Citigroup is admitting that a May hack cost cardholders millions of dollars.
On May tenth 3,400 accounts had at least $2.7 million stolen from them. The total number of accounts that were hacked is more than 360,000.
Citi officials claim they notified customers quickly, yet those notices weren’t sent out until June 3. So far 200,000 credit cards have been replaced by Citi.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are officially bankrupt. The team franchise tried to get a new television deal that could have kept it out of bankruptcy, but Major League Baseball blocked that deal.
This comes after a bitter court battle between the two owners. Frank McCourt was left as the owner, but he believes the blocked TV deal is an effort to force him to sell the LA Dodgers. McCourt vowed he wouldn’t do that, he thinks the bankruptcy will buy him time to get things turned around.
It was hoped the TV deal would bring the Dodgers $3 billion. Yes, they need $3 billion to stay alive. I think this is a sure sign that sports is way overvalued, you might says it’s a another economic bubble about to burst.
Last week the Pentagon presented Congress with a plan to provide African countries with up to $145 million in military aid. The aid, in money and equipment, is for so called counter terrorism operations.
The $145 million, to be split between several African countries, doesn’t compare to what just one country got last year. Yemen, on the Arabian Peninsula, got $155 million in aid last year, paid for by taxpayers. And this year the Pentagon wants give Yemen $200 million!
Out of the $145 million in military aid going to African countries, only $600,000 is for ‘human rights training’.
On Saturday, June 25, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision announced that all major international banks, and central banks (like the U.S. Federal Reserve) are going to increase their capital reserves.
This means they are going to hold onto more money and issue less loans. Some banks refer to capital reserves as putting their money to ‘rest’ (aka bank reserves, desired reserves).
The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision refused to give a list of which banks will be holding back on their money. This is an indication that the major international, and central banks do not expect any short term improvement in the world economies.
The increase in capital reserves is to help banks handle monetary emergencies, like traditional “runs on banks”. Just how long does the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision think the economy will suck? The new tighter control on money will be implemented in phases, becoming fully in effect in 2018. Mmmm, it’s 2011 now, uh oh!
Idaho based Micron is reporting a drop in demand for computer chips. One semiconductor analyst calls it “anemic”.
Micron reports sales are down, even though profits are up 4%, from the previous quarter. How did they make a profit? Officially Micron calls it ‘reduction in manufacturing costs’. That means workers got laid off, in fact since 2008 more than 2000 Micron employees lost their jobs.
When you compare net revenues, year to year, Micron still lost money.
All indicators are that global demand for oil is going down, despite the oil “experts” continuing to say it’s going up. The fact that oil and gas prices are going down is proof of the decrease in demand. One study says oil should be at $70.00, based on actual consumer demand.
Yet President Barack Obama, and 27 other members of the International Energy Agency, are ordering the release of their respective strategic oil reserves.
The official reason the Obama administration gives, is to ease the supply problems with oil from Libya. First off, the U.S. is a minor user of oil from Libya, secondly the U.S. is partly to blame for the oil supply problems in Libya!
The U.S. uses about 1% of oil produced in Libya, according to a USA Today report. The U.S. has been supporting rebels who destroyed Chinese run oil fields in Libya, according to the Chinese government.
As I’m writing this U.S. crude oil prices are at $91.00 per barrel. Why release U.S. oil reserves now, and not back when it was more than $100.00 per barrel?
Here something interesting; the U.S. Department of Energy reports that the strategic oil reserves are at record highs, 727 million barrels to be exact. Why would that be? Because demand is down?
The IEA (not to be confused with the United Nations IAEA) is made up of 28 oil consuming countries, including the United States. The decision of the IEA to release 60 million barrels of oil reserves, is to benefit the countries that get most of their oil from Libya, ie Europe. One report showed that almost all of Italy’s oil comes from Libya.
In other words, Obama’s decision to release U.S. strategic oil reserves is for the benefit of the Europeans, not the United States!
It is also totally because of the U.S. supported European war on Libya, the aggressors (U.S. and Europe) brought it upon themselves.
Idaho media reporting an increase in “personal income”. The problem is that “personal income”, as reported by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, includes things the average person does not consider “personal income”.
What government officials consider “personal income” includes unemployment benefits, business investments, business profits, farm profits, construction profits and government payments, besides individual wages.
The report for the first quarter of 2011 shows an increase. But that’s due mainly to business profits, investment returns and farm profits. When you look at wages for workers, it went down.
Also, income from construction in Idaho also fell, for the 3rd straight quarter.
If your wondering how businesses keep showing a profit, it’s because they’ve been laying workers off, or not hiring when they should!
A few days ago U.S. Federal Reserve boss Ben Bernanke said one of the factors in deciding the economy was worse then they thought, was continuing financing problems (credit crisis). Swedish car maker SAAB, just announced they are the latest victims of the credit crisis.
SAAB can not get short term loans, which is what it uses to pay its employees. Not only is this a bad sign of the economy, but a reminder that “Western” corporations run on debt, not revenues.
This inability to pay its employees comes after SAAB closed one of its factories in Trollhatten, due to lack of parts (thank Japan’s failed “just in time” supply system).
SAAB is trying to get loans from Chinese companies, they’re waiting for government approval.
“We’re trying desperately to hold to these farms and we are paying our share. And if we haven’t been paying our share, it’s because assessors haven’t been doing their job.”-Grant Olson, wheat farmer
In a surprise announcement, Bannock County officials said they messed up and failed to properly assess farmland. They will now hit farmers with a property tax bill that’s at least 90% higher than last year!
Grant Olsen, a farmer in Robin, Idaho, says his tax bill has gone up year after year. Olsen is highly suspicious of the county’s reasons: “They say the reassessment hasn’t been done for 10 years, and now they have to obey the law. Why haven’t they been obeying the law?”
As a resident in Bannock County I can say that property taxes have gone up yearly, even with the decline in residential property prices. When I’ve complained to the assessor they’ve blamed increased fees due to the passage of school levees. That’s part of the problem, but the specific “property” tax has gone up as well.
County officials told the public that they would provide a better explanation of why they have to increase farmland property tax so much. Bannock County has a reputation for having higher than average property taxes.
Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Luna says No Child Left Behind (aka Adequate Yearly Progress, AYP) is actually stopping states from improving student’s academic performance: “The law has become a stumbling block to continued improvement in raising student achievement.”
The main reason that AYP is a stumbling block is that states are required to pay for efforts to comply with higher standards set by the Federal program. Luna officially told the U.S. Department of Education that Idaho will not comply with AYP standards, until it is revised to help states do so. Idaho, among many other states, does not have the funding to meet AYP standards: “We don’t have the luxury of time and resources to continue on with the federal law that should have been rewritten four years ago.”
The problem is that Idaho’s education system is already lagging behind most of the United States, in performance and funding. So even if AYP is revised it’s highly unlikely that Idaho can comply.