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

What Economic Recovery? U.S. Groupon laying off thousands of workers in China

Gaopeng.com, the Chinese arm of U.S. based Groupon Incorporated, has been laying off Chinese workers on a weekly basis, and has threatened current employees if they reveal the lay offs.

Many current and former employees are revealing the lay offs through social media.

One micro blog, called Gaopeng Will Fail (loose English translation), said the U.S. owned company started laying workers off last month, but made it official on August 19.  They also ordered employees not to talk about it.

At least 30% of Gaopeng employees, and contract workers, will lose their jobs.

Ouyang Yun, Gaopeng’s chief operating officer, said that the company is just “…experiencing a reshuffling of personnel and only dismissed (employees) for poor performance.”

However, business analysts say Gaopeng can not blame employees, Gaopeng itself is a poor performer: “Backed by Groupon, Tencent and other venture capitals, Gaopeng should not be running low on cash.  So its shrinking profitability indicates it needs more innovative ways to lure clients.”-Chen Shousong, Analysys International

International, U.S.

U.S. threatens Egypt: No more aid if you attack Israel

“The United States aid to Egypt is predicated on the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, and so the relationship between Egypt and Israel is extremely important.”– Kay Granger, Congresswoman, in an interview with Israeli media

U.S. Congresswoman Kay Granger, told Egypt that if they retaliate for Israel’s killing of their border troops, all U.S. aid to Egypt will stop.

Granger is a recipient of bribes from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).


U.S.

Chronic Stress changes your DNA, causes Cancer

“This could give us a plausible explanation of how chronic stress may lead to a variety of human conditions and disorders, which range from merely cosmetic, like graying hair, to life-threatening disorders like malignancies.”-Robert J. Lefkowitz, researcher

Duke University Medical Center found that the ‘fight or flight chemical’ adrenaline, released in stressful situations, can damage chromosomes.

Stressful situations lower production of a protein called P53, which prevents genomic abnormalities and tumor formation.

 

 

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Gold nears $2,000 per ounce in overseas trading, U.S. dollar crashing, caused by fears the Federal Reserve will print billions more in worthless money

In Asian markets, gold went over $1,900 per ounce.  The U.S. dollar continues to fall against most Asian money.

Even in Burma the U.S. dollar hit a ten year low. Nobody wants the worthless money: “Despite the falling price, most of the customers are selling their dollars.”-a foreign exchange dealer in Tamwe Township in Rangoon.

The reason for the exploding gold prices, and crashing U.S. dollar, is because many international market players believe the Federal Reserve Bank will try to stimulate the U.S. economy, by making credit easy, and printing more worthless dollars.

Here’s a little lesson in the concept of value: The more there is of something, the less it’s worth.  So, if a country prints off money like there’s no tomorrow, and that money is already worthless, how do you think the world is going to react?

They’re going to react like they already are; buying gold and dumping U.S. dollars.

The Japanese central banks are trying to stop their yen from rising in value (which hurts their export economy), so they’ve been flooding their markets with cash.  But the U.S. dollar is so worthless that it continues to fall against the yen, which pushes up the value of the yen.

Even the Australian and New Zealand dollars are now worth more than the U.S. dollar.

 

International

Quotes from Israeli Prime Ministers are enough proof that Israel does not want peace, they want to see Palestinians leave, or die

“We want no one to go to sleep at nights in Gaza … I have always believed in the everlasting and historical right of the Israeli people over all this land and still believe in it to this today.”-Ehud Olmert, Prime Minister 2006-2009

“The first issue is that without the expulsion of the Arabs and the appropriation of their lands, it would be meaningless to talk about Zionism, colonization, and the formation of a Jewish country.”-Ariel Sharon, Prime Minister 2001-2006

“Israel will create such a situation in the future 10 to 20 years that the displaced Palestinians would naturally and voluntarily migrate from the Gaza strip and the West Bank to Jordon.”-Yitzhak Rabin, Prime Minster 1992-1995

“The division of the Israeli territory is illegal and will never be officially recognized. Israel will once again be revived for the Israeli people. All of it and forever.”-Menachem Begin, Prime Minister 1977-1983

“There is no such thing as the Palestinian people; not that we came and forced them out, there never was such a thing.”– Golda Meir, Prime Minister 1969-1974

“We have to expel the Arabs and confiscate their lands.”-David Ben-Gurion, Prime Minister 1955-1963


 

 

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Young adult workers leaving the United States for jobs in China

U.S. citizen Hunter Levan, 29, came to China in 2009.  Initially it was to learn Chinese:  “I realized if I ever wanted to learn Chinese, I would have to move here and ‘do as the Romans do’.”

But after learning the language, Levan realized it was a good place to find a job: “I sent out e-mails and resumes in Chinese, and got feedback in less than five days.” He now works as a consultant for Spring Airlines in Shanghai.

Alison Watts, 28, knew little about China: “But all my friends who have been here said it was incredibly fantastic, so I decided to take the big step forward.”

Watts’ experiences with journalism got her a job hosting an English-language TV show in Shanghai.  She says “…amazing opportunities keep popping up.”

Ted Hornbein, a U.S. businessman, has worked in China since the early 1990s. Now he’s a board member of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai.  He says a lot has changed since the 1990s:  “Today you have local and Western restaurants and your whole family here with you…I have seen a 180-degree shift from my first July 4 party in China.”

In January 2011, CNN asked the U.S. Department of State how many U.S. citizens were leaving for jobs in China.  The official response was that it was difficult to know because U.S. citizens are not required to tell the state department about living and working in China.

However, international employment agencies say they’ve seen a big jump in U.S. workers going to China for jobs, ever since 2007.

The Research Center for Chinese Politics and Business at Indiana University, says Shanghai and Beijing are the big hot spots for U.S. workers, but in the past couple of years other regions of China are opening up.

Seems like China is doing more to find jobs for U.S. citizens, than the U.S. government is doing here in the United States!

Business/Economics, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Proof that most U.S. citizens will never be able to retire

According to AARP, for the Baby Boomers that are still in the workforce, 40% of them plan to work “until they drop.”

A recent survey of U.S. workers, that included all age groups, found that 54% plan to keep working when they hit retirement age, and 39% plan to either work past age 70, or never retire at all.

A CESI Debt Solutions survey found that 56% of U.S. retirees still had outstanding debts when they retired.

The University of Michigan found that people 55 years of age, or older, now account for 20% of all bankruptcies in the United States.  In 2001, they accounted for only 12% of all bankruptcies.

Between 1991 and 2007 the number of people between the ages of 65 and 74, that filed for bankruptcy rose by 178%!!!

The American Journal of Medicine reports that medical bills are a major factor in more than 60% of personal bankruptcies in the United States.  Approximately 75% percent of the people who file bankruptcy due to medical bills have health insurance!

More than 30% of all U.S. investors, currently in their sixties, have more than 80% of their 401k retirement plans invested in the volatile stock markets.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Social Security system paid out more in benefits than it received in payroll taxes in 2010. That was not supposed to happen until at least 2016.

The University of Chicago, and Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management,  calculated the combined pension liability for all 50 U.S. states. They found that  all 50 states are collectively facing $5.17 trillion in pension obligations, but they have only $1.94 trillion set aside in state pension funds. That means, collectively, the state governments are short $3.2 trillion.

The U.S. government now says Medicare will run out of money five years sooner than they were projecting just last year.


International

Christian Mennonites used animal drugs to gang rape their own women

“Women are not seen as equal to men in these colonies, and this will continue to lead to ever more social problems.”-Abe Warkentin, Die Mennonitische Post

In Bolivia, nine Mennonite men are on trial for using animal sedatives to knock out and then gang rape women, and girls, in their own community.

130 Mennonite females, between the ages of eight to 60, have come forward to help prosecute the men.

The Mennonite men would go out at night, looking for open windows, then spray a powerful animal sedative into the house.  When everyone was knocked out they would enter the house and rape any females in the house.

One pregnant woman went into premature labor because of the rape.  Abraham Martens Froese, the husband of the pregnant woman said: “We will listen to what our wives tell us now.”

The Mennonite community in Bolivia is referred to as an “Old Colony” community, meaning it’s part of a fundamentalist Mennonite sect.  The nine men have pleaded not guilty, but have also waved their right to testify at their own trial.

U.S.

U.S. Christian pastor accused of raping three women

A pastor in Dorchester County, South Carolina, has been charged with kidnapping and raping three women at gunpoint, two of them behind his Baptist church.  He’s also charged with kidnapping a fourth woman.

The judge considered him so dangerous that he denied bond.  The county sheriff said serial rape cases are rare in their county.  It’s alleged that the pastor would drive around late at night, picking up women, then raping them at gun point.