Category Archives: Business/Economics

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

What Economic Recovery? Hoku continues downward spiral. Pocatello plant mothballed! Micron dead! Emmett fails! Idaho State government conspiracy?

Famous last words: “Sustainable, renewable energy is going to play a big role in Idaho’s future.”-Butch Otter, current Governor of Idaho, 2011 statement

Reality check: “New projects are non-existent. There’s no support for renewables in this state.”-Peter Richardson, Boise attorney

As of 21 August 2012, Hoku Corporation stock was worth only 9 cents per share!

According to a recent Associated Press (AP) report, all of the promises of support for renewable energy related companies in Idaho, were false.

Pocatello’s Hoku Materials polysilicon factory for solar power panels is now officially mothballed. Boise’s Micron Technology’s energy venture is dead, and Emmett’s biomass power project failed.

Large scale wind power in Idaho is also being targeted.

The AP says the reasons range from federal tax breaks ending for the alternative energy industry, to economic war between China and the United States, to the fact that electricity rates in Idaho are already the second lowest in the country.

But what happened to all those promises of support from the State?  The bottom line is that the government of Idaho does not want to throw money at new alternative energy companies, state officials are all talk, no walk (but they love to take the credit for companies moving to Idaho, Butch Otter did with Hoku in his 2007 State of the State speech).  After all, Idaho’s main source of electricity already comes from decades old renewable and reliable hydroelectric dams (maybe that’s what Governor Otter was referring to in his 2011 statement).

Another thing, state lawmakers have not required local utility companies to buy into these new energy companies, as have the states of Oregon and Washington.  In fact many of these new companies were required to buy their electricity from Idaho Power, Rocky Mountain Power and Avista!

“LIQUIDATE HOKU MATERIALS”

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

What Economic Recovery? Hewlett Packard to report record loss, gives half a million dollars worth of stuff to Idaho university!

“…HP carries so much weight in the area, when they do something, when HP sneezes, you know, there is a ripple effect.”-Matt Rissell, Idaho Technology Council’s Software Alliance, interview with Boise State Public Radio

22 August 2012, Hewlett Packard (HP) is expected to report a record quarterly loss of almost $9 billion USD.  It’s the largest loss for HP ever!

HP is already in the process of laying off 27,000 employees.  People in Idaho are worried because HP has a huge campus in Boise, and any layoffs there will definitely hit other Boise area businesses: “For every hundred workers you lose, you’re going to lose at least another fifty.”-Don Holley, economics professor Boise State University

But despite all this doom and gloom, HP is actually benefiting Boise State University, in fact it’s benefiting another chip/computer maker, Idaho’s own Micron.

On 21 August 2012, it was announced that Hewlett Packard donated half a million U.S. dollars worth of equipment to the new Micron Business and Economics Building, located on the Boise State campus.

“We are working with Boise State to provide key technology that will enhance the student experience and help build future business and community leaders.”-Von Hansen, HP Boise

Notice Hansen didn’t say anything about employment, the focus is on “business and community leaders”.  Most leaders actually have a poor history of new job creation.

 

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

LIBOR: Japan orders investigation

17 August 2012, the Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA) ordered an investigation into TIBOR, or Tokyo Inter-Bank Offered Rate.

It’s a system similar to Britain’s LIBOR, and tries to regulate interest and currency rates.

18 financial institutions in Japan have been ordered to reveal their TIBOR operations. Specifically the FSA is looking for evidence that bank employees unfairly manipulated rates.  FSA is concerned about the credibility of the TIBOR system.

The Japanese Bankers Association gave an immediate response to the order, saying their were no TIBOR irregularities, despite the European and U.S. investigations into TIBOR.

Business/Economics, International, Technology

Nuclear Disaster Reactors: Damage to Belgian reactor impossible to repair?

16 August 2012, after an emergency meeting was held, officials decided it was likely that the Doel nuclear plant in Belgium will be shut down permanently.

But this means dozens of other nuclear reactors throughout western Europe could be shut down as well.  The whole thing started in 2004 when France inspected two reactors and found perpendicular micro-cracks in the containment vessels.

The perpendicular cracks were not from age, but had been there from day one. It was a design flaw!

Belgium decided to check their reactors, since they were the same design, and found even more micro-cracks. The boss of Belgium’s Federal Agency of Nuclear Control told the emergency meeting that they found “something else”; thousands of parallel cracks as well as the perpendicular cracks.

The defects are so numerous that Belgium officials say it is unlikely they can be repaired.  Belgium will shut down two reactors, and continue investigations. A final report will be presented in October.

Business/Economics, International, Technology

Nuclear Disaster Reactors: Belgium shuts down nuke plant; cracked containment vessel, emergency international meeting!

14 August 2012, the Federal Agency for Nuclear Control is shutting down Reactor 3 at the Doel nuclear power plant in Belgium.

Workers discovered cracks, and other ‘anomalies’, in the containment vessel.  The reactor was built by a company that went bankrupt 40 years ago. Dozens of nuclear plants across western Europe use the same design.

Belgian officials have called for an emergency meeting, with international experts, to be held on 16 August.  Belgium gets 50% of its electricity from nuclear power.

Business/Economics, U.S.

Corporate Evil: 90% of Too Big to Fail banks’ lawsuits falsify credit card debt!

The following are quotes from U.S. state judges, attorneys and federal government officials regarding the Too Big to Fails’ lawsuits against debtors:

“I would say that roughly 90% of the credit card lawsuits are flawed and can’t prove the person owes the debt.”-Noach Dear, civil court judge Brooklyn, New York

“Our concerns center on the fact that debt collection lawsuits are a pure volume business. The documentation is very bare bones.”-Tom Pahl, Federal Trade Commission

“I do suspect flaws, but there is little I can do.”-Harry Walsh, superior court judge Ventura, California

“This is robo-signing redux.”-Peter Holland, Consumer Protection Clinic at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law

The quotes came from a New York Times article

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Government Incompetence: U.S. Navy collides with Japanese oil tanker in Persian Gulf

12 August 2012, on the same day that Japan announced it was sending minesweepers to join the U.S. Navy in the Persian Gulf, a USN destroyer collides with a Japanese oil tanker.

It happened in the middle of the night, near the Hormuz Strait.  The USS Porter is badly damaged and must be repaired.  No injuries were reported. The USN is investigating why the crew of the USS Porter did not see the huge Japanese oil tanker.

There has been no word about damage to the tanker.

Japan had recently allowed the government backing of insurance for Japanese tankers carrying Iranian oil, as a way to get around U.S./European sanctions.  Japan also discussed with Iran the possibility of using Iranian insurance companies.

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Top 5 U.S. banks ordered to make living wills, two years ago! 9 Too Big to Fails now have living wills!

10 August 2012, Reuters published an exclusive report revealing that U.S. banks were ordered to make “living wills”, because of an expected economic collapse!

The order came from the privately run Federal Reserve Bank, and the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.  The 2010 order was targeted at five U.S. national banks: Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs.

Both the Federal Reserve and the U.S. government indicated that there was no way to save the banking industry in a full blown economic collapse: “…make no assumption of extraordinary support from the public sector…”

The Reuters’ report explained that living wills for corporations are not the same as bailouts/recovery plans.  In the living will the too big to fail bank is basically finished, but directs how any remaining assets shall be liquidated (sold off) in order to prevent a total collapse of the banking/finance system.

Already, nine international banks have submitted their living wills to the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

 

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

Chubbuck, Idaho, wind storm leaves fires, downed trees and shuts down businesses with a power outage

“It was all wrapped up in one big thing!”-Robert Survick, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Pocatello Airport

10 August 2012, the small city of Chubbuck, Idaho, was hit with an afternoon wind storm that left a lot of damage.

Click on the pics.

Another result of the storm was a wildfire that burned from Chubbuck Road to Interstate 15.  Idaho State Police report that at least two motor vehicle accidents were caused by the smoke from the fire.

The sudden downburst dropped temperatures by 24 degrees Fahrenheit in only a few minutes.

Business/Economics, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? 290 U.S. cities downgraded! Local tax revenues down, again!

“We expect downgrades to continue outpacing upgrades in the second half of 2012 as local governments navigate an increasingly difficult budgeting environment characterized by anemic revenue growth and significant expenditure pressure on wages and post employment benefits.”-Moody’s statement

09 August 2012, Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the largest number of U.S. cities/school districts since 2000.

The latest downgrades mark 14 straight quarters in which municipal bond downgrades exceeded increases!

In another report by Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government, tax revenues collected by local governments are down, for the sixth consecutive quarter!

The latest reports and downgrades only adds ammo to the “tip of the iceberg” bankruptcies filed by local governments.