Tag Archives: economy

Influenza

Influenza update, 02 March 2013: More reasons to avoid the vaccine! Swine flu coming back! New bird flu killing people fast!

02 March 2013/19 Raby’ ath-Thani 1434/12 Esfand 1391

While the main streamers have been reporting a decline in flu cases, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said cases of flu B are increasing.

A nursing student became the fifth person to die from flu in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania U.S.A.

Iowa U.S.A. records its first infant death due to the flu.

Indiana U.S.A. reporting 61 deaths.

In Ohio U.S.A., ProMedica lifted visitor restrictions at its hospitals.

Oklahoma U.S.A. reporting 30 deaths.

In Minnesota U.S.A., 17 more people died in past two weeks.  Health officials say five times as many have died, so far, as did in the 2011-12 season.

In Montana U.S.A., visitor restrictions have been lifted at Billings hospitals, except for neo-natal intensive care units.

San Diego County, in California U.S.A., reporting near record deaths, now at 43.

In Nova Scotia, Canada, the South Shore Regional Hospital in Bridgwater is considering restricting visitation to its forth floor.  This is because of an apparent flu outbreak.

A new study says that getting vaccinated two years in a row actually makes it easier for you to get sick! Researchers looked at case histories of the 2010-11 flu season in Michigan U.S.A., and found that vaccines did nothing to prevent people from getting sick, unless it was the first time they got vaccinated.  Basically the data suggests that people who get vaccinated year after year are wasting their time, and it has health researchers puzzled because it blows away the official mantra that you should get flu shots every year!

In the United Kingdom, a study shows that there is a link between swine flu vaccines and narcolepsy in children: “The increased risk of narcolepsy after vaccination with ASO3 adjuvanted pandemic A/H1N1 2009 vaccine indicates a causal association, consistent with findings from Finland.”-Elizabeth Miller, Health Protection Agency

This comes as India reports thousands of new swine flu cases. The territory of Delhi is dealing with more than one thousand cases in the past two months, 11 people have died. India’s Health Ministry says 275 people have died since 01 January 2013.  The state of Rajasthan has the most deaths, at 112 so far.

Also in India, the Animal Diseases Research Institute has been testing birds for the new version of H5N1. So far many healthy birds with no symptoms are testing positive:  “Some of the wild ducks are carriers of the virus which may have led to the positive flu report by Bhopal-based High Security Animal Diseases Laboratory. Even the Northern Pintail, which tested positive, was healthy.”-unnamed Animal Diseases Research Institute source

In Cambodia, the newest H5N1 bird flu has become so rampant that the government is ordering health officials, and even police, to stop it.  At least eight people, mainly children, have died in the past six weeks!  To put that in perspective, in the previous ten years only 19 Cambodians have died from H5N1. The most recent victim was a 35 years old man who ate an infected duck.  Health officials say this year’s bird flu is jumping to humans more easily: “We conducted investigations and found that all the cases were transmission from the poultry. There is no evidence of transmission from human to human at this stage.”-Ly Sovann, Ministry of Health’s deputy director for communicable diseases control

Hong Kong reports two people dead from H5N1 in the past two weeks.

Note that India, Cambodia and Hong Kong are places that are considered humid (like most of South Asia and South East Asia), and they have relatively higher influenza cases.  Now the CDC issued a report saying flu viruses become weaker in humid conditions. One CDC official said “The virus just falls apart” at higher humidity levels. Yeah right, try telling that to the people living in humid South East Asia!

International, U.S.

World War 3: U.S. occupation of Afghanistan; 20 – 24 February 2013. Karzai orders murderous U.S. troops out of Afghan province! Up to 12000 U.S. troops to remain in Afghanistan! Red Coats bribe clerics with Viagra!

24 February 2013/13 Raby’ ath-Thani 1434/06 Esfand 1391

In Logar Province, a car bomb exploded near a police dormitory, killing one cop and wounding two.

In Nangarhar Province, Mujahideen targeted the National Directorate of Security (NDS) office in Jalalabad.  Reports vary, saying between two and 14 NDS agents were killed, and dozens wounded.

President Hamid Karzai has ordered all U.S. personnel out of Maiden-Wardak Province. They were given two weeks to leave.  Karzai says investigations show U.S. Special Operations forces are murdering innocent people: “….it became clear that armed individuals named as U.S. special force stationed in Wardak province engage in harassing, annoying, torturing and even murdering innocent people. A recent example in the province is an incident in which nine people were disappeared in an operation by this suspicious force and in a separate incident a student was taken away at night from his home, whose tortured body with throat cut was found two days later under a bridge.”

23 February 2013/12 Raby’ ath-Thani 1434/05 Esfand 1391

A BBC report says in the past six months Iran has executed 80 Afghans after they were convicted of drug crimes.  Iranian border police say they have evidence that the United States is behind the opium being smuggled into Iran from Afghanistan.

22 February 2013/11 Raby’ ath-Thani 1434/04 Esfand 1391

ISAF said: “An International Security Assistance Force service member died following an improvised explosive device attack in southern Afghanistan today.”

German Defense Minister, Thomas de Maiziere, said U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told NATO officials that the United States will leave between 8000 and 12000 personnel in Afghanistan after 2014.

21 February 2013/10 Raby’ ath-Thani 1434/03 Esfand 1391

In Kunduz Province, four people were killed by U.S. led NATO forces.  ISAF says they were Mujahideen, but local villagers say the victims were never involved with violence.

A Newsweek report revealed that United Kingdom Red Coats began bribing religious leaders in Helmand Province, about three years ago.  They used food and clothing, but Viagra turned out to be a hot commodity!  Some of the Red Coats objected to giving them the sex drug because it would result in “…producing more Taliban, meaning more kids who would grow up to be Taliban.”

Now realize that British taxpayers are paying for supplying religious leaders with Viagra!

20 February 2013/09 Raby’ ath-Thani 1434/02 Esfand 1391

A United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan report says U.S. led drone (UAV) strikes in Afghanistan increased 72% in 2012!

Business/Economics, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? State goverment takes over city of Detroit!!!

“I believe it’s important to declare the city of Detroit in financial emergency…..There is no city that is more financially challenged….”-Rick Snyder, Governor of Michigan

01 March 2013/18 Raby’ ath-Thani 1434/11 Esfand 1391

The Governor of Michigan, Rick Snyder, announced he is taking over the management of the city of Detroit. City officials have ten days to appeal the decision.

The city will be run by a state emergency manager, who will have the same authority as a bankruptcy judge.  State officials say the take over is necessary because the city has been operating on debt financing far too long, and now faces long term liabilities that exceed $14 billion USD!

The state takeover could mean the end of city employee unions and massive layoffs.  Detroit is the 6th Michigan city to be taken over by the state government.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Best Buy, Kohl’s, Lowe’s! Hurricane Sandy taketh and giveth! Target has the money to launch invasion of Canada! Gun sales right on target, because of anti-gun efforts?

01 March 2013/18 Raby’ ath-Thani 1434/11 Esfand 1391

Best Buy reported a measly 0.9% increase in 4th Quarter sales in the United States. Best Buy calls it the end of their Fiscal Year 2013, I guess they’re living in the future. There is no standardized Fiscal Year (FY), so it can get confusing for us regular folks.

Even with a measly increase in sales, overall domestic revenue fell by 0.3%, and company officials admit that it’s because they shut down 49 stores!

Best Buy saw their international sales drop by 6.6%, yet managed to see a 2% increase in international revenue!  Officials credit Europeans for that.  The big drop in sales took place in Canada and China.

Best Buy says their domestic profits were unchanged from the year before, and international profits fell 2% from their FY 2012.  Company officials warned to expect a rough 1st Quarter (for their FY 2014).

Kohl’s department store reporting disappointing results. For the 4th Quarter profits fell 17% (but in dollar terms they still made hundreds of millions).   Company officials say sales were up for the year, but their discounted pricing and clearance sales cut into expected profits.  Like Best Buy, Kohl’s is cautious about sales for Gregorian calendar year 2013.

The 5th largest cable TV provider, Cablevision, reported higher 4th Quarter results, but that was because they won a lawsuit, not because of sales.  When you throw out the gains from the lawsuit, Cablevision had a net loss of $83 million USD.

Cablevision officials blame their down sales/revenue on hurricane Sandy. They say they lost 11000 customers because of power outages (this is on top of the 28000 customers they lost for other reasons).

Publix, “…the largest and fastest-growing employee-owned supermarket chain in the United States.”,  reported an overall 1.9% increase in sales for 2012.  It would have been higher if it weren’t for the fact that their FY 2012 had one more week than FY 2011.  Publix is a privately owned company so unless you work for them don’t expect to buy any of their stocks.

Home improvement store, Lowe’s, reported their end of year results: “Lowe’s fiscal year ends on the Friday nearest the end of January; therefore, fourth quarter and fiscal year 2011 included an extra week compared to 2012.” (like I said, it gets a little confusing for us regular folks)

Lowe’s saw an end of year drop in overall sales of 5%.  But they had a measly 0.6% increase in sales for the year, and they credit hurricane Sandy for that!

But wait, it gets confusing: Lowe’s says comparable, consolidated, same store sales were up for the 4th Quarter, by 1.9%, and up by 1.4% for the year.  Then they add that comparable, consolidated, same store sales for “the U.S. business” were up 1.5%.  Lowe’s bosses are happy: “We delivered solid results in the fourth quarter…”-Robert A. Niblock, chairman, president and CEO

Hello Lowe’s, your overall 4th Quarter sales still fell by 5%: “….decreased 5.0 percent to $11.0 billion from $11.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2011.”

Lowe’s managed to buy back $4.35 billion of their own stocks, and pay stockholders $704 million in 2012!

Target, second to Walmart, reported an increase in end of year holiday sales, by 6.8%!  For the whole year Target experienced a 2.7% increase in sales from 2011. Company officials credit this to an extra week in their FY (isn’t that interesting, while some companies blame the extra week for weaker results, Target gives it credit for stronger results), and the opening (not closing) of new stores!

Target paid its stockholders dividends, and is invading Canada this year!

Sturm, Ruger & Company, the maker of the famous Mini-14 and 10/22 rifles, reported huge increases in 2012; 50% increase in sales and 77% increase in revenue! Company officials credit this to new gun models (not to the anti-gun efforts in Washington DC).

In March 2013, the company will pay stockholders a dividend close to 40% of the company’s income.  For 2012, Ruger paid stockholders $111.5 million!

 

 

 

Fukushima

Government & Corporate Incompetence: Lies exposed about people being exposed to radiation, & more fish turning up with outrageously higher levels of contamination!

28 February 2013/17 Raby’ ath-Thani 1434/10 Esfand 1391

Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCo), operator of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi General Electric reactors, revealed that rock trout caught in the Pacific Ocean near the nuclear power plant, contain 510000 becquerels of cesium per kilogram!!!

Holy crap retiring Popeman, the official safe limit is only 100 becquerels per kilogram!!!

The fish was caught on 17 February 2013.  This is yet more proof that the GE designed disaster reactors are still pumping massive amounts of radiation into the ocean.  (and remember, the prevailing ocean current brings that radiation straight to the west coast of North America)

And here’s proof that contamination is increasing: Back in December 2012 they caught a fish that had 234000 becquerels of cesium per kilogram.  So in the past two months the levels went up by 256000 becquerels!

And for more insult to injury, TEPCo has refused to make mandatory yearly reports on the the amount of radiation contamination that employees encounter!  That’s according to the Japanese Radiation Effects Association (REA).

Officials with the REA say TEPCo stopped making the reports in 2011 (the year of the melt downs). 21000 employees have been involved in trying to contain the ongoing nuclear disaster. TEPCo publicly apologized and gave the excuse that they’ve been having problems “digitizing” the info, and they hope to submit the two years of missing data to the REA in March 2013.

 

Business/Economics, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Sears Holdings down again! Main Streamers try to make it sound good. Beatings shall continue until moral improves!

28 February 2013/17 Raby’ ath-Thani 1434/10 Esfand 1391

The main stream media is trying to make Sears Holdings’ 2012 earnings sound good, by saying that it wasn’t as bad as expected.  It is still bad!

Sears claimed their comparable store sales were up in its 4th Quarter 2012, by a measly 0.8%.  However, sales for the whole year were down by 1.4%.

Kmart reported a drop in holiday sales, down 3.7%, which is also the same amount of declination for the whole year.

There was some good news, Sears Holdings claims internet sales were up 17% for the year (much better than the loss reported by J.C. Penney).

Company officials said overall they suffered a “Net loss from continuing operations attributable to Holdings’ shareholders of $489 million and $930 million…”

That’s a smaller loss than in fiscal year 2012, but it’s still big.  And here’s a reality check; the losses would have been bigger if not for the sale of Sears Canada stock (“We distributed nearly half of our ownership in Sears Canada in 2012”), and the drastic cut backs on buying inventory (“Domestic inventory declining $895 million from the prior year.”).

As far as continued closings of Sears and Kmart stores are concerned, here’s a old slogan that unAmerican Corporate America should officially use: The beatings will continue until moral improves.

What economic recovery?

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? List of U.S. job losses & store closings for 02 February 2013: Potato factory employees surprised at their layoffs, which were actually announced at the end of 2011! More potato factories to be closed! Stock market laysoff its own reporters!

Arts cable channel, Ovation, began laying off employees in California. So far 25 people have lost their jobs, but company officials say this is the beginning of layoffs that will affect other employees in Illinois and New York.  Time Warner dropped Ovation from its  cable lineup at the end of 2012.

Another California based company, Wet Seal, a junior sized women’s clothing company, eliminated 35 positions.  Most of those are at their Foothills Ranch HQ, including the position of chief operating officer (COO). Sales are down, and last year the fired their CEO!

No more scrapbooking in California? Our Paper Place closed down their Newark location. As of 30 January all fixtures were on sale.

In Oakland, California, the Children’s Hospital & Research Center closed its Cytogenetics Laboratory.  They say the amount of work the lab did dropped by 69% in the past two years!

The Dow Jones’ MarketWatch media division laid off at least nine people.  It sounds like they are trying to replace older reporters with younger reporters willing to work for less pay.

In southern Idaho, J.R. Simplot shut down its Heyburn potato processing factory. 56 employees affected. The company spent big bucks building a new more efficient potato factory in Caldwell.  What’s interesting is that the Heyburn employees say the news was a surprise to them, however I’ve been reading about the planned move since November 2011!!!  According to Capital Press, the November 2011 announcement said the new Caldwell factory would be so efficient that J.R. Simplot would shut down three older factories in Idaho (including Heyburn), resulting in 800 Idahoans losing their jobs!  (in fact I warned about it in a 10 November 2011 posting)

Former location of J.R. Simplot Corporate HQ, Chubbuck, Idaho. They moved it to Boise more than ten years ago. The Chubbuck HQ was torn down and this strip mall built. At least two of the stores listed on the sign are now out of business, as well as others that are not on the sign.

Ex J.R. Simplot Chubbuck HQ awnings adding character to the otherwise drab Pocatello City Hall. Pocatello is the home of the Simplot Games, an international high school track & field event sponsored by J.R. Simplot. (we need jobs, not high school sports)

Two Renton Western Wear stores in Tacoma, and Renton, Washington closed down after 62 years of operations. Returns will be accepted until 15 March. The store’s website gave no reason for the shut down.

The Chocolate Peacock shut down in Omaha, Nebraska.  No it’s not a chocolate store, it was a women’s clothing store (like there aren’t enough of them anyway).  The owner said she had to choose between her ‘brick & mortar’ store or internet sales.

In Michigan, the city of Detroit abandoning 50 recreational areas! City officials said they don’t have enough money to maintain city parks.  38 other parks will have maintenance services cut in half.

In Geneva, Illinois, the Erday’s men’s clothing store out-o-business, after almost 88 years of operations.  The store specialized in ‘dress’ clothes for men, and blames part of their demise on the advent of casual dress days for work.  They also blamed competition from national chain stores.

In Watchung, New Jersey, Valley Furniture (aka Pratt Furniture) announced they will end operations once all their inventory is sold.  The store first started in 1946.  At one time the store stocked only U.S. made furniture, until the U.S. companies that made them went out-o-business.  Then the bad economy hit in 2008 and sales crashed, despite everything the family owners did. About 20 employees affected.

After nearly 67 years of business, Hodges Jewel Box in South Boston, Virginia, shut down.  The lifetime owner blamed declining sales on the bad economy.

 

 

Business/Economics, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? J.C. Penney going down the drain! More proof holiday sales sucked, and there is no recovery!

27 February 2013/16 Raby’ ath-Thani 1434/09 Esfand 1391

Company officials reported 4th Quarter 2012 results for J.C. Penney, and it’s really bad!  It’s so bad one retail analysts, Brian Sozzi, asked “Where is the rest of J.C. Penney’s quarter?”

Not only were holiday sales down in the dumps, but so were sales for the whole year.

J.C. Penney’s 4th Q 2012 ended on 07 February 2013.  For the quarter with what was expected to be big sales because of the holidays, the retailer ended up with a net loss of $552 million USD!

For the whole year: “…jcpenney reported a net loss of $985 million or $4.49 per share.”-J.C. Penney Fiscal Results statement

The losses are blamed mainly on a simply reality; sales are crashing!  In store sales down 24.8% from 2011.  Don’t blame the internet, J.C. Penney’s internet sales dropped even more, by 33%!  Not even the company’s efforts to cut expenses (by $603 million) stopped the hemorrhaging.

Business/Economics, U.S.

Closed Kmart injures two people in Wisconsin!

On 24 February 2013/14 Raby’ ath-Thani 1434/07 Esfand 1391

Two men were injured when the Beloit Kmart they were chopping up, let them down hard.

The two men were cutting up a second story concrete floor when it collapsed.   They fell 12 feet (3.6 meters). One has leg injuries the other has back injuries.

The new owner of the building is having major remodeling work done for a new Piggly Wiggly grocery store.

The following day another construction worker was killed in Utah working on a closed Kmart there.  Is there now a curse?

International, U.S.

World War 3: U.S. occupation of Afghanistan; 17 – 19 February 2013. Mujahideen getting better at hitting government forces! Even more tax money pledged to Afghanistan! New Zealand gets out in 2013! Tough anti-gun laws in Canada fail to stop Afghan from being assassinated!

19 February 2013/08 Raby’ ath-Thani 1434/01 Esfand 1391

A United Nations report suggests the Mujahideen are getting more accurate in their attacks.  The Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict report shows a decrease in civilian casualties, by 12% from 2011 to 2012.  The UN blames most of the civilian deaths on Mujahideen, but while civilian deaths are declining, attacks against Afghan government personnel are skyrocketing.  The UN says for last year Mujahideen attacks against government employees ramped up by 700%!!!

USMC General John Allen will retire and refuses NATO command job in Europe.  Rumors say his decision is the result of investigations into his associations with women other than his wife.  He says it’s because of family health issues.

The Australian Defence Minister, Stephen Smith, pledged $100 million AUD (Aussie Dollar) more in grants to Afghanistan!  This is on top of a previous pledge of $300 million!

18 February 2013/07 Raby’ ath-Thani 1434/30 Bahman 1391

In Daikundi Province, local government officials say there was heavy fighting between Afghan government forces and Mujahideen, in the Kajran district.  The fighting was spill over from neighboring Helmand Province, where Mujahideen attacked several check points.  There are reports of deaths and woundings on both sides.

New Zealand officials announced that most Kiwis will be pulled out of Afghanistan by April 2013.  About 23 Kiwis will stay behind for “peacekeeping” duties.

Norway announced it will give more of its taxpayers’ money to Afghanistan.  The Norwegian government is going to give the Central Asian country another $131 million USD, on top of previous pledges!

17 February 2013/06 Raby’ ath-Thani 1434/29 Bahman 1391

In Kandahar Province, Mujahideen ambushed government de-mining operations.  One vehicle was set on fire, while another was captured.  The vehicles are designed to remove landmines, but could also be use to plant them.  Also, Mujahideen claim they planted landmines in expectation of a U.S. led NATO convoy in the Kala Shamir region. They say at least three armored vehicles hit the landmines and two or three medivac copters were called in.

In Helmand Province, Mujahideen say they repelled another NATO/ISAF/ANA heliborne operation in Kajaki district’s Mazar Karez area. They say the battle lasted three to four hours. Also, in the Nari Manda area of Nad Ali district, three ANA troops were killed, two wounded, when their dismount patrol crossed over a landmine.

In Herat Province, reports of fighting between Mujahideen and fighters near the border with Turkmenistan. At least three people killed.

The new U.S. governor of Afghanistan, USMC General Joseph Dunford, said he has ordered NATO to obey President Hamid Karzai’s orders, that is no U.S./NATO airstrikes shall be called in by Afghan government personnel.

After damning reports by the United Nations, and then confirmation by an Afghan government investigation, President Karzai has ordered that all prisoner interrogations be recorded.  Investigations revealed at least 14 types of torture being used in prisons and jails.

Despite Canada’s tough gun laws (tougher than the United States) a 19 years old Afghan-Canadian boxer was shot dead at a Toronto nightclub.  He was the second shooting victim in Toronto that week.  Suspects have been arrested, and they are both of East Asian descent.