The Economist:  If the dollar falls by another 30%, as some predict, it would amount to the biggest default in history: not a conventional default on debt service, but default by stealth, wiping trillions off the value of foreigners' dollar assets. [John Robb's Weblog]

This is interesting.  Most people in this country have no idea how scary the economy is right now.  Cross your fingers...

12:33:34 AM    

Strawberry Bukkake Forever. Xeni Jardin: BoingBoing reader pmk says,

"I was walking in Harajuku when I spotted this poster, which is such a clear freaking bukkake reference it's frightening. It's the album cover for a the most recent album by J-Pop star Ai Otsuka.

The funniest thing is you only get the picture with her tongue hanging out if you buy the (more expensive) CD+DVD set. If you only shell out $30 for the CD (typical price in Japan -- owwweee!), you get the more prim version, with her mouth closed."

Link [Boing Boing]

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I just had to post this.  The Japanese are really quite perverted on the whole.  Check otu some of their porn sometime if you don't believe me.  Like the Ballet flick where the dancers are naked and are fucked on stage while execting intricate dance steps.... Sex sells - especially in Japan....

12:31:11 AM    

IT firm Softbank aims to enter Japan's mobile sector as 3G grows (AFP). AFP - Japanese Internet firm Softbank said it aims to enter the mobile phone industry supplying third-generation (3G) services as more customers embrace the advanced technology. [Yahoo! News: Technology]

This is interesting.  I still own quite a bit of Softbank stock.  I once sat in an analyst briefing where Softbank's CEO talked quite seriously about his 300-year business plan.  Other analysts sagely took notes, but since I worked for a Softbank subsidiary and had gotten to the briefing by dint of being an industry analayst for same subsidiary (which Softbank had bought for a astronomically inflated price - which in itself said allot about Softbanks's vision) and had heard Son's spiel before, I could only shake my head in wonder at the poor sods who actually believed this drivel.

12:27:22 AM    

Corporate Insiders Enrich Each Other, Continued.

Gretchen Morgenson (NY Times; reg req): In the Timing of Options, Many, Um, Coincidences. As executives have binged on stock options in recent years, academic studies have detailed the opportunities for fatter pay that well-timed option grants represent. By analyzing stock price behavior after option awards, these studies concluded that corporate managers systematically receive options at prices that do not reflect favorable nonpublic information.

The binge of insider enrichment continues, and regulators need to do much more about this. Will they? [Dan Gillmor's eJournal]

Not likley under Bush.  In fact, Bush's presidency is run more like a corporation than any since the late 20s.  The earmark of a coproration is to be on message all the time regardless of whether the company's message is truthful or not.  People would udnerstand Bush's government mroe if they imaged it to be more like General Electric than Reagan's or Clinton's White House.  What you see on West Wing is how a government should be run - policies for the btterment of the commonweal.  Bush is simply trying to maxmize shareholder value - with teh shareholders being the money men and evangelicals that helped put him in office twice.

This is what makes four more years of Bush so scary - he doesn't ahve the coutnry's best interests at heart, just the corporation's.

12:19:18 AM