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Archive for the 'pricing' Category
The Ashley Madison Hack: A Sleazy Attack on a Sleazy Business
Filed under: complexity, ethics, pricing, scandal, sex, trust |
Several weeks ago, hacker group The Impact Team threatened that they would release the identities and credit card numbers of clients of infidelity promoting social network Ashley Madison. This week, they made good on their threat, releasing details of a reported 36 million user accounts.
For the moment, the data is apparently out there — some news outlets clearly have access already — but it's hard to find. But informed commentators suggest it may soon be available and searchable online.
Some will call this a victimless crime: a scuzzy company's lying-and-cheating customers are getting exposed for what they are. But it's worth noting that there may be some innocent victims in all this: some Ashley Madison accounts may be spoofed by people using stolen credit cards. Others accounts may belong to people who are not in fact married, but who nonetheless don't need their online dating habits shared with the world. And even the company's 'core' customers, the ones who truly are acting dishonourably, don't necessarily deserved to be punished in vigilante style. Or perhaps more to the point, it's not that they don't deserve it, but rather that The Impact Team doesn't have the right to decide.
What about Ashley Madison itself? It's in a sleazy business to say the least. Of course, employees at Ashley Madison aren't themselves committing adultery (well, unless they happen to be, incidentally). So some people might wonder whether the company itself is doing anything wrong in the course of business? I think pretty clearly, yes. When you actively and knowingly contribute to someone's wrongdoing, you share the blame. And there are a range of familiar examples in which helping someone to do wrong is considered blameworthy. Think of lawyers suborning perjury. Think of business agents facilitating bribery.
Naturally, many are calling this a "wake-up call," for web-based companies and for the corporate world more generally. Reports suggest that insiders at the company knew that privacy was a big risk, and worried about "a lack of security awareness across the organisation." One sign of a lax attitude toward privacy: according to a report in The Guardian, while customer passwords were stored in hashed (scrambled) format, "information such as addresses, credit card details and sexual preferences is all stored in plain-text in the database." So anyone with access to the database has access to a treasure trove of private info.
Perhaps the moral of the story is that, human nature being what it is, it's easier to make money by pandering to people's baser instincts, than it is to protect the private information gathered along the way.
Price Fixing: Not Just Business
Filed under: capitalism, competition, pricing |
Canada's Competition Bureau has charged several candy companies with price-fixing. Nestle Canada, Mars Canada, and wholesale distributors network ITWAL stand accused of conspiring to manipulate the price of chocolate here in Canada. According to a press release from the Bureau, charges have also been laid against several individuals, including Robert Leonidas, former President of Nestlé Canada; Sandra Martinez, former President of Confectionery for Nestlé Canada; and David Glenn Stevens, President and CEO of ITWAL.
It's interesting to note that price-fixing is one of the few pricing-related topics that comes up with any frequency in business ethics — one of the few that makes even a token appearance in any business ethics textbook. For the most part, pricing simply isn't discussed as an ethical issue, probably because most companies are seen as having so little choice to exercise in the matter.
But price-fixing — attempts by erstwhile competitors to arrange not to compete on price — is a serious ethical as well as legal issue. It is also the subject of considerable cynicism. Many people seem to take for granted the idea that certain kinds of companies — gas companies come to mind, for instance — collude in an attempt to squeeze more money from consumers.
Another kind of cynic will see price fixing as not just common, but justified. After all, it's just business, right? A manager's job is to make a profit. And so if price-fixing is a route to profit, wouldn't that just be part of a manager's job?
But there is of course a good reason why price-fixing cannot be thought of as just part of doing business. And you don't need to have a particularly warm-and-fuzzy view of business in order to see it.
But first it's important to see that the reason why price-fixing is wrong is not just the bare fact that it hurts consumers. In market economies, there is no general prohibition against doing things that hurt other market participants. Markets are supposed to be win-win, but only in the big picture. There's nothing unethical, for example, about developing a new and better product, one so good that it drives competitors out of business and hence leaves some people unemployed. Likewise, there's nothing wrong with raising your prices in response to rising costs of production, even if that leaves some people unable to afford your product.
So the reason why price-fixing is illegal, and also unethical, is not that it hurts consumers. The key reason is that it violates one of the basic requirements for markets to work efficiently. In order for markets to function with anything approaching efficiency — never mind fairness — several conditions must obtain: for starters, there must be sufficient information in the hands of both buyer and seller, and the costs of transactions must be borne by the participants, rather than spilling over onto bystanders. But most important for the present case, markets can only be efficient if buyers have real options — that is, if no seller has the power to bully the market. Behaviour aimed at letting one seller, or a group of sellers, bully the market is contrary to the requirements of efficient markets.
And when markets don't operate efficiently, they lose much of their fundamental ethical justification. So when companies engage in price-fixing, then, they're not just acting unethically. They're acting as bad capitalists.
Is Fare by Weight Fair?
Filed under: discrimination, energy, pollution, pricing, values |
Is it fair to charge airline passengers based in part on weight? That's the plan recently announced by Samoa Air, and it's a plan that is raising a few eyebrows.
Yes, it's an ethical issue. But no, there's no clear answer.
Interestingly, the mainstream media stories I've read about this thus far have made little mention of the obvious moral worry, namely discrimination. On the face of it, this looks like systemic discrimination against overweight and obese flyers. You and I could be in adjacent seats, booked seconds apart, but if you happen to be 20 pounds chubbier than me, you'll pay more.
Whether being fat is sufficiently under personal control to make it a permissible basis for discrimination is hotly debated. But it's worth noting that a weight-based policy also discriminates against those whose extra pounds are pure muscle. A heavyweight boxing champ would be about fifty pounds heavier than me, and would therefore pay more. The same goes for someone with the same build as me, who happens to be 4 inches taller. So if this is discrimination, it's discrimination against those who are heavy, not those who are fat.
The other factor not mentioned in the few stories I've read about this is the environment. In aviation terms, weight translates into fuel, and more fuel burned means more environmental impact. So in charging by weight, an airline is basically levying a kind of carbon tax. And while how much you weigh isn't fully within your control, the amount of luggage you bring with you is, and Samoa Air charges based on the total weight of you plus your luggage. Charging more on that total encourages people to carry less, and in principle might nudge frequent flyers, at least, to lose a few pounds. Such reductions eventually mean reductions in carbon emissions, and that's a good thing. So even if there is a problematic form of discrimination going on here, there's at least one factor on the other side of the moral equation.
Finally, it's worth noting that to the extent that we're worried about discrimination against bigger people (regardless of why they are big), being charged extra for their weight is far from the only price bigger people pay. Sufficiently large people also "pay," for example, in the form of pain suffered by squeezing into airline seats not designed for people their size. That's one of innumerable ways in which people who are outside the norm suffer in a world of products and services that are mass produced. But then, if the unusually large person pays a price for being squeezed into a seat designed for smaller folk, the person next to them pays a part of that price, too.
Of course, Samoa Air is a tiny airline, based in a tiny country. And commentators suggest that the company's example is unlikely to be copied by major airlines. Indeed, it's probably next to impossible: Samoa Air not only charges more to heavier passengers, it gives them more space — something likely impossible on standardly-configured passenger jets. But it is precisely for this reason that Samoa Air makes for a good case to use in ethics training and education. Before coming down on one side or the other, it's important to tease out not just that there's an ethical issue at all, but that there are in fact a range of ethical questions here.
Environmental Profit-and-Loss
Filed under: accountability, CSR, environment, pollution, pricing, sustainability, values |
It's attractive, but very dangerous, to try to calculate a 'bottom line' for a firm's social or environmental performance. Attractive, because key stakeholders are increasingly interested in knowing those kinds of details. But the main danger should be obvious: there's just no way to add up the disparate factors that make up a firm's social or environmental performance. How do you add together litres-of-water-used plus hectares-of-habitat-destroyed? On the social performance side, how do you sum up number-of-women-in-senior-management plus fair-trade-contracts signed?
The answer of course is that you cannot. You can't add up things that are represented in different units of measure. That's not to say that you can't or shouldn't track and report these various numbers; but it casts a dim light on the prospects of arriving at a global assessment of a firm's social or economic performance.
Unless, of course, you simply put a dollar figure on everything, in which case the math becomes quite easy.
That's what shoemaker Puma has done, with its new Environmental Profit & Loss Account (E P&L). They've attached a dollar value to their greenhouse gas Emissions and their water consumption, and compared that to the dollar value of the shoes they produce. And, interestingly, they're publicizing the fact that, environmentally, they're in the red. They extract more from the environment than they provide to consumers. Environmentally, they're operating at a loss.
Now, in standard terms, any firm that uses more (in dollars) than it puts out (in dollars) is going to go out of business pretty quickly. But as Puma's Jochen Zeitz points out, that's not the case for many environmental inputs because so many environmental inputs are unpriced — that is, they cost a company nothing. Pollution, for example, when unregulated, costs a company nothing, and when under-regulated costs the company less than the cost such pollution imposes on others. So what Puma has done is put a dollar value on these things so that they can figure out what their environmental bottom line would be, if they actually had to pay for all they consume and all they emit.
There are two key problems with such attempts to calculate an environmental bottom line this way. One is practical: there just aren't uncontroversial ways to put a dollar figure on every unpriced environmental input. Certainly there are people who can provide methods for doing so; but that doesn't mean there's a clear right way to do it.
The other problem is, well, philosophical. It's not at all clear that everything we want to say about environmental ethics can be summed up in terms of economic impact. What's the dollar value of the loss of a species? Is the value of beautiful scenery really captured by summing up how much each of us would be willing to pay to preserve it?
Still, Puma deserves credit for this rather striking bit of transparency. Even though the "E P&L" is a pretty incomplete picture, it nonetheless does tell us something about the company's overall environmental impact, and its commitment to doing better.
(Thanks to Andrew Crane for pointing me to the Puma story.)
Ice Cream, OxyContin, and the 3 Big Questions of Business Ethics
Filed under: crime, ethics, markets, philanthropy, pricing, regulations, values |
Sometimes it takes a really minor story to illuminate the basic issues at stake in business ethics. Like, for instance, a recent story about a guy selling both ice cream and serious street drugs out of his New York city ice cream truck. Here's the story, by Jonathan Allen for Reuters: Ice cream vendor gets prison for selling drugs with treats.
That story highlights nicely one of three really fundamental questions that must be asked by anyone seriously interested in business ethics.
The three big questions of business ethics are as follows:
1) What may I do, and what may I not do, in attempting to make a living?
2) In what ways do my obligations change when I act on behalf of others, including employers, shareholders, etc.?
3) What should I do when I see inappropriate business practices that don't directly affect me?
Each of these "big" questions can of course be subdivided into an entire category of questions. Question 1, for instance, implies a whole range of more specific questions — not just questions about the basic ethics of commerce (Can I lie, cheat or steal? No. Can I exaggerate, or put important details in fine print? Not so clear!) but also questions about Corporate Social Responsibility and corporate philanthropy. The second question covers all the issues that crop up once businesses are staffed by more than a single individual. And the third concerns third-party critique, the work of consumer advocates, and government regulation.
The news story cited above illustrates beautifully Question 1, the question of what you can and cannot do to make a dollar. Louis Scala was, after all, just trying to make a living. There's nothing wrong with that, of course. The catch was the method he chose.
Scala chose to sell two products. One was soft-serve ice cream, a dessert treat sold primarily to kids, who just can't get enough of the stuff. The other was OxyContin, a highly-addictive narcotic, sold primarily to adults who just can't get enough of the stuff. Selling the former is considered a reputable way to make a living. Selling the latter (out of the back of a truck!) is what earned Mr. Scala three and a half years in jail. But then, neither of those products is uncontroversial. Ice cream isn't exactly healthfood, and child obesity rates are on the rise. But on the other hand, it's a harmless treat, when consumed in moderation. But on the other hand, it's not always consumed in moderation. But on the other hand…you get the point.
Figuring out what constitutes a legitimate way to make a living — taking into consideration all reasonable details — is far from straightforward. But realizing that the questions we want to ask about business ethics all fall under one or another of the fundamental headings listed above is, I think, a useful bit of mental bookkeeping, which is increasingly important in a world where criticisms, and defences, of business practices are becoming more and more diverse.
Facebook, It's Not OK to Suck
Filed under: advertising, consumers, entertainment, internet, pricing, privacy, quality, technology |
Facebook users should keep complaining, complaining bitterly, complaining in every possible forum.
Oddly, for all the controversy over Facebook implementing yet another round of changes to its layout and user experience, that controversy has almost been drowned out by arguments over whether it's appropriate for users to complain about Facebook. Yes, the burning debate among users is over whether there should be a burning debate among users.
Much of the force of the "stop complaining!" camp is rooted in the claim that, hey, after all, it's a free service and no one's forcing you to use it anyway. But contrary to what you might have heard, Facebook isn't optional, and it isn't free. Let me explain.
First, let's talk price. Lots of people have already pointed out that while Facebook doesn't charge users for an account, that doesn't mean it's free. The service is supported by advertising, just like TV shows have been since the days of early soap operas. So you are "paying" to use Facebook — you're paying with your eyeballs. You're paying with attention, however fleeting, to those ads along the side of the page. And — the more worrying fact — you're paying with your privacy, as Facebook uses what seems to be increasingly-ornate ways to gather information about you, your preferences, and your web-surfing habits. As the saying goes, there's no such thing as a free lunch. Facebook isn't an exception.
Think of it this way: Facebook is like a gas-station bathroom. It might be "free", but that doesn't mean that quality doesn't matter. In both cases, the "free" service being offered is there as an inducement. In the gas station's case, it's an inducement to stop there for gas (and increasingly for snacks, magazines, etc.). In Facebook's case, being able to post stuff for "free" for your friends to see is an inducement to look at those ads, and to share your web-surfing habits with that advertising agency. So they have reason to want you to be satisfied, and you have every right to demand excellence in return for your attention.
Second, is Facebook optional? Whether a product is optional or not matters, ethically, because when a product is truly optional, customers can simply exit the relationship, either buying the product from someone else or not buying it at all. Given the option to exit, the dispute between producer and consumer evaporates as the two simply agree to disagree and go their separate ways. (The classic source on this is Albert O. Hirschman's book, Exit, Voice, and Loyalty.) But Facebook isn't optional. Ok, I know. Strictly speaking yes it's optional. But then, so is email, or having a telephone, or having a car. Optional but, for many of us, functionally essential. In this regard, Facebook is a victim of its own success. It has no real competition, and the service is one that many of us cannot simply walk away from. In essence, Facebook has gained a virtual monopoly on what has become part of our social infrastructure. Complaining about Facebook is no sillier than complaining about the state of your local roads or the consistency of your supply of electricity.
So if you don't like Facebook's new layout, or if you don't like Facebook's approach to privacy, do not hesitate to complain. You're well within your rights. And if Facebook listens, you might just help make the on-line world a better place.
Post-Hurricane-Irene Business Ethics Roundup
Filed under: corporate citizenship, CSR, disaster, economics, pricing, profits |
Natural disasters put all kinds of pressures on the behaviour of otherwise-civilized people, and they almost always raise business ethics issues. Here are a few little issues that popped up over the weekend, while hurricane Irene was wreaking havoc on the east coast of North America.
First, a bit of price gouging: Brooklyn's posh Hotel Le Bleu squeezed Irene shelter seekers for $999 per room
A trendy Brooklyn hotel generated a flood of cash from Irene, jacking up the price of a room to $999 a night on Saturday as the powerful storm zeroed in on New York, employees said….
As I've written before, raising prices during a disaster isn't always unethical — sometimes higher prices provide an incentive for others to rush to send resources to disaster-stricken areas, and sometimes higher prices give citizens an incentive to avoid overusing scarce resources. I'm pretty sure neither of those rationales applies here. [Update: see the hotel's reaction, in the Comments section below.]
The flip-side of the price-gouging story is this one: "Generators, batteries big sellers ahead of Irene". You can learn a lot about the ethics of pricing by contemplating why hardwares stores generally didn't jack up their prices. (Yeah, there are anti-price-gouging laws in many jurisdictions, but that's likely not enough to explain why prices stay stable.) Note that this story mentions that "…an Ace Hardware in Nags Head, N.C., the store sold out of portable generators." The fact that the store sold out pretty certainly means that some customers went away disappointed. And it's entirely possible that some of the disappointed needed the generators a lot more than the people who actually got them. Should Ace have found some way of asking customers how badly they needed a generator, or should they have raised the price a bit to make sure that people who bought one really needed one?
Next, from Katy Burne, blogging for the WSJ (just before the storm), "Hurricane Irene Whips Up Trading In 'Catastrophe Bonds'". Here's the technical bit:
Catastrophe bonds, known in the insurance industry as "cat" bonds, are structured securities that allow reinsurers to transfer their own risks to capital-market investors. Investors in cat bonds earn regular payments in exchange for providing coverage on a predetermined range of natural disasters for a set period of time.
Note the similarity here to the controversial practice of short-selling stocks. In shorting stocks in a particular company, a trader is betting that the value of that stock is going to go down — that is, betting that the company will do poorly. Many people find that distasteful. Some have even called it unpatriotic. In buying (or in shorting) 'cat bonds,' an investor is wagering on human misery. But note that that's what insurance companies do, too, and none of us wants to be without those.
Next, there have been a few stories about companies helping out by either donating goods or by fundraising for disaster relief (see here and here, for small examples). Many more such stories have no doubt gone unreported. It's also been noted that some companies are going to benefit from the storm, especially if (like Home Depot) they sell goods that will be needed for reconstruction. Is there anything wrong with that? (See here for a previous blog entry on profiting from disaster relief.)
Finally, the key business-ethics stories to watch, over the next few days, are about insurance claims. Insurance firms are happy that losses look to be lower than expected. But stories will inevitably pop up about consumers having difficulty getting insurers to pay up. This will, again inevitably, be portrayed as heartless. And in some cases it may well be heartless. In other cases, we'll simply see that people generally fail to understand the economics — and the ethics — of insurance.
Shoe Shine Ethics, Again
Filed under: marketing, pay, pricing |
Two months ago I blogged about the Ethics of Shoe-Shine Pricing, based on my experience at an airport shoe-shine stand. I was particularly interested in the relationship between base price and tipping behaviour. I noted that pricing decisions by businesses might well have a substantial impact on customers' tipping behaviour, by making it more or less convenient, for example, simply to "round up" to the nearest dollar (or currency denomination). Case in point: I was charged $6.75 to have my shoes shined, and gave the guy a ten. It occurred to me that, had the price been $8.00 instead, I would have given the guy the same ten, but the resulting tip would have been substantially smaller.
Well, I'm back at the airport, and just had my shoes shined. And guess what: the price has gone up. I was charged $8.00, and, yes, as predicted I gave the guy a ten-dollar bill and told him to keep the change. In other words, rather than tipping on any principled basis, I did what was convenient. I suspect the vast majority of customers do the same.
Whoever decided to raise the price from $6.75 to $8.00 may not have thought about a couple of secondary effects of that decision (not that consciousness of these effects would necessarily have altered the decision). One secondary effect is that he or she reduced employees' tips by $1.25 per shine (assuming most people tip roughly the way I do). That's a big cut, big enough that it probably ought not to be made thoughtlessly.
The other effect of this pricing decision is of course the effect on the customer. The obvious effect is that a shoe-shine now puts a slightly larger dent in the customer's wallet. But then, an airport shoe-shine is pretty clearly a luxury good (if a very minor one), and so it's pretty easy to avoid the price change simply by forgoing the service. But less obviously, the customer now finds it slightly less easy to engage in a minor act of beneficence, namely the act of overtipping. Note that, back when the price was $6.75, my $10 payment amounted to nearly a 50% tip, which is crazy when compared to the 15-20% that most people aim at in response to good service at a restaurant. But shoe-shine customers who are anything like me are still going to do the easy thing (i.e., give the guy $10), even after the change in price. My evidence here is purely anecdotal, but I suspect that people generally value being handed the opportunity to engage in small, reasonably pain-free acts of kindness or generosity. I must admit that, back when I was charged just $6.75, I felt kind of good about having given the guy a "big" tip (percentage-wise) and it made me feel good about the whole shoe-shine experience. Today, the $8 shoe-shine cost me exactly the same (after tip), and the service was just as good, but I went away without that warm-and-fuzzy feeling, having given the guy a "mere" 25% tip.
It's interesting to note that the ethics of pricing is virtually virgin territory, from an academic point of view. There's practically nothing on the topic in the scholarly literature on business ethics, aside from a few journal articles on price gouging, a some stuff on price fixing in textbooks, and of course a bit of work on the pricing of executive talent. I've always assumed that the paucity of work on the topic has something to do with the fact that pricing is seldom seen (from the outside, at least) as a choice. In theory, at least, companies charge "what the market will bear," and that tends to mean a number dictated by a combination of consumer demand and the availability of competing products. But for many products, pricing is in fact a choice, and I think the ethics of pricing is far more complex and interesting than most people realize.
Business Ethics and the Crisis in Japan
Filed under: aid, charity, corporate citizenship, CSR, disaster, fraud, international, pricing, trade |
A couple of people have asked me recently about what business ethics issues arise in the wake of the Japanese earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear crisis. As far as I've seen, the media hasn't paid much attention to business ethics issues, or even on businesses at all, in their coverage of the disaster(s). But certainly there are a number of relevant issues within which appropriate business behaviour is going to be a significant question. Here are a few suggestion of areas in which the study of business ethics might be relevant:
1) The nuclear crisis. Although their role has not been front-and-centre (unlike, for example, the BP oil spill), at least a couple of companies have played a significant role in the crisis at the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. The reactors there were designed by General Electric, who surely face questions about the adequacy of that design and the relevant safeguards. And the plant is owned by the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO). TEPCO has been criticized for its handling of the disaster, including its notable lack of transparency. TEPCO also faces a difficult set of questions with regard to the ongoing risks to employees, including those who have vowed "to die if necessary" in order to protect the public from further risk. (For more information, see the wikipedia page about the Fukushima I nuclear accidents.)
2) Disaster relief. There is clearly an opportunity for many companies, both Japanese and foreign, to participate in the disaster relief effort. Whether they have an obligation to do so (i.e., a true corporate social responsibility) is an interesting question, as is the question of the terms on which they should participate. I've blogged before about the essential role that credit card companies play in disaster relief by facilitating donations; do credit card companies (and other companies) have an obligation to help out on a not-for-profit basis, or is it OK to make a profit in such situations?
3) Pricing. The topic of price-gouging often arises during and after a natural disaster, though I haven't heard any reports of this in the wake of the earthquake in Japan. It's a difficult ethical question. On one hand, companies that engage in true price gouging — preying on the vulnerable in a truly cynical and opportunistic way — are rightly singled out for moral criticism. On the other hand, prices naturally go up in the wake of disaster: picture the additional costs and risks that any company is going to face in trying to get their product into an area affected by an earthquake, a tsunami, and/or a nuclear meltdown.
4) Investment and trade. A major part of Japan's recovery will depend on investment, both investment by foreign companies in Japan and investment by Japanese companies in the stricken areas of that country. This is clearly less of a concern than it would be in a less-economically developed country (like Haiti, for instance), but it's still relevant. So the question arises: do companies have an obligation to help Japan rebuild by investing? If a company is, for example, deciding whether to build a new factory in either Japan or another country, should that decision be influenced by the desire to help Japan rebuild?
5) Consumer behaviour. Just as companies have to decide whether to invest in disaster-stricken nations or regions, so do consumers. Do you, as an individual, have any obligation to "buy Japanese," in order to help rebuild the Japanese economy? Does it matter that Japan is a modern industrialized nation, as opposed to a developing one?


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Getting the GOAT: Britain's most extreme snorkelling sites
Andy Torbet suggests a few candidates for the greatest ever British snorkel sites. We think he may need your help...
The endless, depressing facts, figures and statistics we've been assailed with over the past year, coupled with people using the acronym 'GOAT' all over social media (it stands for Greatest of All Time) got me thinking about some record snorkel sites…
Hottest snorkel site in the UK
Aside from artificially heated pools etc, where is the hottest place to go for a dip? According to the Plymouth Marine Laboratory and Channel Coast Observatory, in 2018 Bracklesham Bay got up to 21.6 degrees Celsius, the hottest on record.
You could, of course, wade directly into the sea at Bracklesham. However, the pebble and sand beach isn't known for great snorkelling conditions. By way of compromise, I commend a visit to Selsey Lifeboat Station, the nearest snorkel and dive site, just three miles away.
Selsey is a working beach, so be aware of lines in the water, the potential launching of the lifeboat and currents outside of slack water. You must carry a surface marker buoy… and money for an ice cream to cool down afterwards.
Coldest snorkel site in the UK
A body of water 600 metres above sea level on the slopes of Wales' highest mountain is said to contain the coldest water in Britain. Llyn Glaslyn also claims to have multiple connections with the Arthurian myths and is home to its very own resident monster.
However, I'm not convinced about its claim to be the most frigid, especially as I've dived under ice in a number of Scottish lochs that reliably freeze over every year. However, having never dived this llyn, the promise of blue waters (Glaslyn translates as Blue Lake) and maybe even an encounter with an aquatic dragon means it's now on my list. But, regardless of whether it is 'The' or only 'One of the' coldest bodies of water in Britain I'll be taking a wetsuit and a flask.
Highest snorkel site in the UK
I've mentioned Loch Coire an Lochain in previous columns, having visited it a number of times. I first dived it with Monty Halls on our Three Lakes Challenge, as it is the highest lake in the UK at 998 metres above sea level.
It lies in the Eastern Cairngorms and is relatively small (Lochan means 'small loch') and shallow at only two or three metres at most. Perfect for a snorkel. I returned here in 2011 on my Britain by Snorkel project and I encountered the same clear, bright blue waters and clean, submerged granite boulders I'd seen before. It's a long walk, but a very special place to have in your logbook.
Fastest snorkel site in the UK
I should clarify the title of this one. Many rivers in the UK become super-fast maelstroms of boiling white during winter. However, this title goes to the fastest place to snorkel safely and for that, I'd suggest The Linn of Dee. This is another site that's cropped up in these pages in the last decade and is a gorge near Braemar, where the River Dee flows. The gorge forced the river to narrow and pick up speed. The water is deep enough to avoid hitting anything on your way down and it's a regular dive spot of the Aberdeenshire clubs.
Churning waters of the Linn of Dee
My choices are eminently debatable. I'd be very happy to hear alternative suggestions – especially locations I may not have snorkelled. If I get enough good ones, I might write part two later this year where I visit some of the best ideas from SCUBA's readers. Drop me a line via the magazine or Instagram (@andy_torbet), or email the editor at simon@scubamagazineco.uk . Bad ideas are as welcome as good ones.
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If any of you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them. Drop a note to me through the editor's email at SCUBA or on my social media below:
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Article by Andy Torbet for SCUBA magazine, Issue 117, August 2021. For more membership benefits, visit bsac.com/benefits.
Images in this online version may have been substituted from the original images in SCUBA magazine due to usage rights.
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Author: Andy Torbet | Posted 15 Sep 2021
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#crimeinjapan
The one fatal flaw experts forget when seeking to mimic #Abenomics style endurance
Over three decades ago, the Japanese introduced a TV programme titled, 'Za Gaman' which stood for 'endurance'. It gathered a whole bunch of male university students who were challenged with barbaric events which tested their ability to endure pain because the producer thought these kids were too soft and self-entitled. Games included being chained to a truck and dragged along a gravel road with only one's bare buttocks. Another was to be suspended upside down in an Egyptian desert where men with magnifying glasses trained the sun's beam on their nipples while burning hot sand was tossed on them. The winner was the one who could last the longest.
Since the Japanese bubble collapsed in the early 1990s, a plethora of think tanks and central banks have run scenario analyses on how to avoid the pitfalls of a protracted period of deflation and low growth that plagued Japan's lost decades. They think they could do far better. We disagree.
There is one absolutely fatal flaw with all arguments made by the West. The Japanese are conditioned in shared suffering. Of course, it comes with a large slice of reluctance but when presented with the alternatives the government knew 'gaman' would be accepted by the nation. It was right.
We like to think of Japan, not as capitalism with warts but socialism with beauty spots. Having lived there for twenty years we have to commend such commitment to social adhesion. It is a large part of the fabric of Japanese culture which is steeped in mutual respect. If the West had one lesson to learn from Japan it would be this. Unfortunately, greed, individualism and self-entitlement will be our Achilles' heels.
It is worth noting that even Japan has its limits. At a grassroots level, we are witnessing the accelerated fraying of that social kimono. Here are 10 facts taken from our 'Crime in Japan' series – 'Geriatric Jailbirds', 'Breakup of the Nuclear Family' and the 'Fraud, Drugs, Murders, Yakuza and the Police' which point to that old adage that 'all is not what it seems!'
Those aged over 65yo comprise 40% of all shoplifting in Japan and represent the highest cohort in Japanese prisons.
40% of the elderly in prison have committed the same crime 6x or more. They are breaking into prison to get adequate shelter, food and healthcare.
Such has been the influx in elderly felons that the Ministry of Justice has expanded prison capacity 50% and directed more healthcare resources to cope with the surge in ageing inmates.
To make way for more elderly inmates more yakuza gangsters have been released early.
25% of all weddings in Japan are shotgun.
Child abuse cases in Japan have skyrocketed 25x in the last 20 years.
Single-parent households comprise 25% of the total up from 15% in 1990.
Domestic violence claims have quadrupled since 2005. The police have had to introduce a new category of DV that is for divorced couples living under the same roof (due to economic circumstances).
The tenet of lifetime employment is breaking down leading to a trebling of labour disputes being recorded as bullying or harassment.
In 2007, the government changed the law entitling wives to up to half of their husband's pension leading to a surge in divorces.
These pressures were occurring well before the introduction of Abenomics – the three arrow strategy of PM Shinzo Abe – 1) aggressive monetary policy, 2) fiscal consolidation and 3) structural reform.
Since 2013, Abenomics seemed to be working. Economic growth picked up nicely and even inflation seemed like it might hit a sustainable trajectory. Luckily, Japan had the benefit of a debt-fueled global economy to tow it along. This is something the West and Japan will not have the luxury of when the coronavirus economic shutdown ends.
However, Japan's ageing society is having an impact on the social contract, especially in the regional areas. We wrote a piece in February 2017, titled 'Make Japan Great Again' where we analysed the mass exodus from the regions to the big cities in order to escape the rapidly deteriorating economic prospects in the countryside.
Almost 25 years ago, the Japanese government embarked on a program known as
'shichosongappei' (市町村合併)which loosely translates as mergers of cities and towns. The total number of towns halved in that period so local governments could consolidate services, schools and local hospitals. Not dissimilar to a business downsizing during a recession.
While the population growth of some Western economies might look promising versus Japan, we are kidding ourselves to think we can copy and paste what Nippon accomplished when we have relatively little social cohesion. What worked for them won't necessarily apply with our more mercenary approach to economic systems, financial risk and social values.
Sure, we can embark on a path that racks up huge debts. We can buy up distressed debt and repackage it as investment grade but there is a terminal velocity with this approach.
The Bank of Japan is a canary in the coalmine. It has bought 58% of all ETFs outstanding which makes up 25% of the market. This is unsustainable. The BoJ is now a top 10 shareholder of over half of all listed stocks on the index. At what point will investors be able to adequately price risk when the BoJ sits like a lead balloon on the shareholder registry of Mitsui Bussan or Panasonic?
Will Boeing investors start to question their investment when the US Fed (we think it eventually gets approval to buy stocks) becomes the largest shareholder via the back door? Is the cradle of capitalism prepared to accept quasi state-owned enterprises? Are we to blindly sit back and just accept this fate despite this reduction in liquidity?
This is what 7 years of Abenomics has brought us. The BoJ already has in excess of 100% of GDP in assets on its balance sheet, up from c.20% when the first arrow was fired. We shouldn't forget that there have been discussions to buy all ¥1,000 trillion of outstanding Japanese Government Bonds (JGBs) and convert them into zero-coupon perpetual bonds with a mild administration fee to legitimise the asset. Will global markets take nicely to erasing 2 years worth of GDP with a printing press?
Who will determine the value of those assets when the BoJ or any other central bank for that matter is both the buyer and seller. If the private sector was caught in this scale of market manipulation they'd be fined billions and the perpetrators would end up serving long jail sentences.
Can we honestly accept continual debt financing of our own budget deficit? Japan has a ¥100 trillion national budget. ¥60 trillion is funded by taxes. The remainder of ¥40 trillion (US$400 billion) is debt-financed every single year. Can we accept the RBA printing off whatever we need every year to close the deficit for decade upon decade?
In a nutshell, we can be assured that central banks and treasuries around the world will be dusting off the old reports of how to escape the malaise we are in. Our view is that they will fail.
What will start off as a promising execution of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT), rational economics will dictate that the gap between the haves and the have nots will grow even wider. Someone will miss out. Governments will act like novice plate spinners with all of the expected consequences.
In our opinion, the world will change in ways most are not prepared for. We think the power of populism has only started. National interests will be all that matters. Political correctness will cease. Identity politics will die. All the average punter will care about is whether they can feed their family. Nothing else will matter. Climate change will be a footnote in history as evidenced by the apparition that was Greta Thunberg who had to tell the world she caught COVID19 even though she was never tested.
Moving forward, our political class will no longer be able to duck and weave. Only those that are prepared to tell it like it is will survive going forward. The constituents won't settle for anything else. Treat them as mugs and face the consequences, just like we saw with Boris Johnson's landslide to push through Brexit.
The upcoming 2020 presidential election will shake America to its foundations. Do voters want to go back to the safety of a known quantity that didn't deliver for decades under previous administrations and elect Biden or still chance Project Molotov Cocktail with Trump?
What we know for sure is that Trump would never have seen the light of day had decades of previous administrations competently managed the economy. COVID19 may ultimately work in Trump's favour because his record, as we fact-checked at the time of SOTU, was making a considerable difference.
Whatever the result, prepare to gaman!
Posted in #banks, #bubble, #capitalism, #debt, #deflation, #ecb, #ethics, #shaming, #snowflakes, #violence, Australia, Bankruptcy, Benchmarks, Bonds, Cancel Culture, Central Banks, China, Climate, Climate Alarmists, Community, Confidence, Corporate Governance, Corporate Marxism, Crisis, Cultural Marxism, Diversity, Economy, Education, Elections, Environment, Establishment, ETF, Ethics, Fake News, Financial Markets, Firearms, Geopolitics, Global Financial Crisis, Greater Depression, Group Think, Industrial, Inequality, Investment, Japan, Mainstream media, Marxist, Meme of the day, Minimum Wage, Multiculturalism, Obama, Oppression Obsession, Pandemics, Political Correctness, Politics, Prison, Public Service, Rating Agencies, recession, Regulation, Religion, Sign of the times, Social Media, Socialism, Tokyo, Trade, Traffic Accident, Trump, UK, Unemployment, United Nations, US Federal Reserve, Vanity, Voting Rights, War, Waste, Woke, Workplace and tagged #2020election, #abenomics, #bankofjapan, #BoJ, #bojo, #brexiteers, #bubbleeconomy, #centralbanks, #childabuse, #climatealarmists, #climatechange, #creepyjoe, #crimeinjapan, #debtfinance, #divorce, #domesticviolence, #drugs, #endurance, #fiscalconsolidation, #gaman, #geriatricjailbirds, #gretathunberg, #identitypolitics, #joebiden, #MMT, #modernmonetarytheory, #monetarypolicy, #murder, #nuclearfamily, #politicalcorrectness, #populism, #prisoners, #QEforever, #RBA, #shotgunweddings, #sleepyjoe, #structuralreform, #TDS, #thefed, #threearrows, #Trump2020, #trumpderangementsyndrome, #workplacebullying, #workplaceharassment, #yakuza, #zagaman, #zerocoupon, #zerocouponperpetuals, Fraud, Japan, Unemployment on April 11, 2020 by Fact Not Fiction Media.
Japanese elderly crime continues to soar
Almost 3 years ago, CM wrote a piece on elderly crime in Japan. It seems the stats are getting worse. The Japanese National Police Agency has reported in its latest report on crime that the elderly (65yo+) are now responsible for almost 40% of all shoplifting in 2016. This is almost double the rate of a decade ago. While much of it is petty crime, there seems a deliberate attempt to 'break into prison' as a way to survive. A roof over their head, three square meals a day, no utility bills and unlimited free health care. The only real negative being the harsh prison rules about when one can talk to fellow inmates. To the state, one inmate costs ¥3.8mn to incarcerate and we estimate around ¥300,000 in court and administration fees per incarceration.
Murder committed by the elderly is also crept up over the last decade to 18.9% of all murders. In absolute terms murders have fallen but for the elderly have remained relatively consistent. Burglary rates have doubled.
Rape statistics also point to a rapid rise in elderly perpetrators.
Assault committed by the elderly has also soared to over 4,000 cases with total rates also climbing to new records.
Intimidation has more than doubled among the elderly too.
Total theft (involving all types) saw elderly percentages jump from 17.5% to 29.4% of the total 115,462 committed that year.
Since 2001, the elderly's representative percentage of the prison population has doubled to be the highest demographic. The Ministry of Justice has expanded prison capacity by 50% over the last decade. One wonders if this has been in preparation for soaring crime rates.
While absolute crime rates are relatively low on an international level, the growing levels confirm a worrying trend.
Posted in Crime, Crisis, Japan, Pension, Poverty, Prison, Sign of the times and tagged #assaultinjapan, #burglaryinjapan, #crimeinjapan, #elderlycrime, #intimidation, #murder, #pensioners, #rapeinjapan, #shoplifting, Japan, Prison, Rape on March 11, 2018 by Fact Not Fiction Media. Leave a comment
Crime in Japan – Yakuza, the Police and other crime
CM – Crime in Japan – Yakuza Police Other Crime
Once again, due to numerous requests see the above link for the full report and the summary below.
In our Crime in Japan series parts 1 & 2 we covered the jump in crime resulting from seniors breaking into prison and the rapid breakdown in the nuclear family leading to a surge in domestic violence and child abuse. In this report we cast our focus on the resources of the police and whether the change in crime is impacting their ability to hunt down Yakuza (gangsters), thwart drug use and possession, prevent murder and stop the leap in financial crime where insurance fraud alone is up 2,000% in 6 years and suspicious transactions breaking new records.
The Japanese National Police Agency (JNPA) has been the victim of budget cutbacks. Some 80% of the ¥3.2 trillion budget is spoken for by staff salaries. There are approximately 295,000 staff (including administration) but actual officer numbers have remained relatively stagnant at around 258,000. With an aging police force, retirees are putting pressure on hiring new recruits. Japan does have a low level of crime on a global basis and 197 police per 100,000 citizens reflects that.
Japan has budgeted approximately ¥232 billion to run its jails in 2016. The cost of incarceration runs to around ¥3.8mn per inmate which is around double what one could get through the welfare system. The theft of a ¥500 sandwich could lead to a ¥8mn tax bill to provide for a 2 year sentence. Courts are dealing out harsher sentences however drug related offences generally range inside 2 years behind bars. Many Japanese have been in the media crossfire for repeated drug offences and the courts have had no choice but to incarcerate them when 'good behaviour' probation periods have failed. Prison capacity has grown 50% in the last decade to meet the coming crime wave.
Drugs in Japan are an interesting topic. Meth was originally synthesised from ephedrine in 1893 by a Japanese chemist Dr. Nagayoshi Nagai. 26 years later, a pharmacologist by the name of Akira Ogata managed to turn it into crystalline form i.e. crystal meth.
When World War II got under way Japanese soldiers (especially kamikaze pilots) were given crystal meth (branded Hiropon) which not only kept them 'wired' but reduced hunger. As the war ended, Japan was left with excess supplies of Hiropon. Food supplies were few and returning soldiers added to the shortage. However little was known of the side effects and the government had an epidemic on its hands in the late 1940s. Luckily there is a solution being developed by the Japanese biotech company MediciNova (4875) which is in late stage trials in the US with a formula that weans drug users from their addiction.
One of the surprising statistics has been the trend in gangster (Yakuza) incarceration in Japan. While police have seen a surge in consultations (aka complaints) surrounding gangster activity, arrest rates have fallen by 30%. Is it because the police are so tied down by the surge in stalking, domestic violence, child abuse and larcenous geriatrics?
People with mental disabilities committing crime are also rising sharply, up 62% in the last decade. Apart from schizophrenia or medically diagnosed mental health issues, addiction to alcohol or substance abuse can also get an offender classified as mentally disable if they break the law.
Financial crime is becoming far more prevalent. From petty scams to sophisticated insurance and bank fraud, such offences are surging. Reported fraud related to bank transfers has doubled between 2010 and 2014 to 13,400 cases with the amount of money transacted surging 5-fold to ¥56.5bn.
Murder rates in Japan have remained relatively mute. The homicide rate in 2014 was 938 down from 1362 in 2006. As a ratio, Japan has 0.7 murders for 100,000 people versus 91 for Honduras (the highest) or 4.7 in the US. However Japan has not been immune to home grown massacres.
Foreigners as a percentage of crime in Japan continues its long downward march. Much of the crime is related to petty theft and visa overstays. Chinese, Vietnamese and Brazilians make up 60% of foreigner arrests in Japan. Foreigners as a percentage of inmates has also dropped sharply from 8% of the prison population to 5.5%. Chinese, Brazilians and Iranians make up half of gaijin inmates.
The incidence of crime continues to rise in Japan. As discussed in our previous reports we can see that crime rates (e.g. shoplifting, theft, child abuse, domestic violence, assault, stalking etc.), while small on a global scale, are rising at such a speed it seems to be taxing a police force struggling with worsening manpower issues. It would seem to make sense that despite growing reports of suspicious activity by organised crime, arrest rates are falling. Furthermore retiring demographics in the police force suggest that 'street knowledge' gained through decades of leads (e.g. informants) may not so easily be transferred to the new recruits. Throw financial fraud increasingly perpetrated by cyber criminals on top, perhaps the Police need to invest in sophisticated systems rather than just hire more cops on the beat? The face of crime has changed.
Posted in Crime, Drug addiction, Financial Markets, Fraud, Japan, Poverty, Sign of the times, Tokyo, Workplace and tagged #crimeinjapan, #financialcrime, #financialfraud, #yakuza on November 11, 2017 by Fact Not Fiction Media. Leave a comment
Crime in Japan – Breakdown of the Nuclear Family
CM – Crime in Japan – Breakdown of the Nuclear Family
Following on from pensioner crime in Japan, this eye-opening report on the breakdown of traditional families points to a future unlike what many may not fathom. The link above contains the full report with a short summary can be found below.
Did you know that 25% of all marriages in Japan are couples that marry due to unplanned pregnancies? In Okinawa that rate is 42.4% Did you also know that 25% of all households with children in Japan are single-parent? The perception of the dutiful wife getting up at 4am to make breakfast for her samurai salaryman husband are virtually non-existent and half of divorces happen in age groups 55 years old and above. 25% of divorces occur in the 65yo+ cohort. The government changed the law in 2007 entitling wives to up to half of their ex-husband's pension. Still the trend was rising sharply even before its introduction. Mrs Watanabe has had enough of her salaryman and wants out.
Domestic violence (DV) is seeing a very sharp upturn in Japan. Between 2010 and 2014, victims of DV have soared 60.6% against women and 650.1% against men. Most cases (over 60%) of DV were marital related. Recognizing the growing problem, The police have even developed a new category of DV which defines a divorced couple who are living under the same roof. Economic conditions for some families has become so tight that the stress of living with someone they do not want to be with now gets its own category, scoring over 6,000 cases alone in 2014.
Between 2010 and 2014, total reported stalking cases surged 36.6% to 24,837. 50% of stalking incidents recorded were related to partners (including former partners).
The Ministry for Health, Labor & Welfare (MHLW) has 208 child consultation centres which fielded over 88,000 cases in 2014, a 20.5%YoY increase or 22x the level of 20 years ago. Despite a 2.4x jump in social workers inside these child consultation centres over the last two decades they can't keep up with the demand. The Japan National Police Agency (JNPA) statistics show a sharp jump in arrests for child abuse, 80% being due to physical violence causing injury. In 2013, 36 abused children died with 16 of them under 1 year old. Police note that child abuse is being driven by the breakdown in traditional family, unemployment and poverty, stats which we showed earlier to be rising steadily.
Crime in Japan is a problem that will not simply disappear with the evolving mix of aging demographics, poverty, unemployment, underemployment and economic stagnation. We note that the previous jump in Japanese crime started in 1997 and ran to a peak in 2003. Unemployment was a factor. In the crime boom of 2010-2016, we note that the unemployment rate has fallen but it masks disturbing trends in lower paid part-time work which is putting families under financial stress.
There is the smell of fear in the workplace. In the period 2002 to 2013, labour disputes almost trebled. Bullying and harassment (which are obviously less palatable for companies to have floating in the public domain) as a percent of total disputes has ballooned from 5.8% to almost 20% over the same period.
Another dilemma in the data is the employment referrals by government unemployment agencies for middle or advanced aged staff (45yo+) which shows that around 25% of them end up with work in a fixed term capacity of more than 4 months.
Ironically active retraining of inmates to help them find new careers after release occurs in prison. Why isn't more being spent on finding ways to redeploy those out of prison? The idea that any job will do is a recipe for failure and cannot be relied upon as a sustainable program. Most vocational training by Hello Work, the government unemployment insurance agency, is broad and non-specific. Any specific job training will be 'paid for' which ultimately is limited to an unemployed person's financial status and confidence a job will be attainable at the end of it.
Posted in Community, Crime, Economy, Inequality, Japan, Pension, Prison, Sign of the times, Voting Rights, Workplace and tagged #, #beyondblue, #childabuse, #crimeinjapan, #divorce, #domesticviolence, #METOO, #nuclearfamily, auspol, Inequality on November 11, 2017 by Fact Not Fiction Media. Leave a comment
Kobe Steel scandal may make Takata look like a picnic by comparison
Actually this could be so much worse than the Takata scandal. Kobe Steel's data falsification on its products – especially to Subaru Corp – could raise the risk of insolvency of the former. Subaru is responsible for the MOST crucial part of the Boeing 787 – the centre wing box (CWB). While Boeing has assured us that there is no imminent safety risk, the question is one of determining the fatigue of the substandard materials supplied to Subaru by Kobe are part of the CWB. What many fail to realize is that commercial aircraft approval by the regulators makes getting drugs approved by the FDA as easy as shelling peanuts. Every time a plane is in the air it has to be as near as makes no difference 100% safe. Drugs that give you a side effect of drowsiness is not a big deal to the FDA. In fact for aircraft it gives "do not operate heavy machinery" a whole new meaning.
The CWB effectively is the piece that connects the wings to the body. It is without doubt the most important structural piece on the plane. Worse, it is perhaps the most difficult part to replace in terms of man hours. Effectively the plane would have to be broken apart and reassembled. The sheer logistics of this would also be mind boggling. The retrofit (if even feasible) would be a $20-30mn per job including the parts, labour and time out of service (compensation to airlines) and recertification. That's per aircraft. So that would cost around $10-15bn.
The question then becomes of the 500 odd 787s in service what the FAA decides to do. Perhaps the planes' useful 25 year life are reduced to 15 years. That would smack residual values and airlines would demand compensation for the gap and the potential for lost revenues. So were 500 aircraft to lose 40% of the serviceable life at $150mn a copy that is $75bn.
While this is worst case scenario analysis for Kobe Steel which would be liable for the lot, we are staring at the risk of a wipe out. Kobe Steel has $1.8bn in cash. Somehow it's $8bn market cap may fall much further.
Hardly any of this is priced because the FAA doesn't take things lightly until it has all the facts.
This article is not intended to be sensational rather highlight the potential for a huge weight from the US (not Japanese) regulator to push for a safety recall of epic proportions. We won't know yet but buyer on dips beware.
Posted in Aerospace, America, Crime, Fraud, Japan, Shareholders, Sign of the times and tagged #boeing787, #centerwingbox, #crimeinjapan, #FAA, #FSA, #insidertrading, #kobesteel, #shortselling, Fraud on October 13, 2017 by Fact Not Fiction Media. Leave a comment
BBC Radio interview on Japanese crime
Please find the link to the radio interview with BBC World Service here. I'm wondering whether there is more merit nowadays to vlogging or audio given the small propensity to read. The hardest thing is to accept is the sound of one's voice on tape! What I wasn't aware of is another person interviewed was my former colleague I sat next to in Tokyo 18 years ago…small world.
Posted in Crime, Japan, Pension, Poverty, Sign of the times and tagged #bbc, #BBCRadio, #bbcworldservice, #crimeinjapan, #elderlycrime, #statepension, #thebeeb, #theft, Japan, Poverty on July 7, 2017 by Fact Not Fiction Media. 1 Comment
Crime in Japan – BBC interview 7 July
Tomorrow, BBC World Service's Edwin Lane will release the pre-recorded interview he conducted with me several months ago on the back of a series I wrote on Crime in Japan – Part 1 – Geriatric Jailbirds, Part 2 – Breakdown of the nuclear family and Part 3 – Fraud, Drugs, Murder, Yakuza and the Police some 15 months ago. Since then the reports have been reported in 14 different languages and reached c.5 million page/podcast impressions as the BBC also conducted an interview on BBC Radio 5 "Up all night"
The reason I ended up writing the research paper came by chance. While trawling through the Japanese National Police Agency statistics looking for data to help a client on motorcycle license trends, I stumbled over the crime stats and couldn't believe the wealth of information that showed the sharp jumps in crime levels. There is some suggestion that much under-reporting went on several decades ago but as you can see in the reports the charts speak for themselves.
On a global basis, Japanese crime is low on almost any measure but the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has had to expand prison capacity 50% in the last decade, facilitated early release to prepare for a sharp rise in elderly inmates. The pension-age cohort in prison now represents the highest percentage of total inmates. With that the MoJ has had to apply for a supplemental budget to cover the extra cost of healthcare in prison as the average age rises.
Posted in Crime, Inequality, Japan, Pension, Prison, Scandal, Sign of the times and tagged #bbc, #bbcworldservice, #crimeinjapan, #geriatricjailbirds, #japanesepolice, #nuclearfamily, #pensionercrime, #upallnight, #yakuza, auspol, Crisis, Japan on July 6, 2017 by Fact Not Fiction Media. Leave a comment
Japan's child cafeterias catering to the poverty stricken
Poverty in Japan is rising. Children's cafeterias (kodomo shokudo) which act as a kind of soup kitchen are spawning all over Japan. In 2013 there were around 21 such places. Now there are 319 and rising. These kodomo shokudo offer free or exceptionally cheap meals JPY300). These places are not purely for poverty stricken families but for those where both parents work til late. Many of these centres are voluntarily run on a twice a week to 1x/mth basis. Food is often donated by neighbourhoods or food companies.
The Japanese Ministry of Agriculture has decided to offer nutritional advice. The hope is that children will learn the benefits of a sound diet as well as cooking methods. The ministry is also hopeful that such dinner time conversation will improve communication skills. In a sense of irony, where ministries should be deeply ashamed of having such a problem exist in the first place, the call to arms is to meddle with words and advice rather than solutions to eradicate the problem.
The Ministry for Health, Labor & Welfare (MHLW) has 208 child consultation centres, which fielded over 88,000 cases in 2014, a 20.5%YoY increase or 22x the level of 20 years ago. Despite a 2.4x jump in social workers inside these child consultation centres over the last two decades they can't keep up with the demand. The Japan National Police Agency (JNPA) statistics show a sharp jump in arrests for child abuse, 80% being due to physical violence causing injury. In 2013, 36 abused children died with 16 of them under 1 year old. Police note that child abuse is being driven by the breakdown in traditional family, unemployment and poverty.
There are now 3.9mn single mother and 664,000 single father households in Japan which combined now contribute for almost a quarter of all households with children. This is up from 15% in 1990. Middle income America single parenting runs at 29% up from 5% forty years ago.
Growing poverty has also led to a sharp increase in domestic violence in Japan. The rates of spouse related DV has jumped so sharply that the police were forced to introduce a new classification for divorced couples forced to live under the same roof due to biting economic conditions.
Is it any wonder. More and more people are being hired as part time workers instead of full time meaning take home pay is generally less. For women, over 50% of them are part-time/casual. Some of that distortion is due to mothers with kids at middle or high school doing side jobs but Japan will have a tough time coping
The Japanese Institute for Labour Policy & Training (JILPT) makes the case for employer's reasons to hire non-regular employees clear – "To economise on wages" and "to economise on non-labour costs" are the two highest categories.
Which brings us back to why there is growing poverty in Japan. Finding new employment for mid-career staff that have been restructured is harsh. In fact so fearful are older employees facing the sack that the total number of disputed cases has risen 3 fold since 2002 and of that 'bullying and harassment claims 20% of total cases up from 6%.
The recruitment agencies are aggressively pushing the 'komon meikan' (advisory directory) to register those 60yo and above. Around 80% of those registered are over that age with the balance predominantly over 45 years old. The agencies sell 'spot' services to corporate customers as an intermediary. A corporate may have need for help with setting up an overseas factory. To avoid having to employ someone full-time they can use these komon services to access an advisor for 6- 8 hours a week. To the registered 'employee' it is not really a bargain. If they sign up to a komon contract with a recruitment agency, they will get paid around ¥70,000-¥100,000/mth for the first year which over 3 years would be a maximum of ¥175,000/mth only if they accept two roles (more importantly if they are selected by the corporate). While 6-8 hours several days a week is the standard contract that corporates sign up to, the komon employee will effectively be getting only ¥1,250/hour pre-tax, not much more than a student would get working in a convenient store. Furthermore it is likely to work out to less than that because the 'project base' nature does not charge for 'overtime. If a company decided to work them for longer hours (14 hours/week) the employee gets no adjustment. So in their first year a 60yo maybe in reality working for only ¥560/hour. Such is the glut of applicants one may feel under pressure to work for as long as required to avoid someone else replacing them. It is easy for the recruiter to put forward fresh candidates to keep their wage cost down. So even if one was to reach their 3rd year as a komon, what is the incentive for the agency to promote them over the 'fresh retirees'? It is a dilemma the elderly workers must face. This is also a potentially loaded gun for recruitment agencies should the government realise what is going on.
In essence, the breakdown in the fabric of Japanese society is set to accelerate. In a country that lives by strict public order, this is one area that could tear the very fabric that has kept it such an enviable community for so long. Eventually economic realities matter.
Posted in Community, Crisis, Inequality, Japan, Sign of the times, Unemployment, Workplace and tagged #childcafeteria, #crimeinjapan, #kodomoshokudo on February 6, 2017 by Fact Not Fiction Media. 2 Comments
Making crime pay – a positive indicator of strength in Japan
Logic tells us that crime occurs when times are tough. While there is sense in that argument it seems that crime rates are perhaps the most positive indicator for investing in Japan. Why? In a somewhat counter-intuitive looking chart for a law abiding country, a good indicator for relative economic strength is crimes committed. The economic rationale for crime would be the ability for the 'second hand' grey market to thrive in 'lost in transit' goods. In the Tohoku region, crimes committed per 100,000 population take the bottom four places which is unlikely to be solely down to the inability of pensioners (collectively the highest rates of 65yo+ residents) to literally outrun the law. These four prefectures have well below average GDP/Capita. The Top 7 crime infested prefectures have the highest GDP/Capita.
Posted in Crime, Economy, Entrepreneur, Group Think, Japan, Poverty and tagged #crimeinjapan, Japan on January 5, 2017 by Fact Not Fiction Media. Leave a comment
But not letting someone earn $1,000 to survive is even more obscene
Media fawns over Biden – video montage January 21, 2021


On Wednesday, October 9, 2013, the full (en banc) United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit heard oral arguments in U.S. v. Blewett, to decide whether the Fair Sentencing Act (FSA) of 2010 — which reduced the federal government's notorious 100:1 sentencing ratio for crack and powder cocaine to 18:1 — applies to all offenders, regardless of their date of sentence.
Vincent Southerland, Senior Counsel in LDF's Criminal Justice Practice, argued on behalf of the LDF which serves as amicus curiae ("friend of the court") in the case, that the FSA should be applied retroactively to the prison sentences of the thousands of individuals who are still serving unfairly inflated and racially discriminatory 100:1-based federal prison sentences.
The federal government's 100:1 crack/powder sentencing disparity was notoriously unfair and discriminatory. There is no pharmacological difference between crack cocaine and powder cocaine. And while white Americans comprise more than half of all crack cocaine users, they represent less than 10 percent of federal convictions for crack cocaine offenses. Meanwhile, African Americans comprise nearly one-third of crack cocaine users and 82 percent of federal convictions for crack cocaine offenses. In recognition of the fact that the sentencing disparity was not justified by science or any penological interests and that it resulted in discrimination against African-Americans, Congress passed the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 which reduced the sentencing ratio from 100:1 to 18:1.
Unfortunately, despite the passage of the FSA, today there are thousands of people — the vast majority of whom are African American — still in prison serving excessive sentences based on the discredited 100:1 sentencing disparity. In May of this year, a majority panel of the Sixth Circuit concluded that it was unconstitutional to allow thousands of already incarcerated offenders to continue to serve extremely long sentences based on the 100:1 disparity, while allowing offenders – who have committed identical crimes – to receive significantly shorter sentences, based on the 18:1 sentencing calculation, simply because they were sentenced later.
Read LDF's amicus brief here.
Read the full court's opinion here.


These are all tools I have and recommend. The link will take you to Amazon, where I have found the lowest prices.
Good pots/pans-I love All Clad-skip the non-stick, they chip and can be toxic. Heat up your pan before adding your food, and with a little water, things won't stick. Get a few pieces at a time to break up the cost. It's worth it! You'll have them a LONG time!
over the counter birth control LOVE MY INSTAPOT!!!!! This thing can go on vacations with you in the car, to allow you to make food anywhere. It works as a crockpot, a sauce pan, a rice cooker, and a pressure cooker. Press a button and it sets the time for you without any overflowing mess! Seriously, get one! The go on sale often at Amazon.
visit website Stove Top Pressure Cooker: I use a Fagor Splendid 10-Quart Pressure Cooker/Canner-LOVE it! I use it almost A LOT, and now I can cook one thing in it and another dish in my Instapot!
Vitamix: this is our favorite blender. It's expensive, but can grind up whole foods so you can get the maximum amount of vitamins (peels included). Absolutely awesome for smoothies, vegan ice creams,soups, etc. Comes with a cookbook as well.
Microplane: used for zesting and grating ginger. Very easy to use!
Canning equipment; if you intend on preserving the harvest. I love Ball products this is a link for a kit Ball Enamel Water Bath Canner, Including Chrome-Plated Rack and 4-Piece Utensil Set, I also like the Ball Preserving Book for recipes.


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Learn more about Milford
Looking for your dream home? Looking to settle in a place with a rural feel without losing the urban lifestyle? Take a moment to get to know Milford, Michigan.
Milford, MI is one of the most amazing places to settle in Michigan. Why? You'll get a sense of serenity the moment you drive into town. Milford is rich in history, culture and natural beauty.
About Milford, MI
Milford is less than an hour from Detroit, located in Oakland County in Michigan state. Based on reports from the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 2.52 square miles, of which 2.43 square miles is land and 0.9 square miles is water.
The town was established through the hard work and dedication of its people. Today, its residents still live by this strong work ethic.
According to the historical information from Milford Historical Society, in their book "An Account of Oakland County"
"The development of the town of Milford, MI started in 1832 with the building of a sawmill by Stanley Ruggles and Elizur". This was the opening to many innovations in the area before its incorporation in 1869.
In 1834, the town's first post office was set up and the first gristmill was constructed in 1835.
By 1836 a lower mill pond was built to supply waterpower for different mills and factories within the town. The erection of an upper mill pond followed suit in 1845 and the list goes on.
The hydropower generated made Milford, MI one of the foremost communities to have electric power in 1892.
Year after year more constructions and innovations followed, which has gradually evolved into the beautiful town many know it by, today.
Milford, MI is well known for its lands of lakes, forests, and parks that surround the town. Despite the constant building of new subdivisions in the area, the town still retains its rural feel.
Types of Homes in Milford, MI
In Milford, you'll find single-family homes, townhouses, and condos. The town also has many apartments for rent. There's a perfect home in Milford for everyone.
Milford's single-family detached homes have space, extra storage, big backyards, and long, inviting front porches. You'll even find many waterfront homes as well.
These homes have plenty of room for outdoor activities with your family and friends. You'll never have to stress about finding space to host gatherings with your loved ones.
Harrell realty listing of Milford, MI homes has multiple styles of homes available for purchase and rental. Our experienced agents live and work in Milford, and have the skills to find you the home of your dreams.
So, whether you are looking to buy or sell a home in Milford, MI you can find a qualified Harrell realtor who offers first-rate services that always yield excellent results.
Real estate prices in Milford, MI
Milford homes are some of the most beautiful in Michigan, and they're some of the most affordable houses in the country as well.
The median house value in Milford is $295,144 according to reports from Neighborhoodscout. That being said, in the last decade, the appreciation rate in the area has sharply increased.
According to reports from Neighborhoodscout, real estate values appreciated 92.54% over the last decade, making an average annual house appreciation rate of 6.77%. This places Milford, MI among the top 10% of appreciating real estate markets nationally.
The town of Milford, MI has a high rate of homeownership. The cumulated ownership rate in Milford, MI, from Neighborhoodscout, shows that; 72.6 % accounts for owners, 27.4% for renters and 6.3% for vacant homes in the area.
This indicates that Milford, MI is a seller's market, which means there are more real estate buyers than houses available for sale.
Milford, MI has several admirable neighbourhoods that anyone can enjoy: Highland, Village Center, Old plank Rd / E maple Rd, and S Milford Road / General Motors Rd and more.
Schools and Lifestyle In Milford, MI
Milford has a variety of education options for its residents. Milford, MI schools, both public and private, follow a standard educational system that provides opportunities for learning, and many extracurricular activities for its students as well.
And Milford students are earning high grades. Neighborhoodscout results show that more than half of its students in Milford are proficient in subjects like reading and math.
Leisure and Recreation in Milford
Milford has a variety of recreational centres, shopping, and activities for everyone.
The Milford area has fascinating lakes, like Hubbell pond, Kent Lake and Philip Lake. Its parks are perfect for entire days of fun, with volleyball courts, basketball, tennis courts and large spaces for picnics. You'll also find a trail for biking, a community swimming pool and a lot more.
The village promotes a people-driven lifestyle, with numerous yearly community activities. These include a Memorial Day parade and Christmas parade and many other events for the whole family to enjoy..
Beautiful homes can be found in Milford, MI with the help of the right real estate agents. no hassle, with Robert Harrell and his team of the best realtors in the business. Harrell realtors are keen on providing offers tailored to the needs of all clients.
Step into the reality of owning a beautiful home in Milford, MI today. We at Harrell Real Estate are proud of our unique approach, one that is built on personal touches tailored to every one of our clients. Come find out all that Milford, MI has to offer. Take the step, contact us.
1. Lowe, S. D., Bourns, M. J., Young, B. B., & Barr, C. L. (1982). Ten minutes ahead of the rest of the world: A history of Milford.Milford, MI: Milford Historical Society.
2. Milford Downtown Development Authority, 2021, April 10. Downtown Milford Michigan. https://www.meetmeinmilford.com/
3. Neighbourhood scout. 20121,April 9. Milford, MI Real Estate and Demographic Data. https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/mi/milford
4. Village of Milford, MI. 2021, April 10. Village of Milford. https://www.villageofmilford.org/
Milford Homes and Land for Sale
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Inside Milford
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Milford Schools
Learn more about schools near Milford complete with ratings and contact information.
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Minister Sherry Gambin-Walsh has 25 years of experience as a healthcare professional, and many years in the non-profit sector. She was born and raised in Placentia and currently resides in North Harbour, St. Mary's Bay. She completed nursing studies in 1990 and received a certificate in leadership from Memorial University.
She worked as a neonatal nurse at the Dr. Charles A. Janeway and as the community inclusion coordinator and the provincial executive director for the Newfoundland and Labrador Association for Community Living.
Minister Gambin-Walsh served on the board of the NL Irish Connections and Festival of the Sea. She was also a member of the Provincial Advisory Council to the Minister Responsible for the Status of Persons with Disabilities. She was the chair of the Autism Society and the chair of the Avalon Gateway Regional Economic Development Board. She was also a member of the St. Mary's Bay Rural Development Association and other community boards.
After being elected to the provincial legislature in 2015 as MHA for the District of Placentia – St. Mary's, Minister Gambin-Walsh was appointed to serve in Cabinet as the Minister of Children, Seniors, and Social Development. She is the Minister Responsible for the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation, and the Status of Persons with Disabilities.


I have many years' experience of the health and fitness industry in relation to training and qualifications and have published several books in this area.
I have an active interest in exercise referral schemes in the region and I'm chair of the Sector Skills Councils' CPD panel.
I am Module Leader for the placement on BA (Hons) Physical Education and Sports Coaching, Personal Training and Sport and Physical Activity for Special Populations. Both of these modules have bolt-on vocational exercise health and fitness qualifications (Personal Trainer and Exercise Referral).
I also lead on a level 4 module which has a bolt-on gym instructor qualification.
I supervise projects related to workplace health which involves working with local companies to help improve the health of their workforce.
This list was generated on Wed Apr 24 12:00:57 2019 BST.


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Furious Mazepin hits out at Schumacher over Q1 Vettel incident, as stewards clear drivers of blame
Mazepin
2021 Dutch GP Qualifying: Vettel out of Q1 after block by Mazepin
The Dutch Grand Prix stewards have cleared Nikita Mazepin, Mick Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel of any wrongdoing after a heart-stopping moment at the end of Q1, which saw a squabbling Mazepin and Schumacher block Vettel – with the Haas team mates at odds over who was at fault.
Vettel was charging into Turn 13 around the narrow Zandvoort track when Mazepin jinked in front of him as he fought for track position with Schumacher.
But although the stewards looked into the incident after summoning all three drivers before them, no further action was taken, with the stewards reporting that: "There is no doubt that the lap of [Vettel] was compromised, however we note in particular the comment of [Vettel] that 'there were too many cars in the one place.'"
READ MORE: Verstappen delights home fans after edging out Hamilton to take thrilling Dutch GP pole
So that was the matter settled – or rather not, with a furious Mazepin initiating a war of words at Haas after suggesting that he was attempting to redress a running order contravention by team mate Schumacher, which had led to Vettel being blocked.
"I'm really annoyed to be honest," said Mazepin. "How the rules in a Formula 1 team works, one weekend you're the first car, next weekend you're the second car. This weekend it was my turn to be the first car.
Mazepin 'annoyed' with Schumacher after being 'bumped' into traffic in Dutch GP qualifying
"I once in Imola overtook the first car when I was the second car and I got a b********* from the team," he added. "And now this has happened to me for the second time where my team mate overtakes me and then bumps me into the traffic and then f**** my last attempt in qualifying on purpose.
"So I'm not happy because if you do it once and you didn't know about it, that's fine, but when you do it twice, that's deliberate… There shouldn't be any tension like that in the team, so I'm f***** off."
READ MORE: Watch the moment Verstappen sends the Zandvoort crowd wild as he takes pole for the Dutch GP
Schumacher, on the other hand, didn't feel he had a case to answer, telling the media: "From my point of view I did everything the right way. It was discussed publicly on the radio. Obviously you can't hear that but it was, so obviously we're both in a situation that wasn't great because the last corner wasn't easy.
"Sebastian… is the last person I want to block on this grid, so very sorry for that and also to Aston Martin. But we'll try to do our best in the race tomorrow."
Vettel was out in Q1 after the incident
Pushed on the state of his relationship with Mazepin, meanwhile – with the pair having endured a number of edgy moments as team mates so far this year – Schumacher replied: "Again, I think whatever happened before, they're always different situations. I think in this one, there's no reason to complain. I don't really to know what to say more."
HIGHLIGHTS: Catch up on all the action from qualifying for the Dutch GP at Zandvoort
While both Haas drivers were out in Q1, Vettel was the biggest loser from being blocked, ending up P17 as Aston Martin team mate Lance Stroll wound up P12 on the grid.
But Vettel, who'd run in the top 10 in both Free Practice 2 and 3 after suffering a power unit issue in FP1, was philosophical about being impeded by the Haas pair.
"I think if it wasn't for them, it would have been the next car ahead – there were just too many cars in the same spot," said Vettel. "In terms of timing, I don't think we were in the right place today. We didn't go with the track and the most improvements, so we were just slow and lap time was difficult to get… We didn't expect it to be that tight for us."
NEW SERIES: Take a trip down memory lane as Jolyon Palmer and friends analyse some classic F1 races
Red Bull announce F2 and F3 seats for junior drivers


The statuesque female guitarist known as Shredmistress Rynata got a start that was anything but auspicious when she moved to L.A. from San Francisco with the idea of boosting her musical career. "When I started playing in L.A. it was the worst," Rynata says. "You hit the stage and you have nothing in common with the other bands. No one talks to each other and we're all isolated. Then you get rushed off the stage and you walk away feeling like, 'Why did I do this?' I didn't get paid, hardly anybody was there. Nobody cared. I wanted to break through that."
she went to a talented gal pal's otherwise empty gig — Rynata decided to do something about it. "We were driving after the show and my friend was extremely distraught," says Rynata, a member of the heavy-rock group Glamazon. "I said 'Stop the car, I have an idea.' I decided that we had to learn how to work together, to network, to do something else other than just fending for ourselves."
Years later, the local organization continues to unite, promote and generally champion female musicians through its Web site — FemMuse.com which features online chats and message boards, job opportunities, services and referrals — and regular shows around town. Lately, FemMuse has attracted a sizable following at the Derby in Los Feliz. "It's about time the women get their night in the spotlight," says Derby co-owner Tammi Gower. "A girl's gotta rock somewhere."
The diverse musical gatherings feature everything from country to folk (usually the first hour is slotted for acoustic acts) to funk, and to the Shredmistress' territory: full-on heavy metal, climaxing with a wild jam session with other FemMuse members. The group's next informal jam is slated for May 31 at Manny's Music, and its next full-evening performance is June 11 at the Hard Rock Cafe in Beverly Center.
Rynata's FemMuse co-directors, Kathryn Grimm and Eileen Carey, are examples of the group's idea of community. Both front bands with male musicians backing them, they represent different musical genres and both found FemMuse at a time when they needed an extra dose of inspiration.
"I was surfing on the Net and I ended up on the FemMuse site," says Grimm, who has been playing around L.A. for 15 years in such acts as the Screamin' Sirens, as well as teaching music. "We started corresponding and I came to a show. There were a lot of women performers and cool people, and it got me excited about booking shows again."
Carey met Rynata one night when she was passing out fliers (FemMuse promotes both its own shows and those of individual members). "We started to talk about networking and shows, " Carey says. "I wanted to not only get musicians more involved, but also bring in the industry more."
Though FemMuse has yet to snag any superstar performers or label interest, their strong member roster includes some real up-and-comers as well as endorsements from ex-Romeo Void singer Debora Iyall and producer Mary Guibert (Jeff Buckley's mom), clubs including the Derby, and several area companies (all of which donate to FemMuse's raffle giveaways at shows).
"It's an alien concept here, this whole networking and jamming thing," Rynata says. But thanks to promotion, the disheartening experience her friend endured is starting to change. The musician feels that FemMuse still has a ways to go. "There's still prejudice against women musicians, especially those over 30," she says. "We're just starting to bridge the gap."