Already, oil trading in Europe has seen oil prices jump $2.00 per barrel since Friday.
It is due to the attacks on Libya.
In a CNNMoney survey 16 out 23 leading economists say rising oil prices are the number one threat to any economic recovery.
Interestingly The Federal Reserve showed little concern over rising oil/fuel prices during its March 15 meeting.
Swedish fashion chain Hennes and Mauritz AB says it had to closed nine of its 10 stores in Tokyo, Japan.
Employees were concerned about the nuclear crisis, and left. H&M operates more than 2,200 stores in 38 countries.
The 9.0 quake that struck Japan could very easily cost more than $100 billion in damages. Don’t expect that insurance policy to cover it.
Insurance companies might cover as little as $12 billion of losses.
Eqecat, a catastrophe-modeling firm, estimated that the quake may trigger only $12 billion to $25 billion of insured losses.
And the government of the United States wants a health care system totally controlled by the insurance industry?
As a result of the ongoing disaster in Japan, General Motors suspended all nonessential spending and global travel, a GM spokesman announced.
In addition, GM will suspend production in Spain, and cancel two shifts in Germany.
Even a small supplier of products that are fed to a bigger supplier that feeds the automaker’s assembly plants can delay or halt vehicle production.
Think of the “always a bigger fish” example, but in reverse. If there are no little fish to eat, what can the bigger fish do?
Hours after the first shock waves hit, several of the largest crime groups in the Japanese mafia, opened their offices to those stranded in Tokyo, and shipped food, water, and blankets to the devastated areas.
The Inagawa-kai (the third largest organized crime group) sent twenty-five trucks filled with diapers, ramen, batteries, flashlights and drinks to the Tohoku region.
The Sumiyoshi-kai (the second-largest crime group) offered refuge to members of the foreign community, which is unheard of amongst the right-wing yakuza.
The Yamaguchi-gumi (largest crime group) opened its offices across the country to the public, and is very quietly sending truckloads of supplies.
Honda is suspending May orders from U.S. Honda dealers.
Typically, dealers order cars six weeks in advance. Honda hopes to resume partial production in Japan by Wednesday, but doesn’t know when production will return to full capacity due to the developing nuclear disaster.
This will affect the availability of the Fit, CR-Z, Civic Hybrid, Insight, Acura TSX, Acura RL and a small number of CR-Vs.
NHK has been reporting that banks around Japan are limiting ATM withdrawals.
Many Japanese are angry because they are having a hard time getting access to their money, in order to buy necessities.
Banks say their clients can still walk in, during limited hours, to make larger withdrawals. The banks are blaming the disaster situation, including power outages, for the reason for limiting access to ATMs.
Just one more reason to keep your money under the mattress.
A Fidelity Investments survey shows that 4 out of 10 rich people, with an average wealth of $3.5 million, say it’s not enough. Maybe they’re right. Most of those surveyed are thinking about being able to retire. They say $7.5 million in assets is required to retire comfortably.
Is this proof of how bad our economy is?
If the rich are saying you need at least $7.5 million to retire, then the rest of us are truly in trouble. In fact why bother continuing to play the rat race game? Why bother with the keeping up with the Joneses game? Why bother throwing a good portion of your income at a 401k retirement plan? It’s clear that the overwhelming majority of U.S. citizens, even those pumping money into retirement schemes, are never going to hit the magic $7.5 million mark that 42% of rich people say is needed just to retire.
I’m not even Middle Class. My income has steadily been going down since January 2000. Now, my before tax deductions income is less than $20,000 per year. I know people worse off than that.
Is this proof of how bad our economy is? If it is, the rest of us are f**ked!
Fidelity Investments surveys a thousand of some of its richest clients, to find out how they feel about their wealth. The survey involves clients with an average of $3.5 million in investment assets.
For 2010, 42% said they do not feel rich. In 2009 it was 46% that did not feel rich. That’s about 4 out of 10 rich people who think they are still poor.
How much would they need to feel rich? According to the survey, $7.5 million.
Fidelity Investments also said 55% of the wealth in the United States is held by only 5% of the people. This backs up what the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) said in one of their recently released surveys.
Sounds like some of the rich are suffering from some kind of personality, or obsessive compulsive, disorder. Perhaps some kind of factitious disorder. But what about the rest of us? After all we’re letting them run our economy, and in effect our lives.
A philanthropy newspaper reports that international non-profit donations to help Japan, one week after the 9.0 quake, total $87 million.
Compared to the number of donations, within the same time period, to Haiti and survivors of Hurricane Katrina, it is piddly.
Haiti received $275 million in donations to non-profits one week after their big quake. Areas hit by Hurricane Katrina saw $522 million one week after that disaster.
This could be due to the bad economic situation, but I have seen plenty of comments on the web, many made by people in the United States, that show that a lot of people think Japan “deserves” this situation. Xenophobia continues to build.