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, Idaho

What Economic Recovery: Idaho unemployment edged up, still at 9.4%, almost no new jobs created in June

Even though Idaho’s unemployment rate is still 9.4% (for several months now) it actually edged up by 500 newly unemployed, for the month of June.

To make matters worse, the Idaho Department of Labor says most of the 15,000 people who found jobs in June, are filling existing positions.  In other words almost no new jobs were created.

Sadly the 15,000 who found work is the highest number since October 2010, yet still far below the average hirings before the 2007/8 credit crisis.

Idaho officials also said that 1,800 unemployed people stopped looking for work in June.

Business/Economics, Opinion, U.S.

Idiot! CNN commentator says $14 billion loss for U.S. taxpayers is a good thing

Some idiot at CNN called the huge billion dollar car maker bailout loss for U.S. taxpayers “Excellent!”.

He justifies his statement by saying it’s better than the originally projected loss of $40 billion.  What this idiot doesn’t seem to realize is that most taxpayers were against the bailouts, because they knew they would lose.

In total, between Chrysler and GM, the U.S. taxpayers lost $14 billion dollars in the auto maker bailout joke.  But this guy at CNN thinks it’s great, calling it “…a mere $14 billion”.

The idiot goes on to claim that the U.S. government (taxpayers) would have lost huge tax revenues if Chrysler and GM went out of business.  Hello, most of their sales are now outside the U.S., which means they’re not paying U.S. taxes on those sales.

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Government Incompetence: Canadian taxpayers lose $810 million to Chrysler, Unions say it could threaten factories

Just like the U.S. government, the Canadian government has sold its shares of Chrysler stock to Fiat, at a loss.

Canada bailed out Chrysler’s operations in Canada, and it cost the Canadian taxpayers $810 million.

Canadian autoworkers union officials say their government should have held on to the stock a little longer, as a way of making sure Chrysler/Fiat doesn’t shut down the Canadian operations: “We’ve advocated all along for the Ontario and Canadian governments to retain those shares as leverage, to retain investment in Canada, but that decision wasn’t made and now we have to trust that Chrysler and Fiat will recognize the incredible contributions Canadian workers, and Canadian plants, have made in the turnaround of this company.”-Ken Lewenza, union rep

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

No Economic Recovery for U.S.: China offers U.S. college students free education

“We hope the scholarships will encourage American students to delve into China studies and other subjects in China in earnest.”-Zhang Jin, education exchange program

China’s Ministry of Education is ready to offer full university scholarships to  students from the United States.  The program actually started last year, and was officially announced in April of this year.

China has a plan to attract 500,000 foreign students to its universities by 2020.  The plan also supports U.S. President Obama’s desire to send 100,000 U.S. students to China (so much for Obama’s support of U.S. higher education).

If you want to check out the full scholarship go to www.studyinchina.edu.cn , click on “english” to get the English version of the site.

 

 

International, Technology, U.S.

No Economic Recovery for U.S.: Desperate for sales, Lockheed pushes Japan to buy controversal F-35 jet

Steve O’Bryan, vice president for F-35 business development at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, was in Japan, trying to push them to buy the controversial jet.

The main reason the F-35 is so controversial is that it’s taken far longer to develop, and it has cost U.S. taxpayers far more than originally estimated.

O’Bryan is hoping Japan will buy the F-35 to replace it’s aging F-4 Phantom 2 jets.  Japan is one of the last countries still using the F-4.  Also, some of Japan’s newer F-2 jets (a bigger version of the F-16) were destroyed by the March 11 tsunami.

Japan also uses the F-15 Eagle.  In 2009 U.S. officials tried to convince Japan to buy the F-22 Raptor, but that deal fell through.

Lockheed Martin is selling the F-35 on the grounds that Japan needs to meet the growing threat from China’s latest aircraft designs.  The problem is that Japan is already developing a stealth fighter of its own.

Lieutenant General Hideyuki Yoshioka says Japan’s prototype stealth fighter is expected to make its first test flight in 2014, about the same time that Lockheed Martin thinks it will be ready to finally mass produce the F-35.  So much for the U.S. trying to sell the F-35 to Japan.

 

Fukushima

Corporate Incompetence: Major grocery store chain admits to selling cesium contaminated beef

Grocery chain operator Ito-Yokado says it sold over 2,600 kilograms (5,732 pounds) of beef contaminated with cesium.  The beef was sold at 94 outlets in Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, as well as on the northern island of Hokkaido, between April and July.

Ito-Yokado is not the only store that has admitted to selling the contaminated beef.  Two other grocery/department store operators, Seiyu and Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings, have admitted to selling the meat.

Consumers are being asked to bring the meat back, but many analysts think that too much time has gone by and that most of the beef has been eaten.

Fukushima

Government Incompetence: Cesium contaminated beef served to children at elementary schools

Japan’s Education Minister Yoshiaki Takaki is demanding action after it was discovered that three elementary schools served children beef contaminated with cesium.  The schools are located in Chiba, east of Tokyo.

Takaki has ordered local schools to check the source of the food they serve.

Fukushima

Government Incompetence: Professor demands that Japanese government check for cesium even hundreds of miles from Fukushima Daiichi!

22 July 2011, the Japanese government is only conducting radiation checks in the Fukushima area, but one professor says they need to check the whole of Japan.  Especially after it’s become clear that cows and cattle feed are contaminated with extremely high levels of cesium.

Niigata University Professor Nonaka Masanori, says radiation levels were never checked in farmland, especially those areas that produce rice straw for cattle feed.

Nonaka says the cesium is spread by snow and rain, which is being absorbed into the soil and taken up by plants.  The government needs to check for contamination no matter how far away from Fukushima Daiichi.

 

Fukushima

Corporate Incompetence: Electric power to damaged Fukushima Daiichi has been cut!

22 July 2011, Tokyo Electric Power Company says external power, needed to support efforts to control the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuke plant, has been cut.

There was a sudden surge of electricity which tripped a breaker controlling power to reactors 3 and 4.  They are now using back up generators, and they are trying to find out why external electric power failed.