Category Archives: Business/Economics

Business/Economics, International

As oil prices go down, Canadian oil production hit by disaster after disaster

“The wildfire situation in Alberta remains extreme.”-Ed Stelmach, Premier of Alberta

The wildfires in Alberta, Canada, are not only destroying homes, and even towns, but oil fields as well.  The fires are adding to already damaged oil production in Canada.

This year, most oil producers in Canada are dealing with clean ups of major oil spills (ignored by main stream media) and explosions of sand oil fields (also ignored by main stream media).  On top of that, and the fires in Alberta, some oil fields are under water because of flooding in Manitoba.

Oil producer Penn West says their oil production is down by 40,000 barrels per day, and that’s before the fires shut down their operation in Alberta.

The Rainbow pipeline (run by Plains All American Pipeline LP) in Alberta, is closed because of a massive oil spill earlier this year, but clean up of the spill is halted because of the wildfires.  How long will the wildfires go once they hit the oil?

Reuters reported that at least half a dozen Canadian pipelines developed leaks this year.  This is either a case of shoddy maintenance by Canadian companies, or sabotage.

The result of the explosions, pipeline spills, flooding and now fires, is causing several Canadian refiners to shut down.  Operators of the Pelican Lake plant say they will have to shut down if they don’t get oil soon.  The Marten Mountain plant is already shut down.

 

Business/Economics, International

President Ahmadinejad shuts down Iranian Oil Ministry, just follwing Iranian law

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed the Oil Ministry, and says he will run Iran’s Oil Ministry himself: “The Iranian government and Parliament (Majlis) have consensus on the Oil Ministry merger…I am the caretaker for the Oil Ministry.”

Iran’s Five Year Development Plan requires the merger of several Ministries, to make the government more efficient.  Those mergers are Roads and Transportation with Housing and Urban Development, Energy with Oil, Industries and Mines with Commerce, and Welfare and Social Security with Labor and Social Affairs.

Despite the fact that the mergers are required by law, under the five year plan, Ahmadinejad is being criticized by those ministers who’ve lost their jobs.

Some Parliament members say Ahmadinejad was supposed to get their approval before merging the ministries.  Ahmadinejad says the Parliament did approve the Oil Ministry merger.

 

 

Business/Economics, U.S.

Real reason jobs are lacking: Corporate America is broke, lying about profits

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that the number of U.S. citizens living in poverty increased to 43 million, in 2009 (the most recent survey data).

If corporations keep reporting profits, why aren’t they hiring more people?   Paul Sheldon Foote says corporate America is still “cooking their books”, the recovery is false: “…how is it possible for example for American banks to report increases in income and have their stocks go up when all they’re doing is releasing reserve accounts on their balance sheet.”

Also: “If in fact you are playing games with the accounts creating reserve accounts and releasing reserve accounts and playing other accounting tricks you are publishing false financial statements. This is what has been happening.”

Foote is an Accounting Professor at California State University in Fullerton.

 

Business/Economics, International

Japanese car makers lose Billions since March 11

Japanese vehicle makers announced they’ve lost billions since the March 11 disasters.

Toyota was the biggest loser at $1.3 billion. Honda lost $900 million and Nissan almost $500 million.

The biggest problem for the Japanese car makers is the loss of production, due to lack of parts.  The lack of parts is due to the “just in time” supply model that most of Japan’s industries rely on.  This model means that the big producers do not make their own parts, and they don’t keep a lot of spare parts on hand.  Instead they rely on smaller producers to supply those parts.  Also, the smaller producers can not keep a stockpile of parts on hand, because they can’t afford to.

The March 11 disasters resulted in 60% of Japan’s nuclear plants going off line. Japan’s industries are almost totally reliant on electricity from the nuclear power plants.  The result was factories all over Japan shut down.

Japanese car makers didn’t even try to forecast their performance for the next year, because the lack of electrical power will continue, at least ’till the end of the year.

Business/Economics, U.S.

Wall Street deliberately “Crashes the System” to control the government

“Anytime Obama tries to put forward a policy to reform the system, or to do something for increasing wages, Wall Street crashes the sytem.”-Max Kaiser, former stock broker

Ever wonder why the stock markets suddenly drop, for no apparent reason, or for very weak reasons?  Max Kaiser, a former stock broker, says it’s a sign that the United States is being manipulated by corporate America.

The reason that Wall Street wants to control the government, and the Federal Reserve, is to keep interest rates near zero, so corporations, and big speculators, can keep borrowing on the cheap.

“The cost for borrowing for hedge funds and players on Wall Street is actually negative 2% when you factor in all the subsidies, and give aways that the Obama administration has given the banking industry.”-Max Kaiser

If Kaiser is correct, then it means that corporate America is making money just by borrowing money.

 

 

 

Business/Economics, U.S.

Week of Action, Californians protesting bad jobs and budget cuts

“We are in the middle of a recession. We need to get out of the recession by moving forward with good jobs, not poverty jobs.”-Mike Chavez, Labor Expert

California has one of the highest unemployment rates in the U.S.; 12.3% as of March 2011.  In Los Angeles County it’s 12.6%.

State workers are facing benefits cuts up to 30%.  This week Californians are protesting the bad economy, and the state and local budget cuts, in a Week of Action.

“This is the 21st century, we need to go forward, not backward.”-protester

Business/Economics, International

Latin America gets huge economic boost from China

“I feel a very important wave coming…actually no, I fell we are on the wave right now.”-Rodrigo Contreras, Mexico’s Trade Commissioner in Shanghai

Trade between China and Latin America shot up in 2010, by 51%.  China’s trade with Latin America is growing twice as fast as U.S. trade.

Not only has trade grown, but China has reduced its trade deficit with Latin America as well.  Most of the trade has been in raw materials/natural resources.  Officials want to move towards trading other products in the future.

Business/Economics, International, Technology

Argentina bans Smokeless cigarettes, U.S. FDA will treat them as real cigarettes

Argentina has banned smokeless cigarettes (aka electronic cigarettes), because there is no proof they help people stop smoking real cigarettes.

Electronic cigarette makers say their product is not dangerous, but Argentina says some of the aerosols used in the cigarette actually contain nicotine.

In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration lost a court battle to regulate the e-cigarettes as “drug delivery devices”.  Now the FDA says it will regulate the e-cigarettes as if they were real cigarettes.

Some U.S. states have banned smoking the e-cigarettes indoors, because they can contain nicotine.

It seems the makers of the electric cigarette don’t understand the problem with real cigarettes; they contain nicotine and are addictive.  So how can they claim you can quite smoking if their product contains nicotine?