Tag Archives: employment

Corporate Incompetence: TEPCo admits they’ve screwed up on trying to control nuclear plant!

Tokyo Electric Power Company has admitted that the many delays in getting the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuke plant under control, are due to the use of improvised parts and equipment.

TEPCo says they were never prepared for such a disaster, as a result many of the equipment they put together to tackle the problems, are made of material that can not stand up to the job.

TEPCo admitted that many of the leaks that have plagued water decontamination and cooling are caused by the use of hoses that are not meant for the job.

We rarely hear about Reactor 5 (since the reactors of main concern have been 1,2,3 & 4), but it turns out its cooling system was shut down at the beginning of July, because of shoddy improvised hoses/plumbing.  TEPCo will try to install better hoses and re-start cooling operations.

Another reason for the use of shoddy improvised parts and equipment: Tokyo Electric Power Company officials admit they did not understand the severity of the situation at the beginning of the disaster, and thought they would have the nuke plant under control within a few days.  Now they are asking for more time, to get proper parts and equipment to replace the improvised ones.

 

Corporate incompetence: TEPCo stops water decontamination…again

10 July 2011, Tokyo Electric Power Company has stopped its water decontamination operation, again.  This time it’s due to chemicals leaking from the system.  The chemicals are used to absorb radiation from the water.

According to NHK, TEPCo is blaming the new leaks on “non-durable” materials used to build the decontamination unit.  Basically they used parts that could not withstand the pressure, radiation and chemicals in the system.

Many reports from Japan have been confusing, because they’ve referred to problems in the ‘cooling’ system, when they mean decontamination system.  This could be because the two systems are interconnected.

Government Incompetence: Tokyo officials admit Radioactive beef was sold in markets, can’t find source of contamination!

A couple of days ago Tokyo officials reported that cows from Fukushima Prefecture tested positive for high levels of cesium contamination.  Originally officials said none of the beef was sold in Tokyo markets.  Now they admit radioactive beef was sold.

Beef from a total of 11 cows, from a Minami Soma city farm, were tested.  But it turns out that beef from six cows, from the same farm, were not tested, and were sold in Tokyo and Tochigi markets.

Some of the contaminated beef tested for as much as 3,200 becquerels per kilogram of cesium.  The national safe limit is 500.

Officials from the Fukushima Prefecture have inspected the Minami Soma farm.  They discovered that the cows had been kept indoors, along with their feed.  A skin test on the cows, prior to shipment for slaughter, showed no radiation contamination.   Water for the cows came from a well, testing is being done on the water, as well as the feed.

Officials in Tokyo are now back tracking the shipping route used to deliver the beef.  There are concerns that somewhere along the route the beef became contaminated.  It’s also possible that the beef became contaminated during the butchering process.  This could mean that extremely high levels of cesium are being emitted, probably from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Government Incompetence: Japanese beef contaminated with Cesium!

Tokyo officials say they found beef, shipped in from Fukushima Prefecture, is contaminated with high levels of cesium.

On 08 July 2011 the beef tested positive for 2,300 becquerels per kilogram of cesium, the national safe limit is 500 becquerels per kilogram.

The beef came from cows raised in Minami Souma, in Fukushima Prefecture.

Japan’s Health Ministry says this is the first time such high levels of radiation showed up in beef.  They are now requesting the six prefectures around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, to increase testing their cows for radiation.

Quotes from the front line of unemployment

In June, the average amount of time a person is unemployed reached a record 39.9 weeks.

“We have had many, many months to stimulate this economy and still not seeing businesses hire, it’s a real concern.”-Frank Davis, LEK Securities

“I send out 50 to 60 resumes a week. Nobody ever gets back to you.”-Rob Attanasio, unemployed more than one year

“I feel washed out from the statistics, in terms of not being heard, in terms of the energy that it has taken for me to keep trying to find work. I don’t feel like I’m even on the radar screen in Washington.”-N. David Cooper, unemployed more than one year

“I’ve had nightmares about my family living on the street.”-Said Nasser, unemployed more than one year

“What we’re seeing here is a sort of settling into the reality of where things are, maybe not holding out as much hope as they once held out that there’s going to be a big recovery, and all of it is going to come back. Instead, people are looking around and saying, ‘Maybe this is going to be what it’s going to be.'”-Rusty Rueff, Glassdoor.com

“Your hope soars when you snag a job interview; then it’s dashed when there’s no job offer. Repeat this over and over again and you start to feel like it’s better not to get your hopes up.”-Fran Hopkins, unemployed more than one year

“It’s very hard when you’re over 60. Nobody wants us. We’ve just been leaving resumes, that’s it. You get no reply.”-Mary Kadin, unemployed since April 2011

 

What Economic Recovery? Mainstream Media Experts get it wrong, again. Job creation predictions way off

“Today, companies are producing more goods and services than ever before. The economy is able to do that with 7 million fewer workers. If we can do so much with so much less, where is the incentive to hire?”-Bernard Baumohl,  The Economic Outlook Group

For the past few days the stock markets have been going up (mainly those reported by the Dow Jones).  Some mainstream U.S. media outlets were saying it’s because of good jobs data.  It turns out their claims of good jobs data was based solely on “expert” economists, who were just plain guessing (like always).

Today, July 8, the U.S. Department of Labor released the official job hiring numbers for June, and boy are the “expert” economists way off.  The mainstream media had been reporting that “expert” economists predicted 120,000 people would be hired in June.  The actual number of people hired…18,000.   That’s a big difference.  It’s also clear proof that the U.S. economy is not recovering.

The job creation number is a “net” number, meaning it’s what’s left over after you subtract the number of people who lost jobs.  Another way to say it is that corporate america fired way more people than they hired.  And this has been going on for years now.

“We are backsliding. The chances are that we go into another recession or we muddle along at technical growth, but actually making no improvements as far as Main Street goes. The chance of one of those things happening is extremely high.”-Heidi Shierholz, Economic Policy Institute

How bad is the unemployment situation?  Officially 7 million people lost their jobs as a direct result of the credit crisis, which started in 2007/2008.  Today, officially there is still 6.3 million people with no jobs!   And by “officially” I mean those people who’re still counted by state and federal unemployment agencies, there are potentially millions who’re no longer counted.

If you notice I used two quotes from economist who seem to know what’s really going on.  I see many reports and comments from such economists, yet the mainstream U.S. media always goes with the “experts” who always get it wrong.

Why would the mainstream U.S. media continue to report faulty data?  Could it be because the mainstream U.S. media is not only traded on the stock markets, but is actually invested in the stock markets, so basically they’re scamming potential investors to give up their money to the biggest casino in the world, The Stock Market?

There are also those who believe the mainstream U.S. media is doing the bidding of the Federal government, in trying to make things look better than they really are, to try and prevent mass civil disobedience (like what’s happening in some European countries).

In any event, it is clear that you can’t rely on the mainstream U.S. media for “facts” about our economy.  And you can not use the stock market as a gauge for the performance of our economy.

The fact that 6.3 million people are still officially out of work, shows that after three years of promises about improving our economy, and claims that the recession is over, absolutely nothing has improved and many “Main Streeters” think we’re heading into a Depression.

 

Corporate Incompetence: Japanese nuclear plant operator lies about plant safety, gets caught!

In Japan, the restart of the Genkai nuclear power plant has been put on hold, after a whistler blower revealed that the company boss ordered false statements about the plant’s safety.

Operator Kyushu Electric Power Company got the go ahead to restart the nuclear plant, located in Saga prefecture, after a public meeting in which email testimonies were read in favor of restarting the plant.  Those emails, supposedly from independent observers, and even affiliates of KEPCo, turned out to be lies.

Saga is located many hundreds of miles from Fukushima, on the southern island of Kyushu.

It’s been revealed that the boss of KEPCo ordered false emails to be sent to the public hearing, in order to win approval for restart.

Now local officials will wait until the central Japanese government completes its new stress tests, before giving the go ahead for restart.

 

Studies say cutting back on salt does not reduce death rates

“Cutting down on the amount of salt has no clear benefits in terms of likelihood of dying or experiencing cardiovascular disease.”-Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews

No fewer than seven international studies have concluded that reducing salt in your diet does not reduce the chance of death.

A moderately low salt diet might reduce your blood pressure, but there is no evidence it will prolong your life.  However, there is evidence that people who have congestive heart failure might increase there chance of death with a low salt diet.

This makes sense to me, because salt, along with potassium, helps prevent your muscles from cramping.  Your heart is a muscle.

The studies looked at 6,000 people.  Researchers admit they need to do more detailed studies, like looking at cardiovascular morbidity in people with normal or high blood pressure.

Government & Corporate Incompetence: More Japanese tea farms contaminated with Cesium!

Another tea growing prefecture is now contaminated with dangerous levels of cesium.  Tochigi prefectural government says 1,810 becquerels per kilogram of cesium is contaminating the harvest, piked earlier this week.

The levels are three times the safe limits set by the Tochigi government.  Tochigi Prefecture is 160 kilometers (99.4 miles) from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

This latest prefecture is part of a growing list of prefectures that have stopped tea shipments because of cesium.  Others include Chiba, Kanagawa and Shizuoka prefectures. Shizuoka is Japan’s largest tea producer.

Corporate Incompetence: TEPCo admits airborne radiation still being emitted in high doses!

Tokyo Electric Power Company announced it will increase monitoring of airborne radiation levels around the damaged reactors at its Fukushima Daiichi plant.

TEPCo will especially focus on reactors 1 and 4.  High levels of contamination are being found in dust and steam emitted from the reactor buildings.