Tag Archives: economy

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

Black Horse & Apple computers: Apple rakes in huge profits, thanks to slave wage labor! Apple’s China factory installs anti-jumping nets to keep workers from leaping to their deaths. Idaho, Ohio, Michigan & Pennsylvania Republicans hoping China will build similar slave cities in the U.S.

…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!”

January 26, 2012

Apple reported their 2011 fourth quarter profits at a record $13.06 billion!  That would be fine if it wasn’t for the fact that Chinese workers are being pushed so hard to make Apple products that they’re literally going over the edge to their deaths!

I love my Apple computer (it’s lasted longer than any other computer I’ve had, and with far less glitches), but, one of the factors in me buying an Apple was that I thought they were made in the U.S.  Apparently after (evil) Bill Gates became a major investor in Apple, production was shipped overseas.

Around the time Apple was reporting their record profits, Chinese media was reporting on a factory that made Apple products.  Turns out the workers there threatened suicide because of slave labor conditions.

It’s so bad that a Catholic Online article says Chinese factories are spending money to put up nets around their buildings, to keep workers from jumping to their deaths.

You see, working in Chinese factories is not like working in a U.S. factory (not yet anyway): “Chinese factories are self-contained cities with workers living side-by-side in dorms. Workers spend an average of 10-12 hours per day working, six days a week.” Also: “…life in a Chinese factory is unpleasant, boring, repetitive, and workers have little to no privacy, and few rights-if any. The food is nothing to write home about either. Employers can set workers to task at any hour, force them into overtime, and arbitrarily fire them if desired. It’s as near to slavery as one can get without the chains.” -Catholic Online

When I realize how much I paid for my Mac (more than double what I was paying for cheapo IBM types) it sickens me to know that it could have been made by wage slaves!  I thought one of the reasons for the higher price was that I was supporting U.S. jobs!

This month Apple’s contracted factory in China, run by a company called Foxconn, reported that workers threatened to commit mass suicide.  To give you an example of the crowded working conditions, Foxconn admits they have at least 32,000 workers living on their factory ‘campus’!  That’s not a factory, it’s a self contained slave city!!!

But guess what? The state government of Idaho has been toying with Chinese contractors to build such a slave city right here in Idaho, U.S.A.  They call it an “industrial complex”.

In 2010, the Idaho Statesman reported that state officials were working on a project that would allow the China National Machinery Industry Corporation (aka SINOMACH) to build huge a slave labor camp south of Boise.  It could cover up to 30,000 acres, and is “…based on a concept popular in China today…”.

That camp would include retail shops and homes for workers, and some reports say the ’employees’ will come from China.

SINOMACH also got involved with a fertilizer project near American Falls, but since then all has gone quite on that project.

Lobbyists working for the Chinese say Idaho Republican leaders are great to work with: “One thing these Chinese see is we have a governor here who has a great big open door policy, and I think that’s making a difference in this SINOMACH project.”-Pat Sullivan, lobbyist

The Idaho Republican’s open door policy for China is part of their Project 60 Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) plan.

Idaho Republican leaders love China: “Idaho’s the last state that should say we don’t want to do business with Asia. Asia’s where the money is.”-Brad Little, Idaho Lieutenant Governor

I’ve also reported on how most of Idaho’s Republican politicians are in the pockets of for profit prison labor operations.

SINOMACH is also dealing with officials in Ohio, Michigan (is there a connection to the union busting going on in that state?) and Pennsylvania.

Also this month, SINOMACH announced they will increase their efforts to set up operations in other countries: “We encourage our subsidiaries, including scientific institutions and design, construction and industrial equipment manufacturing companies, to go overseas and explore and develop new services and markets.”: Ren Hongbin, chairman of SINOMACH

SINOMACH (short for Sino Machinery) reported a revenue increase of 17% in 2011, for a total of $30 billion.  I wounder how much was from cutting costs with slave labor?

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Nissan to build new factory, make 1 million cars, but not in or for the U.S. Honda & Mazda to follow suit

Nissan announced they will spend $2 billion to build yet another factory, in Mexico.  They already have two factories in Mexico.  With three factories they hope to push out one million cars every year.  But guess what?  Those cars are not for sale in the United States.

Nissan is selling the cars in the newly created CELAC (new united South America).  The United States is no longer the worlds car selling market, South America is!

Nissan is already pushing out one million cars per year in Japan and China (again cars not for sale in the U.S.).  Honda and Mazda also announced plans to increase production for the CELAC market.

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Idaho’s Coldwater Creek creeps further down the drain, drop in end of year Holiday sales

Coldwater Creek executives admitted that their fourth quarter loses will be more than first thought.  At their third quarter reporting, back in November, 2011, they expected loses to continue into their fourth quarter.

Coldwater Creek has had at least five straight quarters of loses.

CEO Dennis Pence said same store sales between November and the end of December were down 9%, compared to the same time the previous year.  To show you how bad things are for the clothing retailer, Pence said the 9% drop in sales was actually an improvement!

Fourth quarter results for Coldwater Creek will be reported in March, 2012.

In the corporate world there is no standardized quarterly system, each company keeps its own quarterly reporting calender, so some companies’ quarters begin and end in the middle of a calendar year (and they don’t match up to the Federal government’s fiscal quarters either).

 

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

Black Horse & What Economic Recovery? Texas Instruments shutting down decades old factories, thousands to lose jobs, despite $298 million profit at the end of 2011!

…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!”

Long time electronics manufacturer, Texas Instruments, will close two factories, one in Japan, the other in Texas.

Both factories are more than 30 years old, and Ti says it will be too costly to upgrade them, so instead they’ll shut ’em down and lay off thousands of employees in Japan and the U.S.

Ti also blames a drop in sales, and a 68% drop in profits. However, even with that 68% drop in profits, Ti still reported a $298 million profit from October to December 2011!

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

World War 3 & Government Hypocricy: BP to be exempt from Iran oil embargo, proof the U.S. is controled by the British Empire

There are reports that say British Petroleum (BP) is to be exempted from the U.S. and EU oil embargoes.  It was part of the deal to get the European Union to impose sanctions against Iran.

BP was born out of the old British controlled Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. Despite the decades of sanctions against Iran (since the early 1980s) BP has still managed to do business with Iran.

BP, and a Norwegian company (Statoil), are currently running a natural gas operation in the Caspian Sea in co-operation with Iran, called Shah Deniz.  But back in the United Kingdom, sanctions forced BP to shut down a North Sea gas operation, because it was 50% owned by Iran!

British officials do not want anymore halts to BP operations, so they lobbied hard with the United States to get BP exempt from any European/U.S. oil embargo.

 

International, U.S.

Red Horse & World War 3: Western Warmongering media getting all hot & bothered about U.S. aircraft carrier entering Persian Gulf

Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other.

The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln has sailed through the Strait of Hormuz, on its way home.  The aircraft carrier USS Enterprise is on its way to the Persian Gulf, through the Strait of Hormuz.

Western media, and U.S. officials are trying to make this look like tough action after Iran made threats against a U.S. Navy ship a couple of weeks ago.  But that’s just it, they made threats against one specific U.S. Navy ship, not the entire U.S. Navy!

Iran said back at the beginning of January that the USS John C. Stennis will not be allowed to return to the Persian Gulf.  The threat was not made against any other U.S. ship!

In fact the Iranians have responded to the western media’s brewhahaing about the movement of U.S. aircraft carriers through the Strait thusly:  “U.S. warships and military forces have been in the Persian Gulf, and the Middle East region for many years, and their decision in relation to the dispatch of a new warship is not a new issue and it should be interpreted as part of their permanent presence.”-Hossein Salami, IRGC

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

White Horse & World War 3: European Union approves oil embargo on Iran, Libya part of plan to go after Iran

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.

EU ambassadors have agreed upon an oil embargo against Iran, it must now be approved by EU foreign ministers.  The sanctions would ban the buying of Iranian petroleum products, and would halt all imports to EU members by July 1, 2012.

This follows new U.S. sanctions imposed at the beginning of January, 2012.  Taken together, the U.S. and EU oil embargoes could halt 2.6 million barrels of oil, driving oil prices up and adding to the overall instability of the world economy.

You’d think the Europeans would not want to do anything to stop Iranian oil, after all most of Iran’s oil goes to Europe.  But maybe that’s why the EU (with help from the U.S.) took over Libya’s oil in the fake revolution supported by NATO.  Now they can go after Iran without too much worry about oil supply.

Fukushima

Pale Green Horse & Government Evil: Japan breaks own laws and destroys Nuclear Disaster meeting records!

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.

The Japanese news media agency, NHK, has discovered that the Japanese Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency has destroyed (or never kept) records of at least 21 nuclear disaster meetings, in direct violation of Japanese law!

NHK discovered the illegal act when it demanded to see the public records of the meetings.  What NHK got was a list of items discussed at the meetings, but no detailed minutes.

NHK was told no records of the actual discussions were kept.  NHK says Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency officials told them they were too busy to keep records!

The meetings took place after the General Electric designed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant went critical following the 11 March 2011, earthquake and tsunamis.

Also missing are records of government meetings with the operator of Fukushima Daiichi, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCo).

NHK says they wanted to see the documents because they were part of the government’s disaster reaction decision making.  Both the Japanese government, and TEPCo, have been accused of dragging their feet, taking too little action in dealing with the ongoing nuclear disaster.

 

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

Pale Green Horse & Government Incompetence: Idaho inspectors tip off schools before “surprise” food safety inspections. Do you know what your kids are being fed? Idaho health districts not on the same page when it comes to inspections.

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.

Lincoln Elementary School, in Twin Falls, Idaho, has several complaints about food safety violations, however, state health officials actually tipped off school officials before their so called “unannounced” inspection.  As a result, no violations were found.

Current Idaho regulations state that food inspections must be “unannounced”, yet health inspectors for Idaho’s South Central Public Health District violated their own rules, warning Lincoln Elementary officials of the inspection, saying it was common “courtesy”: “We want to maintain a good partnership with the schools.”-Melody Bowyer, South Central Public Health District

That’s your taxpayer dollars at work!  The whole idea of surprise inspections is to catch the food service off guard, to see how they really operate on a day to day bases. It’s even more important when you get several complaints from the taxpaying public!

But Idahoans should be concerned even more, because even with the “courtesy” warnings of inspections dozens of schools have failed inspections (according to a Times-News report)!

Another problem is school officials. Take Wendell School District, they hired a new food service director a month ago, but when asked by local media she revealed that she was not aware that the school had food safety violations in the recent past.  She’s not concerned because: “Schools have to hold themselves to a higher standard. In my experience, that’s what I’ve seen and that’s what we’re going to do in Wendell.”-Michelle Shady

Parents don’t know who they can trust: “Knowing the schools are clean is important, it would be foolish to say otherwise, but I don’t know who to contact to make sure. I guess it’s one of those things you don’t talk about until a problem comes up.”-Jerry Evers, children attend Wendell High School

If you live in Idaho you can go here to find your Public Health District.  There are links to each of the seven districts in Idaho.  However, I found it hard to find the so called public food inspection reports alluded to in a Times-News article.  In fact there is no standardized presentation of each of the seven health districts’ websites.

The Times-News (covering South Central Idaho, District 5) article said food inspections are to be unannounced, yet, on the Central Idaho (District 4) website they said only one unannounced inspection per year was required.

It’s the Central Idaho District 4 website that is the most helpful, as they do make access to their food inspections easy.  You click on “Environmental Health”, then click on “Food”, then click on “Inspections”.  You then get to a page that has links to recent District 4 inspection results.  However, this is not possible on most of the other districts’ websites!!!

Southwest Idaho’s District 3 asks you to conduct a search by name or city, in order to find out inspection results.

Idaho’s Panhandle District 1 has a Quick Link titled “Restaurant Inspections” on the Environmental Health page, requiring a search by name or city.

For Districts 2 (North Central), 5 (South Central, so I wonder where the Times-News got their info), 6 (Southeastern) & 7 (Eastern) there were no links to local public food inspection reports under the “Environmental Health/Food” section.

Fukushima

Pale Green Horse & Corporate & Government Incompetence: New Japanese apartment building is radioactive, residents contaminated with Cesium!

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 Fukushima Prefecture, a newly built apartment building has proven to be highly radioactive.  In fact, local Nihonmatsu City officials say the building emits more radiation on the inside, than on the outside!

Construction of the three story building was finished in July, 2011, almost four months after the beginning of the on going nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daiichi.  People are already living in the apartments!

Officials found that the inside of the building, on the first floor, is emitting 1.24 microsieverts per hour of cesium.  It looks as if the foundation of the building is the source of radiation, because radiation levels decrease as you go to the upper levels.

Turns out the construction company got its foundation material from inside the 20km no go evacuation zone around the nuclear plant!  But why did Nihonmatsu City officials wait until the end of December to inspect the building for radiation, after people had moved in? Apparently no one thought about it, until children living in the building turned out to have more cesium contamination than other children in the city! Can you say incompetence?