Tag Archives: economy

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

What Economic Recovery? U.S. corporations put the brakes on investing into China, no money to invest

“Under such circumstances, both private U.S. companies and governments in different levels are not capable of investing significantly in China. Somehow they are looking for the investment from China to help them boost their own economies and low-employment rate.”-Zhang Qizuo, economist Chengdu University

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce says investments coming from the United States are way down, compared to last year.  It’s a sign of how bad the U.S. economy is, and the growing discontentment with U.S. citizens in seeing U.S. jobs go to China.

“Large-scale U.S. companies are also under domestic pressure in ‘giving jobs to Chinese’, therefore, they have to consider the feelings of approximately 14 million Americans and deliberately delay or even cut some investment plans in China.”-Zhang Shiqing, economist Nankai University

Overall U.S. investments in China dropped from January of last year, to June of this year, by a big 22.32%.  That’s a big drop, but in dollar amounts, the U.S. still invested $1.68 billion.

European countries, and other Asian countries, are still on the plus side of investing into China.

Another factor in the drop in U.S. investments is inflation in China, which includes the cost of labor.  Labor cost are going up in China, and in the U.S. labor costs are going down, no thanks to Union busting and high unemployment.

I can’t think that this is helping cut unemployment in the United States, after all there has been no change in the overall unemployment situation, even though there’s been a 22.32% drop in investments into China.  Despite what Chinese economist think, I think the real reason is that U.S. corporations, and government, have put the brakes on investing into China, is because they’re out of money to invest.

Fukushima

Corporate Incompetence: Kansai Electric shuts down nuclear reactor after water cooling system fails, only 18 reactors now working in Japan!

While attention has been focused on the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, there is another nuclear plant in trouble. The Ohi plant in Fukui Prefecture.

Kansai Electric Power Company runs the Ohi plant, and Reactor 1 has been on emergency cooling, and now it has failed.

KEPCo says they were able to shut down the reactor.  They are trying to find out why the emergency cooling system failed.  The local prefectural government says that even if KEPCo finds out the cause, they will not allow them to re-start the reactor.

Japan has 54 reactors, now they are down to only 18 operating reactors.  Japan is heavily dependent upon nuclear generated electricity.

 

Business/Economics, International

What Economic Recovery? Chinese Housing Bubble about to explode: Property Loans halted

“You’d better prepare to pay 40% of your home price as down payment, because commercial banks are going to ask more for a property loan.”-Gong Hang, bank official

First the Chinese government created a new income tax schedule that meant more people were excused from paying taxes, but left them potentially unable to buy a home (due to not having the required tax documents).  Then they ordered down payments to be increased, or mortgage interest rates must be increased (some banks did both).  Now, banks are just flat refusing to issue anymore property loans.

In what’s called 2nd and 3rd tier cities, in China, banks are refusing to issue anymore loans for property: “We will not accept property loan applications at present, even if it is from a first-time home buyer.”-unnamed bank official

If you think paying 40% down on a home is outrageous, wait ’till you read this: 40% down is for first time home buyers, if you’re buying a home for the second time Chinese banks now want 50-60% down.

Bank officials say it’s because the Chinese government ordered banks to hold onto their money, by not lending it out.  This is an attempt to control inflation, which Chinese officials are fearing could get out of control.

 

Fukushima

Government Incompetence: Second cattle farm shipped off radioactive cows, Cesium levels now at 97,000 becquerels!

14 July 2011, officials from Fukushima Prefecture discovered that a second farm, in Asakawa Town, shipped off as many as 42 internally contaminated cows.

The discovery was made as local officials expanded their testing of locally grown feed for cows.

On top of the discovery that more contaminated cows, from other farms, were shipped off to market, the latest hay samples revealed increasing cesium contamination.  The latest tests show 97,000 becquerels per kilogram of cesium!  Previously the highest reading was 75,000.  The national safe limit is 500.

The contaminated cows from Asakawa Town, were shipped to Yokohama, Tokyo, Sendai and Chiba.  They were shipped between 08 April and 06 July.

 

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

What Economic Recovery? IMF says Greece needs a third bailout, and they’re still waiting for the second one

On July 13, the International Monetary Fund issued a report in which they said Greece needed to cut even more public spending, and that it needs a third bailout.  European officials are still hammering out the details of the second bailout.

The IMF says Greece needs a third bailout, consisting of at least 71 billion Euros from the European Union, and 33 billion Euros from private creditors.

Enough! Just let the dominoes start falling!

Fukushima, Idaho

Idaho EPA RadNet sites not working

14 July 2011, I tried to access the Idaho Department of Environmental EPA RadNet site.  All I got was a “Server Error” message.

I then tried accessing the Idaho Falls RadNet site, directly through the Environmental Protection Agency’s web site.  I got an EPA page that said “The requested item was not found on the EPA’s Web Server”.

Fukushima, U.S.

Government Coverup: Department of Energy using helicopters to test for airborne radiation above Seattle!

The U.S. Department of Energy is using helicopters to take airborne radiation samples over Seattle, Washington.  Officially this is to establish a “baseline” for any future nuclear “emergency”.

The operation is being paid for by the Department of Homeland Security.

The state of Washington is home to the controversial Hanford nuclear plant.  Do a search for information on the plant and you’ll be concerned as well.  Could officials know something about the plant’s current condition?

Do Homeland Security officials have some info about a possible terrorist attack involving nukes and the city of Seattle?  Or, is the “emergency” they’re talking about one that already happened, in a place called Fukushima, Japan?

Officials claim this airborne radiation “baseline” operation was planned back in 2009.  Mmmm

Fukushima, Idaho, U.S.

Government Coverup: Radiation from Japan hitting the United States!

“Iodine level in the rain in Idaho in the United States were 130 times that standard… we are very concerned that radioactive cesium was many times above the standard as well.”–Gerry Pollet, Heart of America Northwest

When the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors exploded in Japan, U.S. officials ensured the public that they would increase radiation monitoring.  I’ve reported in earlier postings that most EPA RadNet sites in the western U.S. are shut down, and that other sites can give only limited results.

Now a group based in Washington, Heart of America Northwest, has done their own investigations into contaminated drinking water in Washington, Oregon and Idaho.

In a previous posting I suggested that the people of concerned communities need to get together and have their own testing done, on plants, water and soil, even their own urine.  This is what the Japanese have been forced to do, no thanks to the incompetence of their national government.  It’s been those grass roots citizen groups in Japan that have been revealing the truth about the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Heart of America Northwest also has some warnings about current nuclear waste programs in the Pacific Northwest, like the dumping of nuke waste in unlined pits.

Fukushima

Corporate Evil: Tokyo Electric continues to ignore safety of nuke contract workers!

Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency is ordering Tokyo Electric Power Company to improve working standards for its contracted workers.  There are about 3,000 workers struggling to control the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency recently inspected the working conditions at the damaged nuke plant, after continued concerns over protection for workers against radiation exposure.

They found eight main concerns, that TEPCo still hasn’t addressed.  The most pressing issue is that TEPCo is still treating contracted workers with a laissez-faire (hands off) attitude.  The result is that TEPCo lacks any information on the health and safety conditions of those workers.

The agency discovered that many contracted workers have never been shown how to use protective clothing, and there aren’t enough protective equipment for all workers, like full face masks.  The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency ordered TEPCo to provide more protective gear, and assign more of its own safety managers to oversee contracted workers.

This issue was reported months ago, and it’s clear that TEPCo has totally ignored the problem proving that it does not care about the safety of workers.

On top of that, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says TEPCo still hasn’t tested 1,500 workers for radiation exposure, something they were supposed to do months ago.

Fukushima

Government Incompetence: More radioactive beef sold to people, Japanese Cattle farmers are now being told not to use local feed, farmers say advise is too little too late

Many Fukushima cattle farmers are about to go out of business, thanks to highly contaminated plants.  After highly radioactive beef was found, and sold, in eight prefectures, it was discovered that all the plants in Fukushima Prefecture are contaminated with high levels of cesium.

Local and national government officials have found that at least eight  prefectures got the contaminated beef, and it was sold to consumers.  Officials are sure that most of the beef sold to consumers was eaten.

When tracing the source of cesium contamination, officials discovered that the contaminated cows were eating hay grown out in the open in Fukushima Prefecture.  Some hay samples had 75,000 becquerels per kilogram of cesium.  The national government’s safe limit is 500.

Now cattle farmers are being told to stop using locally grown feed.  Many Fukushima farmers say the warning is too little too late.  Most farmers will go out of business because they can’t sell anymore cows.  If fact this whole issue has caused Japanese cattle prices to crash, so cattle farmers all over Japan are being affected.

Farmers in Fukushima say local and national officials never gave any warnings to cattle farmers.  Not even any advice on how they should operate with the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor nearby.

Most officials were concerned mainly with the affects of the nuclear disaster on people, and crops grown for human consumption.  It’s now obvious that the safety of crops grown for farm animals were ignored.

Up ’till now cattle were tested only for external radiation, but the contaminated beef came from cows that were internally contaminated, by the locally grown feed, showing no signs of external radiation contamination.

Officials also tested local water sources, but so far have not released the results.