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

What Economic Recovery? Sony blames $2 billion loss on the United States & Europe, no more Sony TVs for you

On November 3, Sony announced that its television division is likely to post a record loss of about U.S.$2.2 billion for 2011.  That makes eight straight years of losses!

Sony is blaming poor sales in the United States and Europe.  This is more proof that the U.S. is no longer the market place for the World’s manufacturers.

Sony Executive Deputy President Kazuo Hirai says there is no sign of any economic recovery, and the company will revise downward its mid-term sales target by half.  Sony will also cut way back on TVs sold in Europe and the U.S.

Panasonic and Sharp say they will do the same.

 

International, Technology

Government Incompetence: Inspectors screw up approval of nuclear fuel rods

The Japan Nuclear Energy Safety Organization admitted it allowed nuclear fuel rods to pass quality checks using a faulty factory manual.

Government inspectors used the manufacture’s manual to inspect four sets of fuel rods.  They approved three of the sets.  The problem is that the approved sets did not match up with the length stated in the manual.  The rods were four meters (13 feet) long, the manual said they should have been 5 centimeters shorter.

Government officials say they will correct future inspections.

Fukushima

Corporate Incompetence: TEPCo retracts Fukushima melt down claim!

On 02 November 2011, Tokyo Electric Power Company said Reactor 2 at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was in melt down, again. Now they changed their mind!

TEPCo now says the level of xenon radiation they detected is too low to be from spontaneous fission.  Can these guys get anything right?

 

Business/Economics, International, Technology

Government Incompetence: Japan will now study 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident

In a classic example of too little too late, Japan will now spend big money to study the effects of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident!

Japan will expand its Ukrainian embassy staff to include two nuclear specialists and three translators.  The staff will also be equipped with gear for dealing with radiation.  They will interview Ukrainian and former Soviet officials, and residents about the effects of radiation contamination, and how to deal with a nuclear disaster.

The Japanese government said they will spend about U.S.$2 million on the project.  You’d think a country that got so involved with nuclear power would have included, as part of its nuclear disaster preparedness, a detailed study of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster!

Fukushima

Government & Corporate Incompetence: Fukushima Reactor 2 going Critical, TEPCo pouring Boric Acid into reactor!

02 November 2011, Tokyo Electric Power Company announced that melt down has re-started in Fukushima Daiichi Reactor 2.

TEPCo detected radioactive xenon-133 and xenon-135, in the reactor’s containment vessel on 02 November.  They are produced during nuclear fission.  TEPCo poured a boric acid solution into Reactor 2 to suppress the nuclear fission (melt down).

Analysts are speculating that the other reactors at Fukushima Daiichi could also go critical.  Professor Okamoto Koji, of the University of Tokyo Graduate School, says the presence of xenon in the reactors leaves open the possibility that localized and temporary fission could still occur.

TEPCo claims that using the boric acid has cooled down the reactor.

 

 

 

 

Business/Economics, International

Global Economic War: China to make business deals with Austria, avoid tariffs

In an effort to avoid the outrageously high tariffs that many European Union members have put on Chinese products, Chinese President Hu Jintao is in Austria hoping to make new trade deals.

Xinhua News said “The two countries should also expand their mutually beneficial economic and trade relations and make concerted efforts to fight trade protectionism and encourage mutual investment.”

Many EU countries have enforced high tariffs on Chinese products, some have even boycotted Chinese products all together.  Austria is one of a few EU countries still open to Chinese imports.

In fact, Austria’s President Heinz Fischer, said Austria will play an active role in seeking the EU’s recognition of China’s full market economy status.

Over the past 40 years, the China-Austria relations have developed continuously, with China becoming Austria’s biggest trading partner, outside Europe, in 2010.

It’s interesting that many EU members are enforcing high tariffs and trade embargoes on Chinese products, yet are hoping China will bail them out of their economic mess.


 

International

World War 3: Israel to speed up construction of illegal settlements

November 1, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered speeding up construction of 2,000 illegal housing units in East Jerusalem (al Quds), Ma’aleh Adumim, and Gush Etaion.

This is a response to the United Nations making Palestine the 195th member of the UN.  Other retaliations planned by the Israelis include; curbing VIP status of senior Palestinian officials to cross Israeli checkpoints, greenlighting more settlement construction, and halting the transfer of tax money that Israel steals, I mean collects for the Palestinians.

If you think Israel will turn to violence then you’re too late.  For months now Israel has launched ground raids, and air strikes into Gaza and the West Bank, yet where’s the western media’s coverage of it?

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? U.S. officials say Asia is our only hope; then all is lost

“If we are going to move out of this recession, Asia is going to be part of that equation. Asia is where we are going to grow.”–Ernest Bower, Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies

Next week the 21 members of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) will meet in Hawaii.  There U.S. officials are expected to bend over to make economic deals with Asia countries, that’s how desperate the situation is for the United States.

Ron Kirk, U.S. Trade Representative, said the main concern for the U.S. is resolving issues that affect U.S. exporters.

Last week the U.S. Congress approved a free trade deal with South Korea, however, the people of South Korea are against it and have been protesting ever since.  It’s obvious governments are not going to do what their people want.

If the United States is hoping that the countries of Asia, and the Pacific Rim, are going to pull us out of the ‘recession’ then all is lost:  Japan’s economy is a house of cards that’s already collapsed. China is focused on controlling inflation which is reducing consumer spending there. Vietnam, India, China, Japan and Philippines are facing off in what could turn into a war over oil rights in the South China Sea.  Australia’s main economic partner is China, and Australia is expanding its naval power in the hopes that the U.S. Navy will be forced out of the region due to economic hardship.  Japan and Russia are nudging closer to war over islands just north of Hokkaido.  And the U.S. has already lost it’s economic advantage in South America.


Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Honda to slash North American production, Toyota cutting work hours

Honda wants to cut north American production by 50%, and they’re blaming the latest flooding in Thailand.

Output at all six of its factories in the United States and Canada will be cut in half from November 2 through 10.  Also, they will stop all production in North America for one day on November 11.

Toyota announced they will cut overtime hours at all 13 north American factories, again because of a lack of parts caused by flooding in Thailand.

International, U.S.

World War 3: Japan to send troops to South Sudan

Japanese Defense Minister Yasuo Ichikawa announced that he will send about 200 troops to the new country of South Sudan in 2012. They will take part in UN peacekeeping operations.

Interestingly Ichikawa said the international community has been asking Japan to take on more UN peacekeeping roles, however I’ve not noticed any mention of that in all the international media sources I keep track of.  It’s probably more that the United States, in spreading its own military so thin, is putting pressure on Japan to take on more international military roles (also, payback for all the free U.S. aid in dealing with Japan’s on going nuclear disaster).

Japan’s current constitution does not allow their troops to carry weapons in other countries, but the new right wing government is trying to change that.

Most of the 200 Japanese troops slated to go to South Sudan are engineers.