Tag Archives: economy

Business/Economics, International

Britain facing larger and more violent protests, thanks to budget cuts and war with Libya

Thousands of people took to the streets in London, on March 26. Police were attacked with paint bombs and ammonia bombs.  Businesses were attacked, even delivery trucks.  The Cause? Huge budget cuts for schools and health care, and War.

“It’s been ten years now that we’ve been intervening in wars. We had the war in Afghanistan, then we had Iraq, now suddenly is a third theater of war. At the same time [the British government] says it hasn’t got enough money for the welfare that people in this country need. And they say everybody has to make sacrifices. Well may be we should not be spending 800,000 pounds per missile. How many libraries, how many nurseries, how many young people sent to school we could fund?”-Lindsey German, protester

CNN has incorrectly reported that the protests were organized by trade unions. The truth is that Saturday’s protests had been planned for a while. The trade unions decided to join in after the U.K. government decided to attack Libya. Saturday’s protest was made up of people from college students to health care providers to skilled laborers. What all the protesters want to know is; if the government doesn’t have the money for schools and hospitals, or to promote job growth, where is the money coming from for the war against Libya?

Police say they arrested 157 people. 35 people, including 5 police officers, were injured.

Fukushima

Diesel powered Locomotives brought back to life after Japan Disaster, Low Tech saving High Tech!

The recent catastrophic disaster in Japan, which tore up many rail lines in northern Honshu, has brought back to life retired diesel powered locomotives.

That’s because, even on the rail lines that have been fixed, there is no electric power to run Japan’s modern electric trains. Electric power is going to be an issue for long time, because of the failed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Rail officials must be glad they didn’t get rid of their old diesel powered locomotives.  About a dozen 40 plus year old engines have been brought out of retirement.

A relatively short rail line, from the west coast of Honshu, to the eastern prefectures, has been restored. The diesel engines have started running, bringing diesel fuel, and other supplies, to help people in those areas.

One of the engineers was around when they retired the diesel locomotives, and he’s glad they’re back.  Low tech to the rescue of a high tech society.

 

Fukushima

Video of Liquefaction in Action near Tokyo Disneyland, found the video on Youtube

I found the home video of liquefaction near Tokyo Disneyland, in Chiba Prefecture, on YouTube.

The two minute 39 second video shows sidewalks splitting, length wise, then moving in opposite directions. Water then begins to surge up from under the sidewalks and streets.  The person doing the videography starts running as more water comes up everywhere, even asphalt streets start to split.

People are down on the ground, screaming.  Keep in mind that Chiba Prefecture is between 137 and 200 miles from the where the 9.0 quake hit.

Tokyo Disneyland is still closed, after suffering damage from liquefaction.

 

Fukushima, International

Official Tsunami evacuation point was Death Trap, warnings were made

In an area of Sendai city, in north east Honshu, Japan, there are survivors who are glad they refused to go to the official tsunami evacuation point, an elementary school.  They are alive, but most of the people at the elementary school are not.

Based on computer modeling, disaster officials designated the elementary school as safe from tsunami.  The computer model said tsunamis would not reach so far inland, so the school was safe.  One survivor said he never understood that because the school is near sea level, he ran to a road that was much higher than the school, and survived. He says the tsunami went over the school’s second floor, people were inside.

A scientist, named Otomo (? think that’s his name), has been warning people for at least a year about the faulty claims by disaster officials.  Otomo uses geologic evidence, which shows that tsunamis did indeed reach far inland, past the school.  Officials ignored Otomo’s warnings.

This is an example of high tech ignorance, and arrogance.

Fukushima

Without control room power, Nuclear plant operators flying blind, water building up like “swimming pools”!

An analyst interviewed by NHK (Nippon Housou Kyoukai/Japan Broadcasting Corporation), says until the reactor control rooms are turned  on at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, plant operators will not know what is going on inside the reactors.

They are trying to get electric power to reactor 2 control room, because reactor 2 is still intact (reactors 1, 3 & 4 blew up).

Reactor 2 is leaking radioactive water, and emitting smoke. Restoring power to the control room will allow them to use the control room’s instruments and gauges to find out what is wrong with the reactor. In other words they are flying blind right now.

Another problem is that it looks like the reactor cores are leaking highly radioactive water.  The analyst says the basements, under the reactors, are so full it’s like “swimming pools”.

Fukushima

Electricity shortage will affect Car makers (and other industries) well into summer

Did anyone think that one nuclear disaster can adversely affect the economy?  Fukushima Daiichi is one of the biggest nuclear plants in Japan, all its reactors are down.  Even if efforts to control the nuclear disaster are somewhat successful, Fukushima Daiichi is done, its toast, ain’t no more electric power coming from that plant.

This is causing a huge electricity shortage in Japan.  On top of that, there is not an emergency back up system in place, in Japan, to deal with the loss of such a large power plant.  Again, one more thing the highly educated leaders felt sure they would never need to prepare for.  That’s right, in a country like Japan, so addicted, and dependent on electrically operated things, no one believed that “what if” could really happen?

Japan has become the electronics/auto parts supplier to the world, but those companies run on electricity.  Eventually there are going to be more companies shutting down, around the world, because they can’t get their parts from Japan.

How long will this last? Japan’s Economic Ministry said well into summer. The Ministry expects peak demand to hit 55 million kilowatts.  Even if Tokyo Electric (TEPCo) gets other sources of electrical generation going, Japan will still be short 10 million kilowatts.  This guarantees ‘rolling’ blackouts, which can only have a bad effect on industry.

As a result, Japan’s Prime Minister, Kan Naoto, has ordered emergency planning to come up with a way to counter the huge electricity shortage. Kan wants the plan complete by the end of April.  Either way, we’re talking months of production shut downs around the world, meaning more people out of work.

As I’ve said in other articles, no more economic recovery.  Could this be the start of a Global Great Depression?

 

Fukushima

Disaster directly affecting Electronics makers directly affecting Auto makers

Many of the parts needed to produce cars now, are electronics.  The big electronics suppliers for the automotive industry are still shut down after the 11 March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

Renesas Electronics, a maker of semiconductors used to control vehicles, has still not resumed operations.

Hitachi Automotive Systems, does not have full production capacity of electronics parts that control engines.

Another company, which makes parts for brakes and rubber products, suspended operations because their plant is located by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

Fukushima

11 March 2011 Tsunami flooded 300 square miles, 70% still underwater!

A satellite imaging (geospatial) company in Japan, PASCO, has looked at the tsunami hit areas of north east Honshu.

The images show that at least 470 square kilometers (292 square miles) of land is affected by the March 11 tsunami.

Fukushima Prefecture suffered 110 square km (68 square miles) of tsunami damage, while Iwate Prefecture has about 50 square km (31 square miles) of damage.

Miyagi Prefecture is the hardest hit: 300 square kilometers (186 square miles) of damage, and, 70% of the land is still underwater.

 

Fukushima

Iodine-131 in water near Nuclear Power Plant, more evidence that Reactor Cores are leaking!

The water along the shore line of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has high levels of iodine-131.

Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said that iodine 131 in excess of 1,250 times regulated standards was found in the ocean 330 meters (1082.68 feet) south of a plant water outlet on Friday.

Iodine-131 has a short half life span of 8 days (radioactive strength reduced by half within 8 days).  It is the product of nuclear fission.  Finding so much iodine-131 in the ocean near the nuclear plant, is another indicator that the reactor cores are leaking.