Tag Archives: banks

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? IMF demands Japan raise taxes. It’s all about making investors happy, call it Global Vulture Capitalism!

12 June 2012, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) wants the Japanese federal government to raise sales taxes by a minimum of 15%.

The IMF issued a report to Japan, saying it was critical that “reforms” were made to social programs, and taxes.

Currently Japan has a 5% national sales tax, and the Diet (parliament) is considering raising it to 10%.  The IMF wants it to be 15% or more!

The IMF report reads very much like what is being imposed on people in several European countries, like Greece and Spain.

An IMF official admitted that it had nothing to do with saving governments, or helping citizens of affected countries, it was all about “investors”: “Japan must tackle its deep rooted fiscal problems. Passage of the current tax and social security reforms is thus crucial to demonstrate commitment to fiscal reform and thus to sustain investor confidence.”-David Lipton, First Deputy Managing Director IMF

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Government Hypocrisy: United States exempts 7 more countries from Iran sanctions list. What about up-coming EU sanctions? UN says Iran has no Nukes!

“….we did not say Iran had nuclear weapons. We never said such. We also did not say that Iran made a decision to obtain nuclear weapons. That we also did not say.”-Yukiya Amano, International Atomic Energy Agency

12 June 2012, apparently all the excitement over Iran’s nuclear program was hyperbole.  The Obama administration just exempted seven more countries from the oil sanctions.

In March 2012 France, Germany and Japan were exempted. Now India, South Korea, Turkey, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Taiwan and South Africa.  Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, said it was because those countries have dramatically reduced their purchase of Iranian oil.

I’ve been following this and I can say that several of those countries have not reduced their purchases of Iran oil, even increasing their future orders!

U.S. officials (both in the Obama administration and in Congress) have been bold face lying to the U.S. news media, claiming that the sanctions have hurt the Iranian economy.  If that’s so then why is Iran swimming in more money than ever before?

Today it was revealed that Iran’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has doubled in the past fives years, despite decades of old sanctions, and despite the new sanctions: “Due to the Islamic Republic of Iran’s economic capacities we have been able to move through the sanctions and will do the same in future as well.”-Seyed Shamseddin Hosseini, Iranian Ministry of Economic Affairs & Finance

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Iran now has the 17th strongest economy in the World, thanks to their GDP rising to $482 billion USD last year.  The IMF expects Iran’s GDP, for 2012, to be more than 3%, and remember, that’s under sanctions!

Iran’s own stock exchange (Tehran Stock Exchange or TSE) has seen a 280% growth rate in the past five years!  The TSE is doing almost too well, so much so that Iranian officials issued a statement to try and calm investors: “Concerns about bubble growth are unfounded. The reason for the rise in the index is the flow of cash into the stock market.”-Ali Sahraie, TSE operations manager

Stock market analysts believe Iran’s TSE has a lot more room for growth: “Even though (the market) is rallying I still think of it as under performing.”-Ahmad Alanani, works for London based Exotix

The United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) boss just came out (in an interview with the Wall Street Journal) and said Iran has no nukes, and that the IAEA could find no evidence suggesting that Iran is trying to build nukes.

However, the IAEA did allude to possible nuke weapons programs that were active prior to 2003: “We don’t have the impression that they are re-concentrating their activities. Before 2003 the work was quite systematic. And after that it is more dispersed. And this situation continues.”-Yukiya Amano

Sanctions against Iran, by the European Union, are set to go into effect on 1 July.

Business/Economics, International

What Economic Recovery? Japan creates new tax collection police force! Squeezing blood from turnips! Elite Panic Syndrome

11 June 2012, the federal government of Japan announced the creation of a new type of cop, a tax collecting cop!

Being referred to as a new “revenue service agency”, the strong arm tax collectors will be put together by the Welfare Ministry and the Japan Pension Service.

It’s hoped that by 2015 the new tax busters will be under the direct control of the National Tax Agency, and full blown bōryokudan tax collecting operations will be underway by 2018.

The federal government of Japan says such a new tax collecting cop is necessary because tax revenues are way down and they want to make sure everyone is paying their fair share.

No shit Sherlock!  Tax revenues are down because unemployment is up and business are shutting down!  Maybe instead of trying to squeeze blood from a turnip, you exalted elitists leaders should be finding ways to infuse your dieing economy with new blood!   (but historically, this is typical of government systems facing crashing tax revenues due to crashing economy. You’d think the elites, with their superior breeding and education would understand that!  It’s part of Elite Panic Syndrome, when they realize they F—ed up)

 

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

What Economic Recovery? Japan to force re-start of nuclear power plants, for the sake of the economic “survival of society.” New studies suggest that power use in Japan can not be reduced much further, even if utility rates are raised!

“To protect the [economic] livelihoods of the Japanese people, it is my judgment that Reactors 3 and 4 at Ohi nuclear power station should be restarted.”-Yoshihiko Noda, Prime Minister of Japan

Despite that fact that local governments in Japan have the final say on the start up of a nuclear power plant, and they’ve said no, the federal government has decided to do it anyway!

Noda gave this dire warning: “Cheap and stable electricity is vital. If all the reactors that previously provided 30% of Japan’s electricity supply are halted, or kept idle, Japanese society can not survive!”

This comes as some studies on utility usage, and increased prices for power, show that most Japanese families/individuals can not reduce power usage any further, no matter how expensive the electric rates get.   Electricity rates in Japan are already among the most expensive rates in the world!

Fukushima

One Year Later: Japanese government incompetence; still no official nuclear disaster emergency regulations!

8 June 2012, NHK (nippon housou kyoukai/Japan Broadcasting Corporation) reporting that more than one year after the nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daiichi began, the federal government of Japan still has no new official policy regarding nuclear disasters!

Last year most local governments, and individuals, learned of government evacuation instructions through media, not federal government channels.  Also, it’s now known that some people actually evacuated the wrong way, into radiation plumes, and many of the emergency centers did not perform as expected.

The federal government scrapped their old policies, as they proved totally useless, and were supposed to come up with new ones by now!

About the only thing the federal government of Japan has agreed on is to expand danger zones around nuclear plants from 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) to 30 km (18.6 miles).

More than 130 municipal governments are supposed to create their own nuke disaster regulations, but, they’re supposed to be based on the, so far, non-existent federal regulations.

A new federal nuclear regulatory body was supposed to be up and running in April 2012, but it never happened.

Fukushima

One Year Later: GE designed Fukushima Daiichi Reactors still leaking cooling water! No decommissioning until it stops!

8 June 2012, Tokyo Electric (TEPCo) said that employees inspected the basements of Reactors 2 & 3, for the first time since the March 2011 nuclear disaster began!

Now, more than a year later, TEPCo officials say it is clear that the reactor vessels are damaged and still leaking! Really, after all this time?

The basement of Reactor 2 has 5.33 meters (17.3 feet) of contaminated water, and Reactor 3 has 5.43 meters (17.7 feet)!

Rather than dump sand, lead, boric acid and concrete on the thing (as the Soviets did with Chernobyl), the Japanese government, and TEPCo, have decided to shut down the GE designed disaster reactors, as if they were functioning normally!

The problem is that it requires the cooling down of the reactors, and the removal of melted fuel rods.  And that can only be accomplished by stopping any leaks and removing all contaminated water.  Here’s the thing, more than one year later, TEPCo still does not know where the water is leaking from!!!

Business/Economics, U.S.

Government Incompetence: Hurting for revenue U.S. Postal Service considers giving junk mail companies a cheaper rate? Don’t blame USPS, blame Congress!

8 June 2012, The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is supposedly in financial trouble, no thanks to the U.S. Congress, but now there are reports that the USPS could give one of the countries largest junk mail distributor a cut rate deal!

Valassis Direct Mail has been negotiating with the USPS for a lower rate.  But wait, don’t blame the USPS!  The USPS can not set postal rates!  It is the U.S. Congress that makes those deals! It’s actually the Postal Regulatory Commission that Valassis Direct Mail has been negotiating with.

For some reason the mainstream newspaper media is bashing the USPS directly.  The Newspaper Association of America (NAA) says it’s not fair to give junk mail distributors a cut rate on postage, especially when the USPS is in need of cash.

It is the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) that will make the decision on the deal. The PRC is a Congressional commission!!!

In September 2011, the USPS Postmaster General, and the president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, explained in a heated PBS interview that it was the rules imposed by the U.S. Congress (like over paying into federal funds) that is destroying the USPS.

One of those rules is that it is Congress that makes the postage rate deals!

At the end of May 2012, the USPS announced they will layoff 45,000 employees.  It’s part of the plans to layoff 150,000 employees by 2015.  Also in May, USPS announced they would try and cut back on working hours, hoping to prevent closing down anymore post offices and distribution centers.

The United States Postal Service does not make money off taxpayers, they are solely funded by the postage they charge (prices are controlled by Congress, not USPS), and other products they sell.  The cuts being made to the USPS will have no affect on U.S. government (taxpayer) debt.

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? President of Argentina dumps U.S. dollars. Pesos more profitable, or just another sign of Hyper Inflation?

“I’ve just had one fixed term account in dollars for some time, and I’ve decided to put it in pesos, it’s more profitable to have it in [Argentine] pesos.”-Cristina Fernandez, President of Argentina

7 June 2012, la Presidenta also urged “…any officials who’ve got a few little dollars to do the same thing.”

Argentina is the number three economy in South America.  However, having a booming economy has resulted in an inflation rate around 9 to 10%!  The result is that many people, and banks, in Argentina are buying up U.S. dollars to try and hedge against hyperinflation.

Argentines have been there done that many times before.  Many people bought U.S. dollars to survive Argentina’s notorious hyperinflation in the past, but this time the U.S. economy is in the toilet, so buying up those gringo dollars might be a bad move.

 

 

Business/Economics, U.S.

Government Incompetence: Vacuum cleaner causes fire that results in $400 million repair bill for U.S. taxpayers!

It turns out that a “massive” fire on a U.S. Navy nuclear submarine, on May 24,  was caused by a vacuum cleaner!  It burned for several hours and sent several personnel to the hospital. The sub was docked at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, in the U.S. state of Maine.

Now comes the news that the fire was caused by a vacuum cleaner “…stored in an unoccupied space…”, and that the “…initial rough repair cost…” will be $400 million plus 10%!!!

And guess who pays for the U.S. Navy’s mistakes?  The U.S. taxpayer!

At least the Russian’s claimed their recent submarine fire was an act of sabotage by U.S. agents.