Tag Archives: banks

Fukushima

Japan Modern Day Atlantis round 12: Land continues to shift, slow moving landslide devouring houses

A slow moving landslide, in Niigata Prefecture, has devoured eleven homes, so far.  Locals are trying to stop the Earthly sloth by building a mound of dirt.

The landslide is 150 meters (492 feet) wide and 750 meters (2,460 feet) long, and is moving at only 17 centimeters (6.7 inches) per hour! The next victims in its path are a hamlet of 20 people.

Niiagata Prefecture was hit with heavy snow recently, and officials say the landslide is being cause by melt-water deep in the ground.

They’re building a 5 meter (16 feet) high mound of dirt, and trying to pump out melt-water from the ground.  They think the landslide sloth will gain in size and speed as more snow melts.  At least 80 people have been evacuated.

JAPAN MODERN DAY ATLANTIS ROUND 11: MORE THAN 10,000 EARTHQUAKES HIT JAPAN IN THE PAST YEAR! JAPAN ISLANDS SHIFT EASTWARD!

Fukushima

Government Incompetence: Japan refused to co-operate with IAEA safety guidlines!

It’s been revealed that six years ago the Japanese Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) was asked to adopt the safety guidelines of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The request was made in 2006 by Japan’s Nuclear Safety Commission.  Top NISA officials refused, saying things such as evacuation areas as recommended by the IAEA, would cause undue anxiety among the masses!

Hideaki Tsuzuku, of the Nuclear Safety Commission, blasted NISA, saying if they had followed the IAEA’s guidelines evacuations would have taken place sooner, and faster!

NISA official Yoshinori Moriyama, admitted they never thought such a nuclear accident, as Fukushima Daiichi, could happen!

Fukushima

Corporate/Government Incompetence: For the 1st time TEPCo tries to access #2 & #3 reactors. Big Fail! Radiation levels higher than thought, too high for humans!

March 15, 2012, workers at the damaged GE designed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, tried to enter the basements of reactors 2 and 3.  It was the first attempt since the March 2011 disaster!

FAIL! Radiation levels are still too high for humans, and, on top of that, they discovered the basement doors for reactor 3 are jammed shut!

Tokyo Electric says they need access to the reactor suppression chambers, in order to assess the damage.  They have not been able to do so for a year!

Radiation levels emitted from the suppression chamber of reactor 2 hit 160 millisieverts per hour!  Radiation levels outside the basement door of reactor 3 are 75 millisieverts per hour.  The radiation levels are too high for workers to continue with anymore work around those reactors!

Radiation levels must be lower in order for TEPCo’s plan to remove melted fuel can work.

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Corporate Crime: BizJet agrees to pay $11.8 million fine for bribing foreign officials. Mexico will now take BizJet to court

Oklahoma based BizJet settled with the U.S. Justice Department, regarding the bribing of Mexican and Panamanian officials.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice announcement, BizJet will co-operate with ongoing investigations. Germany’s Lufthansa is also named as BizJet’s “indirect parent company” and will also co-operate with the Justice Department.

It was Lufthansa who discovered, and reported the bribery taking place between BizJet and Mexican and Panamanian officials.  The bribes concerned maintaining government aircraft in both countries.  Bribes involved Mexico’s Federal Police, the Mexican President’s fleet, the air fleets for the Mexican states of Sinaloa and Sonora, and Panama’s civil aviation authority.

Mexico’s Attorney General is now investigating the case as well.

 

 

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Corporate Evil: 12 year veteran of Goldman Sachs quits, confirms they are a bunch of Money Vampires & consider investors Puppets

“I can honestly say that the environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it.”-Greg Smith, former Goldman Sachs executive director U.S. equity operations in Europe, Middle East & Africa

Greg Smith, a 12 year employee of Goldman Sachs quit in disgust. He witnessed first hand how these power hungry elites feel about their customers: “It makes me ill how callously people talk about ripping their clients off. Over the last 12 months I have seen five different managing directors refer to their own clients as ‘muppets,’ sometimes over internal e-mail.”

Smith lets the public in on current Goldman Sachs policies: “…a) Execute on the firm’s “axes,” which is Goldman-speak for persuading your clients to invest in the stocks or other products that we are trying to get rid of because they are not seen as having a lot of potential profit. b) “Hunt Elephants.” In English: get your clients – some of whom are sophisticated, and some of whom aren’t – to trade whatever will bring the biggest profit to Goldman. Call me old-fashioned, but I don’t like selling my clients a product that is wrong for them. c) Find yourself sitting in a seat where your job is to trade any illiquid, opaque product with a three-letter acronym.”

Smith also warns that things could get worse: “…the most common question I get from junior analysts about derivatives is, ‘How much money did we make off the client?’ It bothers me every time I hear it, because it is a clear reflection of what they are observing from their leaders about the way they should behave. Now project 10 years into the future: You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that the junior analyst sitting quietly in the corner of the room hearing about ‘muppets,’ ‘ripping eyeballs out’ and ‘getting paid’ doesn’t exactly turn into a model citizen.”

Smith is calling on the Board of Directors to take action: “Weed out the morally bankrupt people, no matter how much money they make for the firm. And get the culture right again, so people want to work here for the right reasons. People who care only about making money will not sustain this firm…”

Concerning “morally bankrupt”, did you know the ‘christian’ CEO of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein, has nicknamed his job of ripping of people “God’s Work”!

Protestors attack Goldman Sachs

Fukushima

One Year Later: Potential wild fires threaten to spread even more radiation, Japanese firefighters concerned!

Apparently people are starting to realize another threat within the 20km No-Go Zone around Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant; wildfires.

There are no firefighters within the No-Go Zone, and outside the zone there is not sufficient water in the piped systems for firefighters to hook hoses up to.

On March 13, 2012, area firefighters held a drill to prepare for a possible wildfire inside the No-Go Zone. They had to use tanker trucks and helicopters to bring in water.

The firefighters also had to wear radiation suits, and take radiation readings.  The fear is that a wildfire within the No-Go Zone would spread more radiation by burning up contaminated plants and buildings.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

World War 3: Japan sanctions Iranian bank, move could backfire on Japan’s already disintigrating economy

On March 13, 2012, the Japanese government imposed sanctions against another Iranian bank, the 21st since last year.

It’s called Bank Tejarat, and is the third largest in Iran.  There’s just one problem, most of the deals involve Iranians buying Japanese products, not the other way round!

In 2011 Iranians bought U.S.$1.65 billion worth of Japanese industrial products. The majority of those transactions went through Bank Tejarat.  What this means is that in the name of trying to maintain good relations with the United States (after announcing $10 billion deal to dump U.S. bonds for Chinese) the leaders of Japan have possibly destroyed any chances of economic recovery.

As usual Japanese leaders are masters of understatement: “There may be a slight impact, but we believe that it is now most important to carry out international cooperation.”-Koichiro Gemba, Foreign Minister of Japan

 

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Global Economic War: Japan to dump U.S. bonds for Chinese bonds, getting ready for March 29 debut of anti-U.S. BRICS Bank

On March 13, 2012, the Chinese government approved a request from Japan, to buy U.S.$10 billion worth of bonds.

Japanese officials admitted the move was to help them “diversify” away from U.S. bonds.  The move signals the growing influence of the Chinese yuan, as a international currency.

It also comes as BRICS countries prepare to sign an agreement on March 29 that would create a new international banking system that refuses to use the U.S. dollar.

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

Oil & Gas Prices: IEF backs up claims by Exxon Mobil; there is plenty of oil

“Even now the market is well supplied. New fields are being discovered. There are new areas where sources are being developed. The sources of supply are spreading and this will change the politics of oil.”-Aldo Flores- Quiroga, IEF Secretary General

One more authoritarian voice joins in to say there is not a lack of oil, oil prices are only going up because of those damn speculators!

Well not just because of the speculators.  Officials with the International Energy Forum, also said that the oil industry needs new investments, and big profits, in order to exploit the new sources of oil, to the tune of $700 billion every year!

Last week the CEO of Exxon Mobil said the same thing, that there was plenty of oil in the pipeline, but he did directly blame the speculators on the high prices.

 

 

Business/Economics, U.S.

Government Incompetence: Speaker of the House reveals why U.S. Congress can’t get anything done

The following statements are from John Boehner’s interview with the Wall Street Journal:

“My problem is not with our 89 freshmen, my problem is with a few senior members who—they always want more. They always want more than what you can produce….[Nancy Pelosi] went through the same problem with her side.”

“We got 435 members. It’s just a slice of America, it really is. We got some of the smartest people in the country who serve here, and some of the dumbest. We got some of the best people you’d ever meet, and some of the raunchiest. We’ve got ’em all.“

“I told them they have ocular rectitis. That’s when your eyes get confused with your butt, and it develops into (an unnecessarily fecal) outlook on life.”

When asked what was behind political scandals, money or sex, Boehner replied: “Rarely is money an issue.”