Tag Archives: economy

Business/Economics, International

Japanese car makers lose Billions since March 11

Japanese vehicle makers announced they’ve lost billions since the March 11 disasters.

Toyota was the biggest loser at $1.3 billion. Honda lost $900 million and Nissan almost $500 million.

The biggest problem for the Japanese car makers is the loss of production, due to lack of parts.  The lack of parts is due to the “just in time” supply model that most of Japan’s industries rely on.  This model means that the big producers do not make their own parts, and they don’t keep a lot of spare parts on hand.  Instead they rely on smaller producers to supply those parts.  Also, the smaller producers can not keep a stockpile of parts on hand, because they can’t afford to.

The March 11 disasters resulted in 60% of Japan’s nuclear plants going off line. Japan’s industries are almost totally reliant on electricity from the nuclear power plants.  The result was factories all over Japan shut down.

Japanese car makers didn’t even try to forecast their performance for the next year, because the lack of electrical power will continue, at least ’till the end of the year.

Fukushima

Japan official: Flooding Reactor 1 with more water is a wasted effort, due to total melt down?

Officials with Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency say it’s too late now that fuel rods in Fukushima Daiichi Reactor 1 have melted down!  Tokyo Electric Power Company officials wanted to pump more water into the reactor, in the hopes of stopping the meltdown.

Nuclear Safety officials think the melted rods have cooled enough in the water at the bottom of the reactor, that there might not be too much concern.  However, TEPCo believes that holes in the reactor vessel have been created by the meltdown, which is causing large amounts of radioactive water to pour into the Pacific Ocean.

The Agency suggested that TEPCo should inject water only to the point of keeping the bottom of the reactor filled.

Fukushima

Cesium spreading across Japan!

Two prefectures bordering Fukushima Prefecture, have discovered that plants are contaminated with cesium.

Tochigi and Ibaraki Prefectures have cesium contamination well about safe limits.  As much as 3,600 becquerels of cesium has contaminated pasture land, and crops!  The government’s safe limit is 300 bequerels.

Farmers are being told not to feed their animals the grass.  Crops are so contaminated that farmers are being told not to harvest, or ship their crops.  Some contaminated parsley had already been shipped to market.

 

 

 

 

Fukushima

Fukishima Daiichi Reactor 1 officially in Meltdown

13 March 2011, Tokyo Electric Power Company has announced that fuel rods in reactor 1 have melted.  Government officials think this might be the cause of holes where highly contaminated water is pouring from.

TEPCo officials say that most of the fuel rods have melted and are now melting through the bottom of the reactor.  Officials think the melted rods are cooling down at the bottom of the reactor because there is still water there.

TEPCo is now trying to find out how much water is actually in the reactor, and come up with a new plan to address the meltdown.

Business/Economics, U.S.

Wall Street deliberately “Crashes the System” to control the government

“Anytime Obama tries to put forward a policy to reform the system, or to do something for increasing wages, Wall Street crashes the sytem.”-Max Kaiser, former stock broker

Ever wonder why the stock markets suddenly drop, for no apparent reason, or for very weak reasons?  Max Kaiser, a former stock broker, says it’s a sign that the United States is being manipulated by corporate America.

The reason that Wall Street wants to control the government, and the Federal Reserve, is to keep interest rates near zero, so corporations, and big speculators, can keep borrowing on the cheap.

“The cost for borrowing for hedge funds and players on Wall Street is actually negative 2% when you factor in all the subsidies, and give aways that the Obama administration has given the banking industry.”-Max Kaiser

If Kaiser is correct, then it means that corporate America is making money just by borrowing money.

 

 

 

Business/Economics, U.S.

Week of Action, Californians protesting bad jobs and budget cuts

“We are in the middle of a recession. We need to get out of the recession by moving forward with good jobs, not poverty jobs.”-Mike Chavez, Labor Expert

California has one of the highest unemployment rates in the U.S.; 12.3% as of March 2011.  In Los Angeles County it’s 12.6%.

State workers are facing benefits cuts up to 30%.  This week Californians are protesting the bad economy, and the state and local budget cuts, in a Week of Action.

“This is the 21st century, we need to go forward, not backward.”-protester

Fukushima

Fukushima Daiichi Reactor 3 still flooding ocean with Cesium!

Even after Tokyo Electric Power Company plugged a leak, Reactor 3 is still pouring water contaminated with cesium into the Pacific Ocean.

The water is pouring out of a pipe containing electrical cables, but officials still don’t know where the water is originating.  The latest tests of the ocean water showed cesium contamination at 620,000 times safe limits!

Fukushima

Fukushima Daiichi Reactor 1 springs mysterious leak, fuel rods fully exposed, melting!

Tokyo Electric Power Company says contaminated water is pouring from Reactor 1.  This after workers were finally able to enter the building and check gauges.  The gauges showed that despite hundreds of tons of water being injected, the water levels were low.

TEPCo suspected faulty gauges. Workers checked the gauges again, after more water was pumped in, and they discovered the water levels actually dropped.

Now officials are worried that the water could be pouring from a hole in the reactor itself.  When checked on the morning of 12 May, workers discovered the fuel rods fully exposed.   Water levels are a full meter (3.2 feet) below the rods!

TEPCo is pumping in water, but the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency believes rods have started melting.

Business/Economics, International

Argentina warns South Africa: WalMart will destroy your economy

“WalMart does not take ownership of the goods until a product is sold.”-Sofia Scasserra, FAECYS

At a labor conference in South Africa, the Argentine Federation of Commerce and Service Workers ( FAECYS ) warned of allowing WalMart to set up shop.  The warning wasn’t about labor issues, but supply issues.  They claim that since WalMart was allowed to operate in Argentina, the affects on business supply has almost destroyed the business middle class.

In Argentina WalMart operates a “spot sale” deal with its suppliers.  Basically WalMart doesn’t pay anything for the products it stocks, until they sell.  On top of that, WalMart takes three months to pay suppliers.

Another trick WalMart plays; it ships its own products in from China.  First the the products go to Brazil, then Argentina, thus avoiding tariffs.

In the case of home appliances is was discovered that WalMart forced suppliers to sell below their cost, and even give them to WalMart for free.

The result is that Argentine suppliers are going out of business.  And the result of that, is that small manufacturers in Argentina are going out of business as well.

 

International, Opinion

France learns hard leason: Tax breaks for the Rich do not work

One of the things pushed through by President Sarkozy, at the beginning of his term, was tax breaks for the French Elites.  Four years later those breaks have proven to be an economic failure.  Now Sarkozy’s own UMP political party wants to stop it: “This government has a tax policy which benefits only a minority, and tries to tax the larger sections of the society. I am against such taxes.”- Herve Mariton, UMP Ruling Party

The French elites got huge tax breaks and exemptions, while the average taxpayer saw their taxes increased.  The French pay more taxes than taxpayers in Korea, or the United States, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

One of the breaks for the rich is a cap on the percentage of tax they pay, no more than 50%.  The average French taxpayer pays more than that.  On top of that, the French elites were actually paid by the government, a kind of Earned Income Credit for the rich: “While 8 million French live on less than 10,000 Euros per year, the Law was helping the rich. Not only their taxes were reduced, but each of them, all 1,700 of them in total, each one was given 30,000 Euros as tax compensation.”-Roland Muzeau, Communist Opposition Party.

President Sarkozy sold his tax plan to the French people, as a way of energizing the French economy.  It didn’t happen.  Pro-elitists, and pro-corporationists here in the United States don’t think Sarkozy did enough.  They actually accuse him of being too socialist!

French officials say they will reform the tax laws by the end of this year, but critics point out that the rich will still end up paying less than the average worker.  Is it time for another “French Revolution”?