Tag Archives: economy

Business/Economics, U.S.

False Capitalism & Class Warfare: While social programs are slashed & burned, Corporate America makes billions off taxes! Where are the jobs you elitist A-Holes?

Ever wonder how Corporate America can make money when we Consumers are spending less because most of us have less income?  It’s called “tax loopholes”, or “backdoor subsidies”, or “corporate welfare”!

Citizens for Tax Justice, and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, just updated their recent study on how too big to fail Corporate America is making money off the U.S. tax system.

The study, first published in November 2011, showed that so called Corporate America was actually getting paid by the U.S. tax system due to loopholes.

From 2008 through 2010, 30 of the top U.S. corporations actually had negative tax rates, even though the same 30 companies had total pre-tax profits in the hundreds of billions of dollars!  All together they had a -7.1% tax rate, but Pepsi led the pack with a -57.6% tax rate, and General Electric took second with -45.3%!

For 2011 the number of corporations with negative tax rates dropped to 26.   Pepsi and GE still led the pack with negative tax rates.

Basically what Corporate America is getting is a type of backdoor government subsidy, something right wing neo-conservative Capitalists have always said shouldn’t be done in a true capitalist system.

The study showed that from 2008 through 2011 the 30 companies have received more than $78 billion in total tax subsidies!

Here’s a list of some of the big subsidy recipients: “Wells Fargo alone garnered $21.6 billion in tax subsidies over the four years, followed by General Electric ($10.6 billion), Verizon ($7.7 billion), and Boeing ($6.0 billion).”–Big No-Tax Corps Just Keep on Dodging

Now realize that all this free tax money to Corporate America has not resulted in the creation of the millions of new jobs that are needed to create an economic recovery!

Wake up people!!!  “Accordingly, they [elitist individuals & corporations] ink multi-billion dollar agreements and loot the energy, oil, wealth and existence of the nations, whereas they are the major cause of insecurity themselves!”-Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran, April 10, 2012

 

 

 

Business/Economics, U.S.

Corporate Evil: More proof the Too Big to Fail Banks mortgage forclosures are intentional, Bank president pleads guilty in court

April 9, 2012, Gerard Canino, president of New York’s First Class Equities, pled guilty to $66 million USD mortgage fraud scheme.

“As the president and owner of First Class Equities, Gerard Canino should have promoted responsible home ownership and protected the integrity of the mortgage finance industry. Instead, he used his firm to commit a massive mortgage fraud scheme that left scores of foreclosed properties in its wake.”-Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney  

Canino and his firm recruited “straw buyers”; people who posed as home buyers to purchase distressed properties but who had no intention of paying the mortgages.  The bank loans meant for buying the properties actually went to Canino and his co-conspirators. Court papers said the Long Island based firm ran the fraud from 2004 to 2009.

If you think about it, $66 million is a drop in the big bucket of home foreclosures. 

Business/Economics, Technology, U.S.

Former Postal Employees, and former contractors, convicted of ripping off the USPS and its customers, USPS warns of malware fraud

April 6, 2012, a 45 year old California man pled guilty to ripping off the United States Postal Service using a trucking company called Golden Pacific Logistics (GPL).

According to the prosecutor the man was awarded $6.4 million USD in contracts to do business with the USPS, of which $4.4 million were fraudulent.  His 39 year old wife pled guilty back on March 28.

The man was also a U.S. Postal Service manager, and he used his position to get the fraudulent contracts for his trucking company.  They will be sentenced on July 11.

In Connecticut, a 50 year old former postal clerk was just sentenced for stealing money orders he sold to customers, and for embezzling union funds.

He managed to steal $11,300 worth of money orders by voiding them after he sold them to customers, or by going through people’s mail and taking the postal money orders.  He ripped off his fellow postal workers by stealing more than $8,800 in Postal Union funds, while serving as president of Local 3093 Union from 2007 through 2008.

He was sentenced to five years probation, the first six months being home arrest with electronic monitoring, 200 hours of community service and paying restitution of $20,201.

The USPS is also warning people of a malware (malicious software) email.

People are getting emails basically telling them they have a refund waiting, and it looks like you’re clicking on the USPS ClicknShip link, but you’re actually opening a program that collects all your info off your computer.

The USPS says just delete such emails, and contact them directly about any refunds.

Note: The United States Postal Service operates on money that comes from you and me buying postal products, not our taxes!

 

 

 

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Department of Labor to end long term unemployment help, even though job creation is slacking, Merry early Xmas!

“It’s a hard cut off, there is no phase out. Nobody gets squat after December 31!”-Bob Fick, U.S. Department of Labor

The U.S. government is ending long term unemployment help (stop calling it “benefits” main stream U.S. media!!!).  Emergency unemployment compensation is being reduced from 53 weeks, to just 13.  Another program known as extended benefits is being ended altogether.

As a result, in the state of Idaho overall maximum unemployment help will drop from 99 weeks to 39!

The official U.S. unemployment rate is at 8.2%, Idaho’s official unemployment rate is around 8%. But that doesn’t mean companies are hiring enough people.

April 9, 2012, U.S. stock markets dropped because of news that hiring is not what everyone thought it was. The U.S. Department of Labor announced that 120,000 jobs were created in March.  That’s 80,000 less than expected!

Many “experts” were sure it would be more than 200,000!   In fact many of those “experts” now think the job gains of the previous three months were temporary, and more losses are to come: “We’re thinking that the economic data is going to lose some momentum from here going forward.”-Bob Baur, Principal Global Investors

Even Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said the recent drop in official unemployment numbers was “out of sync”.

Teenagers continue to get hit hard with lack of jobs.  The official rate of unemployment for them is 25%!  The highest rate since last year, and getting close to the all time record of 25.5% in 2009 (the highest since 1948)!

Here’s a fact: There are 5.1 million less U.S. jobs now, than in December 2007! The U.S. economy needed to create at least 4.7 million new jobs since then, in order to “recover”, and it has not!

Here’s another interesting fact about the official unemployment numbers game:  New York City is considered to have made a faster “recovery” than the rest of the country, yet their unemployment numbers have gone up!  They’re now around 9.6% unemployment, close to the 10% they hit in 2009.

This is just an example of how you can’t trust the “official” numbers.  Remember, the official unemployment rate does not count people who have been unemployed for so long they no longer qualify for unemployment assistance. Also, the Department of Labor issues at least six different “unemployment numbers”.

U-3 is the one the main stream U.S. media runs with.  It’s the one giving us the 8.2% rate for March.  The Department of Labor calls it the “official unemployment rate”.

But there is also U-6, and it says the unemployment rate is 14.5%!  It’s also known as the “under-employed”, which means people who are working part time but want full time work.  The Department of Labor said there were 7.7 million under-employed people in March 2012.

U-1 is also the “employment to population rate”, which looks at how many people have jobs, and it says 58.5% of the people have jobs.

Then there’s U-4 and U-5 (aka “long term unemployment” or “discouraged workers”) numbers which tries to count people who’ve been out of work for more than six months. It’s now at 5.3 million long term unemployed.

There’s also U-2 which tries to count people who just lost their jobs.

It’s confusing, especially when you get to the “discouraged” calculations.  Examples: U-4 is U-3 + “discouraged workers”.  U-5 is U-4 + “marginally attached workers”.  U-6 is U-5 + “part time workers who want full time work”.

The bottom line is that there are millions of people in the United States still without jobs, or without good paying jobs, and that is a sign that there is no economic recovery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fukushima, Idaho, Technology

Radiation mystery at Idaho National Laboratory, Cesium & Cobalt

U.S. department of Energy reported on April 6, 2012, that radioactive particles of cesium and cobalt are being found on construction materials.

A contractor discovered the contamination.  Officials think it could be from the demolition of old buildings in that area of the INL site, which would imply that the buildings were contaminated before being torn down.

A local east Idaho DOE spokesman said there was no concern “…unless you get it onto your skin…” and you had “…prolonged exposure…”

Employees and vehicles are now being checked for contamination as they enter and leave the site.

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

Oil & Gas Prices: Egyptian pipeline blown up again, Natural Gas Glut results in 10 years low prices, U.S. investigates European oil companies in Libya, Iran reduces oil exports

According to Azerbaijani media, Iran’s Oil Ministry is confirming that their oil exports are dropping due to Western oil sanctions.

Iranian oil officials say Japan has made the biggest cut in oil purchases, despite recently getting an exemption from the United States.  Japan cut Iranian oil imports by 28% from January to April 2012.

However, Iran’s oil exports have also gone down due to their own oil embargo of the European Union.  The EU’s own oil sanctions go into effect on July 1.

Speaking of Japan, Tokyo Electric, the operator of the nuclear disaster reactors at Fukushima Daiichi, has been using oil to generate electricity, a lot more oil.

TEPCo reported that in March 2012 they used four times the amount of oil than in March 2011.  They also used the most natural gas since August 2011, and August was a record for gas use by TEPCo; 2.079 million tons.

Regarding natural gas, the United States is so full of it, that there is no where left to store the stuff.  Underground salt caverns, depleted oil fields and aquifers are being used but even they are rapidly filling.

The result is that drilling and pumping of the LNG will have to stop, natural gas prices are at ten year lows (we consumers like that).  Maybe this will mean an end to fracking and man made earthquakes?

But that might be bad news for places like Williamsport, Pennsylvania.  The town has seen an economic boom; their tax revenues have gone up more than 10% between 2006 and 2010, and 115 new business in and around Lycoming County have been created.

In Egypt, ever since the January 2011 Revolution their gas pipeline to Israel and Jordan keeps getting blown up.  April 9, 2012, it got blown up again, for the 14th time since the Revolution.

In Libya, U.S. officials are investigating oil deals made with Italy’s Eni, and France’s Total.  The companies are being investigated for their connections to Muammar Gaddafi.

Eni officials said certain payments made to Gaddafi might have violated the U.S. Foreign Corruption Practice Act.  The U.S. is helping the new Libyan government investigate many oil companies, and could result in huge fines being levied in favor of the new government.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

Idaho’s Coldwater Creek loses a VP, Judge tells former employee to expect more prison time, makes store closings watch list

A 1st District Judge in Idaho, has refused to accept terms of a plea agreement.

The case involves a former executive assistant at Coldwater Creek.  She pled guilty in exchange for paying $251,943 in restitution, a suspended three to 10 year prison sentence, and 90 days in county jail.

She is accused of racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulent personal expenses at Coldwater Creek, and taking money from a non-profit group involved in education.

The judge said he didn’t like the 90 day county jail time deal, because there are other cases of fraud, in Idaho, in which the defendants took much less money, and spent much more time in county jail, after making a plea deal.

Also, Overstock.com has hired away Coldwater Creek’s vice president of marketing.

Timothy Dilworth worked for Coldwater Creek since 2000.  But is Overstock.com getting a good executive?  After all, hasn’t Coldwater Creek been losing sales for the past several years?

According to Internet Retailer, out of the top 500 U.S. retail companies Coldwater Creek ranks 93rd (not to bad, if that’s 93rd from the top).

Towards the end of March, Coldwater Creek stocks led a small rally in the retail sector. This was due to a smaller net loss than expected.  However, their sales were less than expected as well.  Coldwater Creek stock is now trading for just over one dollar per share.

A Florida based group called Turnaround Management Association, listed Coldwater Creek as one of dozens of troubled U.S. retailers to watch for store closings, right along with Sears.

Turnaround Management Association specializes in distressed debt, liquidations and bankruptcy proceedings concerning retail companies.

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

One Year Later: More radioactive shrooms, shoots & beef

Not even a week after Japan set tougher limits on radioactive cesium in food, but more mushroom farms are found to be contaminated.

In a town 300 kilometers (186.4 miles) from Fukishima Daiichi, a farm in Kanagawa Prefecture discovered their mushrooms contain 141 becquerels of radioactive cesium per kilogram.

The new safe limits are 100 becquerels (prior to that the government was allowing food with 500 becquerels to be sold!).

Bamboo shoot farms in Chiba Prefecture have also turned up contaminated.

Ibaraki Prefecture also reporting that bamboo shoots and shiitake mushrooms are contaminated.

In Gunma Prefecture, beef is contaminated with 106 becquerels of radioactive cesium, although the new safe limits for beef don’t go into effect until October!  Gunma officials say they are still asking cattle ranchers not to ship the beef.

ONE YEAR LATER: SOME FUKUSHIMA FARM ANIMALS WILL BE ALLOWED TO LIVE

Business/Economics, Technology, U.S.

Government & Corporate Incompetence: USGS says 6 fold increase in U.S. earthquakes caused by Oil Industry! California watch out!

“A remarkable increase in the rate of M 3 and greater earthquakes is currently in progress in the U.S. midcontinent. The average number of M >= 3 earthquakes/year increased starting in 2001, culminating in a six-fold increase over 20th century levels in 2011.”-USGS study, Are Seismicity Rate Changes in the Midcontinent Natural or Manmade?

Around the beginning of January 2012, officials from the U.S. Geological Survey testified to Ohio state officials, that the fracking going on in their state was the cause of a sudden string of earthquakes.

In July 2011, the state of Arkansas banned fracking for the same reasons.

Now a new study by USGS geologists, published by Seismological Society of America (SSA), confirms that “…the seismicity rate changes described here are almost certainly manmade…”, due to “…oil and gas production.”

The study will be discussed in more detail at a meeting from April 17-19.

USGS scientists point out that the area of increased quake activity is not normal for that part of the United States: “A naturally-occurring rate change of this magnitude is unprecedented outside of volcanic settings or in the absence of a main shock, of which there were neither in this region.”

The abstract details of the study also say: “The modest increase that began in 2001 is due to increased seismicity in the coal bed methane field of the Raton Basin along the Colorado-New Mexico border west of Trinidad, CO. The acceleration in activity that began in 2009 appears to involve a combination of source regions of oil and gas production, including the Guy, Arkansas region, and in central and southern Oklahoma.”

But this is not the only recent study published by the SSA to link oil production with earthquakes. Another report linked the April 2010 Alice, Texas earthquake to oil production in the Stratton field: “We conclude it is plausible, although not proven definitively, that production in the Stratton field contributed to the occurrence of the 2010 Alice earthquake and an earlier similar earthquake that occurred on 24 March 1997.”

So far most of the quakes are taking place in areas that don’t normally have much seismic activity, but California has plenty of earthquakes, and there’s a lot of oil and gas drilling, including fracking, going on there!

“On the one hand, the Division [California agency regulating petroleum industry] remains in denial about fracking for oil. On the other hand, they ask for and receive funding to regulate it and then don’t do it, and have no plans to do it [‘it’ as in ‘regulate’].”-Bill Allayaud, Environmental Working Group