Tag Archives: economy

Fukushima

60 tons of water sprayed, more Fire Fighters on their way

Officials say the water trucks sprayed about 60 tons of water, so far, on reactor 3 at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

That isn’t going to be enough:  Each spent fuel pool can hold up to 2000 tons of water, so you can see it’s going to take a lot of water (there are 6 reactors and several spent fuel pools).

Another problem is that even if they get outside power hooked to the plant, most of the power panels, and cooling pumps, have been destroyed by the tsunami.  So they are now working to fix that problem as well.

Business/Economics, Fukushima

Japanese Banks limiting access to cash

NHK has been reporting that banks around Japan are limiting ATM withdrawals.

Many Japanese are angry because they are having a hard time getting access to their money, in order to buy necessities.

Banks say their clients can still walk in, during limited hours, to make larger withdrawals.  The banks are blaming the disaster situation, including power outages, for the reason for limiting access to ATMs.

Just one more reason to keep your money under the mattress.

Fukushima

Hospitals within evacuation zone still waiting for help, More proof you can’t rely on the government

A hospital in Minami-Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, inside the zone where people have been instructed to stay indoors, more than half the hospital’s staff have evacuated.  But, about 170 inpatients are still at the hospital.

“We’re reaching the limits of our ability to provide treatment,” hospital director Yukio Kanazawa said. Only a small number of hospital staff stayed behind to care for the patients.

Ohmachi Hospital staff is now less than 40%.  The hospital is rationing meals for patients, two meals a day.

Doctors who normally work at Tono Hospital, cannot get there because of a fuel shortage.

Ninohe Hospital has run out of supplies, including heating fuel.  “It’s as if some enemy is starving us out,” a hospital official said.

Kunihiro Mashiko, chief of the emergency treatment center of Nippon Medical School Chiba Hokusoh Hospital says “Lives that were saved once may be lost because of the shortage of both doctors and medicine.”

At Ishinomaki Hospital, tap water, electricity and gas have been cut off.  Requests for help with about 120 inpatients were declined.

 

 

Business/Economics, Opinion, U.S.

Maybe the Crazy Rich are Right? Then we’re Screwed!

A Fidelity Investments survey shows that 4 out of 10 rich people, with an average wealth of $3.5 million, say it’s not enough.  Maybe they’re right.  Most of those surveyed are thinking about being able to retire.   They say $7.5 million in assets is required to retire comfortably.

Is this proof of how bad our economy is?

If the rich are saying you need at least $7.5 million to retire, then the rest of us are truly in trouble. In fact why bother continuing to play the rat race game?  Why bother with the keeping up with the Joneses game?  Why bother throwing a good portion of your income at a 401k retirement plan?  It’s clear that the overwhelming majority of U.S. citizens, even those pumping money into retirement schemes, are never going to hit the magic $7.5 million mark that 42% of rich people say is needed just to retire.

I’m not even Middle Class. My income has steadily been going down since January 2000.  Now, my before tax deductions income is less than $20,000 per year.  I know people worse off than that.

Is this proof of how bad our economy is?  If it is, the rest of us are f**ked!

 

 

 

Business/Economics, Opinion, U.S.

Proof that the Rich are Insane, they think they’re poor

Fidelity Investments surveys a thousand of some of its richest clients, to find out how they feel about their wealth.  The survey involves clients with an average of  $3.5 million in investment assets.

For 2010, 42% said they do not feel rich.  In 2009 it was 46% that did not feel rich.  That’s about 4 out of 10 rich people who think they are still poor.

How much would they need to feel rich?  According to the survey, $7.5 million.

Fidelity Investments also said 55% of the wealth in the United States is held by only 5% of the people.  This backs up what the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) said in one of their recently released surveys.

Sounds like some of the rich are suffering from some kind of personality, or obsessive compulsive, disorder.  Perhaps some kind of factitious disorder.  But what about the rest of us? After all we’re letting them run our economy, and in effect our lives.

 

 

International

Concerns over volcano may unite North & South Korea

The 9.0 quake/tsunami has officials in North and South Korea concerned over possible eruption of the Baekdu volcano in North Korea.

The last time it erupted was in 1903.

The increase seismic activity in the area, including volcanic activity in Japan and Eastern Russia, has Korean officials worried so much that it has become part of their unification discussions.  However, both sides are downplaying it.

Korea is directly due west of the Japanese state of Honshu.

Fukushima

Russians trapped in Sendai, asking for air rescue

150 Russians, including rescue workers sent to help Japan, and Russian news reporters, are trapped in Sendai, dozens of kilometers from the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

They ran out of fuel for their vehicles, and where apparently left behind by rescue workers from other countries.  It sounds as if there was a panic to escape the area after the Japanese government order evacuations.

Fukushima

Workers fighting nuclear disaster in Japan expected to die, being called ‘Kesshitai’

A Japanese newspaper (Sankei Shimbun) has named the workers fighting the nuclear disaster ‘Kesshitai’. It means ‘unit that expects to die’.

A daughter of one of the workers says her father told the family that he will die.  The wife of another worker received a message that said: “Please continue to live well, I cannot be home for a while.”

So far, at least 20 people are confirmed to have radiation contamination.