Category Archives: U.S.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Global Economic War: CELAC holds first summit meeting, the U.S. & Canada are not invited! “Death sentence” for the United States! IMF begging CELAC for money to bail out Europe. Get ready for Second Falkland Islands War!

“This is the achievement after 200 years of battle…The [U.S.] Monroe Doctrine was imposed here: America for Americans, the Yankees. They imposed their will during 200 years, but that’s enough…As the years go by, CELAC is going to leave behind the old and worn out OAS! [U.S. controlled Organization of American States]”-Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela, December 3, 2011

“Today, we are going to give a death sentence to the Monroe Doctrine…that battle is culminating today with the creation of CELAC.”-Daniel Ortega, President of Nicaragua, December 3, 2011

CELAC was formed in February 2010.  On December 3rd, 2011, they held their first official meeting, and the Chinese were overjoyed: “I’d like to send my warmest congratulations. China is always looking to approach its ties with Latin America and the Caribbean from a strategic perspective and is willing to deepen dialogue, exchanges and cooperation.”-Hu Jintao, President of China, December 3, 2011

CELAC stands for Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños, or Community of Latin American and Caribbean States.  CELAC is made up of 33 countries from the America’s and Caribbean. It now dominates North and South American economic policies. The United States, Canada, and the European countries were intentionally left out.

“A union of Latin American countries is the weapon against imperialism. It is necessary to create a regional body that excludes the United States and Canada …therefore, it is the best time for prime ministers of Latin America and the Caribbean to gestate this great new organization without the United States to free our peoples in Latin America and the Caribbean.”-Evo Morales, President of Bolivia, February 2010

Even supposed South American allies of the U.S. are involved: “This is in our interest, not against the OAS or Iberoamerican Summit, this is integration between Latin America and the Caribbean. I laud the meeting as a step in the right direction for Latin America.”-Juan Manuel Santos, President of Colombia, December 3, 2011

The Mexican President, Felipe Calderón, had the honor of opening the CELAC summit with the first speech: “Today we continue in a long process that never before had managed to achieve the integration of Latin American and Caribbean countries!”

Almost 30 years ago Argentina lost a war to take back the Falkland Islands from the United Kingdom.  The islands are called the Malvinas in Argentina, and at Saturday’s first CELAC summit there was unanimous support for Argentina’s continued diplomatic efforts to take back the Malvinas: “The Argentine government has shown a permanently constructive attitude and willingness to reach, via negotiations, a peaceful and definitive solution to this anachronistic, colonial situation on American soil.”-CELAC declaration

The issue of the Falklands/Malvinas is even more serious as major oil reserves have been discovered there.

In a twist of irony, it’s been revealed that the U.S. controlled International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approached CELAC for loans to help bailout Europe!  Normally countries south of the U.S. border have always been stereotyped as beggars waiting for hand out loans from the IMF:  “This time, the IMF did not come to bring money but to ask for money! I would prefer to be a creditor than a debtor.”-Guido Mantega, Finance Minister of Brazil

“It seems like the tables have been turned. Latin American finance ministers used to shudder when IMF officials came to the region. And they were scolded, they were berated by IMF officials, who told them the way to do things… Now they’re the model of fiscal discipline and responsibility.”-Michael Shifter, Inter-American Dialogue

The President of the IMF, Christine Lagarde, was in Brazil, just before the CELAC summit in Venezuela. She admitted CELAC was the economic boss now: “It’s often the case that when one part of the world is not doing so well, the other ones are going to drive the bus and take the global economy forward.” 

 

 

International, U.S.

War on Terror: Bush Jr & Blair found Guilty of War Crimes by International Court! Arrest warrants forthcoming in Africa?

“Bush and Blair are found guilty under the same law that applied to the NAZIs after the end of the World War II. So, they are international (war) criminals guilty of Nuremberg crimes against peace; and they should be prosecuted by any state in the world that gets a hold of them. We will continue our efforts to bring Bush and Blair to justice and put them in jail.”– Francis Boyle, international law expert

On 22NOV2011 an International Court, in Malaysia, found George W. Bush, and Tony Blair guilty of war crimes in Iraq. Now African nations are being asked to issue arrest warrants for Bush Jr.

“There is also a recommendation that this (the findings) be circulated to the states because all states [countries] have universal jurisdiction. Therefore, whenever Bush or Blair appear within their shores there is an obligation on the international law to commit these international war criminals through the justice system.”-Gurdial Singh Nijar, prosecutor

In a unanimous decision, all seven members of the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal found Bush Jr and Blair guilty of crimes against peace and humanity, and also violated other international laws when they ordered the invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

Amnesty International is demanding that several African countries arrest Bush Jr.  He’s on an African tour right now, supposedly to raise awareness of cancer, and HIV/AIDS.

“International law requires that there be no safe haven for those responsible for torture; Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zambia must seize this opportunity to fulfill their obligations and end the impunity George W. Bush has so far enjoyed.”– Matt Pollard, Amnesty International

It’s been reported that the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal will now try Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Alberto Gonzales.

Bush Jr already canceled a trip to Switzerland this year, after reports said the Swiss would arrest him on sight, over allegations of ordering the torture of prisoners held in overseas military bases.

International Criminal Court, 20NOV2011: IT’S OFFICIAL! BUSH JR & BLAIR CHARGED WITH WAR CRIMES, PUT ON TRIAL, FOR REAL!!!

International, Opinion, U.S.

Religious Hypocrisy: Israel tells U.S. Jews to go away!

“The message is: Dear American Jews, thank you for lobbying for American defense aid (and what a great show you put on at the AIPAC convention every year!) but, please, stay away from our sons and daughters.”-Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic

Steven I. Weiss of the Jewish Channel broke the news; the Israeli government is launching an ad campaign in the United States, with the message ‘U.S. Jews stay out of Israel’!

“The worst part about this campaign is that it points to something deeply defective in the Israeli psyche: the notion that fear is the only motivating factor that anyone can come up with for selling the country. In this case it’s fear of assimilation, of oblivion, of erasure. It betrays a terrible insecurity.  I understand the Zionist demographic necessity of actually living in Israel, but if there were ever a chance that someone like me and my family would move there, this is not the approach to take.”-Gal Beckerman, The Jewish Daily Forward

You can watch a couple of the Israeli video ads here and here. In Hebrew the ads basically say that U.S. Jews can never relate to Israeli Jews, and Israeli Jews should stay away from U.S. Jews! Who said the Israeli Zionist Jews weren’t NAZIs?

Billboard ads have already shown up on the east and west coasts of the United States.

I wonder if the Israeli government paid for the ads with money that came from the United States?  Happy Hanukkah!

 

Business/Economics, International, Opinion, U.S.

Government Incompetence & Global Economic War: U.S. wants other countries to stop buying Iranian oil, U.S. conspiracy to drive up the price of oil

The U.S. Treasury Department is asking other countries to stop buying Iranian oil, as part of increasing sanctions against Iran.

Here’s the problem: Iran has already adjusted its oil business so that sanctions don’t have any affect. They don’t take the U.S. dollar anymore (the real reason U.S. officials want to attack Iran), and they even let countries pay for oil purchases with barter (by trading for other petroleum related products/services). If enough countries stop taking Iranian oil it will only drive up the price of oil for everyone!  In fact, just the U.S. Treasury Department suggesting this will cause market oil prices to go up.

Who’s side is our government on anyway?

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Idaho’s unemployed, and underemployed at record levels. More proof that college is a waste of money! And stop moving here, there are not enough jobs for you!

“It would scare the citizens to death and it would make the government look bad. The government wants to look as good as it can.”-Monte Munn, economics professor at Idaho’s Treasure Valley Community College

Munn is talking about the underemployment numbers, revealed in quarterly U-6 reports: “U-6 is a lot more accurate. U-3 greatly underestimates, or understates the real unemployment.”

Monthly unemployment numbers are called U-3, but underemployment is reported every quarter (along with the unemployment numbers) and is called U-6.

As far as the U-6 numbers go, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a seasonally adjusted October 2011 result of 16.2% for the whole country.  Idaho ranks in at 15.9% (according to overall 3rd quarter results)!

(The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics calls the ‘U’ measurments “Alternative Measures of Labor Underutilization”. Get it? ‘U’ for underutilization.)

Local Idaho media has been reporting fractional drops in a few monthly unemployment reports for 2011, but, when you look at the IDL’s U-6 yearly percentages, from 2008 to 2010, it’s clear both unemployment and underemployment have gone way up, and the few fractional monthly drops this year don’t mean a thing.

Underemployment numbers not only reveal how many people are working in jobs that don’t have benefits, or jobs that don’t match their level of education or training, but it also reveals the overall quality of jobs available.

The Idaho Department of Labor (IDL) admitted in a 2007 report, they can not count all college educated workers who’re underemployed, which means the actual numbers could be bigger: “…the number of employed job seekers with education who are looking for work is underestimated. Only those who have come through a Labor Department local office are counted, and clearly other employed workers with degrees are looking for better jobs but not through the Labor Department system.”-IDL, Measuring Underemployment in Idaho

 

Pocatello, Southeastern region of Idaho

The IDL just released U-6 data from 2008 to 2010.  By region South Central Idaho has a U-6 ranking of 20.8% making it the number one place for sucky jobs! Eastern Idaho comes in second at 18.3%!  Southeastern Idaho (where I live) joins North Idaho and North Central Idaho in the 14 percentile range.  Southwestern Idaho has the lowest U-6 at 11.7% (still bad).

The IDL even breaks it down by county, so if you want to see how bad your county is (and some counties have U-6 in the 20 percentile range!), then check it out for yourself.

An eastern Idaho TV station interviewed an IDL official, to get his take on why such high U-6 numbers. He blamed the high number of college edjumacated Idahoans, that right, too many highly qualified people living in Idaho: “…I think you would see more of our workers are underemployed, especially if they are zip code attached, where they want to stay here than to get paid more for their education elsewhere.”-Will Jenson, IDL economist

By “zip code attached” Jenson means Idahoans who go to college, find out they prefer the quality of life in Idaho and do not want to leave (I’m in that boat). However, there are very few jobs in Idaho that can pay enough to help you pay back the cost of your college degree.  The fact that there are so many highly educated people in Idaho should attract companies that need higher skilled workers, but, obviously from the U-6 numbers, it isn’t.

There’s another problem, that will eventually bring down the quality of life here in Idaho, people are flooding into the state.  According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the 2010 census count revealed that Idaho is the 4th fastest growing state in the country, at 21.1%.  Come on people, move somewhere else, there aren’t enough jobs here, let alone good paying jobs, for all you all.

As far as unemployed people getting unemployment help (insultingly called “benefits”!), according to the IDL, 11,800 Idahoans stopped receiving unemployment help this year.  Merry Xmas!

 

Business/Economics, Idaho, International, Technology, U.S.

Corporate Incompetence: Could demise of Hewlett Packard’s WebOS end hundreds of jobs in Idaho? HP in bed with Microsoft? We’ll find out in two weeks

“We should announce our decision in the next two weeks. This is not an easy decision, because we have a team of 600 people which is in limbo.”-Meg Whitman, CEO Hewlett Packard

French media interviewed Hewlett Packard’s latest CEO, Meg Whitman.  She says what they decide to do with their WebOS system will affect at least 600 HP employees.

Other media reports confirmed that 525 layoffs, made back in September, were the result of ending WebOS hardware production.  Since August the system has been up for sale, no takers so far.

It’s strange because as recently as July, Stephen DeWitt, head of the WebOS business unit, claimed that WebOS was so versatile that it could be used in a “universe of devices”.

What happened? Executives at HP have decided to use Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system. In explaining the embracing of Windows 8 Whitman also explained why they canceled their number two selling tablet, the TouchPad: “Internet tablets are mainly used to consume media and e-mails. If you want to use productivity software such as Microsoft, you can not…This is an important area in which we want to go.”  “We stopped using the products that use the operating system WebOS. We will return in 2012. We will have an internet tablet that will use Microsoft Windows 8.”

The new HP tablet that runs on Window 8 is called Slate 2.

Whitman also talked about the high turnover of HP CEOs, and her plans with the company: “HP has had three CEOs in less than two years.  I’m here to stay. Even if my friend Mitt Romney becomes the next president of the United States, I will not join him in Washington.”  “We must invest more in storage, networks and servers to align ourselves with our competitors like EMC and Cisco. Our last server, which uses an ARM processor is more efficient in terms of energy consumption. We need these major innovations to differentiate ourselves.”

In November unnamed sources at HP’s, Boise, Idaho operations leaked word of more layoffs.  Between 3,000 and 4,000 people work at HP’s Boise facilities.  Could the demise of WebOS have anything to do with it?  According to the French newspaper, Le Figaro, Whitman said the world will find out in two weeks.

Business/Economics, Idaho, Technology, U.S.

Corporate Incompetence: Hewlett Packard gets downgraded, Idaho still waiting for official job layoffs announcement

“Major strategic reversals” is one reason why Standard & Poor’s just downgraded Hewlett Packard’s credit rating.

S&P’s also blamed HP’s inconsistent behavior: “We have concerns that HP’s inconsistent growth strategies and high levels of board of director and senior management turnover have elevated the level of operational and execution risk in the near term.”-Martha Toll-Reed, Standard & Poor’s

I’ve written about some of HP’s hypocritical behavior, like laying off hundreds of U.S. employees, buying back millions of dollars worth of their own stocks, then investing billions into their Taiwan operations, and hiring hundreds of employees in Taiwan.

Another dumb move was cancelling production of their TouchPad tablet. Turns out it was the number two selling tablet in the U.S.!

It’s been revealed that HP just spent U.S.$11.7 billion to buy a British software company called Autonomy.  $6 billion of that was in cash!!! Couldn’t HP have used that money to keep U.S. workers employed, or improve their products (they really need to)?

Back at the beginning of November someone at their Boise, Idaho, operation leaked that more layoffs were coming.  Officially HP is working on a press release to explain it. It’s the start of December now, and still no press release.

S&P’s has downgraded HP’s credit rating to BBB+.

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

Voter Incompetence: Obama supporter blind to Obama’s stance on shutting down the U.S. Postal Service

At a recent Obama rally in Scranton, Pennsylvania, a blind faith Obama supporter asked the President about stopping postal processing center closings, because the closings would have drastic affects on local economies.

The response: “Let me look into it.”-Barack Obama, President of the United States

This is not a case of Obama not knowing the issue, rather it’s a case of Obama blowing off a blind faith supporter who doesn’t realize that Obama is all for the closings!

Back in September Obama issued his official suggestions for how to deal with the U.S. Postal Service (a self supporting service, does not rely on taxpayer funding).  Amazingly Obama’s suggestions are in line with what the Postmaster General, Patrick Donahoe, wants; things like ending Saturday delivery and closing down post offices and processing centers across the country.

Here’s how the blind faith supporter of Obama reacted to the President’s response: “…just his willingness to look into it spoke volumes to me. I could definitely tell he cared.”-Corey O’Brian, Lackawanna County Commissioner and blind faith supporter of Barack Obama

Here in southeastern Idaho the only processing center on this side of the state, in Pocatello, is targeted for closing.  Local postal workers explained to me that if I wanted to send a letter to Idaho Falls (just an hour’s drive from where I live) it would end up going to Salt Lake City, Utah, to be sent back into Idaho before getting to Idaho Falls!

The problem, for us ‘customers’ of the USPS, and for our local economies, is that whether Obama and the Postmaster General get their way, or the U.S. Congress actually comes up with their own plan, or, the U.S. Congress allows the USPS to default, the results are going to be severe: Thousands of postal workers laid off, post offices closed down, processing centers closed down, etc.  As I’ve said before, what economic recovery?  And stop being so blind to what ‘our’ elected officials are doing!!!

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Global Economic War: The big jumps in stock markets have nothing to do with economic recovery. It’s all part of the new way the Elite 1% make money.

“…the markets are basically run by algorithmic trading these days… Nobody’s making investments in the stock market thinking they’re getting a long term investment in the company that they’re buying a stock for. So all we’re looking at is trading on news.”-Catherine Mann, Brandeis University International Business School, and former member of the Federal Reserve bank Board of Governors

“…what you have right now is massive amount of liquidity around the world sitting on the sidelines with very cheap equity markets. So any time there’s a little bit of positive news, you see this explosion in stock markets, and because it’s so cheap and there’s so much money just sitting there ready to move.”-David Smick, economic policy strategist

PBS Newshour interviewed two ‘experts’ on why the stock markets are seeing huge swings up and down.  Both basically said it had nothing to do with economic recovery, it’s basically a war being fought with cash, and is the new way the 1% are making even more money. It’s being done without the labor or services of the 99%, by simply day trading on the World’s stock markets instead of creating new products or hiring more employees.  If you’re a rich bastard or bitch and you could make more money day trading than actually making a product or service (requiring you to spend money on employees and transportation and benefits and other costs associated with traditional enterprise) then why not?

“…that’s the way that banks fund themselves, is that they borrow in the overnight market from each other. And since the summer, we have been looking at the interest rate that they charge each other has been rising and rising and rising. It’s now at a level or was earlier today at the level right before the crisis with Lehman Brothers.”-Catherine Mann

“If you look at today and you say, when’s the last time that the global central banks got together, it was three days after the Lehman crisis in 2008.”  “The problem is…a solvency [the ability to pay your bills] problem in Europe, not a liquidity [cash, meaning the 1% have plenty of cash on hand] problem.”-David Smick

“…one of the downsides of this additional liquidity being put into the global marketplace is that it provides more ammunition for the traders in the marketplace who want to bet against the central bank, or against the European Central Bank in particular, or, want to bet against some of those sovereign governments in Europe that are running some difficulties.  So this excess liquidity, or a lot of liquidity, does have a downside. And I think that we aren’t thinking exactly how that ammunition is going to be used. We’re thinking it’s going to be used for good [like providing more jobs, creating new products and services, etc.], but there’s no guarantee that it’s going to be used for good.”  “…this intervention in Europe…doesn’t even come close to addressing the political problem that they face…National governments have spent too much money, they have borrowed too much over a long period of time.”-Catherine Mann

“It’s a little bit like the house is on fire, and…the pluming is backed up. Well, today, we took care of the plumbing [referring to the central banks of Europe, North America and Japan/Pacific Asia Group (the three member regions of the one world government seeking Trilateral Commission) agreeing to provide dirt cheap loans to the 1%] , but the house is still on fire.”-David Smick

 

 

Business/Economics, U.S.

Government Incompetence, What Economic Recovery? IRS fails to refund millions in taxes, blames postal addresses. Part of scheme to shut down U.S. Postal Service?

There are reports that the tax collector of the U.S. government, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), is holding back on refunding $153 million in overpaid taxes!

IRS officials claim it’s because of postal addresses they just don’t trust.  So they’re not going to mail them out!  99,123 U.S. taxpayers are waiting for those refunds!

Here’s the sinister answer the IRS has for solving the ‘problem’: Everyone needs to stop using the postal system and use direct deposit!

To check the status of your tax refund click on the “Where’s My Refund” at the IRS website.