Category Archives: Business/Economics

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Pale Green Horse & Red Horse: Greed for Oil and Cattle Rustling shuts down international health care services for people of South Sudan. U.S. involved

Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other.

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.

Since the United States lifted its economic embargo on South Sudan in July 2011, the young country has been spiraling out of control.

Recently South Sudan officials accused Sudan of stealing its oil.  In the latest case they say Sudan stole 650,000 barrels of oil, which was loaded onto a Sudan ship.  Sudan replied by saying South Sudan failed to pay import duties on the oil.  Currently South Sudan must ship its oil through Sudan to ports on the Red Sea.

To make matters worse, South Sudan is in a civil war.  More than seven groups claim that the pro-U.S. government of South Sudan has no intention of living up to its democratic promises (typical of pro-U.S. governments).

But the fighting has gotten so bad that it has international health care providers, and innocent people of South Sudan, running for their lives: “Thousands of people in Lekongole and Pibor fled in the last week and are now hiding in the bush, frightened for their lives. They fled in haste and have no food or water, some of them doubtless with wounds. Now they are hiding on their own, beyond the reach of humanitarian assistance.”-Parthesarathy Rajendran, Medecins Sans Frontieres (French for Doctors Without Borders)

On January 13, the UN World Health Organization announced that fighting in the northern state of Jonglei had destroyed all international health facilities in that area.  So far more than 200 international health care workers have been airlifted out.

In one report, the fighting in the state of Jonglei is being blamed on two rival tribes, who accuse each other of cattle rustling.

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

White Horse & World War 3: China may be moving away from Iran. Making deals with pro-U.S. Saudi Arabia, Qatar & UAE. Cuts oil imports from 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.

The Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao, is visiting several Arab Peninsula countries, signing major oil deals with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and United Arab Emirates.  

Saudi Arabia is already China’s biggest supplier of oil.  The new deals include building a 400,000 barrel per day refinery just for China, and Chinese companies expanding the infrastructure of the Arabian Peninsula countries.

This comes after China announced it would cut oil imports from Iran, blaming contractual issues (not pressure from the U.S.).

However, Premier Wen said China and Saudi Arabia needed to deepen their cooperation “…in the face of changeable and complicated regional and international trends.”

Business/Economics, Technology, U.S.

Pale Green Horse: Crime no longer number one killer of Americans; Heart Disease, Cancer, Diabetes and other illnesses beat out murderers. So much for America’s great capitalist health care system!

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.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released their list of top disease/illness killers, and when compared to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) crime report, health issues now kill more people than criminals.

The FBI says murder has dropped to 16th place in their list of crimes in 2010.  That made health issues the number one killer in the U.S.

The top killers are heart disease, cancer, chronic lower respiratory illnesses, cerebrovascular diseases, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, kidney disease, influenza, pneumonia & pneumonitis, septicemia, Parkinson’s and suicide.

 

 

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

Economic Recovery? 100% inflation: January 14 last day to get your Powerball Lottery ticket for only $1

Saturday, January 14, will be the last day you can get a Powerball Lottery ticket for  $1.00.  To “celebrate” the lottery’s 20th anniversary the price of one “play” will now cost $2.00.

Lottery officials claim the 100% increase in the price of a lottery ticket is worth it because they’ve increased the size of most jackpot winnings.  For example the new starting jackpot amount will double from $20 million to $40 million.

They also claim it will be easier to win.  They’re reducing the number of red Powerball numbers used.  Instead of 39 red numbers, there will be 35.  But since I’ve played the lottery for at least two decades, and never won anymore than $10.00, the 100% increase in the price of one play is enough to make me stop playing.

 

 

Business/Economics, U.S.

Corporate & Government incompetence: USPS paid FedEx $1.4 billion in 2010! Or did they?

Cash strapped U.S. Postal Service paid FedEx (called Federal Express until 1994) $1.4 billion in 2010, to send USPS packages!

It’s ironic because not only is FedEx a contractor with the USPS (one of the biggest), it’s also a rival of the USPS.

One consulting group, SJ Consulting, suggested the USPS stop sending so many airfreight packages through FedEx.  But here’s the thing, before anyone gets upset with the Postal Service, didn’t we postal customers actually pay for the cost of shipping those packages on FedEx?

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Pale Green Horse & What Economic Recovery? USDA to close 259 offices, how safe will your food be now?

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.

On January 9, 2012, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced they will have to close 259 offices across the country.  Budget concerns overrule food safety concerns.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is trying to cut $150 million from the USDA budget. The closures will affect 46 states, and includes seven foreign offices.

“They wiped out the entire Midwest.”-Andrew Lorenz, deputy district manager for the Food Safety and Inspection Service in Minneapolis

Lorenz says the office closings in his area have effectively shut down federal food inspection in Minnesota, Montana, the Dakotas and Wyoming!

Lorenz also said this could only mean USDA employees losing their jobs (on top of the 7,000 who were forced to take early retirement last year).

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack expressed concern: “Our workload is at record highs, we have less money and fewer people and work to do and we tried to address how do you do that without interrupting service.”

However, USDA undersecretary for food safety, Elisabeth Hagen, contradicted her own boss’s statement: “There will be no reduction in inspection presence at slaughter and processing facilities and no risk for consumers. Not only do we have a statutory obligation to be in every facility, we have an unwavering commitment to food safety. We will still be on the job, in every facility, every day.”

Now how do you do that with thousands less employees?

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

World War 3: Finland allows Patriot missiles to sail to South Korea

After an investigation, Finnish officials decided to let a British registered ship sail to South Korea, with it’s cargo of 69 Patriot missiles.

On December 21, Finnish port authorities discovered improperly packed, and labeled, Patriot missiles and explosive acid on the ship M/S Thor Liberty.   The explosives were exposed to the elements, and the missiles were labeled “fireworks”.

It turns out the German government had sold some of its Patriot missiles to South Korea.  The Germans demanded the Finns let the cargo go.

The two top officers of the ship were charged with safety violations.  The cargo was repacked safely and the ship was allowed to sail with its crew (the Finns originally wanted to hold and try the crew in court, but something changed their minds).

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Media Incompetence or Complicity? Olympus not first Japanese company to lose billions, and then try to hide it. It happened before, in the 1990s, but the reporter who was about to blow the whistle was literally sent out of the country.

“If we had published the story, the result for Yamaichi shareholders and people connected with the company might have been very different.”– Shigeo Abe, investigative journalist

Right now the Olympus scandal is still making headlines in Japan.  Partly because many people find it hard to believe that a company could lose so much money on “investments” then try to cover it up with more bogus investments and company take overs.  Yet something similar happened in the mid 1990s, but then it was deliberately hushed up by the Japanese media!

In 1994 journalist Shigeo Abe, and a few other reporters, did some investigating and discovered that one of Japan’s biggest securities firms, Yamaichi, had hidden millions in losses by creating fake companies.  The deception started in 1992.

Shigeo Abe’s bosses at his newspaper didn’t jump for joy at the thought of having such a scandalous story, instead they ordered him to leave the country! (shimanagashi, the feudal practice of sending political troublemakers away)

“The Yamaichi president had called the Nikkei president and pressured him to not run it. He said: ‘If we go bankrupt it will cause chaos in the economy.’ And that was that.”– Shigeo Abe, investigative journalist

He was gone for three years.  It was at the end of that three years that Yamaichi Securities finally went bankrupt, despite the story not being published (there’s a lesson for you who believe in the “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” philosophy). Japanese taxpayers got stuck with a debt bill equal to several million U.S. dollars (not to mention the huge losses for stockholders).

Shigeo Abe says what is going on with Olympus is similar. He said the Japanese media knew Olympus was in trouble at least one year before it was reported (guess who reported it first?).  He says nothing in the mainstream media is reported without official consent from the government or corporations: “There are no real scoops in Japanese newspapers. They are almost always authorized leaks.”

As a former TV news producer (six years), I can say the same applies to the mainstream U.S. media.

What happened to Shigeo Abe? He decided that the mainstream media is totally ineffective so he create an independent magazine called FACTA (not to be confused with the so called Fair and Accurate Credit Reporting Act). It was his 100% subscriber supported magazine that revealed the Olympus scandal!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Business/Economics, International

Black Horse: March 11, 2011 Japan disasters destroy more than 500 companies, car sales lowest in 3 decades, record unemployment

Private credit firm Teikoku Databank says Japan’s March 11 disasters forced 510 companies to fail by December 31, 2011.  All together the companies had more than $9 billion in debt.

The construction sector had the most bankruptcies.  But even though contracts for repairing disaster hit areas are finally increasing, the struggling economy is causing a decline in construction in other parts of Japan, basically canceling out the effect of increased construction contracts in disaster areas.

For the Japanese automotive sector, sales of Japanese cars are at the lowest point in 34 years!  It’s all because of the quakes and tsunamis, and the ongoing nuclear disaster, directly affecting parts production for Japan’s car makers (add to that the recent flooding in Thailand which is having the same effect).

The result is that many of Japan’s major companies are moving production to other countries like China.  Of course that means unemployment is skyrocketing.

In August the Japanese Labor Ministry reported a record 38 year high in unemployment percentage. In November the official number of unemployed Japanese hit 2.88 million!

…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!”

Business/Economics, U.S.

Black Horse & Government Crime: Officials for Governor Scott Walker steal $21,000 from war veterans, enticing children

I looked, and 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!”

Tim Russell, former aide to Wisconsin Christian Elitist Governor Scott Walker, was arrested for embezzlement, after a secret investigation.

Also arrested, Brian Pierick and Kevin Kavanaugh, both have ties to Scott Walker.

Brian Pierick, an aid to Russell, was charged with enticing a child!  Kevin Kavanaugh, Walker’s appointee to the Milwaukee County Veterans Service Commission, was charged with theft and fraud.

Tim Russell served as Walker’s deputy chief of staff and housing director of Milwaukee County’s department of health and human services.  He’s accused of stealing at least $21,000 meant to go to Iraq and Afghan war veterans.  The complaint says he spent the money on vacations!

In the past year Wisconsin Christian Elitist Scott Walker has ended collective bargaining rights for government workers, among other things.  He’s facing a recall, and raised more than $5 million to fight the recall, but at least half of that money came from outside Wisconsin.