Category Archives: U.S.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Who’s behind high commodity prices? Glencore, ever hear of them? Call them food crisis managers

Glencore is a private company in Switzerland.  The company is valued at $60 billion.  What do they do?  Buy and sell commodities.

Glencore is the world’s biggest commodities trader, buying and selling much of the world’s wheat, corn, rice, sugar and edible oils. They also buy and sell minerals; metals, oil, coal.  In fact they control 3% of the world’s daily oil supply.

Because Glencore is a privately held company, no one has heard of them.  Why are they in the news now?  Glencore wants to become even more powerful, so they are going public, offering public stocks in their company for the first time.  For those of you who think ,”If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.”, the public stocks offering will take place at the end of May, in the London and Hong Kong stock markets.

Glencore has on it’s board some controversial people, including people with their hands in the pockets of U.S. politicians, so do your research.

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Kraft moving chocolate production to Brazil?

The U.S. doesn’t need to lose anymore jobs, but Kraft just announced they will build a new plant in Brazil.

“Brazil is one of 10 priority developing markets where we’re making big bets. Today, we’re among the fastest growing consumer goods companies in markets like Brazil, India and China. We’re excited to build on what’s working by making our biggest investment in Brazil in more than 10 years!”-Sanjay Khosla, Kraft Foods

Kraft will build an $80 million chocolate factory in Pernambuco, Brazil.  They hope to have it up and running by 2012.

International, Opinion, U.S.

Obama administration flip flops on bin Laden raid info, bin Laden’s daughter says he was killed AFTER capture

Ever since the announcement that Osama bin Laden was dead, the Obama administration has been flip flopping on the details.

First they said bin Laden was killed in a fire fight.  Then they said he was resisting, but not armed (how does a sick 54 year old man resist without weapons?).  They said he used a wife as a human shield, they flopped and said she willingly rushed at the U.S. forces.  First they said she was dead, now she was just wounded in the leg.

What’s up Obama?  I thought you guys watched the whole thing live?  You issued a pic of your cabinet supposedly watching the event live?

Now Pakistani officials say Osama bin Laden’s young teen daughter witnessed the whole thing and says her father did not resist, and that U.S. forces killed him AFTER they got him on the helicopter.  Is this the real reason they dumped his body in the ocean, to cover up how he was killed?

“Not a single bullet was fired from the compound at the U.S. forces and their choppers.”-Pakistani security official

Pakistani officials, and locals living in the area, say only the U.S. forces were doing the shooting, no shots came from anyone in the bin Laden compound.

Here are the latest statements from Obama’s officials: “…rushed the U.S. assaulter and was shot in the leg but not killed.” “Bin Laden was then shot and killed. He was not armed.” –White House Press Secretary Jay Carney


 

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

At least 90% of Americans did NOT watch royal wedding on TV

Many media outlets are claiming that Americans loved the royal wedding because millions watched it.  This is a clear case of the main stream media manipulating data to mislead.  Yes millions did watch, but not anywhere near the majority of the people in the U.S., in fact it was a small minority.

Television ratings company, Nielsen, said only 23 million people (Nielsen used the term “viewers”, not to be confused with “households”) in the United States watched the royal wedding on TV.   That’s only 7.4% of the population, the official U.S. population is about 310 million. To put it another way; at least 90% did NOT watch.

In fact when you look at “viewer” ratings for television in the U.S., you’ll realize that, when compared to the total population of the country, not that many people actually watch TV.

 

Business/Economics, U.S.

Exxon Mobil lies about paying taxes, includes taxes YOU pay

“We are one of the largest taxpayers in the United States.”- Alan Jeffers, Exxon Mobil spokesman

Exxon announced they paid $3.1 billion in taxes in the United States, but that’s more than the $2.6 billion in profit they made.  How can they pay more in taxes than what they make?  They lie.  Exxon includes the taxes paid at the pump by YOU, and the taxes paid by their own employees.

The Exxon announcement came after criticism about how little taxes they actually pay.  So to pump up their claim of paying taxes they included the taxes that consumers pay when they fill up their vehicles at Exxon/Mobil gas stations.  Does the oil industry think people are that dumb?

On top of that Exxon Mobil used their own employee’s payroll taxes!

So Exxon claims to be one of the largest taxpayers in the country, but Bob McIntyre, at Citizens for Tax Justice, points out “They are counting taxes they don’t pay. Payroll taxes are on the workers, sales taxes are on the consumers.”

Technology, U.S.

Facebook denies acting as government spy, but, at the same time confirms it

“We don’t respond to pressure, we respond to compulsory legal process. There has never been a time we have been pressured to turn over data — we fight every time we believe the legal process is insufficient. The legal standards for compelling a company to turn over data are determined by the laws of the country, and we respect that standard.”-Facebook spokesman

That’s the response from Facebook, who says they do not ‘automatically’ process info for governments.  Julian Assange, of WikiLeaks, says he has evidence that social media sites have had to deal with so many requests by governments, for user’s account info, that they simply hand it over automatically.

However, Facebook does not deny that they hand the government info on users, in fact Facebook has a specific department for that, called “CIPP-certified professionals”.  The CIPP is supervised by two former federal cyber crime prosecutors.

Facebook also admitted that they would like to deal with less of these cases, and, are looking for a legal way not to comply with government demands for info.

Business/Economics, Opinion, U.S.

Occupy America: Why are Diesel fuel prices so high? Diesel commodity futures trading less than Gas, even with low sulfur refining

Read my November 20, and November 5, 2011, postings about current diesel prices.  It’s bad news, it explains why prices are only going up, and how fracking of natural gas is really for fuel production.

May 3, Diesel fuel prices are higher than gas, at the pump.

In Idaho, as of May 3, most gas stations are selling Diesel for about $4.15 per gallon.  The highest is $4.50 near Mountain Home.  That’s way higher than gas.  Most gas stations are selling gasoline around $3.65 per gallon, with the highest at $4.00 near Hailey, Idaho.

Yet Diesel futures are selling for less than gas futures on the commodities market.   As of May 2, gas futures, for June delivery, were at $3.34 per gallon.  Compare that to Diesel NY at $3.29, and Diesel Gulf at $3.31 per gallon.

So why is Diesel so much higher at the pump?

Many websites say it’s because Diesel must be refined to low sulfur standards.  That doesn’t explain the higher price at the pump!  The commodity prices paid are for already refined Diesel, so the claim that low sulfur refining is the cause doesn’t work.

Some people say it’s because Diesel is actually in higher demand than gasoline, due to industry (like trucking & airlines, “jet” fuel is actually a form of Diesel/Kerosene) and the military (possibly the biggest user of Diesel, thank the War on Terror).  That might be, but normally the commodity price reflects anticipated demand.

Some journalists have asked oil executives about fuel costs, but oil executives can only talk about the price of refined fuels sold on the commodities market, not at the pump.

What about taxes?  It turns out that taxes for Diesel are more than taxes for gasoline.  In Idaho the average (January 2011) pump tax (combined state/federal) for Diesel is 49.4 cents per gallon.  For gas, in Idaho, it’s 43.4 cents.  That’s only a 6 cents per gallon difference, so that doesn’t explain the 50 cent per gallon difference in the pump price of Diesel vs gasoline ($4.15 for Diesel minus $3.65 for gas).

By the way, California has the highest tax rates in the country for Diesel at 76 cents per gallon, and gas at 66.1 cents.  That’s because California has higher local and state taxes on top of the federal taxes.

So, the only conclusion I can come up with is that Diesel fuel prices, at the pump, are higher than gasoline due to higher taxes for Diesel, and maybe  higher demand for Diesel (again that’s usually what drives commodity prices, before it gets to the pump).  Maybe gas stations are trying to make up for their extremely slim profit margins on gas prices by jacking up the more stable Diesel prices?



Business/Economics, U.S.

U.S. Gas prices will be about $4.50 average by end of May

The price of May reformulated unleaded blendstock gasoline futures prices hit $3.37 per gallon, on April 29.  That means the average price of gas at the pump could be $4.50 by the end of May.

For some parts of the country, like California, prices could hit $5.50 or more, per gallon.  For a little explainer on gasoline futures see my post “Think gas is high now…”

International, Opinion, U.S.

Don’t blame Pakistan. U.S. knew for years where Osama bin Laden was, because “he was your operator”

“Look everybody knew that Osama bin Laden was hiding out in Pakistan. Al-Qaeda and Taliban have officers with practically, publicly known addresses and that was no secret that the ISI and other factions of the Pakistani military were backing this and this was not secret. That enormous amount of Saudi money was supporting these operations including al-Qaeda.”-Jeff Steinberg, Executive Intelligence Review

There’s growing calls for action against Pakistan for “hiding” Osama bin Laden. But the truth is that the U.S. government knew bin Laden was in Pakistan, or at least being protected by Pakistan, for years, if not decades.

In October 2010, The Guardian published an article in which an unnamed NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) officer said bin Laden was in Pakistan and that “Nobody in al-Qaida is living in a cave.”

An NBC interview of current Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari (husband of assassinated Benazir Bhutto), aired in May, 2009, in which President Zardari said the U.S. government always knew where bin Laden was in the past, saying “…he was your operator.” He believed bin Laden was now dead because: “I’ve asked my counterparts in the American intelligence agencies and they haven’t heard of him in seven years.”

David Frost interviewed Benazir Bhutto in November 2007, and she said bin Laden was dead.  She was explaining that a failed October 2007 assassination attempt on her life could have been carried out by “…Omar Sheikh, the man who murdered Osama bin Laden.”

ABC news aired a story in February 2007, in which they say the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) said bin Laden was in Pakistan: “…to the best of our knowledge that the senior leadership, No. 1 and No. 2, are there, and they are attempting to re-establish and rebuild and to establish training camps.”-Mike McConnell, Director of National Intelligence

CBS news, in a January 2002 report, not only said bin Laden was in Pakistan, but was near death because of failing kidneys.  According to the reporter, even the President of Pakistan knew: “But it was Pakistan`s President Musharraf who said in public what many suspected, that bin Laden suffers from kidney disease, saying he thinks bin Laden may be near death. His evidence, watching this most recent video, showing a pale and haggard bin Laden, his left hand never moving.”-Barry Petersen, CBS correspondent

On August 22, 2001 (weeks before September 11, 2001) The Asia Times published an article that said the United States, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan were in negotiations for the capture of bin Laden, in order to avoid “…the secret deployment of US special forces in northern areas, for an operation inside Afghanistan to apprehend bin Laden ‘dead or alive any time soon’.”

You can go back all the way to the 1980s, when the United States, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan worked together to bring Osama bin Laden to Afghanistan to create what would become the Taliban, and al-Qaeda.  Ahmed Rashid, respected expert on Afghan issues, quotes bin Laden in his book “Taliban” (first published in 2000): “I settled in Pakistan in the Afghan border region. There I received volunteers who came from the Saudi Kingdom and from all over the Arab and Muslim countries.  I set up my first camp where these volunteers were trained by Pakistani and American officers.”-Osama bin Laden

So from the beginning, all the way back to 1980, Osama bin Laden was in Pakistan, by his own words.  The fact that he was supported by not only the Saudis and Pakistanis, but the United States, should cause concern, and doubt about what any of the governments of those countries now say about bin Laden.  There are many more statements by public officials from the U.S. and Pakistan that show, if anything, the public has been lied to from day one. 





 

International, Opinion, U.S.

U.S. officials admit they “dumped” Osama bin Laden’s body, more bullsh*t!

“You wouldn’t want to leave him so that his body could become a shrine.”-unnamed official

According to a Reuters report, bin Laden’s dead body was dumped so it would not become a symbol, or inspiration for would-be militants.  This is more bullsh*t!  Muslims do not keep bodies on display!  ALL Muslims are to be buried in the ground, if possible.   Somebody give me an example where a Muslim was dug up and used as symbol of inspiration, or a “shrine”!  That is another violation of Islam!

It’s starting to sound like Obama officials, who are obviously ignorant of the ways of Islam, are scrambling to come up with explanations as to what happened to the body.   This also proves that Barack Obama is NOT a Muslim!