Category Archives: U.S.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Flooding along Mississippi adds to Global Food Crisis, and threatens U.S. economy

Voice of America reporting that farms along the Mississippi flood zones are destroyed.  Some farmers were able to harvest some of their crops before the flooding.

Many farmers did not have crops to harvest, but were about to plant, and now that’s not going to happen: “…this is unprecedented because of the amount of water that is backed up and out over areas that normally do not flood.”–Randy Ouzts, Horizon Ag

One of the biggest U.S. exports are crops.  The harvest is shipped to New Orleans, on barges that sail the Mississippi river.  Ouzts says getting the harvested crops out could be a problem: “The issue we are having at the moment is wheat delivery, and also fertilizer and fuel deliveries, and the problem is loading.  The facilities were not built to accommodate this much water.”

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Boeing & Airbus claim victory in WTO case

Depending on which media source you read, Boeing won its World Trade Organization case against Airbus.  Depending on which media source you read, Airbus won its World Trade Organization case against Boeing.  Yes, that’s the idea.

Both Airbus and Boeing are declaring victories in their WTO case against each other.

U.S. officials say the ruling helps Boeing: “This definitive victory will benefit American workers who have had to compete with a heavily subsidized Airbus.”-Tim Reif, general counsel for the U.S. Trade Representative

Airbus officials say the WTO ruling upheld European loan subsidies: “…government loans are a legal instrument and that none of the government loans made to Airbus over the past 40 years were prohibited…”

Boeing reps said this is a “definitive victory” for the United States, but Airbus said “This is a big win for Europe.”

Who’s right?  The WTO looked at the allegations line by line, and voted line by line, basically splitting the difference.  So both sides think they won, when in reality they broke even.

Business/Economics, U.S.

Big U.S. health insurance company hit by striking nurses

At least 1,000 health care workers picketed a hospital belonging to one of the biggest insurance companies in the U.S.; Kaiser Permanente’s flagship hospital in Los Angeles, California.

The workers say Kaiser has been cutting back on staffing, forcing those still working to handle longer hours.  The insurance company is also cutting back on services.  Striking workers say the company is lying about lack of funding.

During the first quarter of 2011 Kaiser Permanente reported a profit of $920 million.  For all of 2010 they made a profit of $2 billion.  Yet the company came out and told employees there will be more rounds of cut backs.

 

 

 

Business/Economics, U.S.

Tens of thousands of U.S. teachers laid off

Around the country, tens of thousands of teachers in the United States have been laid off.

New York City needs to lay off 6,000 teachers, to balance their education budget.

California has notified at least 20,000 teachers that they will be unemployed.

Dozens of teachers were fired in Ohio this week.

Broward County Florida School District will lay off 1,400 teachers.

And many layoffs took place in the past year.

In some cities pro-teacher groups are pointing out that their school districts actually have budget surpluses, yet teachers are being laid off in large numbers.

Teachers unions are on board with the layoffs, saying it’s time for the bad teachers to go.  I’m all for getting rid of the bad teachers, there are plenty (from my own experience as a student, and as a parent putting four kids through school), but when you realize the number of teachers being laid off across the country it makes you wonder: Are there that many bad teachers?

 

 

U.S.

5 year study blames U.S. society for Catholic sex crimes

A five year study, done by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, concludes that because of the promiscuous attitude of U.S. society, during the 1960s-80s, the Church let down its guard on sex abusers who became priests.

The report does say that the Church failed to enforce celibacy, and properly monitor the priests.  Also, the report says large numbers of homosexuals entered the priesthood in the 1980s.  However, it puts most of the blame on U.S. society.

Victim’s groups say the report is a sham because it is the Bishops who’ve been covering up the crimes from day one: “The Bishops are the ones who knowingly transferred predators, allowed them to remain in ministry, then covered up for them when they were found abusing, and then transferred them again to another place.”-Barbara Blaine, President of SNAP

 

 

International, U.S.

Obama sanctions Syria, Iran

U.S. Treasury Department announced that President Barak Obama has imposed sanctions against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and other Syrian officials.

The sanctions also include two Iranian officials.  Also, Obama signed a similar order against at least 10 Syrian officials on April 29.

“As a result of this action, any property in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons in which the individuals listed in the Annex have an interest is blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.”-U.S. Treasury statement

 

 

 

International, U.S.

Gates calls war on Libya “Limited Kinetic Action”

May 17, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates was recently asked, by CBS’s 60 Minutes, about the war against Libya.  He replied that the United States was not legally/technically at war with Libya (that would take a declaration of War by Congress).  Instead Gates says the U.S. is engaged in “limited kinetic action” against Libya.

Gates is not the first U.S. official to make such a reference to the war against Libya.

International, U.S.

Russia says United States starting new Cold War

May 18, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, says the United States faces a new Cold War if it continues to push its “missile shield” across eastern Europe.

Medvedev says Russia will have no choice but to increase spending on its military, especially nuclear weapons: “We would then be talking about developing the offensive potential of our nuclear capabilities. This would be a very bad scenario.”

The U.S. has repeatedly said the missile shield system is aimed at Iran, but it’s very suspicious that most European countries that have agreed to host the U.S. system, are in eastern Europe facing Russia.