#Japan #Earthquake: Cabinet Secretary Threatens Legal Actions Against "Hoarders"

aka people in Japan in general and people in metropolitan Tokyo in particular, who try to secure the life's necessities like food, water, toilet paper, batteries, toiletries, etc. in preparation for the possible disruption of supplies.

From Asahi Shinbun (in Japanese; 1:18PM JST 3/17/2011):

Chief Cabinet Secretary Edano [who is praised in an article at Bloomberg for his timely release of information (no joke) and transparency (again, no joke)] warns that the government may have to consider some legal actions against people who hoard.

Edano said, "If people just act calmly and rationally and do not hoard, there will be plenty of supplies to the area most affected by the earthquake and tsunami [=Tohoku], helping their lives."

Liar, liar, pants on fire! Even the Japanese people now know, amid confusing and conflicting information from the Japanese news media, that there are plenty of foods and water and fuel in Tohoku. They pile up and sit at the official supply depots set up by the local municipalities, and are not reaching the people who needs them.

It's not because of "hoarding" that the people in Tohoku are not getting food, water, and heating oil (one person already died from the lack of them). It's because of the bureaucratic red tape, and the bureaucrats' strange determination to carry out orders by the book.

And this government official blames people for trying to protect themselves and their families.

Get this, people of Japan? The government kills. Don't think it's just governments like Libya's or Bahrain's that kill.

(Or the government is a farce. Look at French.)

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