Tag Archives: employment

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Ford and Chevy sales up in the U.S.? So what! Global profits are still crashing! Layoffs in the works!

“We think this is a situation that we will have to deal with for the foreseeable future.”-Bob Shanks, Ford CFO

“We have overcapacity now in Europe. It isn’t going to come back fast and we aren’t going to be saved by volume.”-Alan Mulally, Ford CEO

02 August 2012, Ford and General Motors (GM) reporting falling profits despite earlier reports of increased sales.

GM reporting a drop in profits of 41% compared to the same time last year.  Ford reporting a 57% drop!  Both blame crashing sales in the European Union. GM lost $361 million USD in Europe, Ford lost $404 million!

GM’s biggest European brand, Opel, has been losing money big time.  German newspapers are reporting major changes in the works, such as reducing pay for employees, layoffs and even ending some production in the United States, shifting that production to Europe then shipping the cars to the U.S. for sale (of course that would mean layoffs for U.S. workers).

Chrysler, now controlled by Italy’s Fiat, was the only one to see an increase in profits. However, Fiat is hoping to use Chrysler to offset Fiat losses in Europe.

Ford also had profit losses in South America and Asia, which is worrisome since those are the two big vehicle sales markets right now. When asked if factory closings and layoffs were in the works, Ford’s CEO said cuts to “all areas of the business” were being considered.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Congress forces U.S. Postal Service to default!

At 24:00 hours, 01 August 2012, for the first time the USPS officially defaulted, no thanks to the U.S. Congress.

Chock Full o’Crap commentators are gleefully calling for a fully privatized postal system. The U.S. Postal Service is already a contractor run system!

The USPS is also considered the most efficient postal system in the world: “The key thing about the U.S. Postal Service is it’s extremely efficient compared to its colleagues around the world…”-Scott Jackson, Oxford Strategic Consulting, February 2012

The United States Postal Service does not make money off taxpayers, they are solely funded by the postage they charge. The problem is that Congress dictates the prices charged by the USPS, and Congress gets to control the revenue (just like Social Security)!!!

Other Chock Full o’Crap commentators say the U.S. postal Service is not competitive enough. Yeah, how can they be when it’s the U.S. Congress pulling their strings?!

Because of the shenanigans of Congress, the USPS will not be able to pay a Congressionally mandated $5.5 billion USD payment to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, due by midnight 01 August. The USPS will also not be able to pay another $5.6 billion payment in September.

The Treasury department is supposed to apply those payments to retirement funds, but the way things are actually run in Washington DC, I doubt it!

It’s the fault of the U.S. Congress, people!!!

Business/Economics, International, Technology

What Economic Recovery? For the first time in 62 years, TV maker Sharp will layoff 5,000 workers! Despite profits Panasonic will let go 7,000 workers! Sony 10,000!

01 August 2012, Sharp announced that it will layoff 5,000 employees between now and March 2013, then, on 02 August reported a record loss of $1.6 billion USD for the quarter April-June!  That’s three times its loss from the same quarter last year!

The layoffs will affect workers in Japan, and in other countries.  Sharp hopes most of the layoffs will come from convincing older workers to retire early.

Sharp now expects to lose $3.2 billion for the year 2012!

Sharp has reported record losses, but, Panasonic recently reported profits and still plans to layoff 7,000 employees!

On 30 July 2012, Panasonic revealed that it plans to reduce its headquarter staffing by 7,000, leaving only 150 HQ staff employed!

Panasonic reported profits for the past quarter, but they (just like Sharp) suffered huge losses in 2011, and they expect sales to drop for the rest of 2012.

Panasonic executives say they hope to find other jobs for the 7,000 HQ staffers in Japan.

Back in April 2012, Sony revealed they will layoff 10,000 employees, both in Japan and in other countries.  On 02 August 2012, Sony reported a loss of $315 million for the quarter Arpil-June.

Sony officials revised their expected losses for this year, almost doubling it!

All three of these companies are losing big money in one sector of their industry: Televisions with LCD screens!  They say people around the world just aren’t buying enough LCD TVs.

Or is it that company execs messed up and ordered the production of way too many TVs with liquid crystal displays?

Fukushima

One Year Later: Scientists cooking the books on radiation contamination. Now say radiation exposure was not at dangerous levels!

Reported on 13 July 2012, a group of Japanese and Russian scientists, working through the Hirosaki University’s Institute of Radiation Emergency Medicine and the Institute of Radiation Hygiene in St. Petersburg, greatly lowered the official radiation exposure records for victims of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.

Now they say no adult was exposed to dangerous levels, claiming the highest dose was 33 millisieverts.  Previously they said people had been exposed to as much as 87 millisieverts!

The international standard is 50 millisieverts, before you have to start taking iodide pills.

The scientists based their new claims on data for radioactive iodine concentration in thyroids taken between 12-16 April last year, then tried to extrapolate using recent radiation plume tracking and various dosimeter data.  So they’re making their claims based on one week of human thyroid gland data, then cooking their scientific books with more recent numbers from other measurements that do not look specifically at the health of a person!

Oh, the scientists did warn that children were still exposed to levels of contamination above the international 50 millisieverts range.  So why not the adults?

Fukushima

One Year Later: Japanese tsunami hit town so contaminated with radiation, officials can’t dump radioactive debris, instead they want to burn it!!!

31 July 2012, the Japanese government is considering plans to incinerate highly radioactive debris from the tsunami hit towns of Hirono and Namie.

The destroyed houses and buildings have been contaminated by fallout from the ongoing nuclear disaster at the GE designed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power factory.

The contamination is so high that local officials have been hamstrung because the debris can not be handled through usual removal methods.  A plan to build two new incinerators within the area was scrapped because of concerns about the radiation.

But wait, there’s more! In their wisdom officials have now rationalized that it’s OK to incinerate the radioactive debris as long as it’s outside of the contaminated area!

They are asking six municipalities to consider build incinerators for burning radioactive ruble from Hirono and Namie towns!

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

Where do the too big to fail Bankers get the death penalty? Iran!

While the U.S. crony capitalist system loves white collar crooks, allowing them to run corporations into the ground, and lose investor money to the tunes of billions of dollars, while still making millions of dollars in bonuses, the country of Iran issues true justice; they kill them!

On 30 July 2012, sentences were handed out for what turned out to be the biggest case of bank fraud in Iran’s history: “Of 39 defendants, whose charges were heard, the court’s judge has sentenced four to death and two others to life imprisonment. The remaining defendants received prison terms of 25 years, 20 years, 10 years, and less.”-Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, Judiciary spokesman

The convicted worked for a company called Aria Investment Development Company.  They used fake credit documents, and bribes, to steal $2.6 billion USD!  The stolen money was then used to take over government owned businesses.

But the investigation is not over; at least seven Iranian banks were involved!

China also executes white collar criminals!  Why not the U.S.?  After all when white collar crooks destroy companies and basically steal investor money they are destroying lives!  During the time of the Khans in Mongolia it was rare that a person would be executed for killing another human, however, execution was automatic for those who stole.

The reason was simple; someone who’s been killed has no more worries, but, someone who spent more than half their life building their lives, and their family’s lives, who then loses it all because of a thief, will spend the rest of their life struggling to rebuild, and in those times it was not likely that you could rebuild your life.  Therefore, a thief is worse than a killer because a thief will cause you to spend the rest of your life struggling to get out of poverty!

But don’t kid yourself by saying ‘oh that only happened in medieval times’.  Studies have shown that for most people in the United States, those who lose their life savings, or a good paying job, are not able to rebuild their lives to the point they were at before the loss, even after 20 years!!!

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

World War 3: Qatar joins Saudi Arabia in buying hundreds of German Leopard tanks

29 July 2012, Germany’s Der Spiegel reporting that the Arabian Peninsula country of Qatar offered Germany’s Krauss-Maffei Wegmann $2.46 billion USD for 200 of their latest Leopard main battle tanks (MBT).

A month ago it was revealed that Saudi Arabia was buying 800 Leopard 2A7 tanks, despite many German politicians pointing out that the sale violated Germany’s constitution.  Angela Merkel’s government dismissed such claims, and some politicians said the sale was needed to support Germany’s shrinking economy.

The latest Der Spiegel article says Qatari officials made the offer weeks ago.  Qatar is supporting the invasion of Syria, and was one of the main Arab supporters of the western backed insurgency in Libya.

Angela Merkel’s secretive Federal Security Council has final say regarding such a sale to Qatar, and Der Spiegel says it’s likely it will be approved.

 

 

Business/Economics, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? 8 Kmart stores closing down, 174 and counting! 13,920 people lose their jobs!

On 29 June 2012, Sears Holdings released their latest list of store closings, this time they’re all Kmart stores.

Two Kmarts in Florida, and two Kmarts in Georgia will be shut down. The other four Kmarts are located in Iowa, Virginia, Minnesota and Tennessee.

Sears Holdings pointed out that each store employs between 40 and 80 people, so this latest round of closings could result in as many as 640 people losing their jobs.

Since the beginning of 2010 Sears Holdings has closed and/or announced the closing of at least 174 stores (going by Sears Holdings estimations that could be as many as 13,920 people who lost their jobs), and more closings are planned.  The store names are Kmart, Sears, Sears Grand/Essentials, Product Repair and The Great Indoors.

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

What Economic Recovery? Hoku Corporation voluntarily de-lists, chapter 11 coming soon, “Liquidate Hoku Materials”

“How much longer can Hoku Corp keep the tsunami of debt, liabilities, liens, foreclosures and material breaches of contract at bay? What’s the delay in filing for bankruptcy protection? I believe that it may be driven by their energetic attempts to sell their solar subsidiary before the much tighter restrictions on selling assets that would come under bankruptcy.”-Marco Mangelsdorf, ProVision Solar

Hoku Corporation, parent company of failed Hoku Materials in Pocatello, Idaho, voluntarily de-listed itself from NASDAQ, and will probably file chapter 11 bankruptcy.

On 29 June it was reported that Hoku Corp had enough cash for only nine weeks of operation!

“If Hoku is unable to secure additional financing, it believes it will need to seek protection in bankruptcy from its creditors and to liquidate and wind-down Hoku and Hoku Materials. “-Hoku SEC statement, 25 June 2012

Officials also said they were unable to complete required financial reports and would miss the filing deadline for the end of the fiscal year.

At the beginning of July 2012, Hoku Corp announced it would voluntarily de-list from NASDAQ.  This after NASDAQ stopped trading of Hoku stocks, after share price fell to below $1.00 back in December 2011.  Hoku said their de-listing would take place on 10 July.

Now, Hoku has been trading as a penny stock, and as of 17 July was worth only 4 cents per share!

HOKU CORP GOING BUST! POCATELLO WASTED HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS ON TAX BREAKS!  WHO’S GONNA BUY ALL THOSE NEW HOMES NOW MR MAYOR?