Tag Archives: economy

Business/Economics, International

Pale Green Horse & H5N1: Vietnam has second 2012 human death caused by Bird Flu

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.

On February 1, 2012, the Vietnamese Health Ministry announced that a 26 year old woman died from H5N1.  It’s the second human death , for Vietnam, since the beginning of 2012.

Until now, Vietnam hasn’t had any human deaths caused by H5N1 for the past two years.

At the end of 2011, Vietnam killed off thousands of poultry, due to H5N1.  In January 2012, an 18 year old man died of H5N1.  The 26 year old woman is said to have worked on one of the poultry farms that was infected with H5N1.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Pale Green Horse & H5N1: More wild birds found dead in Honk Kong. Bangladesh dealing with full blown epidemic.

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.

In the past few weeks several wild birds have turned up dead, in Hong Kong, of H5N1.  On January 26, a dead goose tested positive for H5N1.  Of interest is that it was not from a poultry farm, and was no where near poultry when it was found.  Then on January 30, a dead peregrine falcon was found.  It died of H5N1, and was no where near any poultry farms.  Also on January 30, a black headed gull was found dead of H5N1, however it was found within three km (1.8 miles) of chicken farms.

In Bangladesh, officials have revealed they’ve been dealing with a full blown epidemic involving a dozen poultry farms.

From November to January 31, 67,327 birds and 69,390 eggs were destroyed, in an effort to stop the spread of H5N1.  Officials pointed out that normally the height of the H5N1 season is usually January/February, but they’ve been dealing with this latest outbreak since November!

Farmers in Bangladesh suffered such drastic poultry culling through the winter of 2009/10 as well.

Bangladesh was first hit with H5N1 in March 2007.  Many Asian countries have killed hundreds of thousands of farm birds, in an effort to stop H5N1.  Such action has to adversely affect food supply, and prices.

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Black Horse & World War 3: China makes big, secret, gesture of support for new North Korean leader

…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!”

A South Korean spy group, who posed as tourists in North Korea, say they have photos of convoys of trucks from China, heading into North Korea.

They asked a truck driver what they were hauling and he said it was rice.  North Korea is known to have trouble with not enough food for its people, but China’s shipment of tons and tons of rice is unusual.

The South Korean group said the trucks came and went for 10 days.  Normally China does not send any rice shipments until spring or fall, not in winter.

Analysts think the early rice shipment is a sign to the new North Korean leader that he has the full support of China.  Also, North Korea has recently asked for resumption of food aid from the United States, as part of returning to negotiations, so maybe China is telling him not to worry about food from the U.S., good old Uncle Sino will take care of that.  And who knows, maybe what was in the trucks wasn’t rice?

Fukushima

What Economic Recovery? 130,000 Japanese flee 11 March 2011, disaster areas!

The Tohoku region, which has three of the prefectures hit hardest by the 11 March 2011 disasters, saw 129,385 people leave.

The prefectures affected are of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima.  Fukushima had the most people leave; 31,381.

Believe it or not, people did actually move into the region.  88,159 people moved in, making the net loss of population 40,000. According to Japan’s Internal Affairs Ministry, that’s still the biggest decline in population, in that region, since 1970.

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

Black Horse & What Economic Recovery? Exxon Mobil to quit Japan

…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!”

Exxon Mobil announced that they will give up their controlling stake in Japan’s Tonen General, a major Japanese refinery.

This comes as Japan has 94% of it’s nuclear power plants shut down, and the government planning on increasing power generation through petroleum products.

Officially Exxon Mobil says demand for petroleum is down in Japan, because of fuel efficient vehicles.

Could the real reason be that Japan’s economy is in shambles, with record unemployment levels in 2011, so that even if demand for oil products went up no one is able to pay for them?

Fukushima

Pacific Ring of Fire & Japan Modern Day Atlantis round 6: NE Honshu to be hit by another magnitude 8+ quake

Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) is reporting that the March 11, 2011, magnitude 9 earthquake has created conditions for another large magnitude quake in the same region.

JAMSTEC studied the fault lines off the north east coast of Honshu and concluded that the March 11 quake changed the dynamics of the Pacific Plate, which subducts under Japan.

Normally aftershocks take place when established, or even new, fault lines are compressed.  The aftershocks that have continued since March 11, 2011, are not happening that way, they are the result of the faults being pulled apart.

This type of aftershock action can result in a huge earthquake.  The last time Japan suffered a magnitude 8+ quake, as a result of faults being pulled apart, was 80 years ago.

JAMSTEC says the chances of such a quake have greatly increased, as well as the chances of more massive tsunamis.  This follows a recent report about a huge fault cliff discovered off the southern end of Honshu.

JAPAN MODERN DAY ATLANTIS ROUND 5: SOUTHERN HONSHU COULD SUFFER TSUNAMI EVEN LARGER THAN THE ONE THAT HIT IN MARCH 2011

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

White Horse, Black Horse & World War 3: Western oil embargoes not about Iran’s nuclear industry, or controling the oil itself, it’s all about controling the international oil market (the Beast). We the People are the losers, the Global Oil Industry is the winner.

I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.

…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!”

In 1971 U.S. President Richard Nixon (a Republican Christian) stopped using gold to back up the value of the U.S. dollar.  This was because the rest of the world figured out a way around the global domination of the gold backed U.S. dollar, by buying up U.S. gold.  It was causing problems for the U.S. domestic economy.

In 1973 the Arab members of OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) embargoed oil to the United States, officially in retaliation of U.S. support for Israel, but more because OPEC wanted to better control the price of oil.  You see, after Nixon took the dollar off the gold standard, other countries followed suit.  The result was that money lost value big time, so much so that OPEC wanted to take gold for oil, instead of cash.

Nixon to the rescue, again.  In back room meetings, literally, the Nixon administration made a deal with Saudi Arabia: They could have more say in the price of oil if buyers were forced to use the U.S. dollar (now you know why we’re in the pockets of the Saudis).

…and that no man might buy or sell, save he had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

This is where the term petrodollars comes from.  The deal involves the New York Mercantile Exchange (aka NYMEX, aka Commodities Exchange.  Now controlled by CME Group), and London’s International Petroleum Exchange, or IPE (now you know why the British Empire, our mortal enemy, is tied to the United States).

Canada has their own petrodollars, and it might be the real reason their desire to build a pipeline (called Keystone) through the U.S. was recently shot down by President Barack Obama (a Democrat Christian).  You see Obama really is a U.S. oil man (forget all that ‘protecting the environment’ BS), and Canada don’t trade their oil for U.S. dollars (they have their own dollar thank you very much). But since Canada is part of the British Empire we don’t go to war with them, yet.

And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause as many as would not worship the beast should be killed.

Now for the real reason we invaded Iraq: Saddam Hussein refused to worship the beast.  He started taking Euros instead of going through the U.S. dollar controlled NYMEX, or the IPE.  Iraq never had a military, or enough allies to counter any military attack by the United States, so we invaded and had him humiliated and hung.

Iraq was never tied to al Qaeda, in fact it was Saddam who kept bin Laden and his types out of Iraq.  Iraq never had weapons of mass destruction, that was proven before we invaded, during the invasion and after the invasion.

It wasn’t even about the Iraqi oil itself.  Just look at the lack of U.S. oil companies now involved with pumping Iraqi oil. It was all about maintaining U.S. global hegemony through the forced use of U.S. petrodollars.

In 2006, Ron Paul (a true conservative Republican Christian) wrote about how the whole War on Terror was an excuse for the U.S./U.K. petrodollar system (the beast), and its political supporters (including those who think it’s God’s Will that we dominate), to maintain dominance over the world.

Libya: Qaddafi refused to worship the beast. He made deals with the Russians and Chinese, circumventing the U.S. Petrodollar. It had nothing to do with ‘democracy’.  Just look at what’s happening their now, and who controls the oil?

Unfortunately for Qaddafi Russia and China didn’t feel backing him up was worth it, so the U.S. and NATO backed up the mercenary armies, who beat a shot Qaddafi to death while they streamed it to the world on their cell phones.  This after Qaddafi did everything the British and U.S. wanted him to do, in order to become ‘legitimate’ and have President Bush Jr remove Libya from the rogue nation terrorist list!

Pakistan refuses to worship the beast.  The real reason there’s warmonger talk against Pakistan by our officials is because they buy their oil from Iran.  It’s not about the War on Terror, after all, the Pakistani army has lost more troops, police and civilians fighting the Taliban than we have!

Syria refuses to worship the beast.  They control major oil pipelines running from Iraq and Iran to the Mediterranean.  Iranian oil companies operate in Syria. The U.S. supported violence (the Free Syrian Army admits they are supported by the U.S. and Israel) is not about ‘democracy’!

Iran is not only refusing to worship the beast, but is standing up to it. Iran actually has a powerful, self reliant and up to date military.  They have powerful allies like Russia and China.  They also have created the world’s first oil trading market that takes anything but U.S. dollars for oil.  Yes they even barter for their oil.  A recent report in the Israeli media says Iran, India and China are about to start trading oil for gold (just like the Saudis wanted to do back in 1973).

The U.S. is walking on egg shells in regards to Iran.  So far all the threats from our government are just hot air.  Russia and China have made it clear they will support Iran.  Russian officials have even said that Syria is the red line the the U.S. must not cross.

Now the U.S. is attempting back room deals with countries like Pakistan and China.  Several reports say U.S. officials are trying to get the Pakistanis to give up cheap Iranian natural gas, in exchange for cheap U.S. natural gas.  Similar offers are being made to China for natural gas, oil and refined fuel.  Not only will such deals benefit the U.S. oil industry, it will help the U.S. dollar because they’ll have to use it to buy our stuff.  It’s hoped such deals will also isolate Iran’s oil industry, and destroy their successful oil market.

U.S. petroleum products are now the number one export of the United States.  This means controlling the ‘market’ is even more important.  Price is everything and what the U.S. is doing will only drive up prices.

It’s clear why the U.S. would embargo Iranian oil; ’cause it will drive up prices, which is what our oil industry puppet leaders want.  What about Europe? The EU finally agreed to embargo new oil deals with Iran, but several European oil industry leaders say it will be disastrous for their industry (Note: British Petroleum is exempt from the EU embargo. Remember, most of the British Empire is involved with U.S. petrodollars).

On January 28, Bloomberg media reported that Italy will see at least 70 refineries shut down because of the EU embargo.  Iran says it could stop all oil sales to Europe.  But this is what the U.S. petrodollar lovers want, because it will drive up prices.  The U.S. created International Monetary Fund said there will be an instant 20-30% increase in oil prices.  Iranian officials say oil will almost instantly jump to $150 per barrel.

This is a losing situation for us average Joes, but when you think about it, it’s a win-win for the oil industry!

If the U.S. is successful in destroying Iran’s independent oil market, then there is a list of other countries who could be next.  Cuba, they have oil and they don’t take U.S. dollars (why you think Romney and Gingrich, both claim to be Christians,  said they would bomb Cuba if they became President?).  Venezuela don’t take U.S. dollars, why you think we tried to kill Hugo Chavez?  Ecuador; did you even know there’s been attempted U.S. supported rebellions there?  China, they’ve been making oil for infrastructure improvement deals that allow them to get around the petrodollar beast.

By the way if you research who attacked the United States on September 11, 2001, you’ll see it did not involve anyone from Afghanistan or Iraq.  It involved mainly people from the Arabian Peninsula (and one person from Egypt, one person from Lebanon), not one Iraqi, not one Afghan.   The bin Laden family is from the Arabian Peninsula, not Iraq, not Afghanistan!  The October 12, 2000, attack on the USS Cole was done by people from the Arabian Peninsula (it actually took place on the Arabian Peninsula).  Yet, a Federal judge, under the Bush Jr administration, ruled that the African country Sudan was to blame!

It’s obvious that those who’ve been attacking the United States are from the Arab Peninsula (mainly Saudi Arabia), yet we don’t dare attack them. Why? Because they’re part of the petrodollar beast that was created back in 1973!!!

 

 

 

 

 

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

What Economic Recovery? Expect oil prices to shoot up. Don’t blame Iran! Pro-U.S. South Sudan has stopped all oil exports. Russians being attacked

It’s not even a year old, and already it’s affecting the global oil market.  South Sudan says it is halting all oil exports, because of disputes with Sudan.

Recently South Sudan officials accused Sudan of stealing its oil.  In the latest case they say Sudan stole 650,000 barrels of oil, which was loaded onto a Sudan ship.  Sudan replied by saying South Sudan failed to pay import duties on the oil.  Currently South Sudan must ship its oil through Sudan to ports on the Red Sea.

On January 29, 2012, South Sudan stopped all oil exports in retaliation.

Currently the United Nations has Peacekeepers in South Sudan, they include military and police units from several dozens of countries, including the United States.  Japan is also sending military units in February.

On January 24, Russia announced it was withdrawing the majority of its  helicopter forces from South Sudan, by April 1.   The UN claims the Russian  Peacekeeping forces have been specifically targeted for attacks: “It is clear that the reason why Russia has (grounded) the helicopters is based on the threat and the risk the troops have faced.”-Susana Malcorra, UN Department of Field Support

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? IMF says no such thing for the United States! Blame your Elite leaders! De-leveraging will continue until the economy improves, and that means you!

And he causesth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: and that no man might buy or sell…

When an individual is deleveraged, it means they can no longer buy or sell using credit/debit cards, or even checks, as their accounts have been frozen.

January 24, 2012, the International Monetary Fund released some reports concerning economic recovery.  It’s not good, in fact for the average person it ain’t gonna happen.

“The global recovery is threatened by intensifying strains in the euro area and fragilities elsewhere. Financial conditions have deteriorated, growth prospects have dimmed, and downside risks have escalated.”

They not only blame it on the economic/financial disaster slowly unfolding in Europe, but the IMF blames U.S. business and government leaders as well.

“…risk arises from insufficient progress in developing medium-term fiscal consolidation [this is another way of saying ‘downsizing’ spending, or, more business closings and layoffs are needed, ie Mitt Romney style of capitalism] plans in the United States…”

“…as long as public debt levels are projected to rise over the medium term, and in the absence of well-defined and credible fiscal consolidation strategies, there is the possibility of turmoil in global bond and currency markets. A more immediate risk is that an accident-prone [a nice way to say our leaders are incompetent] political economy will lead to excessive fiscal tightening in the near term in the United States.”

If U.S. warmongering over Iran actually stops the oil flow then it’s guaranteed things will get worse: “The oil market impact of intensified concerns about an Iran-related oil supply shock (or an actual disruption) would be large…”

The IMF is pushing “deleveraging”, or the reduction of debt, held by governments, companies, banks and “households”, as a major part of stabilizing the world economy.

Deleveraging has already hit U.S. households in the form of the mortgage fiasco, as well as credit card companies (too big to fail banks) arbitrarily canceling credit for individuals and small businesses.

Remember, those too big to fail banks got bailed out when they were faced with “deleveraging”, but do we get bailed out when they forcefully deleverage us?  Hell no!

The IMF says deleveraging of households (meaning most of you. I’ve already been arbitrarily deleveraged having never missed a payment, never been late with a payment, and actually paid more than the minimum due. That is until I was deleveraged) will continue until the economy improves.

“In many advanced [includes United States] economies, notably those with external deficits, the deleveraging of households is set to continue for some time.“

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Black Horse & Taxes: The IRS says 4,000 people officially renounce U.S. citizenship because of taxes

…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!”

According to Nina Olsen, of the Taxpayer Advocate Service (an office of the Internal Revenue Service), at least 4,000 people, from 2005 to 2010, officially renounced their U.S. citizenship specifically over taxes.

What’s more important is that those number have greatly increased with every passing year.  In Federal Fiscal Year 2008 it was 148 people, but in 2010 1,534 people gave up being ‘Americans’, because of taxes.

Not all the numbers are in for 2011, but for the first half of last year 1,024 people quit the U.S.

Nina Olsen told Congress that the biggest reason for people leaving the U.S., to avoid taxes, is that they are confused “…by the complex legal and reporting requirements they face and are overwhelmed by the prospect of having to comply with them.”

Other economists agree: “…the tax code is just maddening in the complexity, and they don’t necessarily want to soak the rich but they don’t like to see when companies like General Electric get all these preferences!”-John Berlau, economic analyst

A CBS News poll found 52% of people in the U.S. believe “unearned” income (capital gains, dividends, ie Mitt Romney style income) should be taxed the same as “earned” income (that’s right Romney did not “earn” his income under current tax rules).

Olsen also accused the IRS (whom she actually works for) of tricking people who owe back taxes, with “…the promise of reduced penalties, only to find themselves subjected to steeper penalties.”

Anyone remember the official reason for the Revolutionary War that created the United States?  “No taxation without representation!”