All posts by Hutchins AAron

Born in Deutschland 1965, hometown was Bütthart, parents were not U.S. government employees. However, when father was tricked into joining the U.S. Air Force Civil Service, in 1969, with the promise that we could remain in Germany, we were promptly shipped off to Iran. Due to one of my Iranian educators being disappeared, along with her husband, by the U.S. ally Shah of Iran's Israeli & U.S. created Savak (for the then official terrorist act of promoting the idea that women can vote), and due to my U.S. citizen mother being placed on Savak's Terrorist Arrest List (for supporting the idea that women should vote, at that time the U.S. ally Shah of Iran did not allow women to vote, now they can) we left Iran for the United States in 1973, literally in the middle of the night. At the U.S. Embassy airbase the CIA operated Gooney Bird (C-47) was so packed with other U.S. citizens fleeing our ally Iran (because the Shah gave the OK to arrest any U.S. citizen for such terrorist acts as promoting the concept of voting) that we were turned away by the Loadmaster and had to take a chance on a civilian flight out of Tehran's airport. My father told me he and my mother had three culture shocks; first when they arrived in Germany as civilians, then after being shipped off to Iran as U.S. government employees, then again returning to the United States as unemployed civilians (because so much had changed in the U.S. while they were gone, their only news source was the U.S. Armed Forces Radio & Television Service which heavily censored information about the home front). Since I graduated high school in 1982 I've worked for U.S. government contractors and state & local government agencies (in California), convenience store manager in California, retail/property management in Georgia, California and Idaho. Spent the 1990s in the TV news business producing number one rated local news programs in California, Arizona and Idaho. 14+ years with California and Idaho Army National Guard and the U.S. Air Force. Obtained a BA degree in International Studies from Idaho State University at the age of 42. Unemployed since 2015, so don't tell me the economy has recovered.
Business/Economics, Fukushima

Global Economic War: Japanese industry moving to China

Since the 11 March 2011 disasters, Japanese industries moving to China has increased 65%.  That’s according to the Chinese Commerce Ministry.

There are two big factors why Japanese industries are moving to a mortal enemy’s territory: Money and Electrical Power.

Since the March disasters, including the ongoing Fukushima Daiichi meltdown, about half of Japan’s nuclear power plants are shut down.  The problem is that Japan built it’s current industries around nuclear power.  There just isn’t enough alternative electricity sources to power Japan’s factories.

Also since March, the Japanese yen has been going up in value.  This makes it more expensive to build things in Japan; Japan has no significant resources so it must import everything.

Japanese media are finally getting concerned about the growing unemployment there, mainly because so many factories have shut down and moved out of the country.

I wounder how this will affect the plans to create a TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership), especially since one of its goals is to block out China.

International, U.S.

World War 3: Peaceprize winner, Obama, sending thousands of U.S. Marines to Australia. Prep for war with China, or trying to save money?

“With my visit to the region I am making it clear that the United States is stepping up its commitment to the entire Asia-Pacific region.  But the second message I’m trying to send is that we are here to stay. This is a region of huge strategic importance to us.  Even as we make a whole host of important fiscal decisions back home, this is right up there at the top of my priority list.  And we’re going to make sure that we are able to fulfill our leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region.”-Barack Obama, Noble peace prize winner & President of the United States

After nearly four years as President of the United States, Barack Obama finally makes an official visit to Australia, where he announced the deployment of 2,500 Marines!

U.S. officials claim it’s partly at the request of the Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard.  Foreign policy analysts say it’s really about surrounding China with U.S. forces, in preparation for war.

Currently the U.S. and dozens of Asian/Pacific countries have been discussing the creation of a TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership, or free trade zone).  China has been deliberately left out of those TPP negotiations.  In fact, many of the governments of the smaller Asian countries are pushing for the TPP as a way of protecting themselves, economically, from China.

Another possibility is that the U.S. Department of Defense is trying to cut costs, shutting down state side bases.  Part of this move, to send the USMC to Australia, includes training of U.S. military pilots in Australia, rather than the U.S.  Obama said U.S. forces will jointly train with their Australian counterparts.

The important thing is that this is definitely an overt move of expansion on the part of the struggling U.S. Empire: “…the first long-term expansion of the American military presence in the Pacific since the end of the Vietnam War.”– New York Times

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Global Economic Class War: Proof the banks are taking over Europe; the new Prime Ministers were not elected! New governments will not be elected either!

Who elected the new Italian Prime Minister, Mario Monti?  Not the people of Italy, but one man, the Italian President Giorgio Napolitano.

Here’s the thing, in Italy the position of President is not one of much power.  The Prime Minister is the top dog.  It’s like John Boehner appointing Barack Obama’s successor (some people would like that).

Italy’s new national government will not be elected either, it will be hand picked by the new hand picked Mario Monti.   Italian officials are using the excuse that Italy can’t wait for elections.

The same can be said about the new Greek Prime Minister, Lucas Papademos.  He was hand picked, not elected.

Some opponents of Papademos said he’s planning on delaying the scheduled Greek national elections, that are supposed to be held on February 19, 2012.  When Papademos was asked about such a rumor, he simply said that as far as he was concerned, no specific time frame had been set for national elections!

According to the opposition Greek Socialist Party, Lucas Papademos asked for a promise of no political interference in his plans for Greece, and he got it.

This sure looks like the big banks have taken control of Italy and Greece: Both Monti and Papademos have a long history working in the banking/finance industry. Both have gone to university in the U.S., or taught in U.S. universities.  Both men are members of the European chapter of the Rockefeller founded Trilateral Commission!

 

 

Fukushima

Corporate Incompetence meets Investor Vengeance: TEPCo stockholders sue Nuclear Disaster Reactor company for $71 billion!

42 major Tokyo Electric Power Company stockholders are demanding that auditors for the company sue the 61 current, and former, corporate executive members of the nuclear disaster reactor company.

They claim the executives failed to keep their promise to make the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant earthquake and tsunami proof.  Japan has been suffering from the ongoing radioactive emissions for more than eight months.

The shareholders want more than 5.5 trillion yen (U.S.$71 billion), the highest ever demanded in a lawsuit in Japan.

The investors said if the TEPCo auditors did not file a lawsuit against the executives, within 60 days, they would do so themselves.

Business/Economics, International, Technology, U.S.

Corporate Incompetence: Singapore sells off Olympus stocks, dumb U.S. investors holding on

The Government of Singapore Investment Corporation announced that it has disposed of almost all of its investments in Olympus.

Singapore held 2% of Olympus stocks.  They are the first major stock holder to announce they were dumping their shares in Olympus.  U.S. Olympus stockholders seem to be waiting for Olympus officials to provide an explanation as to where all their money went.

International, U.S.

Internet Incompetence: Sites on the internet are incorrectly reporting that 85% of U.S. citizens are against war with Iran

A few international news sites have reported that CBS News conducted a poll that showed 85% of people in the United States are against war with Iran.  Blog sites have been picking up that ball and running with it.  The problem is that it’s not true.

I looked at the CBS News Poll, and it’s not quite what’s being reported by other  internet sites. The results were 55% who thought diplomacy was enough, 17% who said Iran was no threat, and 15% who wanted to go to war NOW!  I didn’t see any “85% against war with Iran”.

The CBS News Poll has a lot of other interesting responses about U.S. policy in the Middle East, North Africa, China and North Korea, but, like many polls, the number of respondents are just to small to accurately represent the whole of the U.S. population.

International, Opinion, U.S.

World War 3: U.S. sells first strike bunker buster bombs to United Arab Emirates, proof that we’re going to war against Iran

According to the Commonwealth controlled (British Empire, via Rupert Murdoch) Wall Street Journal, warmonger U.S. President Barack Obama is about to sign off on a deal to provide the UAE with bunker buster bombs.

The WSJ article claims that the UAE is about to buy 4,900 JDAMs.  These are not necessarily bunker busters, but could be configured as such.  JDAM stands for Joint Direct Attack Munitions.  Basically it’s an advanced smart bomb that can be set up with a variety of explosive material, depending on what the target is.

The UAE deal is part of a trend. In recent months the United States has already sold thousands of JDAMs to Saudi Arabia and Israel.

Bunker buster bombs are not defensive weapons, they are first strike weapons, used when you invade a country.  This is why the sale of these weapons to Middle Eastern countries, who don’t like Iran, is a sign of a coming attack on Iran.

Russian media say the UAE arms deal also includes Hellfire anti-tank missiles.  Iran has the largest tank force in the Middle East.

Regarding the WSJ, as well as most U.S. media sources, being controlled by the British Empire; a clue is that many times they use Commonwealth English grammar rules. In their article about the JDAM sale to the UAE they punctuate the abbreviation for UN, and UAE.  That’s incorrect for U.S. English grammar rules: “In American English, U.S. (with periods) is more common as the standard abbreviation for United States, although The Chicago Manual of Style now deprecates the use of the periods (16th ed.). US (without periods) is generally accepted in most other national forms [such as British English] of English. In longer abbreviations incorporating the country’s initials (USN, USAF), periods are not used.”-Wikipedea: Manual of Style

I had a college professor try to clarify the rules; he said only abbreviations for country names, and proper names for people get punctuated in U.S. grammar rules.  Organizations and business names do not. The UN is an organization, not a country.

In fact, even military vehicles used in UN peacekeeping operations do not punctuate the “UN” painted on their vehicles.  The U.S. military stopped punctuating their abbreviations in the late 1940s, when the new standardized U.S. grammar rules were finally adopted.  USAF=United States Air Force, USN=United States Navy, USMC=United States Marine Corps and USA (without punctuations)=United States Army.  So the next time you see a product labeled “Made in USA” (no punctuations) does it mean it was made by the United States Army, or that the company is ignorant of U.S. grammar rules?

What about the UAE (United Arab Emirates)?  The UAE is actually a confederation of seven smaller emirates. Despite many sources calling the UAE a federation, it can not be, because each ruler of each emirate maintains supreme authority within their emirate.  Therefore the UAE is not a “country”, but an loose organization of smaller countries.  This is the case with the failed Confederate States of America.  In fact being a loose confederation was a primary reason for their losing the Civil War (War Between the States) in the 1860s.

The same can be said for the Commonwealth of Independent States, or CIS.  This is a confederation of countries lead by Russia, and includes many former members of the Soviet Union.

However, even Wikipedia: Manual of Style confuses the issue: “For consistency in an article, if the abbreviated form for the United States appears alongside other abbreviated country names, avoid periods throughout; never add full stops to the other abbreviations (the US, the UK, and the PRC, not the U.S., the U.K., and the P.R.C.).”

In the case of the WSJ article, it’s interesting that they punctuate U.S. and UN (the article was written by three people).

Did I distract you enough from the preparations for war with Iran?

Business/Economics, Idaho, International, Technology, U.S.

U.S. increases embassy staffing in Brazil & China. Officially it’s to help foreign students come to the U.S. Unofficially it’s to bring in cheaper labor to the U.S., and help U.S. citizens leave the U.S.

“Idaho’s the last state that should say we don’t want to do business with Asia. Asia’s where the money is.”-Brad Little, Lieutenant Governor of Idaho

Recently the U.S. Department of State announced they were increasing staffing in China and Brazil.

Most U.S. and Chinese media reports suggested this was due to the increasing number of foreign students wanting to go to school in the United States.  The Chinese media even said it was a money making scheme for U.S. colleges: “A number of state governments in the U.S. are tightening their grip on education spending, which means smaller subsidies for public colleges to pay teachers and fund research. International students on average pay far more for tuition expenses than U.S. residents.”-ChinaDaily

According to U.S. Department of Commerce (yes it’s a “department”, not an “agency” as Rick Perry said), it’s also about the money Chinese tourists bring to the U.S.  In 2010 those visitors contributed more than $5 billion to the U.S. economy.

What about Brazil? In 2008 there were reports that Brazilians working in the U.S. wanted to go back to Brazil.  Now the U.S. State Department claims they can’t keep up with demands from Brazilians wanting to come to the U.S.

In September a report showed that the U.S. government has been wooing new Brazilian companies to move to the U.S.

EverWrite and DeskMetrics were two companies mentioned.  Young Brazilian entrepreneurs say it’s much too hard to start a new company in their home country, so they move to the United States (that’s funny ’cause just this past week Idaho business leaders told our U.S. Congress that it’s too hard to maintain a business in the United States).

Chinese businesses are being wooed here as well.  This brings me to one of two points; that increasing U.S. Embassy staffing in China and Brazil is really about bringing foreign workers into the U.S.  You see, many of those Chinese and Brazilian companies are bringing their own employees.

In fact, here in Idaho our state leaders have made a deal with the Chinese.  They will have their own 10,000 to 30,000 acre industrial and housing zone south of the Boise Airport, with their own Chinese employees, and even some level of national sovereignty.

“I think China’s coming over here shows they are willing to collaborate on the re-invigoration of the American industrial base.”-Jeff Don, Idaho representative for the Chinese company, called Sinomach

Here in southeast Idaho the Chinese have already moved in.

Sinomach is China’s third-largest contractor, and pressured Southeast Idaho Energy for a contract to build SIE’s $2 billion goal gasification fertilizer plant in Power County.  In May, 2011, SIE closed its American Falls, Idaho, office claiming they were trying to reduce operating expenses.

A polysilicon factory is just about to start up in Pocatello.  It’s run by Hoku International, which is now a subsidiary of a Chinese company.  The few local employees hired went to China to learn about their job duties.  So far no more word on anymore local hires, which makes you wonder if the main Hoku labor force will be coming from China?

Officials in Boise, Idaho, admit they’re working with more Asian corporations: “We’re getting calls from investors from all across Asia who are interested in Idaho.”-Cece Gassner, assistant to the mayor of Boise, for economic development.

The other point (regarding increased U.S. Embassy staffing) is that U.S. citizens are flocking to China and Brazil.

Japanese, and even PBS, media reports show that many U.S. citizens aren’t waiting until they’ve been hired to move to China; there’s a growing number of U.S. citizens who’ve moved to China, and are still looking for employment.  In fact many U.S. job seekers in China, are finding that they’re competing not only against Chinese job seekers, but their fellow U.S. citizens.

In Brazil, the current population, according to the World Bank, is more than 194 million people. That’s an increase of almost 3 million since 2008!  Most of those people moved to Brazil, many from the United States.

 

 

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

No Economic Recovery for the U.S.: Brazil about to beat out U.S. as number 1 Coffee drinkers. Coffee consumption a sign of good times

“In Brazil the middle class has grown and has more money nowadays. Consumers are becoming more sophisticated and want more quality, they want differentiation.  In 2000 you could not find gourmet coffee on supermarket shelves, now we have 104 different brands that are certified as gourmet coffees in the program in the stores.”-Nathan Herszkowicz, ABIC

Right now Brazil is the number one producer of coffee, and according to Brazil’s coffee industry association ABIC, Brazil is about to become the number one consumer as well.

According to officials with ABIC, the coffee consumption rate, in Brazil, is increasing by 4% every year.

While increased coffee consumption is a sign of good economic times for Brazilians, it could be bad news for everyone else: Coffee farmers in Brazil are now focusing on growing for domestic sales, rather than exporting their drinkable beans. That could increase prices for the rest of us.

By the way, the ranking of biggest coffee consumer is based on a country’s consumption of 60 kilogram (132 pounds) bags of coffee.  If you look at per capita (per person) consumption of coffee, then Finland is number one!

 

Business/Economics, Idaho, Technology, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? After donating $1 million to charity, HP will lay off Idaho employees

At the beginning of November, Hewlett-Packard reported they had donated $1 million to charity, for the fiscal year which ended October 31.

Now, according to a Boise TV station, HP employees called and reported a major layoff at the HP Boise operation was in the works.

KBOI says they contacted HP officials.  The officials stated they are still working on the details of a forthcoming press release, which will explain the layoffs.