Tag Archives: employment

Business/Economics, U.S.

Occupy America! New York City mayor orders Wall Street protestors out, so the park can be cleaned. War veterans arrested. JP Morgan buys off NYPD

October 13, Reports out of New York City say that the mayor has ordered protestors out, so that city workers can clean Zucotti park.

Protestors will hold a meeting soon, to decide how they will respond.

Several War on Terror veterans were arrested, one a former U.S. Army interrogator in Iraq.  At least eleven protestors in San Francisco, California, were arrested on Wednesday.  They had blocked access to the Wells Fargo headquarters.

On Tuesday, about 200 protestors were arrested in Boston, Massachusetts, and about 27 in Chicago, Illinois.

A former equities broker says James Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase & Company, gave the New York City police millions of dollars to fight the protestors: “…$4.6 million to the New York Police Department to beef up police presence on the streets and to crack heads and to violently oppress protesters.”-Max Keiser, former equities broker

In the past Keiser called JP Morgan “…the biggest financial terrorist on Wall Street.”

 

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Japanese fleeing to United States, China and Australia, in the millions

The number of Japanese leaving their country, in one year, has hit a record 1.1 million.  That’s according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry, which counted the number of Japanese who’ve officially become permanent residents of foreign countries.

The country of choice for most Japanese expatriates is the United States, with more than 388,000 becoming residents as of the end of 2010.

China is next with about 131,000, and Australia with about 70,800. The top three countries have remained unchanged since 2008.

Within the U.S., Los Angeles is the number one destination followed by New York City.

Business/Economics, International

What Economic Recovery? Nearly 400 Japanese companies out of business since March

Blaming the March 11 disasters, credit research firm Teikoku Databank says at least 373 companies have collapsed since then.

Construction firms topped the list with 63 bankruptcies (despite reconstruction opportunities), followed by hotels and inns with 32 (despite people who’ve lost their homes and need a place to stay) and clothing companies with 23 (despite people who’ve lost all their clothes in the tsunami).

Even companies far away from the disaster areas have failed.  More business failures are expected, because there are 2,500 companies who say they are still unable to resume operations!

Fukushima

Government & Corporate Incompetence: Radioactive Strontium found on Yokohama roof tops!

Yokohama City officials are testing their soil for strontium, after a private testing firm said they found high levels of strontium on some roof tops.

The company said they detected 195 becquerels of strontium per kilogram, more than six times the government safety limit.  Yokohama has already suffered cesium levels at 80 times the government limits.

Yokohama is about 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

 

International, U.S.

Occupy America! Some facts about Revolutions the leaderless Wall Street occupiers, and Tea Partiers, need to know

The following is a brief on research I did on how Revolutions actually work, because they don’t follow the predictions of Karl Marx; that revolutions are led by the lower classes.  Three authors were read: Crane Brinton, James C. Davies and Ted Gurr.

James C. Davies (creator of the J-curve theory of revolutions) compared the theories of Karl Marx and A. de Tocqueville, with the Dorr Rebellion,  1917 Russian Revolution and 1952 Egyptian Revolution.

Davies found that economically motivated revolutions come after a relatively long time of decline for the middle and upper classes (the poor are too destitute to do anything about their situation).  In other words, it’s like a frog in a boiling pot of water; it takes awhile before the middle and upper classes realize they’re being screwed over.

Davies also discovered that if economic times are bad enough no revolution will take place, because everyone is too busy fending for themselves.  In other words if the middle and upper classes wait too long, they won’t have the strength to fight the elites.

Ted Gurr (Why Men Rebel) found that civil strife is affected by many factors, including economic deprivation and how the society views its leaders/government.

Gurr found that societies with a history of recurring civil strife are most likely to continue with such problems in the future.  Here in the United States the main problem is that too many citizens put too much faith in their ‘authorities’; from organized religion, to Corporate America and their government (at all levels/local/state/federal).  The irony is that the United States was founded on rebellion against authority (something that has been forgotten by many U.S. citizens).

Gurr also found that the success, or failure, of a revolution depends on how much support (from the general population and from outside the country) it gets.

One way the government/Corporate America can snuff out domestic support is to control the media coverage of such revolutions.  In fact our government (along with the British) has also used the media to create false revolutions (false flag ops) in other countries: The 1953 coup in Iran is a prime example.

Another proof of support for revolutions comes from the 1776 U.S. Revolution. If it wasn’t for the occasional raids into the southern Colonies by the Spanish, and the blockade of the British navy by the French navy, there would be no United States.

Crane Brinton (The Anatomy of Revolution) applied the scientific method in studying the 1641 English Revolution, 1776 U.S. Revolution (American War of Independence), the 1789 French Revolution and the 1917 Russian Revolution.

Brinton found that those revolutions were actually started by middle and upper class leaders.  The poor had little to do with it. The motivation of the middle and upper classes were economic: They were living in circumstances that were threatening to take away the economic gains they, and their predecessors had made, for the benefit of the elites.

Some beginning signs of Revolution: Austerity acts; tax increases/cuts to social programs.  Tax revolts.  Mobilization of Revolutionaries.  Ineffectual government reforms/accommodations.  Government repression.

Revolutionaries tend to be better leaders, organizers and motivators, than the establishment, but Brinton has warnings for Revolutionaries: Usually what happens is moderates take control of government but end up running things the same as before.  Then extremists take over, and things can get nasty, like a “reign of terror”.  Extremists can take advantage of “mob mentality” resulting in social terror that is presented as being democratic. Eventually extremists turn on each other, leading to dictatorships.  (Also, read Orwell’s Animal Farm. There’s also a cartoon version, but it’s not really for the kids ’cause it follows the book closely.)

So, these three researchers discovered that it’s not the poor who lead revolutions, it is the middle and upper classes.  The middle and upper classes revolt because their economically unstable governments (and now unstable Corporate America as well) put pressure on the more stable public, which causes the public to feel threatened and creates, at the very least, the perception that their economic prosperity (or even the chance of ever achieving prosperity) is finished.

Occupy America: Steve Jobs’ secret to success; Live Life your way

Occupy America: Federal Reserve boss blames Wall Street

Business/Economics, U.S.

Occupy America! Federal Reserve Boss agrees with protestors. Wall Street is to blame!

“Well, I would say very generally I think people are quite unhappy with the state of the economy and what’s happening.  They blame, with some justification, the problems in the financial sector for getting us into this mess, and they’re dissatisfied with the policy response here in Washington.  And at some level, I can’t blame them.”–Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve Bank Chairman

October 5, Ben Bernanke was answering questions from a U.S. Senate panel (yet again), when he was asked about the growing, and spreading, “Occupy” demonstrations.  Senators wanted to know if the protestors were justified in blaming Corporate America for the economic fall of the United States.

“Did Wall Street’s greed and recklessness cause this recession, that lead to so many people losing their jobs?” asked Senator Bernie Sanders.  Bernanke replied that excessive risk taking on Wall Street and the failure of financial regulators “had a lot to do” with the recession.


Business/Economics, U.S.

What Job Stimulus? Nearly half a million more people will lose their jobs! Just the beginning, more to come

Any job stimulus bill that gets passed by U.S. Congress will be much too little much too late.  That’s because the upcoming, publicly announced, layoffs will shut down nearly half a million jobs!

Chicago based Gray & Christmas Incorporated added up all the publicly announced future job layoffs, and it came to 480,000 jobs.  70% of those job cuts involve Bank of America and the U.S. Army.

Analysts say we ain’t seen nothin’ yet, not all layoffs are publicly announced in advance: “Bank of America is not the only bank still struggling in the wake of the housing collapse, and the military cutbacks are probably just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to federal spending cuts.”-John A. Challenger, CEO of Gray & Christmas

According to the Bloomberg article, it’s the biggest cuts in jobs in the past two years. A 212% increase from September 2010!

And don’t forget the intentional destruction of the U.S. Postal Service, by the U.S. Congress.  Happy upcoming Holidays!

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

United Police States of America: New York Police force New York Bus Drivers to take Occupy Wall Street demonstrators to jail

“The government may only compel a citizen to assist in law enforcement when there is imminent danger. There was no imminent danger here, and therefore the Operator’s Fourth Amendment rights were violated.”-John Samuelsen, Transport Workers Union Local 100

On the day that thousands of protestors took the Brooklyn Bridge, the NYPD forced New York city bus drivers to off load their passengers, just so the buses could be used as Paddy Wagons.  Police said they needed the buses to haul away the 700+ people they had arrested.

Now the New York city bus drivers are taking the cops to court!  The bus drivers’ union says police can only take over vehicles in an emergency, and peaceful protesting is not an emergency: “…this was not such an emergency, and our members’ rights were violated. They are there to transport passengers, not be an arm of City Hall to squelch free speech!”-John Samuelsen

The union is asking the New York State Supreme Court for an injunction to keep the NYPD from forcing city buses to be used as Paddy Wagons.

Union members say they are now joining the Occupy movement: “They’ve really thrown a spotlight on issues that are bothering people, especially bothering workers like our members. Right now, we’re discussing how we’re going to give them material support, what we should do for them.”-Jim Gannon, Transport Workers Union

 

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Global Class War: Occupy Los Angeles occupies City Hall, indefinitely. Protestors are leaderless, collectivley organized and highly educated

“I spent seven years at the University of Michigan getting a PHD in Medieval European History, and I realized that I wasn’t making a difference there, and I thought I can make more of a difference on the street organizing people, getting the 99% out to have a voice.”-Occupy LA protestor

October 3, protestors in Los Angeles, California, have occupied city hall and say they will stay there for as long as possible.

Volunteers from the National Lawyers Guild are educating protesters about their legal rights in case they are confronted by police.  But some protestors believe that eventually the police will join the protests: “…their pensions are under attack, their overtime is under attack, their benefits are under attack. So once they realize they’re actually part of this movement, I foresee no problems.”-Occupy LA protestor

The continued expansion of the “occupy” movement across the United States has even protestors amazed: “The leadershiplessness of this movement is incredible! The number of the people, the commitment of the people, the collective education of the people.  The moment is ripe!”-Occupy LA protestor

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Unemployed young men in Idaho more than national average

According to Federal numbers, the percentage of unemployed young men in Idaho is more than the national average.

In 2009 the national average was 17%, in Idaho it hit 20%!  Idaho’s 2010 rate was around 18%.

Unemployment claims are down, but according to Idaho Labor Department officials that’s because people just don’t qualify for unemployment assistance anymore.  One official said about 100 people per week are falling off the state unemployment assistance simply because they’ve exceeded the time limit.