Category Archives: Business/Economics

Business/Economics, U.S.

Occupy America! 07:00 hours, November 17, Wall Street will be attacked by thousands of protestors

“Enough of this economy that exploits and divides us. It’s time we put an end to Wall Street’s reign of terror and begin building an economy that works for all.”-occupywallst.org

At 07:00 hours, New York time, on November 17 the OWS movement claims they will launch a human wave attack on Wall Street.

Organizers say events will take place in Europe as well, it’s being called “International Day of Action”.

Despite some U.S. media reports calling an end to the OWS movement, after a weekend of brutal police crack downs across the country, it’s clear the OWS movement is alive and well.

New York City officials say they’re ready: “Our plan is to be prepared. Our goal is to ensure this city continues to run.”-Cas Holloway, Deputy Mayor  

 

Business/Economics, U.S.

Occupy America! New study shows U.S. Middle Class shrinking fast, the 99 percenters are right!

A Stanford University study has researchers shocked at how fast the middle class is disappearing in the United States: “We already kind of knew that segregation by income had been going up from 1970 to 2000, though I was struck by the magnitude of that increase. One of the striking findings in the report is that in 90% of metropolitan areas, income segregation went up in the 2000s.”- Sean Reardon, Professor

The number of families living in middle income neighborhoods dropped to 44% in 2007, down from 65% in 1970.  The study looked at 2007 U.S. Census Bureau data covering 117 metropolitan areas.

The Stanford study also found what many economists, the IRS, and the Occupy Wall Streeters have been saying; fewer people are getting most of the money: “Given that in 2008 the top 10% of earners controlled approximately 48% of all income in the United States, the increasing isolation of the affluent from the low and moderate income families means that a significant portion of society’s resources are concentrated in a smaller and smaller portion of neighborhoods.”

Analysts say that it’s a good bet that Census Bureau data from 2008 to present would should an even bigger decline in the middle class.

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Corporate Incompetence: Olympus now under investigation by the British, FBI also invloved. Olympus officials beg banks for more money

Scandal with Japan’s Olympus only gets deeper.  Now the United Kingdom’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) confirmed they are investigating.

The SFO, located in a building known as Elm House, says they’re getting help from a former Olympus CEO, Michael Woodford.  He’s already turned over corporate documents he kept after he was fired from Olympus last month.  The SFO also confirmed that the U.S. FBI is involved.

This comes as Olympus held an emergency meeting with 40 banks, to  essentially beg them for more money.

According to NHK, Olympus officials swear they’re actually going to make money this year, however overall sales are slightly down from last year.  Olympus stated they will release their accounting books by the government ordered date of December 14.  They will also reveal who’s responsible for the huge losses from securities investments, as well as buyouts of other companies.

NHK gave no indication of how the bank officials reacted to the emergency meeting with Olympus.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery: WalMart profits down, again, don’t blame the U.S. consumer, blame inflation

WalMart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, saw its 3rd quarter profits fall below what they expected.  They blame price cutting in an effort to boost overall sales.

WalMart says that compared to the same time last year (3rd quarter, ending October 31), their net income was down 2.9%.  The lower prices did increase overall sales, by 8.2%, but WalMart had cut their prices below what it was actually costing them, which explains the drop in net income.

WalMart officials claim they will continue to keep prices low, despite their suppliers raising their prices (inflation).  They also admit they expect their 4th quarter net revenues to be down as a result, Merry X-mas!

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

End of Lawsuit may re-invigorate Idaho’s Micron, gets big boost from George Soros, rumors of insider trading

Finally, after more than a year (the last 8 weeks in deliberations), a California jury has decided in Micron’s favor, ending the possibility of Micron having to pay $11.9 billion in restitution.

A California company was suing Idaho’s Micron, along with a South Korean company, claiming they worked together (colluded) to fix computer chip prices, and to interfere with the California company’s ties with Intel.

Since 2009 Micron has fallen from being Idaho’s top employer, after laying off thousands of employees. If they had lost the lawsuit it would have been their death blow.

Even before the verdict the value of Micron stock started going up (possibly due to George Soros).  Bloomberg News reported that Micron stocks are making “unusual moves” upward.

A big reason Micron stock is going up is that billionaire investor, George Soros, recently bought up 484.5 million senior convertible Micron Technology securities, valued at $$477.6 million!  Maybe a positive turnaround for Idaho’s Micron is finally in the works?

Here’s the problem: George Soros started buying up Micron stock days before the California jury made their decision.  This is now starting rumors of insider trading.  But it’ll be tough to prove, after all, how could anyone know what a jury is going to decide, right?  Oh well, it’s happened before.

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

Government Incompetence: Idaho County violates Federal Law, Federal Judge orders the County to violate Idaho Law in order to pay off fine

In 2010, Boise County was found guilty of violating the Federal Fair Housing law.  They must now pay $5.4 million in fines, with 5.5% yearly interest.

Boise County tried to file for bankruptcy, but a Federal bankruptcy judge found the county can afford the bill.

Now, the Federal district court has ordered Boise County to violate the Idaho law on property tax limits, in order to raise the money to pay the Federal fine.

The Federal court wants Boise County officials to charge at least 3% over the state property tax cap.  Under state law a 2/3rds majority vote must OK such a move.

Idaho State Tax Commission officials are handling this like a hot potato, saying they don’t have the time to review the case, but they are working on a public press release to explain their position.

Boise County is required to make two payments per year, and have already made the first payment of $1.2 million.

 

Business/Economics, Fukushima

Global Economic War: Japanese industry moving to China

Since the 11 March 2011 disasters, Japanese industries moving to China has increased 65%.  That’s according to the Chinese Commerce Ministry.

There are two big factors why Japanese industries are moving to a mortal enemy’s territory: Money and Electrical Power.

Since the March disasters, including the ongoing Fukushima Daiichi meltdown, about half of Japan’s nuclear power plants are shut down.  The problem is that Japan built it’s current industries around nuclear power.  There just isn’t enough alternative electricity sources to power Japan’s factories.

Also since March, the Japanese yen has been going up in value.  This makes it more expensive to build things in Japan; Japan has no significant resources so it must import everything.

Japanese media are finally getting concerned about the growing unemployment there, mainly because so many factories have shut down and moved out of the country.

I wounder how this will affect the plans to create a TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership), especially since one of its goals is to block out China.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Global Economic Class War: Proof the banks are taking over Europe; the new Prime Ministers were not elected! New governments will not be elected either!

Who elected the new Italian Prime Minister, Mario Monti?  Not the people of Italy, but one man, the Italian President Giorgio Napolitano.

Here’s the thing, in Italy the position of President is not one of much power.  The Prime Minister is the top dog.  It’s like John Boehner appointing Barack Obama’s successor (some people would like that).

Italy’s new national government will not be elected either, it will be hand picked by the new hand picked Mario Monti.   Italian officials are using the excuse that Italy can’t wait for elections.

The same can be said about the new Greek Prime Minister, Lucas Papademos.  He was hand picked, not elected.

Some opponents of Papademos said he’s planning on delaying the scheduled Greek national elections, that are supposed to be held on February 19, 2012.  When Papademos was asked about such a rumor, he simply said that as far as he was concerned, no specific time frame had been set for national elections!

According to the opposition Greek Socialist Party, Lucas Papademos asked for a promise of no political interference in his plans for Greece, and he got it.

This sure looks like the big banks have taken control of Italy and Greece: Both Monti and Papademos have a long history working in the banking/finance industry. Both have gone to university in the U.S., or taught in U.S. universities.  Both men are members of the European chapter of the Rockefeller founded Trilateral Commission!

 

 

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

Corporate Incompetence: Singapore sells off Olympus stocks, dumb U.S. investors holding on

The Government of Singapore Investment Corporation announced that it has disposed of almost all of its investments in Olympus.

Singapore held 2% of Olympus stocks.  They are the first major stock holder to announce they were dumping their shares in Olympus.  U.S. Olympus stockholders seem to be waiting for Olympus officials to provide an explanation as to where all their money went.

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

U.S. increases embassy staffing in Brazil & China. Officially it’s to help foreign students come to the U.S. Unofficially it’s to bring in cheaper labor to the U.S., and help U.S. citizens leave the U.S.

“Idaho’s the last state that should say we don’t want to do business with Asia. Asia’s where the money is.”-Brad Little, Lieutenant Governor of Idaho

Recently the U.S. Department of State announced they were increasing staffing in China and Brazil.

Most U.S. and Chinese media reports suggested this was due to the increasing number of foreign students wanting to go to school in the United States.  The Chinese media even said it was a money making scheme for U.S. colleges: “A number of state governments in the U.S. are tightening their grip on education spending, which means smaller subsidies for public colleges to pay teachers and fund research. International students on average pay far more for tuition expenses than U.S. residents.”-ChinaDaily

According to U.S. Department of Commerce (yes it’s a “department”, not an “agency” as Rick Perry said), it’s also about the money Chinese tourists bring to the U.S.  In 2010 those visitors contributed more than $5 billion to the U.S. economy.

What about Brazil? In 2008 there were reports that Brazilians working in the U.S. wanted to go back to Brazil.  Now the U.S. State Department claims they can’t keep up with demands from Brazilians wanting to come to the U.S.

In September a report showed that the U.S. government has been wooing new Brazilian companies to move to the U.S.

EverWrite and DeskMetrics were two companies mentioned.  Young Brazilian entrepreneurs say it’s much too hard to start a new company in their home country, so they move to the United States (that’s funny ’cause just this past week Idaho business leaders told our U.S. Congress that it’s too hard to maintain a business in the United States).

Chinese businesses are being wooed here as well.  This brings me to one of two points; that increasing U.S. Embassy staffing in China and Brazil is really about bringing foreign workers into the U.S.  You see, many of those Chinese and Brazilian companies are bringing their own employees.

In fact, here in Idaho our state leaders have made a deal with the Chinese.  They will have their own 10,000 to 30,000 acre industrial and housing zone south of the Boise Airport, with their own Chinese employees, and even some level of national sovereignty.

“I think China’s coming over here shows they are willing to collaborate on the re-invigoration of the American industrial base.”-Jeff Don, Idaho representative for the Chinese company, called Sinomach

Here in southeast Idaho the Chinese have already moved in.

Sinomach is China’s third-largest contractor, and pressured Southeast Idaho Energy for a contract to build SIE’s $2 billion goal gasification fertilizer plant in Power County.  In May, 2011, SIE closed its American Falls, Idaho, office claiming they were trying to reduce operating expenses.

A polysilicon factory is just about to start up in Pocatello.  It’s run by Hoku International, which is now a subsidiary of a Chinese company.  The few local employees hired went to China to learn about their job duties.  So far no more word on anymore local hires, which makes you wonder if the main Hoku labor force will be coming from China?

Officials in Boise, Idaho, admit they’re working with more Asian corporations: “We’re getting calls from investors from all across Asia who are interested in Idaho.”-Cece Gassner, assistant to the mayor of Boise, for economic development.

The other point (regarding increased U.S. Embassy staffing) is that U.S. citizens are flocking to China and Brazil.

Japanese, and even PBS, media reports show that many U.S. citizens aren’t waiting until they’ve been hired to move to China; there’s a growing number of U.S. citizens who’ve moved to China, and are still looking for employment.  In fact many U.S. job seekers in China, are finding that they’re competing not only against Chinese job seekers, but their fellow U.S. citizens.

In Brazil, the current population, according to the World Bank, is more than 194 million people. That’s an increase of almost 3 million since 2008!  Most of those people moved to Brazil, many from the United States.