I have roots in Japan.  I was born in Hawaii and only speak English, but have been to Japan a lot.   I know the people there and have been everywhere in the country.   There is a kind of affluence that seems real. I feel safer in Japan than the USA. The whole country is clean. But this should not be for at least two reasons: The  Great Tohoku earthquake, tsunami and nuclear cataclysm  cost around $300 billion, and they await that coming  $1 trillion megaquake. The Nikkei 225 was around Y45,000 35 years ago, and remains about the same today. The Dow Jones Industrial average closed at $2,634 on 31December 1990 and is around 46,312 today. The  Japan Nikkei 225 hit a record high this week  with the Fed Reserve rate cut, closing at 45,303 Yen.  Never in history had the Nikkei hit Y45,000 until this month.  The yen, by the way, is 147.6 to the dollar, and that, too, explains the feeling of what one can afford when visiting Japan. Lik...

Yes, America is doing well today, if you are wealthy and Republican.  President Donald Trump continues to reign supreme over the Republican Party.  His 887-page Big Beautiful Bill sailed through the House of Representatives.  The  minor hangup was not pulling back on the tax breaks to the rich nor easing up on the cuts to liberal interests.  The Freedom Caucus wanted much bigger reductions to medicaid and liberal interests and was worried about the national debt.  Trump will make a big deal of signing the measure tomorrow.   Read the details .  About the national debt, this bill will add $3.4 trillion to the already $29 trillion the country owes.  Interest on this debt will top a trillion dollars/year and will equal our Gross National Product.  From the  New York Times : Further, two-thirds of the federal budget goes to mandatory programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.  The Freedom Caucus wanted to lower this...

Before a continuation of my etc. topics, where part one was yesterday, did you know that the   American stock market yesterday reached an all-time high ?  Want details?    Watch this . Republicans complain that our economy is terrible, and so do many others.  Turns out the USA is doing well, with inflation and unemployment down, and a lot of good things up.  For example, people complain that  gasoline prices  are too high.  Nope.  A gallon is about 23 cents/gallon cheaper today than a year ago, and 39% lower than it was in June of 2022.  Just compare us with other countries around the world.  Watch  Fareed Zakaria  in a recent program. Next, let's go to France:   le scandale or tres chic?   The newly crowned Miss France, Eve Gilles, has a pixie cut, the only one in the contest with short hair.  The return of Leslie Caron and Audrey Hepburn? Sticking to France, did you know they have a new prime min...