(Rice fields in winter, Japan; click for magnification.)TIME AND TIME AGAIN AS LONG AS ONE LIVES
In TV coverage recorded in Tokyo yet to be broadcast, Mr. Ichiro Ozawa, the director-general of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, said that he would accept recommendation to assume the premiership if he is recommended to do so by party members.
When it is broadcast, it will excite political speculation as to how much determined the veteran, powerful lawmaker Mr. Ozawa is to take over from incumbent Prime Minister Mr. Yukio Hatoyama.
Yet, it depends on how Prime Minister Mr. Hatoyama will come through the budget committee to be started in next January and gain support from swing voters toward the Upper House election scheduled next July.
(Mr. Ichiro Ozawa, a 40-year-long Lower House member, seems to be strongly backed by officials of the Japanese Ministry of Finance and the Chinese Communist Party leaders, though I think it will be Deputy Prime Minister Mr. Naoto Kan that will eventually succeed P.M. Mr. Hatoyama.)
SECTION I: A RICH MAN AND GOD
One night a rich man was convinced that he smartly secured millions or billions of dollars for himself all through a recession.
So, he started to admire and praise himself, since he was convinced that he smartly secured millions or billions of dollars for himself through a recession.
And then, he started to think that he was really special and destined to be different from others as he could buy high-quality houses, clothes, foods, and other goods and services.
Yet, he felt like earning a bit little more money on Wall Street and in City, since he was convinced that he smartly secured millions or billions of dollars for himself all through a recession.
So, with a plenty of new plans and ideas for tomorrow, he went to bed, saying, "Thank you God, I am so lucky!"
Then the God said to the rich man, "How foolish you are! Your life is going to be taken out tonight."
Indeed, the moment when the rich man died that night, he did not have even a bit little of memory of his having enjoyed a high-quality life.
But, people later coming around his bed were just thinking about where his money was stored and hidden, looking so smartly down on him.
SECTION II: History of Bubble Economy
1637: Durch Tulip Mania
At the peak of tulip mania in February 1637, tulip contracts sold for more than 10 times the annual income of a skilled craftsman. It is generally considered the first recorded speculative bubble (or economic bubble)...In February 1637, tulip bulb contract prices collapsed abruptly and the trade of tulips ground to a halt.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_mania
1720: The South Sea Company
Joseph Spence wrote that Lord Radnor reported to him "When Sir Isaac Newton was asked about the continuance of the rising of South Sea stock… He answered 'that he could not calculate the madness of people'."...Newton's niece Catherine Conduitt reported that he "lost twenty thousand pounds. Of this, however, he never much liked to hear…"[9] This was a fortune at the time (equivalent to about £3 million in present day terms[10])...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_South_Sea_Company
1720: French Mississippi Company
1719-21 share price
1719 May: 500 livres
1720 February: 10,000 livres
1721 September: 500 livres
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_Company
1920-1929: American Economic Bubble
Urbanization reached a climax in the 1920s. For the first time, more Americans and Canadians lived in cities of 2,500 or more people than in small towns or rural areas. However the nation was fascinated with its great metropolitan centers that contained about 15% of the population. New York and Chicago vied in building skyscrapers, and New York pulled ahead with the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building. The finance and insurance industries doubled and tripled in size. The basic pattern of the modern white collar job was set during the late 19th century, but it now became the norm for life in large and medium cities.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roaring_Twenties#Black_Tuesday
Around 1990: Japanese Asset Price Bubble
For example, there is no doubt that technology and new-era thinking played a major role in the Japanese bubble. During the bubble, Japan took over leadership of high technology in the areas of consumer electronics, the automobile industry, manufacturing, and even robotics, and was perceived as a major threat to dominate all technological development around the globe – just as the U.S. is today...
In the wake of the bubble and bust, Japan experienced a long series of corruption scandals, a procession of failed prime ministers, the ousting of financial ministers, the conviction of bureaucrats for corruption, and the breakup of their one-party system. However, the Japanese have failed to truly recognize the cause of their bubble and to liquidate their economic mistakes.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/thornton/thornton24.html
Till 2008：United States Housing and Financial Bubble
Bush's 2004 campaign slogan "the ownership society" indicates the strong preference and societal influence of Americans to own the homes they live in, as opposed to renting.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causes_of_the_United_States_housing_bubble
However, today, the NYSE Dow Jones Average has returned to the 10,000 level. President Mr. Barack Obama has approached top leaders of China, India, Brazil, and even South Africa even at Copenhagen Conference.
A next possible bubble might include China, India, Brazil, and even South Africa in association with the U.S. if not under the Obama Administration.
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2009 XMAS EXTRA:
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A man's life is short but people are many doing a lot of deeds.
Check how many Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions this year, in tons, have been done and going on. Also check how many volumes of non-renewable sources (MWh), namely power-converted oil/coal/gas, are being consumed now by mankind:
http://www.worldometers.info/
It is more than 21 billion tons and 254,000,000 MWh, respectively, as you see.
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(The Pope must have ever listened to this sound, since it was composed by Georg Friederich Kaufmann (1679-1735):
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/institutions_connected/sacmus/sound/Kaufmann.mp3
Source:http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/institutions_connected/sacmus/documents/rc_ic_sacmus_sound_en.html)
Luk 12:16 And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:
Luk 12:17 And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?
Luk 12:18 And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.
Luk 12:19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
Luk 12:20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
Luk 12:21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
Luk 12:22 And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on.
Luk 12:23 The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment.