Category Archives: Business/Economics

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Idaho’s Coldwater Creek creeps further down the drain, drop in end of year Holiday sales

Coldwater Creek executives admitted that their fourth quarter loses will be more than first thought.  At their third quarter reporting, back in November, 2011, they expected loses to continue into their fourth quarter.

Coldwater Creek has had at least five straight quarters of loses.

CEO Dennis Pence said same store sales between November and the end of December were down 9%, compared to the same time the previous year.  To show you how bad things are for the clothing retailer, Pence said the 9% drop in sales was actually an improvement!

Fourth quarter results for Coldwater Creek will be reported in March, 2012.

In the corporate world there is no standardized quarterly system, each company keeps its own quarterly reporting calender, so some companies’ quarters begin and end in the middle of a calendar year (and they don’t match up to the Federal government’s fiscal quarters either).

 

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

Black Horse & What Economic Recovery? Texas Instruments shutting down decades old factories, thousands to lose jobs, despite $298 million profit at the end of 2011!

…there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a day’s wages, and three quarts of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!”

Long time electronics manufacturer, Texas Instruments, will close two factories, one in Japan, the other in Texas.

Both factories are more than 30 years old, and Ti says it will be too costly to upgrade them, so instead they’ll shut ’em down and lay off thousands of employees in Japan and the U.S.

Ti also blames a drop in sales, and a 68% drop in profits. However, even with that 68% drop in profits, Ti still reported a $298 million profit from October to December 2011!

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

World War 3 & Government Hypocricy: BP to be exempt from Iran oil embargo, proof the U.S. is controled by the British Empire

There are reports that say British Petroleum (BP) is to be exempted from the U.S. and EU oil embargoes.  It was part of the deal to get the European Union to impose sanctions against Iran.

BP was born out of the old British controlled Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. Despite the decades of sanctions against Iran (since the early 1980s) BP has still managed to do business with Iran.

BP, and a Norwegian company (Statoil), are currently running a natural gas operation in the Caspian Sea in co-operation with Iran, called Shah Deniz.  But back in the United Kingdom, sanctions forced BP to shut down a North Sea gas operation, because it was 50% owned by Iran!

British officials do not want anymore halts to BP operations, so they lobbied hard with the United States to get BP exempt from any European/U.S. oil embargo.

 

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

White Horse & World War 3: European Union approves oil embargo on Iran, Libya part of plan to go after Iran

I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.

EU ambassadors have agreed upon an oil embargo against Iran, it must now be approved by EU foreign ministers.  The sanctions would ban the buying of Iranian petroleum products, and would halt all imports to EU members by July 1, 2012.

This follows new U.S. sanctions imposed at the beginning of January, 2012.  Taken together, the U.S. and EU oil embargoes could halt 2.6 million barrels of oil, driving oil prices up and adding to the overall instability of the world economy.

You’d think the Europeans would not want to do anything to stop Iranian oil, after all most of Iran’s oil goes to Europe.  But maybe that’s why the EU (with help from the U.S.) took over Libya’s oil in the fake revolution supported by NATO.  Now they can go after Iran without too much worry about oil supply.

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

Pale Green Horse & Government Incompetence: Idaho inspectors tip off schools before “surprise” food safety inspections. Do you know what your kids are being fed? Idaho health districts not on the same page when it comes to inspections.

I looked and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him.  They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

Lincoln Elementary School, in Twin Falls, Idaho, has several complaints about food safety violations, however, state health officials actually tipped off school officials before their so called “unannounced” inspection.  As a result, no violations were found.

Current Idaho regulations state that food inspections must be “unannounced”, yet health inspectors for Idaho’s South Central Public Health District violated their own rules, warning Lincoln Elementary officials of the inspection, saying it was common “courtesy”: “We want to maintain a good partnership with the schools.”-Melody Bowyer, South Central Public Health District

That’s your taxpayer dollars at work!  The whole idea of surprise inspections is to catch the food service off guard, to see how they really operate on a day to day bases. It’s even more important when you get several complaints from the taxpaying public!

But Idahoans should be concerned even more, because even with the “courtesy” warnings of inspections dozens of schools have failed inspections (according to a Times-News report)!

Another problem is school officials. Take Wendell School District, they hired a new food service director a month ago, but when asked by local media she revealed that she was not aware that the school had food safety violations in the recent past.  She’s not concerned because: “Schools have to hold themselves to a higher standard. In my experience, that’s what I’ve seen and that’s what we’re going to do in Wendell.”-Michelle Shady

Parents don’t know who they can trust: “Knowing the schools are clean is important, it would be foolish to say otherwise, but I don’t know who to contact to make sure. I guess it’s one of those things you don’t talk about until a problem comes up.”-Jerry Evers, children attend Wendell High School

If you live in Idaho you can go here to find your Public Health District.  There are links to each of the seven districts in Idaho.  However, I found it hard to find the so called public food inspection reports alluded to in a Times-News article.  In fact there is no standardized presentation of each of the seven health districts’ websites.

The Times-News (covering South Central Idaho, District 5) article said food inspections are to be unannounced, yet, on the Central Idaho (District 4) website they said only one unannounced inspection per year was required.

It’s the Central Idaho District 4 website that is the most helpful, as they do make access to their food inspections easy.  You click on “Environmental Health”, then click on “Food”, then click on “Inspections”.  You then get to a page that has links to recent District 4 inspection results.  However, this is not possible on most of the other districts’ websites!!!

Southwest Idaho’s District 3 asks you to conduct a search by name or city, in order to find out inspection results.

Idaho’s Panhandle District 1 has a Quick Link titled “Restaurant Inspections” on the Environmental Health page, requiring a search by name or city.

For Districts 2 (North Central), 5 (South Central, so I wonder where the Times-News got their info), 6 (Southeastern) & 7 (Eastern) there were no links to local public food inspection reports under the “Environmental Health/Food” section.

Business/Economics, U.S.

Pale Green Horse & Medical Incompetence: FDA says blood from American Red Cross still not safe to use

I looked and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him.  They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

Yet again, the American Red Cross (ARC) has been fined by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for continued violations of blood safety rules.

“Since the FDA and American Red Cross’s 2003 agreement, the Red Cross has been previously fined $37 million, but the substandard performance of critical Red Cross blood handling functions continues.”-Sidney Wolfe, Public Citizen’s Health Research Group

In an official letter made public on January 13, the ARC was fined $9.59 million for failure to correct violations.  This is not the first time, the ARC has been cited at least 14 times, and fined at least $37 million since 2003!

The ARC insists that the country’s blood supply is “safer today than ever before”, yet implied a confrontational attitude towards the FDA: “We don’t discuss our relationship with the FDA.”-Stephanie Millian, Red Cross spokeswoman

Problems listed include improper training of ARC volunteers in handling blood, and lack of staffing due to consolidation (downsizing?) of facilities in Philadelphia and North Carolina.

 

 

Business/Economics, International

What Global Warming? It’s Summer in South America, yet 2,500 Alpacas die due to extreme cold

When it’s winter time in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s summer time in the Southern Hemisphere, yet it’s so cold that animals are freezing to death in one South American country.

In the Cusco region of Peru, officials are reporting that at least 2,500 baby Alpacas froze to death.  That’s based on the areas that Civil Defense authorities could get to, most roads are blocked because of heavy snow: “There are 700 families who are dedicated breeders in the area, but we can not get to them because of the snow….we might discover even more deaths.”-Jose Suyco Quispe, Civil Defense Technical Secretary of Espinar province

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

Corporate Incompetence & What Economic Recovery? Hoku Materials begs for money from China, to pay its overdue Idaho Power bill

Pocatello, Idaho’s, polysilcon factory, run by Hoku Materials (which is a subsidiary of Hoku Corporation, which is 60% owned by China’s Tianwei New Energy Holdings Company Limited) continues to have trouble paying its electric bill.

Hoku has paid part of its November Idaho Power bill (still owes interest), but has failed to pay its December bill.  As a result Hoku has turned, once again, to China for financial help.   At least $1.9 million will be wired from the Bank of China.

Idaho Power says it’s tired of the games Hoku is playing, and will end power supply on January 26 if the balance isn’t paid in full.

You know, the utilities have no problem cutting off power to individuals who can’t pay their power bills, so why not when it comes to a corporation that owes millions of dollars?

This might be the final nail in the coffin for Hoku, which is years behind schedule and hasn’t even started polysilicon operations yet (although its Chinese owners jumped the gun and announced such production start up back in December).

CORPORATE INCOMPETENCE:  IDAHO’S HOKU POLYSILICON FACTORY, LOOKS MORE AND MORE LIKE THE DEAL IS OFF!

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

Black Horse & Political Chicanery: Idaho Republicans rip off Idaho taxpayers. One gets paid to sleep on his office couch, the other gets paid to sleep in his parents home!

“…there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a day’s wages, and three quarts of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!”

The Associated Press revealed that at least two Idaho state lawmakers were being paid as much as $122 per diem to sleep in their office, or parent’s home!

Those lawmakers are Republicans John McGee and Curt McKenzie.  McGee has already made the news back in 2011, when he was arrested, and charged with grand theft and drunk driving!

According to the Associated Press, both Idaho state Senators were being paid $122 per day even though they live less than 30 miles from Boise! Gee that’s nice, there are many more Idahoans driving more than that to get to work, and they don’t get paid for it!

It’s not just that they were being paid $122 per day but it was the fact that they were actually staying in Boise; McKenzie took the money even though he slept on his office couch, and McGee claimed the money even though he was staying with his parents.

But don’t think this report by AP will end the scandal, both Idaho Republicans told the Associated Press that they will still claim per diem, but at a smaller rate of $49 per day!

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

White Horse & World War 3: U.S. sanctions on Iran target Chinese company, China pissed

I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.

In the name of sanctioning Iran, the United States has imposed sanctions on a Chinese company, the Zhuhai Zhenrong Corporation.

U.S. State Department claims that Zhuhai Zhenrong is Iran’s largest supplier of refined petroleum products. China is not happy:  “Imposing sanctions on a Chinese company based on a domestic U.S. law is totally unreasonable, and does not conform to the spirit or content of UN Security Council resolutions about the Iran nuclear issue. China expresses its strong dissatisfaction and adamant opposition.”-Liu Weimin, spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry

The U.S. action comes as China is increasing oil deals with Arab Peninsula countries, and reducing oil imports from Iran.