Tag Archives: unemployment

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Idaho farm tractors being stolen for scrap metal

“We’ve had a lot of scrap metal stolen. This is totally off the wall here.”– Jackie Morris, Power County Chief Deputy Sheriff

A farmer in American Falls, Idaho, had two old International tractors stolen right off his farm, in broad daylight.  Witnesses say they saw the tractors being hauled away on trailers pulled by pick up trucks.

The drivers of the pick ups were recognized as individuals who’re recently asking locals if they had any scrap metal they wanted to get rid of.

Farmers are being warned by law enforcement to inventory their farm equipment at least once per week.

 

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

What Economic Recovery? Former HP employee, and MBA holder, finds new job by NOT talking about his college education

“Nobody ever thinks, ‘Hey, I’m having trouble getting a job now.  Let me go get this extra degree and I’m sure I’ll still have trouble.’”-Nathan Bussey

In 2008, Idahoan Nathan Bussey lost his coveted job with Hewlett-Packard.  He used the unexpected time off to get an MBA.

Forget the rhetoric coming out of Corporate America, that they can’t find “qualified” applicants, Bussey discovered that having a college degree actually hurt his chances of getting a job.   That’s because the only jobs available don’t really require college.

This year Bussey took a job with a dreaded call center.  He did not tell them about his MBA, because it would’ve hurt his chances for getting hired.  He’s getting paid much less than when he was working for HP, but he and his wife are desperate: “We have no savings anymore. If something happened, if one of us got hurt or sick, we certainly would be in a much worse situation now.  We’ve used our buffer.  That rainy day fund is now gone.”

 

 

Fukushima

Government & Farmer Incompetence: Yet again, more rice contaminated with cesium, lots of cesium!

Once again, rice harvests in Fukushima Prefecture are coming up contaminated with cesium.  But this time the levels are even higher than before.

Five farms in Oonami district have rice that’s contaminated with as much as 1,270 becquerels per kilogram of cesium!  At the beginning of November rice containing 630 becquerels was found in the same district. The national government safe limit is 500.

The national government already banned rice from Oonami from being shipped to markets.

In several postings (back in March) I warned that Japanese farmers (specifically those in the Fukushima Prefecture) should not plant their crops because of the radiation contamination.  They did anyway, and many said it was because no ‘government official’ told them not to.  This is a clear case of too much reliance on ‘authority’!

The prefectural government of Fukushima is in the process of testing all 154 rice farms in the Oonami district.  This is going to create a huge rice (and other agricultural products) shortage in Japan, which will only add to the coming global food crisis.

Fukushima

Government & Corporate Incompetence: Mountains of Eastern Japan now Radioactive!

Japan’s science ministry conducted helicopter surveys of radiation, covering 22 prefectures in eastern and central Japan.  They found that long lasting cesium is contaminating a large area.

The highest level of cesium contamination is around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, with some areas hitting more than one million becquerels per square meter!

The scientists also found that the mountain ranges nearby have been blocking a lot of cesium from spreading further south.  As a result, geographic regions about 60 kilometers (37 miles) to the north, and about 200 kilometers (124 miles) southwest, are contaminated with more than 30,000 becquerels per square meter.

They say the cesium contamination will last decades.  And remember, the Fukushima Daiichi disaster reactors are still emitting lots of radiation!

 

Fukushima

Government Incompetence: Pacific Cod & Tuna contaminated with Cesium!

Greenpeace Japan has been monitoring radiation levels in sea food for the past several months.  They say Pacific cod and tuna are proving to be very susceptible to cesium contamination.

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is not only spewing radiation into the air, but pouring it into the Pacific Ocean.

Greenpeace Japan tested seafood in just five supermarkets in Japan, from October through the beginning of November.  Out of 75 samples, 27 were positive for radioactive cesium 134 and 137.

They found that Pacific cod was the most contaminated, along with Bigeye and Skipjack tuna.  The fish had been caught off the coasts of Hokkaido, Iwate and Miyagi.  These are areas directly affected by the radiation pouring into the Pacific Ocean.

The researchers discovered that canned fish could potentially be more contaminated, because in Japan regulations for canned fish are less strict than fresh fish.  Greenpeace Japan says they did find a small level of radiation in a can of mackerel.

Fukushima

Farmer Incompetence: Japanese fruit farmers to strip the bark off their trees, hope to prevent radiation contamination, more proof of a coming global food crisis!

Fruit farmers in Fukushima Prefecture (home of the radiation spewing Fukushima Daiichi nuke plant) say radiation is coating their trees and fruit. They’ve come up with a plan to stop the absorption of radiation; use power washers to strip top layers of bark.

The Japanese Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives believes that by stripping the bark off the fruit trees, they can halve the amount of radiation contamination.  Major problem: Fukushima Daiichi is still spewing radiation!

By stripping the bark, in an ongoing radioactive contamination environment, they will actually increase the chances of contamination!

Fukushima

Government Incompetence: Radioactive Strontium found in Tokyo & Yokohama, for the second time!

A citizens group tested soil from three location in Tokyo and Yokohama, and found radioactive strontium, as much as 51 becquerels per kilogram.

The samples were taken at the end of October.  This is not the first time strontium 90 has been found.  At the beginning of October it was confirmed that samples taken on a building’s roof top, in Yokohama, was contaminated with 195 becquerels of strontium 90.

Strontium 90 has a half life of 28.8 years. It can cause bone cancer.

The citizens group believes the strontium 90 came from the disaster reactors at Fukushima Daiichi, which is about 170 miles from Yokohama.  However, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology is claiming that it could not have come from Fukushima Daiichi.

The government officials say it would be more likely that strontium 89 would be coming from the failed nuke plant.  This doesn’t make sense, because strontium 89 is used medically, to treat bone cancer, and in rare cases to treat pain.  In my quick research I could not find anything that said strontium 89 is a by product of nuclear reactors.  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency web site only said that it could be found around nuclear plants.

I can only conclude that the Japanese government officials don’t know what they’re talking about.  When you look up strontium 90 you’ll find that it is specifically a creation of nuclear fission, and found in nuclear fallout, so the citizens group is right!

Business/Economics, International, Opinion, Technology

Government Incompetence: More than 80% of Japan’s nuclear reactors to be shut down, get ready for petroleum & coal prices to spike

Combine natural disasters, corporate and government incompetence, and regular inspections, and you end up with more than 80% of Japan’s nuclear power turned off.  That’s disastrous when you realize that Japan’s industries rely on nuclear power!  Can you say poor planning?

On November 25, another nuke plant will be shut down for regular inspection.  But that’s not all.  The remaining operating nuclear power plants will also be shut down going into spring 2012, because of the timing of scheduled inspections.  That means all 54 Japanese nuke plants will be off line!

This means there will be a huge demand coming from Japan for petroleum (oil, gasoline, diesel), natural gas and coal to run traditional electrical generators.  Now imagine what will happen to the price such commodities when an entire country suddenly starts sucking up millions of barrels of fuel per day!

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Idaho’s Coldwater Creek continues its fall, but, is this a case of buy low now, and if Coldwater Creek recovers, you can sell high?

“Coldwater Creek (NASDAQ:CWTR) is one of today’s worst performing low-priced stocks…”-Adrienne Chilton, analyst

The month of October and November was so bad for the Idaho company that, maybe, it should be put out of its misery.

During the second week of November, there were reports that Coldwater Creek could be delisted from the NASDAQ.  That’s because in the second half of October their stock price dropped to just a little more than .90 cents per share.  At the begining of November, Coldwater Creek was downgraded to “underperform” by Zacks Investment Research Analysts.

By the end of  the first week of November their stock price jumped back over $1.10.  But more bad news.  By the second half of November their stock price is now below .90 cents; as of November 23 it was trading at .88 cents per share.

Things are so desperate that in a move to motivate investors, and maybe keep from getting delisted, the CEO of Coldwater Creek, Dennis Pence, bought U.S.$7 million worth of his own company’s stock.

At around .90 cents per share that’s a heck of a lot of stocks!

Pence claims this is a case of buy low, sell high.  He claims he still believes in the company and is sure they will turn things around.  If he’s right investors could make a killing.  One analyst thinks investors could end up with a 200%-500% return, over three years!  But that’s assuming a $60 million improvement in Coldwater Creek’s expenses and operating income performance.

The anonymous analyst, going by the nom de plume Violent Capitalist, also admits: “…this is a very very risky investment…”

Another analyst, with the nom de plume of Pimlico, responded to the buy low, sell high sales pitch with: “This one really looks doomed. I have rarely seen shareholder equity decelerate as quicky as I have with this one.”

Investors should wait until November 30, when Coldwater Creek will report its 3rd quarter earnings.  Most analysts surveyed are predicting negative earnings.

Of interest, for the past four months, analysts have advised stock holders to “hold” onto their Coldwater Creek shares (as reported by Reuters). Is there hope?

Business/Economics, U.S.

Republican & Media Incompetence: California Republican Darrell Issa, and some mainstream media sources, say the Postal Service gets money from tax payers. Idiots!!!

“The Postal Service still seems to hold the misguided belief that accounting gimmicks and an increased reliance on taxpayer support will give it flexibility to push back insolvency for a few more years.”-Darrel Issa, Republican Representative from California

California Republican Darrel Issa has just revealed himself to be a liar or an idiot!

First off: Postal officials have been straight forward with their financial mess.  And most of that mess has been caused by Congress!!!  Read my September posting of the PBS interview with the Postmaster General, and the president of the National Association of Letter Carriers union.

Secondly: The United States Postal Service does not make money off taxpayers, they are solely funded by the postage they charge (prices are controlled by U.S. Congress, not the USPS), and other products they sell.  The cuts being made to the USPS will have no affect on U.S. government debt!!!

Darrel Issa is a California Republican, yet he doesn’t know that two other California Republicans pushed for the USPS to become self supporting?  Yeah, those guys were Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan!!!

In 1970, under Nixon the Postal Reorganization Act was passed and signed into law.  This act ceased tax payer funding for the USPS (prior to the Reorganization Act it was known as the Postal Department), and forced it to become self supporting (although it does not have to make a profit).

In 1982, under Reagan, another act was passed and signed that added U.S. postage stamps to the “postal products” that the USPS could support itself with (until then the Government took all the money from sales of stamps).

Perhaps Darrel Issa is talking about the “Postal Service Fund”?  This is a fund set up by Congress, paid for with taxes, to cover the postage free mailing for all legally blind persons, and for mail in election ballots sent from U.S. citizens living overseas, and, for providing address information to state and local child support enforcement agencies.  It does not cover any other operations of the USPS!

Perhaps Darrel Issa wants to end the free mailings for blind people, for absentee election ballots, and for providing addresses to state and local child support agencies?

Whatever the reason, this is a clear case of politicians, and the media, of being incompetent, or intentionally misleading the general public.