patrick.net

indigenous says

Private pensions in this country are highly regulated their assets are rock solid.

You actually believe that? Some of the largest corporations in the US, the ones raking in record profits, have dramatically underfunded pensions plans. Private industry is just as able to underfund and get in trouble as the government.

bob2356 says

You actually believe that? Some of the largest corporations in the US, the ones raking in record profits, have dramatically underfunded pensions plans. Private industry is just as able to underfund and get in trouble as the government.

That is not my understanding. AIG for example had rock solid assets other than the small percentage involved with the derivatives. Even then they would have just BKed that portion but GS forced them to pay up on the mortgage insurance. A form of taxpayer peonage New Renter mentions above?

indigenous says

AIG for example had rock solid assets other than the small percentage involved with the derivatives.

That BS has been debunked time and time again, but it still pops up. Amazing. Don't let facts interfere with ideology.

bob2356 says

That BS has been debunked time and time again, but it still pops up. Amazing. Don't let facts interfere with ideology.

Oh ok that proves you are right then... to double dog prove it show us a graph...

indigenous says

bob2356 says

That BS has been debunked time and time again, but it still pops up. Amazing. Don't let facts interfere with ideology.

Oh ok that proves you are right then... to double dog prove it show us a graph...

It proves you are wrong, whatever regulation you are referring to isn't keeping private pensions any better funded than public pension funds. Here is just one of dozens of articles a simple google search provided. http://www.cnbc.com/id/100928506

You need to move beyond the simple thought pattern government always does it wrong, private always does it right mindset. Real world problems are more complex than that.

APOCALYPSEFUCKisShostikovitch says

Pestorkapalooza

Does that refer to the saintly Oscar Pistorius, who fornicated with a woman, didn't impregnate her, then shot her to death, then said it was all God's will? Following that example would seem rather to accelerate depopulation.

bob2356 says

It proves you are wrong, whatever regulation you are referring to isn't keeping private pensions any better funded than public pension funds.

This:

About the only workers who need not lose sleep over their pension benefits, say experts, are state and local government employees covered by public-sector pension plans. That's because most public pension benefits are protected by state laws and constitutional provisions. New hires in state and local government might have to accept a pension that's less generous than existing plans, but public-sector workers who are already rooted to a job and pension generally will be all right.

Benefit cuts might loom for many, but pension experts say that private defined-benefit plans are essentially safe. Among defined benefit private pensions, asset-to-liability funding ratios are in the range of 85 percent funded today, even after the fall 2008 financial crisis, according to a November 2008 research paper by the Boston College Center for Retirement Research

From this:

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/money/retirement-planning/is-your-pension-secure/overview/is-your-pension-secure-ov.htm

But it is from 2009, few companies offer defined benefit plans, and demographics are not good.

My understanding was the regulations on pensions and insurance are very solid. In the article they say the funds are 85% funded. That is except for government workers.

APOCALYPSEFUCKisShostikovitch says

Japan needs Pestorkapalooza, a 14 day holiday to promote heterosexual fucking.

Some Japanese already do:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/07/japan-penis-festival-kanamara-matsuri_n_5106378.html

Apparently it works. Hell it may be the only thing keeping Japan's population from already having shrunken to oblivion:

http://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=z5567oe244g0ot_&met_y=population&hl=en&dl=en&idim=city_proper:025280

Japan's interesting but I think they'll get by somehow.

I was there for a while in 88, real estate was so expensive that the land of the Akasaka palace was valued more than the entire state of California. In Ginza, the land area of a piece of paper was over $11,000, etc.

In rural areas, they had many "obasans"=grandmas=older women doing labor tasks which was surprising. Seeing a road crew comprised of ladies in bonnets holding shovels was a surprise. There were many women doing hand labor in seafood businesses.

I don't think Japan is going to invite many foreigners but time will tell.

The pace of life in Tokyo, Yokohama, etc. can be stressful so it's rough over there in many ways.

clambo says

In Ginza, the land area of a piece of paper was over $11,000, etc.

http://www.athome.co.jp/ks_14/dtl_1071260008

$14.2M for 782 m2.

1m2 is 16.6 8 1/2 x 11s.

$1100 per piece of paper. But this is only 200% zoning, so you can't build all that many units.

Here's 460m2 of high-rise land for $27M, 3X the per-meter price:

http://www.athome.co.jp/ks_14/dtl_6953818620

6 minutes from Shinbashi station (somewhat close in class to Ginza), no easy walk. 700% zoning though, which permits a 9-10 story building.

So I'd expect ultra-prime land in Ginza is still $11,000. Hell if we go at the 80-yen/dollar prices, the Shinbashi land was $4000 last year.

http://www.athome.co.jp/js_17/dtl_6953310845

is the most expensive listing I can find on athome, $50M for a 9 story building on 850m.

Valuing the construction at $400/foot, that's $20M for the land, not too bad, LOL.

x $50M per building . . . Tokyo real estate valuation's gotta be in the trillions and trillions . . .

Back when land zoomed to the moon, Japan interest rates were high too, 8% I assume. Now their central bank is actually buying REIT stocks. Dunno the interest rate the big builders get, but this really blows my mind.

ah, here's some old crappy buildings on somewhat valuable land:

http://www.athome.co.jp/js_17/dtl_8754387901

3 minutes from Roppongi station, 6 story building (built 1965) on 50m2 of land.

$3.5M so $4000 per piece of paper if we don't count the building.

http://www.athome.co.jp/js_17/dtl_6952936896

is $13M for a 1960s building on 188m 2 minutes from Kayabacho station. Not immensely valuable location, but also $4000/paper not counting the building.