Ariake Sea (which for some
reason we call a sea, but is actually no more than a rather large
bay). For reasons unknown, I got to thinking about how, someday,
someone is probably going to discover this little building (think of
a mini mausoleum) in some archeological dig. Whatever are they going
to imagine?

My relatives down there work their butts off. I mean seriously.
They grow mikans, and strawberries. The former has had the bottom
drop out of the market, because Japanese tastes have changed, and who
can be bothered to peel a mikan when they can just tear the wrapper
off of some ice cream bar? The latter is quite profitable, but
requires a huge vinyl house (biniiru housu in Japanese, a plastic
greenhouse), and backbreaking labor. The mikans grow on terraced
mountainsides, the strawberries in hothouses on the floodplain below.
And when I look at the work that went into those terraced
mountainsides, I am indeed humbled. A lot of damaged lumbar
vertebrae, I suspect. (This is all on my mother's side; my father's
family is from the "big city" of Kumamoto, and a long line of MDs.)

I'm trying to convince them to elevate the strawberries. It would be
an immense amount of work, but only once. Then you wouldn't have to
bend over all the time to tend and harvest, and even more, since they
have to heat that space in the winter at night, I think heating costs
would go down, because the overnight winter temperature in the vinyl
house at an elevation of 1 meter or so must be cheaper to maintain
than the temperature on the "floor". My goodness do they ever work
harder than I do. But maybe I have managerial talent, as long as the
project is not too complex. ^_^ The strawberry flowers have just
blossomed. The fruit will come in the spring.

If I ever write anything, it might be about the bittersweet life of
the Japanese village. There is something absolutely wonderful about
multi-generational households. But there is also an absolute tyranny
in the village, too. Everyone knows everyone, and everyone knows who
"the boss" is, and if you cross the boss (familial or otherwise), you
might as well jump off a cliff. I have a real love-hate relationship
with the village. Maybe that's why I prefer to live in a village of
about 30,000,000. That, and the fact that I can't get good Italian
or (really, any) Mexican food down there, or French or German bread.
(But Kumamoto is famous for raw horse meat -- delicious, called
basashi -- which my relatives ship via refrigerated parcel post to
me every winter. You dip it into a mix of soy sauce and garlic, just
wonderful with a glass or two of daiginjo.)

I did some bottom fishing today just after the open. We'll see how
it goes on Tuesday when we reopen. The market has a little bit of
that hopeless feeling that might signal a tradable rally. Either
that, or we go into a death spiral. I didn't bet the fruit farm.
^_^

Yuki

Friday, November 21, 2008, 3:13:32 PM, you wrote:

b> You are talking about some radical solutions.

b> Unfortunately radical solutions aren't adopted by the masses until it
b> is almost too late, if at all.... it takes visionary leadership to
b> force it upon them at an appropriate time.

>> There should be stiff financial penalties for
>> the well-heeled manager(s) who comes cup-in-hand, warning of dire
>> societal consequences should we all refuse to "donate".

b> In Australia it is called 'the sack'.... they are appointed by the
b> board so presumably there's a whole bunch of em.

b> We can't generalise too much though ... there are always a % of
b> talented and hardworking people in any field, even politics and
b> business ..... according to my theories 10% of them are brilliant but
b> they can be hard to find.... they are often self- effacing, unless
b> forced into revealing their hand.

>> I think we (worldwide capitalists with an interest in corporate
>> management) ... etc

b> Actually I am not a business person or a politician.

b> I do know how hard it is to be an outsider (radical thinker),
b> anywhere, let alone as a female in Japan.

b> BTW I apologise for my occasional grammatical lapses ... I do try to
b> correct them to the best of my ability ... having trouble with tenses
b> and other things ... I will need a coach, or a ghost writer, for my
b> book.

b> Are you going to write a book?

b> You have a good foundation for it ... trained journalist ...
b> universal woman living in a old world ---> new world culture (very
b> intriguing!)


b> brian_z



b> --- In amibroker@yahoogroups.com, Yuki Taga <yukitaga@...> wrote:
>>
>> b> If the vision was there the salaries wouldn't offend in the
b> least.
>>
>> Absolutely. What offends the most is that these guys and their ilk
>> have systematically put short-term numbers ahead of long-term
>> viability, and they have rigged their own pay schemes so that they
>> are rewarded immensely for doing so. They profit from short-term
>> thinking, even when such thinking carries heavy long-term
>> consequences.
>>
>> I think we (worldwide capitalists with an interest in corporate
>> management) need to consider taxation regimes (or something) that
>> make that kind of behavior impossible. Great salaries and great
>> bonuses are fine for great performance. But performance metrics
b> that
>> look great for a quarter, or four quarters or so, often shine at the
>> distinct expense of the longer term. So we need to think about
>> making these rewards available only after time frames that juxtapose
>> with those longer term interests.
>>
>> How to do that in a world fragmented into competing states is
b> another
>> whole kettle of sakana.
>>
>> But there is something inherently unstable about a situation in
b> which
>> the management of companies way too big to fail can reward
b> themselves
>> for putting those companies into situations where the state has to
>> come to the rescue. There should be stiff financial penalties for
>> the well-heeled manager(s) who comes cup-in-hand, warning of dire
>> societal consequences should we all refuse to "donate".
>>
>> We've all heard of slash-and-burn agriculture, of course.
>> Slash-and-burn corporate management is just as bad.
>>
>> Yuki
>>
>> Friday, November 21, 2008, 7:46:29 AM, you wrote:
>>
>> b> Political theater is performed at a much more sophisticated
b> level in
>> b> the USA than anywhere else, although not with the finality of
b> some
>> b> less democratic states.... something to do with all of the TV
b> cameras.
>>
>> b> The auto bailout is an interesting and drama packed sub-plot to
b> the
>> b> long running financial soap opera.
>>
>> b> Their lack of contrition, and the tounge in check banter,
b> indicates
>> b> that it is accepted that they have not committed a crime.
>>
>> b> It fails to shock .... it is all a symptom of where we are
>> b> collectively.
>>
>> b> I see their negative campaign, drumming up the case for a 'loan'
>> b> (only good until next March) but I don't see anything about
b> their
>> b> vision for the future.... their plans as to when, where, why and
b> how
>> b> the 'big three' are going to emerge into the bright lights of
b> the
>> b> brave new world.
>>
>> b> If the vision was there the salaries wouldn't offend in the
b> least.
>>
>> b> Australian auto makers have been routinely queing for social
b> security
>> b> (restructuring loans) as long as I can remember.... there isn't
b> a day
>> b> in my adult life when that wasn't the norm.
>>
>>
>> b> A personal note -
>>
>> b> Ignorance (Mumyo) is pervasive .... one can not hope to fathom
b> it or
>> b> stand against it .... we can't catch it in our fishing nets and
>> b> discard it, as if we are clearing our waterways of a feral
>> b> fish .....cut off your slice of the cake and oppose that smaller
>> b> portion and have no concern for the rest.
>>
>> b> brian_z
>>
>> b> --- In amibroker@yahoogroups.com, Yuki Taga <yukitaga@> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> From the Washington Post:
>> >>
>> >> ---
>> >>
>> >> So it was hard to feel sorry for the executives when Rep. Peter
>> >> Roskam (R-Ill.), late in the hearing, reminded them again
b> that "the
>> >> symbolism of the private jet is difficult," and mischievously
b> asked
>> >> the witnesses whether, in another symbolic gesture, they would be
>> >> willing to work for $1 a year, as Nardelli has offered to do.
>> >>
>> >> "I don't have a position on that today," demurred Wagoner (2007
>> b> total
>> >> compensation: $15.7 million).
>> >>
>> >> "I understand the intent, but I think where we are is okay," said
>> >> Mulally ($21.7 million).
>> >>
>> >> "I'm asking about you," Roskam pressed.
>> >>
>> >> "I think I'm okay where I am," Mulally said.
>> >>
>> >> And don't even think about asking him to fly commercial.
>> >>
>> >> ---
>> >>
>> >> For those of you living in caves, the "Big Three" auto execs each
>> >> took a single private jet to Washington from Detroit (24
b> commercial
>> >> flights per day) to beg for money. (The Chrysler guy --
b> Nardelli --
>> >> did actually offer to work for 1 dollar next year.)
>> >>
>> >> The guillotine seems too "kibishii". But stocks (the physical
>> b> kind ,
>> >> not the financial kind) seem more appropriate than any Japanese
>> >> remedy. I'm stocking up on rotten vegetables, just in case.
>> >>
>> >> Yuki
>> >>
>>