Tag Archives: economy

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

What Economic Recovery? Mazda in trouble, needs $2.87 billion cash!

After announcing some very fuel efficient vehicles (which will not be sold in the U.S. for some reason), Mazda has announced that it needs at least $2.87 billion cash! (early reports from Japan said $1 billion)

For the year 2011, Mazda’s said it expected an annual net loss of about $1 billion (to be officially reported at the end of March).  It would make four years in a row that Mazda has lost big money!

To raise the billions of dollars Mazda needs, they’re issuing more stocks. Officials want to get $2.87 billion for the new stocks, but hope stock prices stay high enough that they would get at least $1.25 billion.  Also, Mazda plans to borrow more than $870 million, on top of the cash raised by stock issues!

Mazda needs the money to increase production, and build a new factory in Mexico.  The majority of Mazda’s new cars will be sold in South America, Australia and Asia, not in the United States.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Black Horse & What Economic Recovery? EU approves yet another bail out loan for Greece! Yet again it’s too little to do any good

Early morning February 21, 2012, European Union finance ministers approved a 130 billion Euro bail out loan for Greece.

However, on February 20, EU finance minister Johan van Overtveldt, said it would take at least 200 billion Euros!  Obviously this latest loan is not going to be enough, yet again!

Many Greeks are convinced they are being hit by a sinister plot to turn their country into a Third World nation.

…there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a day’s wages, and three quarts of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!”

Fukushima

Government Incompetence: Japan’s own government experts blame the government for lack of response to nuclear disaster at Fukushima! Only 2 reactors now operating in Japan

Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency is being questioned by their own experts regarding the safety of nuclear reactors.  The Agency responded by censoring their own experts!

A publicized debate held by Agency experts was cut short, when it became clear that the consensus was that the government was accountable for the lack of response to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, and that the current “stress tests” were also lacking.

The censorship happened specifically because of criticisms of the Agency’s approval of stress testing done at the Ohi nuclear plant.

Experts were pissed: “I feel deceived!”-Ino Hiromitsu, Professor Emeritus University of Tokyo

“The panel started to fully review plant safety to prevent another Fukushima!  Why are you rushing for a conclusion?”-Goto Masashi, Shibaura Institute of Technology

An official with the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency basically said they’re getting impatient, when he pointed out that the experts have already met eight times about nuclear safety.

Japan is now down to just two operating nuclear reactors, out of 54 total.  Most reactors have been shut down for routine maintenance and inspections, but, local governments are the only ones who can OK restart, and so far they all say ‘no way’.

Japan’s major industries rely on electricity from nuclear power plants.  Japan’s crashing economy is being caused in large part to its major industries struggling to operate with so little power plants on line.  The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency is probably being pushed to convince local governments to get those power plants back on line.

 

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

Who Owns the Moon? United States declares no fly zone over the Moon, The New Space Race is On! Space War next?

There’s a new space race, thanks in part to Google’s Lunar X Prize, but also because the Moon is indeed full of mineral wealth.

But the new race is not for exploration, it’s for exploitation. The Moon has titanium, trace amounts of water, and rare minerals used in high tech electronics: “In our case it’d be people prospecting for the best places to mine the water, or mine the metals…”-David Gump, Astrobotic Technology

China has a lunar satellite in orbit, and hopes to put an unmanned explorer on the Moon by 2013.  India also has a satellite orbiting the Moon.

You might think Republican Newt Gingrich is crazy with his plans for U.S. domination of the Moon, but he’s not too far off from official policy!

NASA (National Aeronautics & Space Administration) issued a report (dated July 20, 2011) titled How to Protect and Preserve the Historic and Scientific Value of U.S. Government Lunar Artifacts.

It’s not just about artifacts brought back from the Moon, but it recommends that the Apollo sites on the Moon should be declared “no fly zones”, and that the U.S. must make every effort to get back to the Moon: “…we’re coming into an age of exploitation…because of the changing environment, and much more use of space by other groups…we’re beginning to think about it.”– Robert Kelso, author of NASA report

The U.S. government has also declared that the United States is the only country that should have exclusive access to the Moon, simply because it was the first to put people on the Moon!

 

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Black Horse & What Economic Recovery? Bail out delays; Greece needs loans equal to its total GDP! Greece warned of Third World status. Greeks believe the World is against them, sinister plots

February 20, 2012, European Union finance minister, Johan van Overtveldt, said one of the reasons bail out loans keep getting put on hold is because everyday new problems are revealed.

He says Greece now needs loans at least equal to its GDP, in order to get through the next few years: “So we are talking now about a package that in reality is about 200 billion euros, which happens to be exactly the amount equal to Greek gross domestic product.”

Overtveldt also said what many independent, and traditional economists have been saying; that cuts to Greek government spending will only make things worse: “The negative spiral in which the Greek economy and Greek society have been imprisoned for almost two years will only get worse. The austerity program that is imposed on the country will worsen the recession, which in its turn will worsen the budget outlook.”

He added that it was probably a good thing for Greece to leave the European Union: “It will lead, of course, to a devaluation of the new drachma but that is exactly what is needed to get the economy growing again through international trade.”

In fact many Greeks have been wanting their government to leave the EU, because they think it’s all part of a sinister plot.

Greek author, politician and songwriter, Mikis Theodorakis, says there is a conspiracy to destroy his country: “Germans, for instance, as well as the French, English and Americans, earned billions of Euros from annual sales of war materials, to the detriment of our national wealth….Siemens, for instance, maintained a special department for buying off the influential Greeks in order to sell its products in the Greece market.”

Theodorakis might be right about his beloved Greece being destroyed.  Economist Harlan Green, said the Mediterranean country is on its way to Third World status, and implied that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was behind it: “Greece is sliding very quickly into being a third world country, and the IMF knows how to deal with third world countries.”

As far as sinister plots go; don’t forget that the new unelected Prime Minister of Greece is a member of the Trilateral Commission!

…there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a day’s wages, and three quarts of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!”

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? U.S. sanctions against Iran means death knell for French steel factory

On February 20, 2012, French steel workers are occupying the ArcelorMittal steel plant in northeast France.  Two blast furnaces have been shut down since October 2011.

I’ve posted how U.S. sanctions against Iran include the steel industry, and it’s having negative affects, not for Iran but the West!

The shut down of the ArcelorMittal blast furnaces is supposed to be temporary, but last week company officials announced an extension to the shut down.  About 200 employees responded by taking over company offices.  Employees fear the temporary shut down is going to become permanent, no thanks in part to the U.S. and European sanctions against Iran.

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

Black Horse & Government Incompetence: Mortgage Settlement money to be used to destroy homes, not keep people in their homes! No protection against MERS! Scams already taking place

Recently the Obama administration announced a victory against the too big to fail banks which are causing the home foreclosure nightmare.  Basically the banks admitted they screwed up, and agreed to pay a huge settlement to help people (lucky enough to still be in their homes) refinance their loans.

But now it’s been revealed that money going directly to state governments can be used for anything, and some local governments will use that settlement money to tear down vacant homes!

The Huffington Post is also reporting that Cleveland, Ohio, has already spent $60 million tearing down homes repossessed by the too big to fail banks.  And that money came from city social programs meant to help the poor!

“We would have much rather spent that money helping families and creating homes rather than knocking houses down that we believe are owned by some very well resourced banks.”-Chris Warren, Cleveland, Ohio’s chief of Regional Development

Now, Ohio is set to get $335 million from the National Mortgage Settlement, and $75 million will be used to tear down homes, rather than get people back into them!

Ohio is getting a big chunk of the settlement money, while New Hampshire is getting a smaller share.  In an opinion piece out of New Hampshire, the SentinelSource says “…investigations have turned up enough reckless and unprofessional behavior on the part of big mortgage loan servicers to justify their paying penalties and granting relief — and in sums far larger than the settlement calls for.”

One aspect of this “settlement” is that states get a large amount of money that has apparently no strings attached. In other words they can do whatever they want with it.

In the case of Idaho, Attorney General Lawrence Wasden said on top of the money going to help keep Idahoans from losing their homes (and the piddly, and I mean piddly!, amounts of money being paid to people who already lost their homes), the state of Idaho gets more than $13 million!

  • Eligible Idaho borrowers will receive an estimated $74,686,493 in benefits from loan modifications and other direct relief.
  • Approximately 5,000 Idaho borrowers who lost their home to foreclosure between January 1, 2008, and December 31, 2011, because of substandard servicing practices, will receive $9,998,041 in cash payments averaging $1,500 to $2,000 for each affected borrower. These borrowers have been identified by their servicers and will be contacted by the settlement administrator.
  • The settling servicers will pay $15,172,779 to fund a program that allows underwater borrowers to refinance their loans.
  • The state will receive $13,932,238.

Notice there’s nothing specific about what the more than $13 million going directly to the government of Idaho is to be used for.

Also, the settlement does nothing to protect homebuyers from MERS (Mortgage Electronic Registry System).  Recently the Attorney General of New York filed suit against the too big to fail banks on the grounds that MERS was causing many of the foreclosures, illegally: “…brought foreclosure proceedings en masse based on deceptive and fraudulent court submissions, seeking to take homes away from people with little regard for basic legal requirements or the rule of law.”-Eric Schneiderman, New York Attorney General

To make matters worse, several states, like Alabama and Virginia, are reporting scams: “The caller requests the consumer’s bank account number and alleges that he will direct deposit settlement money into the consumer’s bank account…  Mortgage borrowers should contact their mortgage servicers directly…”-Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II, Virginia Attorney General

…there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a day’s wages, and three quarts of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!”

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Government Incompetence & World War 3: United States increasingly isolated over Sanctions against Iran. India and Japan still buying Iranian oil. South Korea gets exemption

“India’s decision to walk out of step with the international community on Iran isn’t just a slap in the face for the U.S. – it raises questions about its ability to lead. The Indian government’s ill-advised statement last week that it will continue to purchase oil from Iran is a major setback for the U.S. attempt to isolate the Iranian government…”-Nicholas Burns, former U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs

India joins a growing list of countries basically telling the U.S., and U.K., to go stuff themselves.  Indian government officials are working with Indian companies to create a system that will let them pay for Iranian oil with Indian rupees.

In Japan, an affiliate of Royal Dutch Shell, says they will continue buying Iranian oil despite pressure from the U.S. government. Showa Shell Sekiyu KK is Japan’s 5th largest refinery, and uses 100,000 barrels per day of Iranian oil.  Officials say they are affiliated with Royal Dutch Shell, but they operate independently and have their own contracts with Iran.  This is also why Iran has not stopped oil shipments to Japan (Royal Dutch Shell is a British/U.S./Dutch controlled company).

Then there’s South Korea, which has managed to convince U.S. lawmakers to exempt more than 2,000 Korean companies from the sanctions.  Not only that, but South Korea’s Woori Bank, and the Industrial Bank of Korea, do business directly with Iran Central Bank.  Their transactions are done in Korean money, thus avoiding the U.S. petro-dollar.

International, Technology

World War 3: Russia makes giant underwater Taser cannons, claim they’re to fight terrorism, really for taking out U.S. SEALS.

Russia is building giant underwater stun guns, that create a powerful shock wave meant to knock out any would be terrorist underwater.

Russia’s Interior Ministry seems to think their ports are prime targets for anti-Russia terrorists: “The current state of security at our ports and dams leaves a lot to be desired, so the new systems will provide a layer of defense.”-unnamed Interior Ministry official

They claim the target of the giant water proof taser gun are terrorist divers, like the U.S. Navy’s SEALS (SEa Air Land teamS).

Russia is not the first country to make giant stun guns. Israel has developed a shock wave cannon, officially to help Israeli farmers scare off birds.  Most likely “birds” is code for Palestinians.

Israel’s stun cannons explode gas in impulse chambers to create a shock wave that can stun.  Russia’s underwater stun guns use electricity to create basically a powerful electro-magnetic pulse on the same frequency as human hearing, thus knocking out the SEALS.

Fukushima

Pale Green Horse & Fukushima: Damaged GE reactors still spewing radiation almost a year later!

On 20 February 2012, the Japanese media was given a short tour of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

The tour was quick because the disaster reactors are still emitting high levels of radiation.

To give you an example; just at reactor 4, daily radiation levels are higher than the yearly safe limit for the civilian population!

The safe limit is one millisievert per year.  Reactor 4 is still pumping out 50 microsieverts per hour!  That’s 1,200 microsieverts, or 1.2 millisieverts per day!

Remember, that’s just from one of the four damaged reactors.

I looked and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him.  They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.