Tag Archives: employment

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

Oil & Gas Prices: U.S. media flat lies about Iran’s oil sales!

The Washington Post reporting that Iran can not find buyers for its oil, and is storing oil on tanker ships as a result.

This is a blatant lie because Iran’s oil sales have only increased since the U.S. led sanctions were imposed!

The latest example is of Zimbabwe, which has asked for an increase in Iranian oil and refined diesel fuel.

Also, three ship bookers, including Galbraith’s Ltd in London, confirmed that India is buying more Iranian oil. A Liberian (former U.S. African colony) tanker has been chartered to ship 130,000 metric tons of Iranian crude (per shipment?) to India!

If Iran is storing oil on tankers, why did India have to charter a tanker?

In fact, on May 11, 2012, one Indian official told the U.S. to ‘F’ themselves over the Iran oil sanctions:  “Government of India is perfectly free to take a decision (on this issue). We do not take note of sanctions by other countries….So far as our sovereignty is concerned, we can assure that we will never allow any pressure…There will be less oil or more oil imported from Iran depending on demand. The oil [Indian] companies will decide that.”-Jaipal S. Reddy, India’s Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas

Japanese media has just reported that Japanese oil companies are increasing the number of oil tanker ships.  JX Nippon Oil & Energy has just bought three 5,000 ton class tankers, and is planning on buying a fourth.  Cosmo Oil is buying an additional tanker.

Japan won an exemption from the U.S. oil sanctions against Iran, so guess where those new tankers are probably going to go for their crude cargo?

Another claim in the Washington Post article is that ships carrying Iranian oil can’t get insurance, because most maritime insurance companies are based in Europe.  However, China and Japan are in the process of buying insurance from Iranian companies!  The Iranian government is conducting a review to allow Iranian insurance companies to cover foreign ships.

Pakistan and Iran are in the process of creating a banking system that will allow Pakistan to buy Iranian oil and gas without going through the usual U.S./U.K. dominated international banking system.

The Iranian government is on the verge of privatizing 15 government controlled petroleum businesses. As part of the privatization process, the Iranian government has already sold 555 million shares of stocks in the companies, and more stocks will be issued!

On May 12, 2012, the Iranian Oil Ministry revealed they had “ratified” 16 new oil projects last year.  That was out of 28 projects submitted.

If Iranian oil is just sitting at the docks, why is the Iranian government approving so many new petroleum projects?

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Greek Unemployment breaks Records! 60,000 companies went bust!

On May 10, 2012, the Greek Statistical Authority revealed that unemployment continued upward to record levels.

For February 2012, unemployment was at an official record high of 21.7%!

But wait, there’s more!  The reason for the record breaking unemployment was that 60,000 Greek companies went out of business in 2011!  60,000!

Greek business associations say another 60,000 could go bust in 2012!  They blame it all on the “austerity” cuts the Trilateral Commission control government is imposing upon the people of Greece.

On May 6, Greek voters voted to get rid of the U.S. based Trilateral Commission controlled ruling party, but now efforts to create a new government have stalled.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Econimic Recovery? Business profits down, tax collections down, government debt at historic high!

May 11, 2012, the Japanese government reporting that pre-tax profits of Japanese businesses dropped for the first time in the past three years.

For the Japanese fiscal year (which ends in March) 2011 there was a drop of in overall business profits by 13.3%.  This only concerns the 701 companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Japanese Finance Ministry also reports that the debt of the Japanese government is at a record high.  It is now at $12 trillion USD!

That’s an increase of $437 billion USD since last year.  It works out to about $90,000 USD for every Japanese citizen!

Officials blame everything on the rising value of the yen, which is being caused by the ongoing nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daiichi, and the lack of economic recovery in the United States.

 

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

What Economic Recovery? Panasonic reports record loses!

May 11, 2012, Panasonic reporting a record loss for the year ending in March.

Panasonic ended the Japanese year with a net balance of minus $9.8 billion USD, it’s the fourth straight year of loses for the electronics company!

Panasonic officials blame it on a huge drop in TV set sales.  In April, Sony and Sharp gave the same reason for their losses as well, and blamed it on the lack of recovery in the United States.

 

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

Oil & Gas Prices: U.S. gas reserves up. Iran allows private sector oil sales. OPEC says there is too much oil!

May 10, 2012, Iran announced the discovery of a huge oil field in the Caspian Sea.  The discovery was made while exploring a huge new gas field.

The gas field was discovered in December, and named the Sardar-e Jangal field.  It’s estimated to contain 50 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

May 9, 2012, Iran’s Oil Ministry is now allowing the private sector to sell up to 400,000 bpd to international customers.

The decision leaves the National Iranian Oil Company, as well as the Iranian central bank, out of any oil sales involving private sector companies. This means those private sector companies can avoid the U.S./European oil sanctions.

Despite U.S. led sanctions against Iranian oil, Turkey (a NATO member) actually increased oil shipments from Iran.

According to the Turkish Statistical Institute, Turkey imported 270,000 bpd of Iranian oil in March. That’s more than double their February imports!

May 10, 2012, officials from OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) members are reporting that there is too much oil in the world markets!

OPEC reported that in April they pumped out 31.62 million barrels per day (bpd). According to Reuters, that’s 1.62 million bpd more than what OPEC intended.

Keep in mind that OPEC does not represent all oil producing countries in the world. Reuters reports that even non-OPEC members increased oil production in April!

However, OPEC, and the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), expect demand for oil to increase, especially since Japan has shut down all its nuclear reactors.

The U.S. EIA also reporting that natural gas supplies increased in the United States.  For the week ending May 4, U.S. natural gas storage is at 2.606 trillion cubic feet.  That’s 44.5% above the five year average. However, analysts expected it to be more!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Business/Economics, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? American’s making $150,000+ per year get financial aid!

Make more than $150,000 USD per year and want to send your brat to a expensive private grade school?  Just join the growing ranks of six figure earners who are actually applying for financial aid!

According to the National Association of Independent Schools, at least 20% of six figure earners apply for financial help to get their kids into a private grade school.

According to PrivateSchools.com, at least one fifth of private school students get “need based” financial aid.  Most of the schools provide the financial aid themselves, and there are also scholarships.

This is a pretty sad state of economic affairs when six figure earners can get private financial aid!

According to Chantal Stevens, national director of programs at A Better Chance, six figure earners are actually taking bigger hits to their incomes than lower income earners.  The non-profit group sees more and more minority upper middle class applicants every year: “Every year we see families with more means outpacing the families with less means. It’s not a pretty trend.”

What this means is that there is no economic recovery in the United States!

Business/Economics, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? U.S. Postal Service to cut operating hours, by as much as six hours per day! Northrop Grumman sues!

May 9, 2012, Postmaster General, Patrick Donahoe, is trying to alleviate concerns over the possible closing of 3,700 post offices, which were to begin in May.  Now the USPS will try to keep as many open as possible, by drastically reducing their operating hours.

The reduction of operating hours would also take place in post offices that are not slated for closing, as many as 13,000 post offices could see hours reduced by two to six per day.

The other option is the creation of Village Post Offices, which would replace the standard post office.  The Village Post Office would operate through a retail business such as WalMart, Walgreens, etc.

Of course Congress has to approve the new plans.

The USPS is also considering letting go any employee who is not protected by labor contracts, and they’re going to do another round of early retirement buyouts.

The Postal Service, which makes its money off the services they provide, not taxes, is facing an $11 billion USD future retirement pre-payment later in the year, as well as health payments.  There are some people who say the U.S. Treasury is actually using the money for other things.

In September 2011, National Association of Letter Carriers president, Fredric Rolando, said most of the blame is on Congress: “I’m here to tell you that the Postal Service is not broke. The Postal Service just needs access to its own money. And Congress needs to get busy and give them that access.”-PBS Newshour interview

He also pointed out that the USPS does not make its money from taxes: “The Postal Service actually has somewhere between $50 billion and $125 billion in their other funds that is not taxpayer money. They haven’t used a dime of taxpayer money in over 30 years! And the Congress just needs to act responsibly and quickly to give them access to that — those funds.”

Postmaster General, Patrick Donahoe agreed: “Fred is exactly right around the issues that we have faced in the last few years. In that same time, we have been required [by Congress] to prepay employee retirement funding.”-PBS Newshour interview

Congress has made concessions, by releasing some Postal Service money, but requiring that the money be used only to reduce the number employees with early retirement buyouts!

The latest Senate bill would allow the USPS to use taxpayer money for the first time in 30 years.  The Senate bailout bill would give the Postal Service $34 billion in tax revenue.

To make matters worse, Northrop Grumman (the third largest USPS contractor) and the USPS are suing each other!

The dispute involves a 2007 automated mail processing contract.  Northrop Grumman says the USPS owes them $180 million USD.  The Postal Service says Northrop owes them $341 million!

They both claim the other failed to meet numerous contractual agreements.

 

 

 

 

Fukushima

One Year Later: Last Nuclear Reactor shut down in Japan

05 May 2012, on the northern big island of Hokkaido, Japan’s last operating nuclear reactor is being shut down.

By Saturday night (Japan time), and after 42 years, the country will be free of electricity produced by nuclear reactors.

The Hokkaido Electric Power Company is shutting down Reactor 3 of the Tomari Nuclear Power Plant.  The reactor will be completely shut down by 02:00 hours Sunday morning.

While the Tomari reactor is not scheduled for re-start, those that are have been blocked by local governments.  In Japan the local governments have the final word on reactor re-start, and because of the on going disaster reactors at Fukushima Daiichi, the majority of people in Japan are against re-starting any reactors.

For the summer of 2011 Japan’s domestic industries suffered greatly because of an electrical power shortage, even with 37 reactors operating.  Now Japan is heading into summer 2012, with not one nuclear reactor up and running.  National officials are scrambling to find ways to convince the local governments to re-start reactors.

There has been a push for wind power, but, just like here in the United States, there’s been a backlash of people who are against it because those windmills are “eyesores” and reduce property value.

Business/Economics, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? U.S. April retail sales worst in past three years!

May 4, 2012, major retailers operating in the United States, including Costco, Macy’s and Target, reported dismal sales for April.

In fact sales were below what analysts and experts were predicting.  It was hoped that the retail industry would see at least a 1.5% increase in sales, instead they got a stagnant 0.8%!  It’s the worst April since 2009!!!

The U.S. retail industry represents 70% of all U.S. economic activity.  Some analysts blame the lack of increased consumer spending on the fact that unAmerican Corporate America continues to layoff employees!

 

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

Economic Recovery? Idaho’s Micron Technology invades Japan! Micron on the offensive!

May 4, 2012, Japanese media reporting that failed Elpida Memory has chosen Idaho’s Micron Technology as its corporate savior.

According to NHK: “Elpida is Japan’s sole DRAM memory chip maker. It filed for bankruptcy protection in February after suffering losses stemming from the strong yen and intense foreign competition.”

But here’s the irony; Idaho’s Micron is also having revenue trouble.  Idaho media, real estate web sites, etc, have been reporting Micron as the Boise area’s largest employers.  But Micron’s employment in Boise dropped to 5,000 in 2009, and has been trickling down ever since.

Micron has had a lot of investors, yet their quarterly reports for 2011 were loss after loss (in the hundreds of millions each quarter).  This is because the memory chip market basically crashed.

However, since the beginning of 2012 Micron officials have been busy buying up other factories, and now companies.  Micron recently took over a Toshiba owned factory in Virginia, called Dominion Semiconductor.

Here’s what the Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch said: “The current state of the memory-production business is looking like the hotel business, where various facilities are bought and sold like trading cards from company to company.”

One reason for that is that memory chips have become a dime a dozen (actually less) and there’s no brand loyalty among chip users.

Micron officials seem to have scouted the next wave of memory innovation correctly, they are now pushing their RealSSD (Solid State Drive) and computer companies are buying it up.

On May 4, 2012, Elpida officials chose Micron, out of three bidders, to take over their company.  It’s reported that it will cost Micron $2.5 billion USD.  The take over will be finalized at the end of May, and new company plan submitted to Tokyo District Court by August.

Originally Micron offered $1.9 billion for Elpida, but Elpida shareholders threatened legal action.