Category Archives: International

International

Corporate Incompetence: 80% of airline blankets not washed

Next time you fly to China, think twice about using the airline blanket.

An investigation of Chinese airlines discovered that 80% of their non-disposable blankets are not washed.  But don’t blame the airlines, blame the contractor who didn’t clean them, even though they were paid to.

Yingtailong Airline Commodity has contracts to clean blankets from airline companies.  The problem, they finally admit, is that they do not have the facilities to wash the 3,000 blankets they get on a daily bases.

The company has 30 employees, but only three washing machines.  Company officials told employees to wash only those blankets that were noticeably dirty.  As a result about 600 of the 3,000 blankets get washed every day.

International, U.S.

Incompetent Charities: 4 months later only 23% of donations have reached victims of the March 11 disasters

Within Japan, at least $3.7 billion has been raised by charities, like the Japanese Red Cross and Central Community Chest of Japan.  It was all to help the victims of the March 11 earthquake and tsunamis.

A report shows that so far only 23% of that money has actually gone to the victims.

The charities are working with local governments to get the money out, but local officials say the logistics of such an operation, because of the huge number of displaced victims, is making the job difficult.  On top of that, local governments are short on manpower.  Most government workers are involved with clean up, rebuilding, radiation checks and decontamination.

Here’s an idea:  Why not take some of the victims, who’re complaining of not having anything to do because their homes and jobs have been destroyed, and create a disaster relief crew that helps the charities distribute the donations?

The $3.7 billion does not include all the money Japan got from other countries.

 

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Chinese industries continue to cut back on imports, blames lack of demand

“The slowdown in import growth will last two to three months or even longer due to both falling demand and possible commodity price drops.”-Li Wei, Standard Chartered Shanghai

While China’s industry activity looks great, compared to other countries, the fact is that it’s slowing down.  The latest import numbers are the lowest ‘increase’ since November 2009.  This means that Chinese industries are buying less materials from other countries.

Imports are at 19.3%, compared to the previous year.  But export numbers are down as well.

China’s June export numbers are 17.9%, compared to May’s 19.4%.  Export numbers to the U.S. and EU dropped to 16.9%.

“The slow recovery of the global economy and the European debt crisis have added uncertainties to export growth.”-Zheng Yuesheng, GAC statistics

While some Chinese industry analysts remain optimistic, some Chinese officials are not so positive: “Exporters in Zhejiang have experienced a disappointing first half, and the second half will not be better.”-Han Jie, Zhejiang Department of Commerce


 

 

Business/Economics, International

What Economic Recovery? European Union stumbling on second Greek bailout, as debt Emergency in Italy has EU officials scrambling

“We can’t go on for many more days like Friday. We’re very worried about Italy.”-European Central Bank official

July 11, European Union officials are in emergency mode, after it became clear that the second bailout loan for Greece will arrive too late to stop default, and now Italy is on the verge of financial collapse.

EU officials are scrambling to figure out how to get the bailout money to the Greek government faster, because it is now clear Greece is in much worse shape than thought, and will officially default soon.

“We need to move on this in the next couple of weeks.  It’s not a case of waiting until late August or early September as Germany is saying.  That’s too late and markets will make us pay for it.”-European Union official

EU officials are also scrambling to plan a possible bailout of Italy’s collapsing economy.  On Friday, July 8, there was an unexpected sell off of Italian government assets.  Italy is considered the EU’s third largest economy.

Both EU officials, and Italian officials say the bond markets are actually making things worse.  That’s because a lot of the money for the Greek bailout, and now a possible Italian bailout, is coming from private sources (like investors).  Now many of those private bailout sources are having second thoughts because it’s very possible they won’t get their money back.

It’s not helping that Germany is pushing for a rethink of the second Greek bailout.  They say the problem in Greece could take 15 years to fix: “It [second Greek bailout] can’t be something that will suffice for a three-month period but rather has to offer solutions to the problem that will cover the next 10 to 15 years.”-Christian Wulff, President of Germany

Germany has a lot of power in the EU, because they seem to be the only member country who’s economy is booming, thanks to their deals with China.

 

International, U.S.

Deadly European E Coli hits Arizona, Michigan

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed that an Arizona man died from the same strain of e.coli that has killed about 50 people in Europe.  The man died last month, after a trip to Germany.

The CDC confirmed six more U.S. citizens are infected.  They all live in Michigan.  Five of them had been in Germany.  There are possible cases in North Carolina, Wisconsin and Massachusetts.

International

Pacific Ring of Fire: Japan hit by another 7+ earthquake

July 10, a 7.3 quake hit the same area that experienced a 9.0 quake on March 11.

Two meter high (6.4 feet) waves were seen on the coasts of Miyagi and Iwate Prefectures.

Officials with Japan’s Meteorological Agency say this latest aftershock resulted from the Pacific Plate shifting horizontally.  They believe more aftershocks in the 7 range could occur, into next year.

International

UN caused Cholera epidemic continues to kill in Haiti & Dominican Republic

A United Nations caused cholera epidemic, is still killing people in Haiti and Dominican Republic.

Last week nine people, in the Dominican Republic, died, bringing the total to 71.  The first Dominican Republic case was discovered in November 2010.

But that’s nothing compared to what’s happening in Haiti.

Neighboring Haiti was swept with cholera, starting in October 2010.  As of March 2011 nearly 5,000 people have died, and more than 200,000 are infected.

Health officials working in Haiti say the United Nations grossly underestimated the seriousness of the epidemic: “It is going to be larger than predicted in terms of sheer numbers and will last far longer than the initial projections.”-Dr Sanjay Basu

In fact, Doctor Basu predicts that if conditions don’t improve soon, more than 11,000 Hatians will die by the end of 2011.

Investigations by the UN revealed that UN Peacekeeping troops from Nepal spread the disease due to the unsanitary way they kept their camp ground.

Business/Economics, International

Another reason the housing market bubble in China could burst: New Income Tax Laws

Recently the Chinese government changed income tax laws, to help low income workers keep more of their money.  The new law increased the number of workers who don’t have to file income tax.

The Chinese real estate industry is now warning that could reduce property sales.

In China you must have official papers declaring you a permanent resident of the area you want to buy property in.  If you don’t have such paperwork, you can use your income tax filing to show that you work in that area.  The problem with the new tax law is that it will reduce the number of migrant workers who would’ve had those tax records to use to buy a home with.

A Beijing realtor says the new tax law will reduce the number of qualified migrants, in his area, by more than 90%.

This comes after the Chinese government ordered banks to tighten mortgage lending by either increasing down payments, or increasing mortgage interest rates.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

New York takes over Germany, the real reason the stock market is going up

U.S. media reported that the continued increase in the New York Stock Exchange (reported by the Dow Jones) is because of good economic data, like better than expected job numbers.

Monthly unemployment numbers are still over 400,000, and many economists have repeatedly stated that it needs to drop below 400,000, for several months in a row, to be considered a “good” sign.

Could the real reason be that the NYSE (aka NYSE Euronext) was just approved, by shareholders, to take over one of Germany’s stock markets: Deutsche Boerse AG.

The take over still needs approval of Deutsche Boerse shareholders.

This seems to be a more likely reason for the upswing in the NYSE trades, because Germany is the only economic powerhouse left in the European Union, thanks to its many trade deals with China.

According to the NYSE website, “…NYSE Euronext’s equities markets include the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE Euronext, NYSE Amex, NYSE Alternext and NYSE Arca.  NYSE Euronext also operates NYSE Liffe, a European derivatives business.”

The Dow Jones is a stock market index, which includes the NYSE Euronext trades in its daily reporting.

Business/Economics, International

What Economic Recovery? Chinese credit crunch could burst Chinese housing market bubble

In an effort to fight inflation the Chinese government recently ordered banks to tighten their grip on the money supply.  One way is to cut back on loans.

The China Construction Bank announced they will increase down payments on homes, for first time buyers, to 40% of the purchase price.  The Chinese banks were told to either raise the amount of down payments, or increase interest rates on mortgages.  This could pop China’s housing market bubble.