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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-46096626
In the fiscal year 2016/7 up to March, 250 children from elementary to high school age were recorded as having taken their own lives. The number is five more than last year, and the highest it has been since 1986.
Concerns the children had reported included family problems, worrying about their futures and bullying. But schools said the reasons behind about 140 of the deaths are unknown as the students did not leave a note. Most of those who took their lives were of high school age, where Japanese students typically study until they are aged 18.
[...] Overall suicides across Japan fell to about 21,000 in 2017, police say, down from a peak of about 34,500 in 2003.
[...] "The number of suicides of students have stayed high, and that is an alarming issue which should be tackled," education ministry official Noriaki Kitazaki said as the latest figures were released.
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Thursday November 08 2018, @02:18PM (2 children)
It's not a secret cabal wearing hoods and robes meeting in secret and chanting 'Yog Sothoth Neblod Zin'. It's a natural and inevitable outcome of the way the money supply is set up.
The US government borrows money from the Fed to operate. This money has to be paid back with interest. The only way to get that interest is to either expand the economy or to borrow it from the bankers. It is a vicious cycle, and the only ways out are to nationalize the banks, default on government debt, or introduce a wealth tax.
Inflation mitigates the debt to a degree, but not completely as the new money that is both created by, and creates, inflation is owned by the Fed.
At this point a balanced government budget is not sustainable, and probably not desirable. Balancing the budget just means that they are handing some more real wealth to the bankers, which puts a damper on the economy.
A Gini of 1 may be impossible but we as a species appear to be trying. Currently the eight richest individuals in the world have as much as the combined wealth of the poorest half of the world population.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 1) by shrewdsheep on Thursday November 08 2018, @02:31PM (1 child)
The Fed is a governmental body that can simply print money, which they did big time recently. With this money they buy the bonds of the government, job done, no banker gets a dime. The US can get away with this scheme as the dollar is the de-facto currency of international trade. Money expansion is absorbed by foreign countries to a great extend. Money expansion does not necessarily lead to wealth distribution. In practice it does, as the rich are more influential in getting hand-outs from the just printed money. What I can agree on is that printing money is not a sustainable strategy. Either a country defaults or sustains a long period of high inflation. It has nothing to do with the private banks or the "bankers" though.
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Thursday November 08 2018, @03:42PM
The Federal Reserve, despite the name, is a privately owned bank that has some rather complex relationships with the US government. Those bonds are part of the debt the government owes. Where do you think they get the money from to pay them when they fall due?
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.