Category Archives: U.S.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? U.S. officials say Asia is our only hope; then all is lost

“If we are going to move out of this recession, Asia is going to be part of that equation. Asia is where we are going to grow.”–Ernest Bower, Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies

Next week the 21 members of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) will meet in Hawaii.  There U.S. officials are expected to bend over to make economic deals with Asia countries, that’s how desperate the situation is for the United States.

Ron Kirk, U.S. Trade Representative, said the main concern for the U.S. is resolving issues that affect U.S. exporters.

Last week the U.S. Congress approved a free trade deal with South Korea, however, the people of South Korea are against it and have been protesting ever since.  It’s obvious governments are not going to do what their people want.

If the United States is hoping that the countries of Asia, and the Pacific Rim, are going to pull us out of the ‘recession’ then all is lost:  Japan’s economy is a house of cards that’s already collapsed. China is focused on controlling inflation which is reducing consumer spending there. Vietnam, India, China, Japan and Philippines are facing off in what could turn into a war over oil rights in the South China Sea.  Australia’s main economic partner is China, and Australia is expanding its naval power in the hopes that the U.S. Navy will be forced out of the region due to economic hardship.  Japan and Russia are nudging closer to war over islands just north of Hokkaido.  And the U.S. has already lost it’s economic advantage in South America.


Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Honda to slash North American production, Toyota cutting work hours

Honda wants to cut north American production by 50%, and they’re blaming the latest flooding in Thailand.

Output at all six of its factories in the United States and Canada will be cut in half from November 2 through 10.  Also, they will stop all production in North America for one day on November 11.

Toyota announced they will cut overtime hours at all 13 north American factories, again because of a lack of parts caused by flooding in Thailand.

International, U.S.

World War 3: Japan to send troops to South Sudan

Japanese Defense Minister Yasuo Ichikawa announced that he will send about 200 troops to the new country of South Sudan in 2012. They will take part in UN peacekeeping operations.

Interestingly Ichikawa said the international community has been asking Japan to take on more UN peacekeeping roles, however I’ve not noticed any mention of that in all the international media sources I keep track of.  It’s probably more that the United States, in spreading its own military so thin, is putting pressure on Japan to take on more international military roles (also, payback for all the free U.S. aid in dealing with Japan’s on going nuclear disaster).

Japan’s current constitution does not allow their troops to carry weapons in other countries, but the new right wing government is trying to change that.

Most of the 200 Japanese troops slated to go to South Sudan are engineers.

U.S.

Ron Paul might consider leaving the Republican Party, republican Elites trying to run him out of town

“I’m running for president in the Republican party, I’m doing very well. And last time they wondered about it, but, you know the whole thing is, is boy the people are really frustrated. You go to New Hampshire there are more Independents than Republicans or Democrats.”-Ron Paul

There was a time that U.S. presidential candidate Ron Paul was a member of the Libertarian Party, now he’s a Republican, but that could change.

Last week Paul told Fox News that he would not rule out running as an Independent, just that he had “…no intention of doing that.”

However, I think that if Paul continues to win republican straw polls, which are then misreported by the main stream media, and then other republican candidates get endorsed instead, then he should really consider leaving the republican party.  It’s looking more and more like the elites of the republican party don’t want Paul to spoil their fun.

 

U.S.

Ron Paul salutes Wikileaks & whistleblowers, wins Iowa Straw Poll twice but loses Republican endorsment

On October 29, presidential candidate Ron Paul won the National Federation of Republican Assemblies’ (NFRA) Iowa Straw Poll, twice!  Yet they endorsed Rick Santorum!

What’s the point of holding an election if the winner (twice) is the loser?  I wonder how many Iowa republicans are thinking of jumping ship?

Was Paul ignored by the NFRA because of his praise of government whistleblowers?  He said whistleblowers are necessary so that we can get to the bottom of why things don’t go the way we were told they would, but more so because it could prevent war: “But the area that neither the Democrat nor the Republican leadership seems to welcome any whistle blowing is when there is an exposure on our foreign policy, the fallacies of why we go to war and what we do.”

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Occupy the World: Elites being told to hoard more Money, as Greek government tries to please its citizens after key politician defects and joins the protestors, bailout loans part of plan to take over governments

“This may be the time not to expand production capacity. It might be better to just hoard the cash.”-John Lonski, Moody’s Capital Markets Group

This statement came after the Greek Prime Minister announced that he will let the Greek people decide if their country will accept the latest bailout offer.  It seems likely they will vote against the bailout.

That move came after a member of the ruling party resigned, effectivly joining the protestors.  This leaves the ruling party with a slim two seat majority in parliament.

The Greek Finance Minister also expressed doubts about what is going on: “I can no longer look at polls where the majority is against the agreement, the majority is against the program, but a majority is also in favor of staying in the euro.”-Evangelos Venizelos, Greek Finance Minister

The move to put the Greek bailout to a vote of the Greek people is causing stock markets to crash around the world.  This is proof that the banking/finance industry WANTS to force Greece (and other countries) to take on bigger debt in the name of being ‘bailed out’:  It actually makes governments more beholden to the private sector (Corporate America).

Now Germany and France have called a meeting between EU members and the IMF.  Reports say that what’s being discussed now is a way to kick Greece out of the European Union: “The situation is so tight that basically it would be a vote over their euro membership.”-Alexander Stubb, Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade of Finland

The banking/finance industry claims that if the Greek people refuse the latest bailout loan, then Greece will default, starting a domino affect across Europe and North America.  That might be true, but they might also escape the control of Corporate America.

 

 

International, U.S.

World War 3: UN recognizes Palestine. U.S. & Israel retaliate by cutting funding for UN

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) granted Palestine full UN membership on October 31!

The United States quickly retaliated against the UN by refusing to pay the U.S. share of funding for UNESCO.  Israel also ended its funding of UNESCO.

Palestine is now the 195th member of the U.S. created organization known as the United Nations.  Ironically, the UN has become something the U.S. doesn’t want to belong to, anymore (I guess the U.S. doesn’t want to play by the very rules it helped to create!).

The total amount of funding that UNESCO will lose, from the U.S. and Israel, is about one quarter its yearly budget.

The move by the U.S. is not a knee jerk reaction.  The pro-Israeli U.S. Congress created laws back in 1990s that stated if Palestine ever became a member of the UN, then the U.S. would end its funding.  Today, both Republicans and Democrats, in the U.S. Congress, denounced the UNESCO decision.

Who abstained from the UNESCO vote?  United Kingdom (Britain), Poland, Portugal, Denmark, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Ukraine, Switzerland, Romania and Latvia.

Who voted against recognizing Palestine?  United States, Germany, Australia, Canada, Sweden, Netherlands and Israel.

 

 

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

What Economic Recovery? SAAB sold to China, at a loss

SAAB has new Chinese owners.  The car maker was sold at a loss, after it filed for bankruptcy in September.  SAAB hasn’t made any cars in its factory in Sweden, since April!

SAAB was originally offloaded by GM to Dutch company Spyker (now Swedish Automotive).  Chinese distributor Pang Da Automobile Trade, and auto manufacturer Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile will pay about U.S.$142 million for SAAB.

SAAB joins Volvo in becoming a Chinese owned company.  In 2010 Volvo was sold by Ford, also at a loss, to Chinese company called Geely.

SAAB sales in the U.S. suck, in September only 429 cars were sold.  So far for the year 2011 only 4,612 cars have been sold.  In 2003 SAAB sales in the U.S. were ten times that (40,000 cars)!

 

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Global Economic War: What’s really going on with the possible China rescue deal for Europe? China pushing to be A Number 1, got burned bailing out U.S. banks

That’s right, it wasn’t just U.S. taxpayers and the U.S. central bank (Federal Reserve) that bailed out Corporate America’s big financial institutions in 2007/08.  China Investment Corporation played a part and lost.

So when it comes to bailing out European governments, China’s financial sector is willing but cautious: “The $3 trillion in reserves are the fruits of the hard work of the Chinese people.  We’re willing to work with those European countries in distress for a better solution.  But…we have to be accountable to the people.”-Jin Liqun, China Investment Corp

Both the U.S. media and the Chinese media are reporting that China wants nit picking details concerning any European bailout.  The Chinese think the European governments haven’t done enough when it comes to austerity measures.  They want to see more cuts, and more taxes imposed on the European people.

But there’s another reason China is taking its time with agreeing to any European bailout; they want to use the situation to bring China closer to being the A Number 1 economic and financial authority throughout the World: “It will also help China gain a greater say in the global financial system.”-Zhong Wei,  Financial Research Center at Beijing Normal University

In fact, today, October 28, China called on the G20 to become more united (under China?): “The opinions of emerging markets and developing countries should be taken seriously no matter when we talk on the reform of the international currency system, the global economic governance, or the price of commodities.  These countries’ presence and say should be increased.”–Cui Tiankai, Vice Foreign Minister of China

The next Group of 20 meeting is November 3-4 in the southern French city of Cannes.

 

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

What Economic Recovery? Whirlpool announces big layoffs, will close factories around the world

“…recessionary demand levels in developed countries, a slowdown in emerging markets and high levels of inflation in material costs.”, that’s what Whirlpool Chief Executive Jeff Fettig says about the economy, basically it stinks!

As a result Whirlpool sales are down, and they have to layoff 5,000 employees, and shut down their Arkansas refrigerator factory!

Whirlpool joins the growing number of big businesses that say: “During the quarter, we experienced weaker than expected global industry demand and elevated material costs.”

No sh*t Sherlock, Corporate America keeps laying people off.  Ironically even Whirlpool CEO Fettig blames Corporate America’s job cuts!

Whirlpool will also close a dishwasher factory in Germany, moving production to Poland (Poland is a member of the European Union, but does not use the Euro, they use their own money).

The result is not only lost jobs, but if you need a new home appliance in the near future it’s gonna cost you more; Whirlpool is jacking up their prices (hello inflation).