Category Archives: U.S.

Fukushima, U.S.

Missouri River causes “unusual event” at U.S. Nuclear Plants

The Cooper Nuclear Station, in Nebraska, is flooded.  The Fort Calhoun nuclear plant, also in Nebraska, has been shut down.

By Sunday, 19 June 2011, several levees failed along the Missouri River, causing nuke plant operators to issue a “Notification of unusual event.” A ‘notification’ is the lowest of four emergency classifications developed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Reuters reported that officials will shut down the Cooper nuclear plant if flood levels hit 13.9 meters (45.5 feet).  Other reports say the Fort Calhoun plant was shut down.  Heavy rain in the Rocky Mountains could keep the Missouri River high until August.

International, U.S.

Pentagon commits biggest theft in history, Iraq says the U.S. stole $17 billion, U.S. investigators back up Iraq

“All indications are that the institutions of the United States of America committed financial corruption by stealing the money of the Iraqi people, which was allocated to develop Iraq, (and) that it was about $17 billion.”-Iraq letter to United Nations

Remember when the Bush Jr administration said they were taking Iraqi oil funds so they could be used to rebuild Iraq?  Never happened, now Iraq wants their money.

Even U.S. investigators say the Iraqis are owed billions. Special Inspector General for Iraqi Reconstruction, Stuart Bowen, says the Pentagon is to blame, and calls it “…the largest theft of funds in national history.”

This comes after Kalifornia’s (sic) idiot Congressman Dana Rohrabacher demanded that Iraq pay for being invaded and occupied by the United States.   The Kalifornian described the U.S. invasion of Iraq as a sign that we care about Iraqis: “We were hoping that there would be a consideration of a payback because the United States right now is in close to a very serious economic crisis and we could certainly use some people to care about our situation as we have cared about theirs.”-Dana Rohrabacher

Unfortunately for the Iraqis, the clever Bush Jr administration got the UN Security Council to make it almost impossible for Iraq to sue the U.S.  The money went to the Coalition Provisional Authority to fund reconstruction and pay Iraqi government employees. The CPA was headed by Paul Bremer.  So far no one has been able to show what really happened to the Iraqi oil money.

International, U.S.

NATO preps to attack Syria, Germany & Spain increasing NATO troops in Turkey

A Turkish news source says the Turkish government has agreed to allow NATO to increase troop strength in Turkey.  Turkey is a member of NATO.

Currently there are about 400 NATO personnel at the Turkish Izmir Air Station, but that could increase to the thousands as NATO personnel from Germany and Spain are moved in.

Western media is showing Turkey as helping Syrian refugees, and seemingly taking a neutral stand on events in Syria.  Reports in Middle Eastern news sources say otherwise.  There is growing evidence that the weapons being used by Syrian “protestors” are coming from Turkey.  Several times Turkish warplanes have crossed into Syrian airspace.

NATO is reporting the build up of personnel in Turkey as part of plans to “…make NATO leaner, more flexible, and better able to deal with future challenges.”-Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO Secretary General

 

Business/Economics, Opinion, U.S.

U.S. Postal Service facing similar problems as Canada Post, why aren’t U.S. Postal Workers striking?

Canadian postal workers went on limited strike because Canada Post wanted to cut their retirement and wages.  The situation escalated when Canada Post locked out all urban postal workers, in effect laying off 48,000 employees.

Canada Post says they’ve been losing money and need to make drastic cuts in pay and benefits.

Here in the United States a similar situation is happening with the U.S. Postal Service.  The USPS does not make money off taxpayers, they are solely funded by the postage they charge.  The problem is that Congress controls the postage they are allowed to charge, and so far Congress has refused to allow postal rates to reflect the actual operating cost of the USPS.  The result is that the USPS is losing millions and billions of dollars every year. (it’s almost as if Congress wants to put the USPS out of business)

So far thousands of U.S. postal workers have been bought out of their contracts, and even laid off.  What can U.S. postal workers do?  Nothing, because their employment contracts say that if they try to do anything, like go on strike, they automatically lose their job  (no strike clause).   So much for “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? The U.S. was lagging behind Europe even before the Credit Crisis

Before the 2007-08 Credit Crunch Crisis the United States was far behind the European Union, when it came to new job creation.

According to a Fortune article, from 1999 to 2008 the EU created 14 million new jobs, while the U.S. created 8 million.

On top of that, once the economy started down the drain the United States lost more jobs than were lost in the EU.  Percentage wise the EU and U.S. are around 9% unemployment (officially, unofficially the percentages are higher), but when you look at actual numbers the U.S. is leading the way down.  As of December 2010, the difference in job losses, between the EU and U.S., are about 7 million.

 

Business/Economics, Opinion, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Obama spouts the neccesity of higher education, but Middle Class is now officially unable to pay for it

“We’re seeing further differentiation in incomes, with the rich get richer and the poor getting poorer. Meanwhile, the middle class often claims they’re too wealthy to get student aid, yet too poor to afford college.”-Mark Kantrowitz,  FinAid.org and FastWeb.com

President Barack Obama is constantly stumping for higher education as a way to recover the U.S. economy, the problem is most people in the United States can’t afford to go.

According to a CNN/Money report (based on the findings of the College Board), tuition and fees have skyrocketed 130% in the past 20 years, while incomes for the majority of U.S. workers have stayed relatively the same.  By the way a recent IRS report says the same thing about U.S. incomes.

In 2008 median income was $33,000, when adjusted for inflation that means the average person was making $400.00 less than in 1988 (I knew I wasn’t crazy).

In 2008 tuition and fees averaged $6,500 per year, which is 130% more than what they were in 1988.

What happened to financial aid?  Obama ran for president partly on a promise to make more federal aid available.  Didn’t happen.  According to the College Group, the maximum federal aid (which includes loans, which should not be considered “aid” ’cause you have to pay it back) has remained stuck at 1992 levels; only $23,000  (by the way that “aid” is limited, so if you don’t get a ‘four year degree’ in ‘four’ years, which is actually the reality for many, you don’t get anymore federal “aid”).

Two trends have developed as a result: Families hell bent on their kids getting worthless degrees (I have one, from Idaho State University) are getting deeper into debt (isn’t that part of our country’s economic problems?).  The other bigger trend is that people are delaying entry into college, or just saying “forget it, it ain’t worth it”.

Here’s a sobering thought: According to Mark Kantrowitz, the cost of higher education is such that many of today’s college students will still be paying their student loans when their children are college age!  That is a sure sign that college is no longer “worth it”!

 

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Arby’s Sold

Wendy’s/Arby’s Group sold off its Arby’s restaurant, for $430 million.  The new owner is Atlanta based Roark Capital Group.

Earlier in the year it was announced that if Arby’s sales didn’t improve, the fast food restaurant would be sold.  The former Wendy’s/Arby’s Group still holds 15% of Arby’s stock.  The CEO, Roland Smith, says they can now focus solely on the better performing Wendy’s fast food chain.

Smith says that any closing of Arby’s stores will involve those already slated to be closed, which will happen as leases expire.  The deal with Roark Capital Group will result in changes for Arby’s, including a name change.

I can tell you that here in Chubbuck, Idaho, the Arby’s store has the lowest customer traffic of any of the national chain fast food restaurants.

 

Idaho, U.S.

Idaho State University hit with sanctions, major donor says ISU President “inflexible”

“There’s something very sick at that school, and Art Vailas I think is at the core of it. I was shocked when I heard about the potential for a vote of no confidence. I talked to Art several times about it. Art is not a very good listener. He’s very stubborn. He’s inflexible. It is his way or no way because he thinks he’s right. I told him never to call me anymore.”-Jim Rodgers, major Idaho State University donor, and former chancellor of higher education in Nevada

Jim Rodgers is a major donor to ISU, and he’s not happy with what’s been happening there.  The Idaho State Board of Education ended the faculty’s bargaining ability by suspended the Faculty Senate, at the request of President Arthur Vailas.
Vailas, and his administrators, have been busy trashing ISU ever since they arrived a few years ago.  It’s looks like it’s part of a plan by the state to reduce ISU’s ability to provide higher education.
For one thing student tuition and fees have skyrocketed, and classes have been cut.  The reason given is always lack of money, but just a few weeks ago ISU announced they were buying an old factory building that was used to make medical products (aka Ballard Medical building).
The suspension of the Faculty Senate prompted a vote by the American Association of University Professors.  They voted to sanction ISU, the largest university ever to be sanctioned by the AAUP.  The vote was unanimous.
Former ISU Faculty Senate Chair, Phil Cole, says AAUP sanctions should be taken seriously, because they act as a warning to potential employers, and graduate schools, that the education program at ISU is ‘suspect’, and that “there is a fundamental flaw in a university and it could collapse.”

This might be part of the State Board of Education’s plans to end ISU as a four year university (which many of the state employees at ISU believe is the intention).