Category Archives: Business/Economics

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Kraft moving chocolate production to Brazil?

The U.S. doesn’t need to lose anymore jobs, but Kraft just announced they will build a new plant in Brazil.

“Brazil is one of 10 priority developing markets where we’re making big bets. Today, we’re among the fastest growing consumer goods companies in markets like Brazil, India and China. We’re excited to build on what’s working by making our biggest investment in Brazil in more than 10 years!”-Sanjay Khosla, Kraft Foods

Kraft will build an $80 million chocolate factory in Pernambuco, Brazil.  They hope to have it up and running by 2012.

Business/Economics, International

Germany to pump more money into Mexico

Despite the bloody Drugs War, German companies are about to invest more money into Mexico.

German President Christian Wulff wants to increase business relations with Mexico.  Already there are 1,200 German operations in Mexico, employing 130,000 people.  Wulff also implied that Germany will help the Mexican government in their Drugs War.

Germany has historically been interested in relations with Mexico, this could be a sign of the declining influence of the United States.

Business/Economics, International

WalMart business down in U.S., but booming down south of the border

“Our expansion plan will continue to support the socioeconomic development of the Brazilian population. The focus in formats aimed at the emerging middle class will be even stronger in 2011.”-Marcos Samaha, president of WalMart Brazil

Recently WalMart officials expressed their concerns for the poor U.S. retail market.  They blame inflation and lack of jobs.  But, WalMart is spending big money in Brazil, ’cause the economy is boomin’ there.

Brazil is one of the money making members of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China & South Africa).

WalMart is going to open 80 new stores in Brazil, and spend R$ 1.2 billion in the next year (R$ = Real, the Brazilian money).   In the past five years, WalMart has already invested R$ 6 billion, constructing 177 stores and creating 25,000 jobs in Brazil.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

At least 90% of Americans did NOT watch royal wedding on TV

Many media outlets are claiming that Americans loved the royal wedding because millions watched it.  This is a clear case of the main stream media manipulating data to mislead.  Yes millions did watch, but not anywhere near the majority of the people in the U.S., in fact it was a small minority.

Television ratings company, Nielsen, said only 23 million people (Nielsen used the term “viewers”, not to be confused with “households”) in the United States watched the royal wedding on TV.   That’s only 7.4% of the population, the official U.S. population is about 310 million. To put it another way; at least 90% did NOT watch.

In fact when you look at “viewer” ratings for television in the U.S., you’ll realize that, when compared to the total population of the country, not that many people actually watch TV.

 

Business/Economics, U.S.

Exxon Mobil lies about paying taxes, includes taxes YOU pay

“We are one of the largest taxpayers in the United States.”- Alan Jeffers, Exxon Mobil spokesman

Exxon announced they paid $3.1 billion in taxes in the United States, but that’s more than the $2.6 billion in profit they made.  How can they pay more in taxes than what they make?  They lie.  Exxon includes the taxes paid at the pump by YOU, and the taxes paid by their own employees.

The Exxon announcement came after criticism about how little taxes they actually pay.  So to pump up their claim of paying taxes they included the taxes that consumers pay when they fill up their vehicles at Exxon/Mobil gas stations.  Does the oil industry think people are that dumb?

On top of that Exxon Mobil used their own employee’s payroll taxes!

So Exxon claims to be one of the largest taxpayers in the country, but Bob McIntyre, at Citizens for Tax Justice, points out “They are counting taxes they don’t pay. Payroll taxes are on the workers, sales taxes are on the consumers.”

Business/Economics, Opinion, U.S.

Occupy America: Why are Diesel fuel prices so high? Diesel commodity futures trading less than Gas, even with low sulfur refining

Read my November 20, and November 5, 2011, postings about current diesel prices.  It’s bad news, it explains why prices are only going up, and how fracking of natural gas is really for fuel production.

May 3, Diesel fuel prices are higher than gas, at the pump.

In Idaho, as of May 3, most gas stations are selling Diesel for about $4.15 per gallon.  The highest is $4.50 near Mountain Home.  That’s way higher than gas.  Most gas stations are selling gasoline around $3.65 per gallon, with the highest at $4.00 near Hailey, Idaho.

Yet Diesel futures are selling for less than gas futures on the commodities market.   As of May 2, gas futures, for June delivery, were at $3.34 per gallon.  Compare that to Diesel NY at $3.29, and Diesel Gulf at $3.31 per gallon.

So why is Diesel so much higher at the pump?

Many websites say it’s because Diesel must be refined to low sulfur standards.  That doesn’t explain the higher price at the pump!  The commodity prices paid are for already refined Diesel, so the claim that low sulfur refining is the cause doesn’t work.

Some people say it’s because Diesel is actually in higher demand than gasoline, due to industry (like trucking & airlines, “jet” fuel is actually a form of Diesel/Kerosene) and the military (possibly the biggest user of Diesel, thank the War on Terror).  That might be, but normally the commodity price reflects anticipated demand.

Some journalists have asked oil executives about fuel costs, but oil executives can only talk about the price of refined fuels sold on the commodities market, not at the pump.

What about taxes?  It turns out that taxes for Diesel are more than taxes for gasoline.  In Idaho the average (January 2011) pump tax (combined state/federal) for Diesel is 49.4 cents per gallon.  For gas, in Idaho, it’s 43.4 cents.  That’s only a 6 cents per gallon difference, so that doesn’t explain the 50 cent per gallon difference in the pump price of Diesel vs gasoline ($4.15 for Diesel minus $3.65 for gas).

By the way, California has the highest tax rates in the country for Diesel at 76 cents per gallon, and gas at 66.1 cents.  That’s because California has higher local and state taxes on top of the federal taxes.

So, the only conclusion I can come up with is that Diesel fuel prices, at the pump, are higher than gasoline due to higher taxes for Diesel, and maybe  higher demand for Diesel (again that’s usually what drives commodity prices, before it gets to the pump).  Maybe gas stations are trying to make up for their extremely slim profit margins on gas prices by jacking up the more stable Diesel prices?



Business/Economics, U.S.

U.S. Gas prices will be about $4.50 average by end of May

The price of May reformulated unleaded blendstock gasoline futures prices hit $3.37 per gallon, on April 29.  That means the average price of gas at the pump could be $4.50 by the end of May.

For some parts of the country, like California, prices could hit $5.50 or more, per gallon.  For a little explainer on gasoline futures see my post “Think gas is high now…”

Business/Economics, International

German economy doing well at the expense of German people

“We don’t even have minimum wage!”-German protester

“Fair wages, decent work and social security is the minimum that workers in this country expect, need and have to fight for again and again.”-Michael Sommer, head of Confederation of German Trade Unions

Germany is one of the few European countries that has a good economy.  It turns out Germany’s good economy is coming at the expense of German workers.

Germans have been protesting, because they are not benefiting from the so called good economy, and now they will be competing against eastern European migrant workers.

For the first time since the creation of the European Union, Germany and Austria will open their borders to eastern European migrant workers.  This has German workers upset, especially since they’ve seen a decline in wages while German corporations enjoy increased profits.

At least 8,000 workers protested in Berlin alone.  According to the Confederation of German Trade Unions, approximately 423,000 people demonstrated across Germany on May Day.

 

Business/Economics, International

Sign of the times: Fast Five showing in Russia before United States

Fast five had a midnight opening, April 29, in the United States.  But, the Vin Diesel, U.S. franchise success, opened in Russia first.

In fact Vin Diesel told Russian media, on opening night in Moscow, that he “…wanna shoot a movie in Moscow so badly…”, adding that “…when you see Fast Five, you’ll hear Mia and Brian talk about Russia a lot.”

Fast Five opened in more than 10 countries, in the week prior to opening in the U.S., and has become the top money maker in most of those countries.

So what’s the sign of the times? The big money for “Hollywood” movies is not to be found here in the U.S. anymore, no thanks to the bad economy.