Category Archives: Business/Economics

Business/Economics, Opinion, U.S.

Religious & Corporate Hypocrisy: Mormons, like Mitt Romney, say they hate government bailouts, but Mormon owned bank has yet to payback taxpayers for $1.4 billion TARP bailout!!!

“You cannot serve both God and Money.”– Jesus of Nazareth

“Let Detroit Go Bankrupt”-Mitt Romney opinion piece blasting the auto industry bailout by the federal government, 18 November 2008

You might have heard how, only this year, Mitt Romney took credit for the government bailout of the auto industry, seemingly forgetting about his New York Times editorial from 2008, blasting the bailout.  I wonder what he thinks about a Mormon owned bank, Zions Bank, firstly taking a $1.4 billion USD government loan, and, secondly being the only bank that got more than one billion taxpayer dollars that has failed to pay back the taxpayers?

Zions Bank branch in Pocatello, Idaho.

“…..people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.”-1 Timothy 6:5, New International Version of the Bible

Mormon (aka Latter Day Saints [LDS], but their holy book is called Book of Mormon, not Book of Latter Day Saints) Brigham Young started Zion’s Savings Bank and Trust Company in 1873.  It was owned directly by the LDS church until 1960, when a group of Mormon investors (Keystone Insurance and Investment) bought controlling interest in the bank.  The bank became a full fledged corporation and the name was changed to Zions Bancorporation.

“For the love of money is a root of all evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith….”-1 Timothy 6:10-12, Bible

Since then the Mormon run bank has been taking over other banks (gee kinda similar to what Mitt Romney did with Bain Capital).  It’s still run by family members of the original Mormon investors that took over in 1960.

Principal Subsidiaries: California Bank & Trust; The Commerce Bank of Washington; National Bank of Arizona; Nevada State Bank; Vectra Bank Colorado; Zions First National Bank.

“Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.”-Ecclesiastes 5:10, New International Version of the Bible

In 2008 (in fact it was the same month that Mitt Romney wrote his New York Times editorial) Zions Bankcorp was one of the first in line to apply for, and get, a $1.4 billion TARP (aka Too Big to Fail bank bailout) loan from the federal government, in direct contradiction to what many Mormons think about ‘hand outs’ from the government.  The latest reports say Zions Bankcorp has paid back only half of the taxpayers’ money, and that it is one of only three banks which still owe taxpayers more than half a billion dollars!

But wait, there’s more!

In classic Mitt Romney/Bain Capital tactics (or is it now clear that it’s really Mormon tactics), the banks have been paying back their government loans with more government loans! (Mitt Romney at Bain Capital did not use his own money, but used money from investors and loans to buy up, cut up and sell off U.S. companies that were seen as competitors to his pet corporations, like Staples vs American Pen & Paper, Toys r Us vs KB Toys, and now Kmart vs Sears)

An October 2011 Wall Street Journal report showed that banks were using money meant for small business loans to pay back TARP.  This is one reason why banks cut back on issuing those small business loans to small businesses!

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that banks were also using money from different versions of TARP, to pay back their original Capital Purchase Program (CPP) version of TARP.

Under the CCP the U.S. Department of Treasury bought huge numbers of stocks in the Too Big to Fail banks.  Banks pay back the Treasury when they buy back their stocks, at a much higher price of course.  So far the Treasury (and technically the taxpayers) has been making huge profits off the bank buy backs.  Except for Zions.  The Treasury Department is getting antsy about those banks that have not bought their stocks back.

The GAO also suggested that the banks that have yet to pay off their loans, like Zions, are on the verge of going down the toilet.  The GAO suggested that these banks were on a ‘secret troubled banks list’ used by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the FDIC has denied they keep such a list).

Mitt Romney, and the Mormon owners of Zions Bank are perfect examples of “Do as I say, not as I do.”  Do we really want that kind of person as President of the United States?  Oh wait, it’s too late, we’ve had dozens (and they all claimed to be christians)!

“It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”– Jesus of Nazareth

 

 

Business/Economics, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Record number of U.S. citizens cash out of Too Big to Fail banks!

12 September 2012, in a survey conducted with the U.S. Census Bureau, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC, an unregulated/independent government agency) discovered that by June 2011 nearly 10 million people quit using banks!  24 million have reduced their use of banks!

The survey is called the second National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households. The first survey was done in 2009.

1 in 12 households are no longer using banks.  That’s an increase of 821,00 since 2009.

1 in 5 households have reduced their use of banks. That’s a rate of 20.1%, in 2009 it was 18.2%.

29.3% canceled savings accounts.  10% do not have checking accounts.

People are using alternative financial services (AFS) such as money orders or  check cashing services.

The reasons for cashing out of banks are varied, ranging from being upset at how the banks are being managed to being denied a bank account because of a bad credit/account history.

And he causesth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: and that no man might buy or sell…

Business/Economics, International

What Economic Recovery? Sharp makes deeper cuts than originally planned, blame the Too Big to Fail banks!

11 September 2012, Japan’s Sharp Corporation revealed that the economic situation is worse than they first thought.  They are now cutting wages, salaries and bonuses even more than they first planned.

Sharp will now layoff 5,000 employees by March 2013, the first time since the 1950s!

Workers will get a 5% cut in pay, up from the planned 3% cut.  Managers will get a 10% cut in salaries, on top of the 5% cut back in April!  In June bonuses were cut by 30%, and will be cut again under Sharp’s new plans.

The reason for the new and increased cuts is to hopefully make banks happy, as Sharp needs new huge loans to continue operations!

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

Global Food Crisis & What Economic Recovery? Despite record Ag exports, many East Idaho farmers being done in by drought more than a decade on! New version of Tale of Two Cities

10 September 2012, officially Idaho’s drought began in the Gregorian/Western/Christian calender year of 2000. It’s still on 12 years later!

According to the latest drought data, the Eastern Highlands of Idaho are in “severe drought”, while the Upper Snake River plain is suffering “extreme drought”.  The rest of Idaho is in moderately dry to moderately wet.

Across the United States, the worst drought in at least 50 years is helping to keep commodity speculators bidding high for the food we eat.

Click on pics to make bigger.

Recently a joint report by National Public Radio (NPR) and Idaho media sources, explained how the drought in Idaho is becoming a Tale of Two Cities.

In Idaho you have what’s called dry farming and irrigated farming. Dry farmers don’t have access to year round irrigation, they have to rely on rain.

Despite the 12 year drought, there’s still enough water in rivers and aquifers for the irrigated farms. Keep fingers crossed for more snow this winter!

The dry farmers are losing crops and money, the irrigated farms are growin’ big crops and makin’ big money.

Because of the panicking commodity speculators, crop prices are way up, and even though dry farms are losing out, overall crop production is up in Idaho: “We dumped 325 trucks yesterday which is roughly 175,000 bushels. That’s a lot of wheat.”-John Peake, superintendent General Mills grain elevators in American Falls, Idaho

Peake said the lack of crops from dry farms will have no impact on Idaho crop production, but it sucks to be a dry farmer: “I mean, being a dry land farmer in southeast Idaho is a tough deal. It was a windy year, it was hot early.  It was just a tough year to be a dry land farmer.”

So the moral of this tale is that while overall crop production might be down for the whole of the U.S., having plenty of farms with enough water to weather a drought means that the Idaho agricultural industry, overall, will benefit from the higher commodity prices.  No food shortage in Idaho, so far.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Corporate Crimes & What Economic Recovery? Capitalist shipping companies level the playing field by bid rigging, price fixing, ripping off troops in Afghanistan and even dumping expensive oil into the oceans!

“Our men and women in uniform overseas deserve the highest level of support provided by fair and honest contractors. As the Justice Department’s continuing efforts to fight procurement fraud demonstrate, those who put profits over the welfare of members of our military will pay a hefty price.”-Tony West, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division of the Department of Justice

09 September 2012, justice officials in Japan, European Union and United States revealed that the capitalist system of shipping is corrupt, big time!

In Japan, the Japanese Fair Trade Commission raided the offices of at least one dozen shipping companies on 06 September.  Investigators say the companies formed a cartel to monopolize the shipping industry.

The companies raided were Japanese and foreign.  Nippon Yusen, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Kawasaki Kisen were among the top Japanese companies publicly named.

However, the EU’s European Commission is refusing to name names, but they had raided several European companies in conjunction with the Japanese raid.

In the United States, investigations of shipping companies, by the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) have been ongoing for a long time.

Since January 2012 convictions, and even guilty pleas, have resulted from investigations into shipping companies ripping off U.S. taxpayers regarding the shipment of supplies to U.S. personnel in Afghanistan and Iraq, all the way to dumping petroleum wastes into the oceans.

Those cases include Greece’s Efploia Shipping, Denmark’s Aquarosa Shipping,  Keoje Marine of Korea (south), Denmark’s Maersk Line Limited, Italy’s Giuseppe Bottiglieri Shipping Company,  Singapore’s Target Ship Management, and Greece’s Ilios Shipping Company.

Currently, the DoJ is working with European and Japanese investigators, trying to break up cartels that have been formed by shipping companies.  The shipping cartels are accused of price fixing, bid rigging, illegal market allocations, monopolization, attempts to monopolize, predatory pricing, tying arrangements and price discrimination.

The investigations include ground shipping, as well as by sea.  Products being shipped by these cartels include paper products, telecommunications, soft drinks, highway and airport paving, life sciences, health care, furniture, coalbed methane gas and baked goods.

Business/Economics, Technology, U.S.

Voter Incompetence & Government Evil: Indiana County officials demand city leaders put fluoride in their water! Oregon mayor wants fluoridation! Study contradicts pro-fluoride claims! Arizona residents fire officials who ended fluoridation!

09 September 2012, the controversy over unnatural nuclear industry based fluoride (as opposed to the naturally occurring kind, which can also be bad in large amounts) continues in Arizona, Indiana and Oregon.

A Saint Joseph County Health Officer, in Indiana, is lambasting three cities for their ending of fluoridation of drinking water.

Walkerton town stopped fluoridation because of increased evidence that it is actually causing harm.  President of the town council, Karol Jackson, pointed out that people are already exposed to enough fluoride: “It’s also in toothpaste, and some naturally occurs in the groundwater….”

The cities of Lakeville and North Liberty cited the growing financial burden on local taxpayers.  By ending fluoridation of drinking water the two towns, combined, will save $2,000 per year: “I know it doesn’t sound like a lot, but we’re a small town and we’re trying to keep our rates low.”-Martha Tyler, Lakeville Town Council President

The Saint Joseph County Health Officer is ignorant, firstly because it turns out the local school district/corporation is still adding fluoride to the drinking water in the schools!  Secondly, the health official claims that studies show fluoride protects childrens’ teeth. Tell that to the officials who got surprising results from their own study in Oregon!

In Portland, Oregon, city officials are trying to convince the voters to accept fluoridation of their drinking water.  Portland is the largest city in the United States that, so far, refuses to fluoridate their water supply!

The dumb (and probably in the pockets of the fluoride industry) mayor, along with some city councilpersons, are trying to get residents of Portland to approve the fluoridation of their water.  They’re claiming that the children of Portland suffer from dental problems.

The problem with that claim is that a 2007 study by the Oregon Department of Human Services shows the opposite.  The study looked at dental problems of children in Portland and compared them to children outside of Portland.

The rate of urgent dental care in children outside of Portland was 1 in every 17.  What about inside Portland, where fluoride is not used in the water supply?  Only 1 in 100 needed urgent dental care!!!  “Portland has better teeth!”-Kim Kaminski, member of anti-fluoridation group

Some non-white/European residents of Portland claim the city leaders’ closed door meetings on the issue smacks of racism: “I don’t appreciate you trying to alleviate your white guilt by putting toxins in our water!”-Frances Quaempts-Miller

But despite the mountains of eveidence that fluoridation is bad (remember, it’s mainly the English speaking countries that add the radioactive chemical to water, most other industrialized countries refused after their own research) residents of one Arizona town have fired two officials for stopping the use of fluoride!

The people of Gilbert has force the Public Works director to retire, and got the Water Manager fired.  This after the officials decided to end the use of fluoride in the local water supply.

The end came when the fluoridation system was found to be so corroded that it need to be replaced.  That was in July 2011, and it still hasn’t been replaced.

Get this, the Gilbert fluoridation system had been leaking for three years prior.  It got so bad that a white powder was building up on the equipment, and Public Works employees were complaining of extreme irritation to the skin, nose and eyes.  And this is the stuff you’re drinking!

The guttsy Water Manager explained the decision that got him fired: “It was my call to stop fluoridation until the issues with the room were resolved. Fluoride comes into the plant on the raw side naturally, so it’s not like there is no fluoride in the water.”-Chris Ochs

Don’t blame city officials for the nuclear industry fluoridation of Gilbert’s water supply, the dumb voters approved it by 54%, in the 2000 elections.

 

Business/Economics, International, Technology

Uljin Reactor power line glitch.

Reactor 1 of the Uljin nuclear power plant, in Korea (south), was restarted on 28 August 2012.

Less than a week prior the reactor automatically shut itself down.  After investigating, the Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Company said the emergency shut down was due to a glitch in electrical lines running to the reactor.

It was the second time in August that a Korean nuclear reactor went through emergency shut down.

Korea (south) currently has 23 nuclear reactors in operation, and is building more. They hope to have 39 by the Gregorian/Western/Christian calender year 2030.

 

Business/Economics, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Obama praises auto industry bailout, yet they’re to blame for latest layoffs! By the thousands, young adults quit looking for work!

“…there were 884,000 discouraged workers in August…..Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them.”-Employment Situation Summary, U.S. DoL Bureau of Labor Statistics

“I don’t think they’re more lazy. It’s that there are less opportunities for them. They have it rough.”-Heidi Shierholz, Economic Policy Institute

07 September 2012, the expected 120,000 new jobs never happened (Once again the “experts” got it wrong).  According to the U.S. Department of Labor (DoL), the official number of new jobs was only 96,000!

7,000 government jobs were lost in August, but the amazing thing is that the bailed out, and supposedly recovered, auto industry (Including parts makers) laid off 8,000 people!  That’s according to the DoL’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In fact most of the job losses were in the Manufacturing Sector (A total of 15,000 jobs lost), the very sector that President Obama was touting during his DNC speech the night before the jobs numbers were released.

Another interesting note; the official unemployment numbers fell, ever so slightly, to 8.1% (A 0.2% drop from the month before, big freakin’ whoop! By the way, it depends on which Table your looking at.  Table A-14 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics says the rate is 8.2%, and for July it was 8.6%).  But here’s the significant part; DoL admits the unemployment drop is not because people found work, it’s because tens of thousands of young adults quit looking for a job!

People who do not look for work for 4 weeks are not counted in the unemployment numbers.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Global demand & decreased U.S. production could result in sky high Diesel fuel prices!

“The government does not want to tell the truth in the Parliament. It wants to run away from the coalgate scam [a reference to a political scam involving coal allocations in India] and wants to evade the issue of corruption by raising the fuel price….Once the session is adjourned, government and the oil marketing companies will go for another hike in the price of diesel, petroleum, and other petroleum products and it has become a routine for the Congress….”-Prakash Javadekar, Bharatiya Janata political party in India

In the United States, as of 05 September 2012, the contract price for New York Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD) was at $3.15 USD per gallon for delivery on 12 October 2012.  That can be considered the wholesale price before it gets to the gas station.  You can add another one or two dollars, plus taxes, retail at the pump in October.

The 05 September contract is not as high as the peak in March 2012, that hit $3.30, wholesale.  The 2012 low contract price for ULSD was in June, at $2.70 per gallon, but it’s been rolling back uphill ever since.

Near Lava Hot Springs, Idaho, 07 September 2012.

In India, rising costs of Diesel and Kerosene are being blamed on inflation (usually caused by increased demand) and the increased costs of fuel production.  Most refiners in India are government owned, and they claim production costs have gone up 28%, and they want to pass it on to consumers.  There’s no detailed explanation as to why production costs are up, the most obvious reason is that crude oil prices have gone up (it accounts for 60% of refining costs in the United States).

New Zealanders are complaining, even though their fuel prices have come down since they hit record levels in May (for gasoline) and July (for Diesel).  The problem is New Zealand imports its fuel.

More people, outside the U.S., use Diesel because it is more efficient than gasoline (petrol), thus part of the reason for the increased demand globally.  But in the United States, emission laws, and a bad stigma, has Diesel relegated mainly to the transportation industry, with relatively few personal vehicles running on Diesel.  Just think what would happen if tens of thousands more people in the U.S. started driving clean burning Diesel powered cars that get 50 miles per gallon?

But what about supply and demand here in the United States?

According to a report by Institute for Supply Management Non-Manufacturing Business Survey Committee, August commodity prices, and supply levels, are not consistent with supply and demand.

The report says fuel prices are up, but supply is not down!  It stated that Diesel 1 & 2, and gasoline up in price, yet “….no commodities reported in short supply.”

However, at the end of August 2012, California reported a 15% drop in CARB (California blend) Diesel inventories.  The result was that prices for CARB Diesel commodities traded in San Francisco hit highs not seen since 2007!  But that should affect only California, with their narcissistic environmental policies.

The main reason for the drop in California fuel supplies is blamed on refineries shutting down for maintenance.  However, the Golden Eagle refinery was shut down due to a failed compressor on a hydrodesulfurization unit.  Then there’s the Richmond refinery which has been closed for a month due to a fire.

The U.S. Energy Information Agency (USEIA) is reporting some interesting, and at first glance, conflicting data for the whole country, such as bio-Diesel production is way up.

From January to June 2012, 523 million gallons of bio-Diesel (From vegetation, by the way that’s what Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel intended his original Diesel engine to run on.) were produced.  That’s 158 million more than the same time in 2011.

However, the USEIA shows a drop in petroleum based Diesel fuel (No thanks to Rockefeller and Standard Oil, Rudolph Diesel was sued and lost the right of the use of his name for the peanut oil based fuel for his engine. Rockefeller & Standard Oil created a petroleum based fuel they called Diesel.) for the month of August.  Petroleum based Diesel fuel is now officially called Distillate Fuel Oil.

According to USEIA data released on 06 September 2012, for the week ending 31 August distillate fuel oil (DSO) production was at 4,341,000 bpd (barrels per day).  That’s down 326,000 bpd from the week prior, and down 287,000 bpd from the last week of July.

Also, in the “Product Supplied” category, DSO actually supplied at the end of August was down from the week prior, by 342,000 bpd.  It was down by 525,000 bpd compared to the last week of July.

So production, and product supplied, dropped at the end of August.  So at first we could say prices are up because supply is down.  But wait, there’s more!

While production is down, stock piles are up!  Stocks of DSO jumped from 124,265,000 barrels at the end of July to 127,076,000 barrels at the end of August, an increase of 2,811,000 barrels!

How can stocks go up if production went down?  Imports!

Imported DSO has been going up.  At the end of July imported DSO was at 62,000 bpd.  By the end of August it jumped to 135,000 bpd!

What this means is that despite a glut of oil available for refining into fuels, petroleum Diesel production within the United States is going down (for various reasons, most known only to the oil/refining companies), resulting in an increase reliance on more imported Diesel, and driving fuel speculators to bid higher on future deliveries of domestic Diesel fuels.

Keep your fingers crossed for the new Diesel refinery to be built near Williston, North Dakota!