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.
Fukushima

One Year Later: Last Nuclear Reactor shut down in Japan

05 May 2012, on the northern big island of Hokkaido, Japan’s last operating nuclear reactor is being shut down.

By Saturday night (Japan time), and after 42 years, the country will be free of electricity produced by nuclear reactors.

The Hokkaido Electric Power Company is shutting down Reactor 3 of the Tomari Nuclear Power Plant.  The reactor will be completely shut down by 02:00 hours Sunday morning.

While the Tomari reactor is not scheduled for re-start, those that are have been blocked by local governments.  In Japan the local governments have the final word on reactor re-start, and because of the on going disaster reactors at Fukushima Daiichi, the majority of people in Japan are against re-starting any reactors.

For the summer of 2011 Japan’s domestic industries suffered greatly because of an electrical power shortage, even with 37 reactors operating.  Now Japan is heading into summer 2012, with not one nuclear reactor up and running.  National officials are scrambling to find ways to convince the local governments to re-start reactors.

There has been a push for wind power, but, just like here in the United States, there’s been a backlash of people who are against it because those windmills are “eyesores” and reduce property value.

International, U.S.

World War 3: Brits killed in Afghanistan. ISAF & Afghan government claims to have killed dozens of Mujahideen in past 24 hours. Fertilizer will get you arrested!

May 5, 2012, United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense (MoD) confirmed that two British soldiers were killed in Helmand Province.

They were killed on May 4, when Mujahideen attacked FOB (Forward Operating Base) Ouellette with indirect fire.  Afghan media say it was mortars, but the U.K.’s MoD did not specify.

And now for another 24 hour seek, destroy or capture report given by Afghan and ISAF officials, for May 5, 2012:  Afghan army and police units killed 42 Mujahideen in the provinces of Kunduz, Helmand, Ghazni, Khost, Wardak and Farah.  They claim to have captured at least 28.

In Kapisa Province three Mujahideen were killed by U.S./NATO airstrike.

In Khost and Ghazni provinces, several people were detained after “testing positive” for making explosives.  The test detects traces of nitrates, which are used in explosives.  The problem is that it’s also used in fertilizer and two of the those detained had been handling fertilizer, however, the local police said the fertilizer was “illegal”.

Business/Economics, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? U.S. April retail sales worst in past three years!

May 4, 2012, major retailers operating in the United States, including Costco, Macy’s and Target, reported dismal sales for April.

In fact sales were below what analysts and experts were predicting.  It was hoped that the retail industry would see at least a 1.5% increase in sales, instead they got a stagnant 0.8%!  It’s the worst April since 2009!!!

The U.S. retail industry represents 70% of all U.S. economic activity.  Some analysts blame the lack of increased consumer spending on the fact that unAmerican Corporate America continues to layoff employees!

 

International, U.S.

World War 3: U.S./NATO deaths at 140 for 2012. Karzai slams U.S. troops despite new Military Pact.

May 4, 2012, International Security Assistance Force reports a U.S./NATO troop killed by non-combat incident in eastern Afghanistan.

At least 140 NATO service members including 94 U.S. troops, 16 British troops and 30 soldiers from coalition allied countries, have died since the beginning of 2012.

There are unconfirmed reports that two U.S./NATO personnel were killed when they were attacked by Mujahideen in southern Afghanistan.

On May 3, President Hamid Karzai criticized U.S. operations, only one day after signing a new military pact with the United States.  This is typical of U.S./Unocal puppet Karzai: Publicly criticize the occupiers while making midnight deals with them.

And now for the 24 hour seek, destroy or capture report given by Afghan and ISAF officials, for May 4, 2012:  More Taliban and Haqqani  “leaders” captured.  The captures took place in Kunduz, Helmand and Khost provinces.  Of course, lots of weapons and ammo were captured.

In Nimroz Province, 493 kilograms (645 pounds) of opium was destroyed.

In Kabul Province, a suicide bomber from Pakistan was captured before he could detonate his explosives laden truck.

 

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

Economic Recovery? Idaho’s Micron Technology invades Japan! Micron on the offensive!

May 4, 2012, Japanese media reporting that failed Elpida Memory has chosen Idaho’s Micron Technology as its corporate savior.

According to NHK: “Elpida is Japan’s sole DRAM memory chip maker. It filed for bankruptcy protection in February after suffering losses stemming from the strong yen and intense foreign competition.”

But here’s the irony; Idaho’s Micron is also having revenue trouble.  Idaho media, real estate web sites, etc, have been reporting Micron as the Boise area’s largest employers.  But Micron’s employment in Boise dropped to 5,000 in 2009, and has been trickling down ever since.

Micron has had a lot of investors, yet their quarterly reports for 2011 were loss after loss (in the hundreds of millions each quarter).  This is because the memory chip market basically crashed.

However, since the beginning of 2012 Micron officials have been busy buying up other factories, and now companies.  Micron recently took over a Toshiba owned factory in Virginia, called Dominion Semiconductor.

Here’s what the Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch said: “The current state of the memory-production business is looking like the hotel business, where various facilities are bought and sold like trading cards from company to company.”

One reason for that is that memory chips have become a dime a dozen (actually less) and there’s no brand loyalty among chip users.

Micron officials seem to have scouted the next wave of memory innovation correctly, they are now pushing their RealSSD (Solid State Drive) and computer companies are buying it up.

On May 4, 2012, Elpida officials chose Micron, out of three bidders, to take over their company.  It’s reported that it will cost Micron $2.5 billion USD.  The take over will be finalized at the end of May, and new company plan submitted to Tokyo District Court by August.

Originally Micron offered $1.9 billion for Elpida, but Elpida shareholders threatened legal action.

 

 

International, U.S.

World War 3: Drone strikes will continue past 2014. UN wants $2 billion for refugees. More leaders captured.

May 3, 2012, U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, numb nuts Ryan Crocker, stated that the new military pact between Afghanistan and the United States could allow drone strikes to continue past 2014.

The refugee situation has worsened in Afghanistan, ever since the U.S. invasion.  Most of the people had escaped to Pakistan and Iran during the Taliban reign.

After the U.S. invaded about 5.7 million refugees were encouraged to return to Afghanistan.  However, most have not been welcomed back, and have even had their homes taken away only to be put in what could be called concentration camps.  This is being done by the U.S. puppet government of Afghanistan.

Because of the despicable treatment that returned refugees have gotten by the puppet government, there are another three million refugees still in Iran and Pakistan.  Now comes the United Nations with a brilliant plan to force them back into Afghanistan.

UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, wants $1.9 billion USD to basically bribe the puppet Afghan government to accept those refugees back.

Don’t you find it ironic that many refugees that fled the Taliban rule are now being treated just as bad by the very people that “liberated” them from the Taliban?

And now for the 24 hour seek, destroy or capture report given by Afghan and ISAF officials, for May 3, 2012:  More Taliban, Haqqani and Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan “leaders” captured.  The captures took place in Kunduz, Helmand and Maidan Wardak provinces.  Of course, lots of weapons and ammo were captured.

Three Mujahideen killed after they attacked police in Logar Province.

Afghan army killed one Mujahideen in Maidan Wardak Province.

Two Mujahideen killed by U.S./NATO airstrike in Kunar Province.

 

Business/Economics, U.S.

Employment Evil: Even with nearly 100 million American’s out of work, work place deaths & injuries increase! Actual reason for exploding health care costs?

“We’re actually trending upward, which is not a good sign, particularly in an economy when the hours of work are down, especially in construction. If construction was running full bore, it’s likely the numbers would be higher.”–Bill Kojola, industrial hygienist with AFL-CIO

 The yearly Death on the Job report has been issued, it’s not good.  The report uses data from the U.S. Department of Labor and state governments.

According to federal government data, 13 U.S. workers die on the job everyday!

Also, in 2010 an estimated 50,000 U.S. workers died from diseases related to their jobs!

West Virginia leads the country in worker deaths!

As many as 11.4 million U.S. workers become injured or sick directly because of their jobs!

As a result unAmerican Corporate America is costing the health care industry as much as $300 billion USD per year!  Maybe this is the real reason health insurance rates continue to go up?

Is it any wonder that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics recently admitted that at least 86 million unofficially unemployed people are refusing to look for work?

To read the Death on the Job report, click here.

Business/Economics, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Corporate America’s (and state & local governments’) planned layoffs increase for 2012

Don’t blame Obama for the bad labor market, the U.S. Labor Department just revealed that the bad labor market (people unable to find good jobs) began in 2000, under Bush Jr’s watch!

Blame Corporate America!  For more proof, Chicago based Challenger, Gray & Christmas released the results of their study of recent planned layoff announcements coming from unAmerican Corporate America, and state & local governments. 

Announced layoffs have gone up 11% since last year!  Education, government, consumer goods and transportation industries had the most planned layoffs, with the education sector leading the way.

According to Business Week, Michigan leads the country with the most planned layoffs: 5,094 announced just last month!

California is next with 4,070, Washington state with 3,329 and Pennsylvania takes fourth with 3,292!

 

 

Business/Economics, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Official ‘Unofficial’ unemployment numbers way up. Nearly 100 million Americans unemployed! Record number of people who refuse to work slave wage jobs!

“At this point, the labor market is worse than people realize because people are discouraged. Certainly, a large number of workers have given up on the job market.”-Keith Hall, former commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Believe it or not the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics actually attempts to track those people who’re unofficially unemployed.

The “official” unemployment numbers count those who’ve been looking for work for the last four weeks, and people who already have jobs but are looking for better work.  The fact that “official” unemployment numbers includes people that are actually employed should be enough for you to doubt them.

But it turns out the Bureau of Labor Statistics does try to count people who’ve been out of work longer than four weeks, or who have just stopped looking for work, they just don’t include those people in the “official” unemployment reports.

One way they look at it is what they call labor force participation.  According to their latest numbers, the labor force participation rate in the United States is at it’s lowest level since 1984. There are 86 million U.S. citizens who gave up looking for work!  That’s 86 million “unofficially” employed on top of the 12.7 million “officially” unemployed!

That means there’s actually 98.7 million people known by the federal government to be unemployed in the United States!

Department of Labor officials say that at least 6 million unofficially unemployed have stopped looking for work because most jobs available are not worth taking (from the unemployed’s point of view).

Labor officials also admitted that they didn’t know why about 36 million of the unofficially unemployed refuse to look for work.  In fact the labor force participation rate has been steadily dropping since 2000, years before the credit crisis began!

To make matters worse, the Chicago Federal Reserve bank expects labor force participation rate to continue to fall.

Why is the Labor Department coming forth with this dismal unemployment announcement?  Because federal government officials and politicians have realized that with nearly 100 million people out of work, and signs that it’s going to get worse, the money the federal government steals through income taxes will continue to be less and less (don’t be surprised when they start jackin’ up taxes on those who are employed).