AND HE SHOULD KNOW.

In case you'd like to be sure you're actually voting this time,
and that the actual winner is elected...

- Segment 6 of 8 -
Segment 1
+
Planning to E-Vote? Read This First...

(It's not surprising that Diebold is no longer named Diebold;
alarmingly, though, it's new name is "Premier"...)

ARE WE STILL IN KINDERGARTEN?

I shouldn't demean the sharp little brains of genuine kindergarteners by comparing them to current US economic advisors, but I just got my in-all-seriousness Economic Stimulus check, sort of money-colored, with the Statue of Liberty on it, though it was only for $300 because being an expat with a good accountant I have paid no US taxes since 1972, and $300 is all that 36 years of zero taxes deserves. Great return on investment, though!

And not to bite the hand that stimulates me, but it strikes me somewhere in preschool that the US government, which I'd mistakenly thought had an economic department filled to the rafters with top-level financial advisers who knew way more than any of my economics professors ever did - in the face of the biggest national debt in history, negative personal savings, financial entities swooning and collapsing right and left, a trillion-dollar war going on, personal debt surpassing Everest, a sky-high Sword of Derivatives hanging over the world, housing foreclosures up the cliche ("When the Treasury/Fed team moved to rescue Bear Stearns and, more recently, Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac, the $5 trillion-plus burden of risk was neatly transferred to the American citizen."), multiple industrial giants on the brink of bankruptcy, pensions and health plans in respective black holes - sends a 300 dollar check (payable in fiat money, no less) to stimulate a guy on a mountain on the other side of the world! It's somewhat less stimulating to me than it is to a guy on a mountain back in the US, since by the time I get it cashed via the labyrinthine Japanese banking system, the dollar could well be toast and I'll wind up getting stimulated by maybe half a tank of gas, whereas maybe the guy on the other mountain can still get a case of world-class beer.

As hinted at in the aforegoing, I find it it a very unpalatable reality to swallow regarding my native country-- that a select group of America's best minds (excluding those currently creating the vacuum at the very top) actually got together, brainstormed and concluded that the best thing to do right now, to begin pulling the US economy out of its 10-year, multitrillion dollar hole (the money to pay for which will of course come out of the common taxpayers' wallet) is to send everybody some pocket change! They think they're stimulating the economy by giving people back a smidgeon of THEIR OWN MONEY! Your money, in my case. Nice of you; thanks.

There's always hope, though; maybe the next administration can get the whole class into the first grade...

BRADY IN THE SKY WITH FRIED ALMONDS

I'm heading into the skies today for my month-long trip to the US, to visit relatives and friends and see how the old country is doing these days, socioeconomico and otherowise... will start posting from there in a couple of days, when my senses catch up with me. Till then... Move gracefully...

WE'LL ALWAYS HAVE PARIS...
YEAH, SURE.

Paris: 64 Guide Michelin stars

New York City: 42 Guide Michelin stars

Tokyo: 191 Guide Michelin stars!!

Has Le Guide lost its mind? Sacre bleu! Traitre! Doesn't being French mean what it used to? Not to put down Tokyo's food quality in the slightest; shojin ryori, for example, can hold its own with any cuisine in the world, to say nothing of my personally select ramen restaurants, but Japanese food just doesn't have any of that je ne sais quoi you get in Paris from arguing with the waiter. And three times as many stars as Paris! Scandale!

Michelin sprinkles stars on Tokyo

AS TO AMERICA'S LUNCH

I'm certainly not at the cutting edge of all this, but ever since I got my new high-speed laptop I've been able to watch great full-screen movies on demand (e.g., The Big Lebowski), documentaries (The Last Waltz), classic tv series (Frasier, Spin City, Fawlty Towers) even recent movies (The Bourne Ultimatum) for free on my computer (though a smaller image still gives a better picture). Don't know how long all that will last before the big media lawyers swarm into Japan, but a big change is here. I don't need conventional tv or satellite anymore, or to rent DVDs; much vidtech is about to fall by the wayside in large quantities, I expect. In re which, from an interesting article linked to, below the excerpt therefrom:

"The U.S. is getting its lunch eaten. As SaveTheInternet points out, they [the Japanese] get access that is often 30x faster than the U.S. As a result they are experiencing innovation -- and enjoying applications that Americans simply don't have access to."

Why Japan is Eating America's Lunch on Broadband