Tag Archives: economy

Business/Economics, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Christmas Capital of Texas family killed on Xmas day, blame the economy

A Texas family that had lost their home to foreclosure, were shot and killed by Santa Claus on Christmas morning.

The distraught father dressed as Santa and decided to end it all after the family  opened their presents. The Wall Street Journal called it the single largest mass shooting in the history of Grapevine, Texas (Grapevine is known as the Christmas Capital of Texas)!

Seven people, ranging in ages 18 to 60, were found dead. Police say it looks like the family was just starting to clean up after opening their presents. Police responded to a 911 call, in which the caller said nothing.

Police will not comment on a motive, at this point: “We have a pretty good idea who these folks were, and we’re trying to work through contacting other family members so we can better piece together what took place and why it took place.”-Robert Eberling, Grapevine Police

Local media interviewed neighbors, in Colleyville, Texas, and learned that the family had lost their home to foreclosure, and that the father might have been a work-a-holic who was having financial problems.  Neighbors said even after he lost his home, back in 2010, he continued to take care of the yard: “I actually saw him out doing yard work just last weekend!”-Thomas Ehrlich

The mother failed to show up for work on Monday: “For somebody who’s always early to work and who never misses a day of work, we expected the worst.”-Leah Langford, employer

Apparently, according to Colleyville neighbors, the family actually stayed in the home for a while after it was foreclosed.  The family recently moved into the Grapevine apartment.

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

Global Food Crisis & What Economic Recovery? Beef production crashing in Idaho

No thanks to the closing of a beef processing plant in Nampa, Idaho’s beef production is down 80% from the year prior!  That’s according to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.

According to the State stats, and contrary to the stereotype, potatoes are not the number one agriculture product of Idaho!  Dairy products are number one, followed by cattle/beef production, so you can see why it’s so important to Idaho’s economy.

Not only is Idaho’s beef production down from last year, it’s been dropping like a rock, 52%, from January 2011 to November 2011.

The USDA pointed out that overall beef production in the entire United States was down 2% from last year.

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Full time employment down In Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Maine and Vermont

A report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that while part time employment is going up, it’s being offset by a drop in full time employment!

The top five states for increased part time work are Montana, Oregon, Maine, Vermont and Idaho.  Montana leads the country with a 39% increase in part time work.

In Idaho there was an average of about 515,000 people with full time jobs in 2007. In 2010 that number dropped to 445,000.  At the same time, in 2010 the number of part time jobs increased 35%. 

As far as full time wages go, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says the average full time pay in Idaho, in 2010, was $666 per week.  That’s a piddly 4.6% increase from 2007, and it’s one of the smallest increases in the entire United States!

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

Global Economic War & Corporate Incompetence: Idaho polysilcon producer, Hoku, quietly starts operations, loses CFO, loses millions of dollars again

Pocatello, Idaho’s, polysilcon factory, run by Hoku Materials (which is a subsidary of Chinese owned Hoku Corporation), officially and quietly started operations on December 1st.  That’s according to Chinese media citing Tianwei New Energy Holdings Company Limited, the Chinese company that controls 60% of Hoku Corporation.

Interestingly no mention of the start of operations has come directly from Hoku.  Hoku Corporation did announce the resignation of their CFO, treasurer, and secretary, Darryl Nakamoto.  His resignation will be effective March, 2012.

Another loss, this one missed by local Idaho media, is the fact that Hoku Corporation continues to bleed out money.  Its latest report, ending September 30, 2011, showed Hoku with a net loss of $7.9 million (computed in accordance with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles)!

I’ve posted before about the conundrum Hoku is now in, since it is 60% owned by the Chinese: “…Hoku is set up in a bad position; action by the U.S. government could hurt their new plans to sell Chinese PV products, and retaliation by the Chinese government could hurt their pending polysilicon orders.”

I wonder why Hoku is keeping so quiet about their operations start up in Idaho, while it’s making front page news in China?

GLOBAL ECONOMIC WAR: IDAHO’S HOKU SILICON FACTORY MAY BE ENDED BEFORE IT STARTS. CITY OF POCATELLO GUILTY

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Western Xmas holiday, the new scourge of China. Chinese know the true meaning of Christmas, what happened to the United States?

“I was supposed to relax on holidays, but this feels more stressful than working at the office.”-Zhao Xiaojuan, works for investment company

Since U.S. companies have been moving into China, they’ve brought U.S. style holidays with them, and the Chinese are regretting it.

Many company managers spend their holidays, and their money, entertaining foreign (U.S.?) business guests, out of fear of insulting them if they didn’t do so, and competition!

“I have to give gifts to show respect and gratitude to my clients, because all my colleagues do so.”-Gao Ping, newly graduated from college

For many young adults the Western gift giving tradition is hitting them where it hurts; in their wallets!

“I’ll have to eat instant noodles for the whole month to save money….I could have saved 10,000 yuan (U.S.$1,580) if we didn’t have to celebrate foreign holidays!”-Zhou, employee of foreign owned company

More than 40,000 Chinese bloggers have voiced their opposition to the U.S. imposed holidays, and one of the most numerous complaints is that the U.S. holidays confuse affection for family and friends with money: “I know they want to show their affection for me, but words speak louder than money.”-Gao Ping, newly graduated from college

How dare he say “words speak louder than money”! Thurston Howell III, the Wolf of Wall Street, is rolling in his grave!

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Chinese families told to prepare to tighten their belts, blame hyper inflation & Global Food Crisis

“Inflation may be a long term problem in the country because food prices may surge again and the price of manufacturing resources is likely to grow fast in the coming year.”-Zhang Shuguang, Unirule Institute of Economics

In one of the few countries where the economy is good, people are being told to prepare for the worst.

What should a family do? Those making enough money to save should start investing in physical assets, including precious metals, real estate and antiques.  (That advise is probably too late for those of us 99%ers in the United States.)

To give you an idea of how good the Chinese economy has been doing, read this: “Among urban families with average annual personal income between 50,000 yuan and 100,000 yuan, 63.7% have family wealth management plans this year, compared with 27.5% last year.“-Zhang Jinbao, Tsinghua University and Citi Foundation

Current savings trends for Chinese workers include health care, education for their children and retirement (so much for China being a communist/socialist country).  But now even bank officials are prompting families to put as much as 70% of their earnings into property, to try an avoid the coming hyper inflation!

Business/Economics, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? 200 people lose their jobs on Xmas Eve, hundreds more to follow. Hawaii Hospitals broke! Layoffs could have been avoided!

On December 23, 200 employees at the Hawaii Medical Center hospitals on Oahu, were told their last day on the job was Christmas Eve!  But that’s just the beginning, another 800 are scheduled to be laid off soon.

Here’s the real scandal; the hospital was up for sale and had a willing buyer, but the hospital’s owner said no!  The hospital is owned by Saint Francis Healthcare System of Hawaii.

 

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

What Economic Recovery? Idaho’s Micron loses big time, again. Many Idahoans still think Micron is Idaho’s major employer

Computer chip maker Micron reported another quarterly loss;  U.S.$187 million! This follows a $135 million loss the previous quarter.

It was hoped the end of a lawsuit, in Micron’s favor, would be a sign of better times to come, but not so.

A west Idaho newspaper reported that many Idahoans think of Micron as the Boise’s biggest private employer. Back in October I posted how real estate web sites, and even Wikipedia, incorrectly report Micron as the biggest employer in Boise.

With Micron’s continued loses it’s possible that they now employ less than the 5,000 people reported at the end of 2009.

 

 

Business/Economics, Technology, U.S.

OWS has their own spy UAV, based on the $300 Parrot AR drone, can be controled with your iPad

An Occupy Wall Streeter has modified a Parrot AR helicopter drone to be used to spy on the NYPD!

It has a built in camera and costs around $300.  It can be controlled using a smartphone or iPad.

There are plans to further modify it so control could be passed from one protestor to another, and they’re hoping to give it true remote piloting capabilities.

They hope to use the ‘occucopter’ to provide live video of OWS protests on the internet.