Tag Archives: tea party

Fukushima

Government & Corporate Incompetence: Fukushima to be turned into giant nuclear waste dump!

Struggling to figure out what to do with the ever increasing nuclear waste, caused by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster reactors, the Japanese government has decided to dump it in Fukushima.

The county of Futaba, in Fukushima Prefecture, is being asked to allow eight of its cities to become nuclear waste dumps.  The official reasoning is that area is already contaminated (currently it suffers the equivalent of 100 millisieverts of radiation per year).

Of course this would mean that those people still living in the area would have to leave, and the national government will pay for occupying the land.

Many people in the area are upset, and disillusioned with their national government, because immediately after the March nuclear accidents, they were told, by national government officials, that the situation wasn’t that bad and they would all be returning to their homes soon.

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

Global Economic War: China could cut Rare Earth mineral exports, expect prices for high tech devices to go up

China is THE biggest supplier of rare earth minerals, which are absolutely necessary for today’s high tech computer devices, like your cell phone that’s almost permanently attached to your ear while you’re driving (stop that, damn it!).

How big? China supplies 90% of the world’s rare earth metals!

Chinese officials say they will try to meet their 2012 quota, but because of new environmental regulations going into effect they expect delays from the mining industry.

China’s Commerce Ministry has granted export quotas of nearly 24,900 tons to 31 companies. That’s only 80% of what they said they would export for all of 2012.  At least 20 other mining companies are having problems meeting the new environmental standards.  If those companies can not meet the new standards, then China will fail to meet their stated 2012 goal of exporting more than 30,000 tons of rare earth metals.

 

 

Fukushima

Government Incompetence: Japanese trees now highly radioactive, a new twist on pollen allergies!

Japan’s Forestry Agency tested male cedar tree flowers, in Fukushima Prefecture, and discovered extreme levels of contamination: More than 250,000 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive cesium!

The forestry Ministry took samples from 87 locations between November and December.  The highest level, 253,000 becquerels of cesium per kilogram, were discovered at Omaru in the town of Namie, 11.3 kilometers (7 miles) from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Now realize that pollen is blown through the air, meaning highly radioactive pollen is blowing throughout Japan!

Japan’s Environment Ministry says as much as 2,207 grains per cubic meter, of radioactive pollen, is being blown around. However, the Forestry Ministry is trying to downplay the spread of radiation through pollen, by saying if people breath it for 4 months they would be exposed to 0.553 microsieverts of radiation.  Officials claim this is equivalent to ten times the normal background radiation found in Tokyo.  Mmm, they’re not concerned with that?

 

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

World War 3: Iran will block Strait of Hormuz, if the U.S. is successful in getting oil sanctions imposed, U.S. says that’s all the excuse they need for going to War, oil could hit $500 per barrel

“If sanctions are adopted against Iranian oil, not a drop of oil will pass through the Strait of Hormuz. We take no interest in animosity and hostility, our belief is friendship and brotherhood, but the West will not end its scheming….The enemies will only drop their plots when we put them back in their place!”-Reza Rahimi, Vice President of Iran

More than a third of the world’s oil (carried by tanker ships) passes through the 34 mile (54 kilometer) wide Strait of Hormuz.  In the past few weeks Iranian media have been pushing for selective blocking of the Strait, saying the West is already at War with Iran.  A well known British commentator backs that up saying: “War on Iran has already begun….For months the evidence has been growing that a U.S./Israeli stealth war against Iran has already begun, backed by Britain and France.”-Seumas Milne, The Guardian

Some of that evidence includes:

• Two nuclear physicists were killed, and the head of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran was wounded, after bombs were attached to their cars or detonated near them in 2010.

• The Stuxnet computer worm infected Iranian nuclear facilities in 2010; numerous reports suggest this was a U.S./Israeli attack to cripple Iranian nuclear centrifuges.

• On November 12, 2011, an explosion destroyed the Revolutionary Guard base at Bid Kaneh, killing 17, including a founder of Iran’s missile program.

• On November 28, 2011, an explosion in the western Iranian city of Isfahan badly damaged a uranium enrichment facility.

• On December 4, 2011, it was proven that the U.S. has been sending military aircraft into Iranian airspace after the IRGC used electronic warfare to bring down an expensive stealth UAV.

Read what “christian” U.S. Senator Rick Santorum said: “There have been scientists turning up dead in Russia and in Iran. There have been computer viruses. There have been problems at their facility. I hope that the United States has been involved with that.”  (doesn’t sound very ‘christian’ like to me)

By the way, recent bills for new sanctions against Iran will make it legal, under U.S. law, to designate civilian scientists as military targets!

In a recent interview with CBS Evening News, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the Obama administration now thinks Iran will have nuclear weapons in 2012.  When asked about Israel’s publicly stated plans to attack Iran, Panetta responded: “The United States does not want Iran to develop a nuclear weapon. That’s a red line for us and that’s a red line, obviously, for the Israelis. If we have to do it we will deal with it.”

But U.S. officials also consider the closing of the Strait of Hormuz a reason to bomb Iran. Texas based think tank Stratfor (Strategic Forecasting) said: “The importance of this waterway to both American military and economic interests is difficult to overstate. Considering Washington’s more general, and fundamental, interest in securing freedom of the seas [for U.S. interests only, of course], the U.S. Navy would almost be forced to respond aggressively to any attempt to close the Strait of Hormuz.”

By the way, oil analysts have said that if the Strait of Hormuz was closed for 30 days, or even if one bomb fell on Iran, the price of oil could go as high as $500 per barrel.  Try commuting to work on that!  (maybe this is some kind-a insane conspiracy by the elitist oil industry to drive up oil prices)

 

 

 

 

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Global Economic War: U.K. prepares for collapse of the Euro, believes Britain will be flooded with economic refugees, Swizterland taking action

Several days ago there were reports that banks around the world were preparing for the demise of the Euro.  Banks are getting ready to go back to older European currencies.

On December 28 the British government discussed contingency plans for such a Euro collapse. Her Majesty’s Treasury (that’s the official title, and proof the Queen of England is no figure head) has announced plans to prevent a flood of currency refugees from overwhelming British banks.

The United Kingdom is part of the European Union, but does not use the Euro.  The British pound has been gaining in value as the Euro, and the U.S. dollar, looses value. The collapse of the Euro could see the value of the British pound skyrocket, which is bad for British exports (making them too expensive to buy, thus breaking Britain’s fragile economy).

It’s not just “The Treasury” that’s making plans, the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office (aka The Foreign Office) announced plans to stop people fleeing the expected chaos of mainland Europe, from flooding into Britain.

The Foreign Office said it would even attempt to rescue British tourists on holiday, and even British expatriates who need help returning to the U.K. 

The British media is also reporting that the rich 10% of Greece, and other EU countries that are in economic trouble, are already transferring large amounts of  wealth to British banks.

This happened to Switzerland a few months ago.  The result was that the value of the Swiss France skyrocketed.  But the Swiss dealt with it in an unusual way; they “attached” the value of their Swiss Franc to the value of the Euro (even though they are not a member of the European Union).

A few days ago there were reports that EU members were going to ground all flights out of their countries, and block all border crossings, to prevent mass exodus of people and cash.  British officials at Whitehall (the part of the British government directly controlled by the Queen of England, and which controls their military, named after a royal palace that once stood there) said they would do the same, but only to prevent foreign people, and their foreign cash, from coming into the United Kingdom.  Whitehall officials said they believe the collapse of the Euro would result in widespread civil unrest in Europe.

 

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? No big Xmas sales for Sears & Kmart, up to 120 stores will be closed, look out Pocatello & Chubbuck

“While our past practice has been to keep marginally performing stores open while we worked to improve their performance, we no longer believe that to be the appropriate action in this environment.”-Lou D’Ambrosio, CEO of Sears Holdings

Sears Holdings, which owns Sears and Kmart stores, said this year’s holiday sales sucked big time!  They’re claiming a big drop in business compared to last year (as much as 5.2%), and they just can’t afford to keep their “marginally performing” stores open.

The cities of Chubbuck and Pocatello, Idaho, are home to such marginally performing stores.

sears chubbuck

Sears at the Pine Ridge Mall in Chubbuck

The Sears is located in the Chubbuck Pine Ridge Mall, and has never done well (I used to work for the mall before it was sold to a company out of Chicago, Illinois).  Two other ‘anchor’ stores, that were doing better than Sears left the mall a few years ago, and many people around here have been wondering why the Sears is still open.  Well, it might finally be curtains.

pocatello fred meyer

Fred Meyer at the former Pocatello Mall location

The Sears in Chubbuck used to be located in the old Pocatello Mall, but that mall went down the toilet in the late 1990s, and has since been torn down and replaced with a Fred Meyer dominated strip mall. Even the new Fred Meyer strip mall suffered the demise of the Gottshalks store a few years ago.

gottschalks pocatello

The vacant Gottschalks, in Pocatello, Idaho

In Pocatello, the Kmart has been struggling for years, the customer foot traffic has never come close to what the Chubbuck WalMart, or the Pocatello Fred Meyer gets.  After Sears and Kmart merged to form Sears Holdings (and the Kmart bankruptcy), the Pocatello Kmart was spared from the many closings of Kmarts around the country.  But this might be the writing on the wall for the Pocatello Kmart.

Kmart Pocatello

Big Kmart, with small sales, in Pocatello

Even though business for Sears and Kmart continues to crash, a recent customer satisfaction survey, by Strategic Resource Group, showed that dedicated Sears/Kmart shoppers were happy with the service.  SRG also thinks most Kmart closings will take place outside the North East/Great Lakes region, and that means Idaho is a target.

Speaking of Target, Target and WalMart are the main reasons why Sears and Kmart are going down; they just can’t compete.  (do the economic analysts ever consider the fact that we “consumers” no longer have the cash or credit to support so many retail businesses?)

For Sears and Kmart stores that will remain open, big time cuts are planned.  Sears Holdings wants to cut $300 million, just in inventory.  They hope to cut another $200 million in ‘fixed’ costs (that’s industry code which includes employees and employee benefits).

Happy New Year!

 

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Global Economic War: Brazil beats out United Kingdom, now 6th largest world economy, soon to become 5th largest

According to the British Centre for Economics and Business Research, Brazil’s GDP will end 2011 at U.S.$2.4 trillion!  That makes Brazil the sixth largest economy in the world.

The United States is still number one (of course most of that money goes to the top 10% in the U.S., no trickle down here), followed by China, Japan, Germany, France, and now Brazil.

On December 27 the Brazilian Finance Minister commented on a new IMF report, saying his country will soon be the fifth largest economy in the world: “The International Monetary Fund expects Brazil to be the fifth economy in 2015, but I think that will happen earlier…it’s inexorable that we surpass France and, in future, who knows, Germany…”-Guido Mantega

Business/Economics, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Christmas Capital of Texas family killed on Xmas day, blame the economy

A Texas family that had lost their home to foreclosure, were shot and killed by Santa Claus on Christmas morning.

The distraught father dressed as Santa and decided to end it all after the family  opened their presents. The Wall Street Journal called it the single largest mass shooting in the history of Grapevine, Texas (Grapevine is known as the Christmas Capital of Texas)!

Seven people, ranging in ages 18 to 60, were found dead. Police say it looks like the family was just starting to clean up after opening their presents. Police responded to a 911 call, in which the caller said nothing.

Police will not comment on a motive, at this point: “We have a pretty good idea who these folks were, and we’re trying to work through contacting other family members so we can better piece together what took place and why it took place.”-Robert Eberling, Grapevine Police

Local media interviewed neighbors, in Colleyville, Texas, and learned that the family had lost their home to foreclosure, and that the father might have been a work-a-holic who was having financial problems.  Neighbors said even after he lost his home, back in 2010, he continued to take care of the yard: “I actually saw him out doing yard work just last weekend!”-Thomas Ehrlich

The mother failed to show up for work on Monday: “For somebody who’s always early to work and who never misses a day of work, we expected the worst.”-Leah Langford, employer

Apparently, according to Colleyville neighbors, the family actually stayed in the home for a while after it was foreclosed.  The family recently moved into the Grapevine apartment.

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

Global Food Crisis & What Economic Recovery? Beef production crashing in Idaho

No thanks to the closing of a beef processing plant in Nampa, Idaho’s beef production is down 80% from the year prior!  That’s according to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.

According to the State stats, and contrary to the stereotype, potatoes are not the number one agriculture product of Idaho!  Dairy products are number one, followed by cattle/beef production, so you can see why it’s so important to Idaho’s economy.

Not only is Idaho’s beef production down from last year, it’s been dropping like a rock, 52%, from January 2011 to November 2011.

The USDA pointed out that overall beef production in the entire United States was down 2% from last year.

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Full time employment down In Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Maine and Vermont

A report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that while part time employment is going up, it’s being offset by a drop in full time employment!

The top five states for increased part time work are Montana, Oregon, Maine, Vermont and Idaho.  Montana leads the country with a 39% increase in part time work.

In Idaho there was an average of about 515,000 people with full time jobs in 2007. In 2010 that number dropped to 445,000.  At the same time, in 2010 the number of part time jobs increased 35%. 

As far as full time wages go, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says the average full time pay in Idaho, in 2010, was $666 per week.  That’s a piddly 4.6% increase from 2007, and it’s one of the smallest increases in the entire United States!