For the fourth month in a row, China is selling off its U.S. Treasury bonds (U.S. Sovereign debt). China is the biggest holder of U.S. bonds, but since February, they’ve been getting rid of them, a little at a time.
So far the Chinese have sold U.S.$600 million in U.S. bonds, that’s according to the U.S. Treasury.
Japan has the second biggest holdings of U.S. Treasuries, but there is concern that Japan will sell them off, to help pay for rebuilding after the March 11 disasters.
“It seems to me that the attitude of the State Department has to do with my investigations in the U.S. National Archives.”-Gabriela Weber, investigative journalist
Gabriela Weber, known for investigating NAZI war criminals in South America, has followed a trail of illegal child adoptions right to the United States government. And that has gotten her banned from entering the U.S. legally.
Weber discovered that U.S. embassy officials were involved with illegal adoptions of children belonging to people who were “disappeared” during Argentina’s “dirty war“.
U.S. officials refuse to comment on the grounds it would violate the privacy of those who were “adopted”.
Weber claims that she has evidence directly linking former U.S. military attache William Desreis to the illegal “adoptions” of Argentinian children, whose parents were “disappeared” by the military dictators of Argentina, at that time (1976-1983).
Weber tried to go to the United States in 2010, to follow the trail, and confirm her findings in Argentina, but she was thrown out after only seven hours, even though she had proper visa documents.
“If we didn’t import from China, we’d import from somewhere else.”-Henry Paulson, former U.S. Treasury Secretary
Henry Paulson is saying that if U.S. corporations didn’t have China to ship jobs to, they’d ship off U.S. jobs somewhere else. He, and others, believe that by shipping off U.S. jobs to other countries, it helps to keep inflation down.
Of course it does, because that means less people working which brings down consumer spending which helps keep inflation down. Inflation traditionally goes up when the economy is good and people spend more money, which is what is happening in China right now.
There is worry that the fast growing inflation in China could spread to the rest of the world. For those countries whose economies are in trouble it’s not a good thing: “If China has problems, our problems would be more difficult.”-Henry Paulson
The Red River has flooded North Dakota, now flooding in Manitoba, Canada is being called “unprecedented”.
Emergency Measures Minister, Steve Ashton, says this is one of the worst flood situations Manitoba has seen in 150 years. The flood is expected to hit Winnipeg by the first of May.
“Flood fighters” in North Dakota are still dealing with the flooding. Officials there say it’s being caused by ground that is too saturated to handle the snowmelt, along with rain. The flooding will affect U.S. spring wheat production, and sugar beat production.
In Canada, the flooding will affect wheat and canola production.
It’s not just the Red River that’s flooding. About 100 North Dakota National Guard personnel are working to shore up the levee along the Sheyenne River.
Flooding in Canada also damaged rail lines used by the Canadian Pacific railways.
Today, April 18, Standard & Poors downgraded the long term credit rating of the U.S., to a negative rating!
“More than two years after the beginning of the recent crisis, U.S. policymakers have still not agreed on how to reverse recent fiscal deterioration or address longer-term fiscal pressures.”-Nikola Swann, Standard & Poor’s
Standard & Poor’s is one of three major agencies that evaluate government and corporate debt. The S & P analysts think the division between Democrat and Republican law makers is too far apart for them to make any real progress in dealing with the country’s public debt.
Investors with the Dow Jones reacted by dropping the industrial average by 200 points in the first half hour of trading.
The downgrade of the U.S. follows the downgrading of Ireland’s banks, as well as several other international financing issues. Even though S & P dropped the U.S. credit rating to “negative”, they still maintain a AAA/A-1+ rating on U.S. sovereign debt.
Long term debt, money borrowed from financial institutions, is debt that will take more than ten years to be paid back. Sovereign debt refers to government bonds.
The missile system is actually based on the old U.S. designed Hawk missile system. The Iranians call their updated version ‘Shahin’ (not to be confused with ‘Shaheen’ which is a different missile system).
Most of the upgrades are related to search and track capabilities. They say it’s a mid-altitude missile, one source saying its range is 15 miles (maybe they meant 15 kilometers?). I can’t be sure of the performance claims, simply because the Iranian media gives wildly different data. One source said the missile could reach 150 kilometers (93 miles), that’s the Thermosphere, man!
“The LX model is outfitted with an EF7 gasoline engine and a CNG-based engine. The ELX version is equipped with a turbo-charged EF7 engine.”-Nima Mosleh, IKCO deputy CEO for New Product Development
The Iran Khodro Company says it hopes exports of their new car, Dena, will hit 15,000 for the new year.
The car called Dena (not to be confused with a U.S. kit car), is a sedan and IKCO’s fourth domestically produced car. Iran has been enjoying a growing car market through out the Middle East, and Central Asia.
Last year Iran Khodro exported 40,000 cars.
About 30 USAF reservists, from Colorado, headed to Texas on April 16. They will be using their C-130 Hercules transports to drop fire retardant on the Coahuila fire in Mexico. That fire is the largest fire in Mexico’s history, as of April 16 it was within 96.5km (60 miles) of the Texas border.
The USAF is also using C-130s to fight the largest fires in Texas’ history as well.
The Japanese government announced that in order to build enough temp homes, fast enough, they will have to use foreign contractors.
The temporary homes are needed for survivors of the March 11 disasters, and people who have, and others who still might have to, evacuate from radiation danger zones.
The Land and Infrastructure Ministry said foreign contractors must meet certain conditions. They must have the capacity to build more than 100 units in 2 months, and they must meet Japanese electrical codes. On top of that they must form joint partnerships with Japanese contractors.
Local governments will be taking bids.
It might be soon that the people of Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran will have a common visa, that will allow unhindered travel between the countries.
The visa (international travel document) is being called Shamgen, similar to the European Union’s Schengen visa. Sham is the ancient name for Syria.
Shahbaz Yazdani, Deputy Head of Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, said the four countries are still hammering out details of the visa plan. Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran are working for a economic union similar to the EU.
