Tag Archives: siemens

Business/Economics, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? U.S. Postal Service cuts officially (almost) done deal, will “move forward” with austerity measures, Merry Xmas!

As promised, the U.S. Postal Service made its dreaded announcement on December 5.  The USPS filed a request with the Postal Regulatory Commission to “move forward” with austerity measures that will not only cut back service, but eliminate hundreds of thousands of jobs.

“We’re in a deep financial crisis today because we have a business model that’s tied to the past [ie Congress]. We are expected to operate like a business, but don’t have the flexibility to do so [because of rules created by Congress]. Our business model is fundamentally inflexible [no thanks to Congress]. It prevents the postal service from solving its problems.”-Patrick Donahoe, U.S. Postmaster General, November 2011

The plan, supported by the Obama Administration, calls for cutting U.S.$20 billion from operating costs by 2015.  That means closing 252 processing facilities, closing 3,700 post offices, and eliminating 100,000 jobs!!!

The processing centers will be closed by spring 2012.  Job losses just from the closing of processing centers could hit 28,000! Expect delays in getting your mail.

This after the U.S. Congress decided to ‘delay’ any action on their part until after next year’s Presidential elections.  The move guarantees the demise of the USPS, because President Barack Obama set the default date for the Postal Service as December 16, 2010.

In a PBS interview, both the Postmaster General, and the President of the Letter Carrier’s Union said it wasn’t really about lack of business, in fact the Postmaster General said package volume was still good.  It was all about the U.S. Congress ripping off the non-taxpayer funded Postal Service: “The Postal Service actually has somewhere between $50 billion and $125 billion in their other funds that is not taxpayer money. They haven’t used a dime of taxpayer money in over 30 years! And the Congress just needs to act responsibly and quickly to give them access to that — those funds.”- Fredric Rolando, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers

Rolando pointed out that the job losses will go beyond the USPS. It will affect all the companies the USPS contracts with, like FedEx, Siemens, Northrop-Grumman, Pat Salmon & Sons and Campbell-Ewald, to name a few.

Rolando, in the PBS interview, predicted that millions of jobs will eventually be lost because of what’s happening to the USPS!

Merry Xmas Mr. Scrooge, and God bless us, everyone!

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? U.S. Postal Service problems having domino effect on Corporate America

Some people don’t think much of the USPS (United States Postal Service), many people, including main stream journalists, don’t know that the USPS does not get any taxpayer money!  How about the fact that dozens of U.S. and European corporations rely on the USPS for business?

I’m not talking about shipping their products.  Corporations actually have major contracts to provide the USPS with products or services.  Now they’re feeling the pinch of the collapsing USPS budget.

Here’s a list of major companies being directly affected by the problems at the USPS: Fed Ex, Siemens, Northrop Grumman, Pat Salmon & Sons and Campbell-Ewald, to name a few.

Fed Ex is the biggest contractor with the USPS, in 2010 they were paid $1.4 billion for their service to the USPS (that’s only 3.5% of Fed Ex’s total revenue): “FedEx values its alliance relationship with USPS, both as a supplier and a customer.”-Maury Donahue, FedEx spokeswoman

Northrop Grumman made $495 million off their USPS contract.

The German company Siemens made $135 million in 2010: “We’re affected by their budget and their spending, It causes us to react and adjust.”-Daryl Dulaney, CEO of the Siemens Industry division New York

Siemens was involved with mail processing equipment, until this recent announcement by the USPS: “…will not be buying mail processing equipment, period.”-Sue Brennan, USPS spokeswoman

Privately held Pat Salmon & Sons trucking made $143 million in 2010.

Shipping contractors, like Fed Ex and Pat Salmon, have been hit hardest by the USPS budget crisis.  According to David Hendel, with postal contracting specialist Husch Blackwell LLP, the USPS is asking truckers to essentially work for half pay: “If the contractor will not agree to this, the Postal Service is threatening to terminate their contract.”

The only company that seems to be making more money off the USPS budget crisis, is advertiser Campbell-Ewald. The USPS has poured money into an advertising campaign trying to promote their service.

Basically the U.S. Postal Service wants to end Saturday mail delivery, cut 220,000 jobs by 2015 and close at least 3,700 post offices.  As you can see the cuts will affect far more than just Postal employees and customers.

The United States Postal Service does not make money off taxpayers, they are solely funded by the postage they charge (prices are controlled by 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.

 

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

Nokia Siemens helping governments to spy on you through social media

“If the U.S. or the EU are proudly focusing on internet freedom, while security and other ICT products made in the West are used to repress the same citizens we are trying to protect, this is clearly neither credible nor effective.”-Marietje Schaake, EU Member of Parliament from Netherlands

In Bahrain, where the U.S. supported government has been cracking down on peaceful protestors, and detaining and torturing them, human rights groups have revealed that Bahraini officials are tracking people’s activities through their cell phones.

Bahrain is using technology developed by Nokia Siemens.  Bahraini activist Abdul Ghani Al Khanjar said while he was being tortured his own cell phone conversations were being read back to him.  He was detained for seven months.

This is not the first time the company has been accused of enabling spying and torture.  Last year, two Iranians attempted to sued Nokia Siemens in U.S. Federal court. They alleged that the surveillance technology helped Iranian security forces to arrest and torture them.

Nokia Siemens Networks is a joint venture between the Finnish Nokia and the German Siemens.

 

International, Technology

Iran hit with another cyber attack

“However, certain characteristics about the Stars worm have been identified, including that it is compatible with the (targeted) system and that the damage is very slight in the initial stage, and it is likely to be mistaken for executable files of the government.”-Gholam-Reza Jalali, Iran’s Passive Defense Organization

No other details were given.  Iran’s nuclear plant was hit with a computer worm last year.  Iranian officials are blaming the United States and Israel, along with Siemens, for that cyber attack.  Siemens made the computer software for Iran’s nuclear plant, and Iranian officials say the cyber attack would have required knowledge of the computer software.