Tag Archives: japan

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

Japan enters U.S. data collection/spying market!

28 October 2013 (11:42 UTC-07 Tango)/23 Dhu’l-Hijja 1434/06 Aban 1391/24 Ren-Xu (9th month) 4711

Japanese tech company, NTT Communications, announced they are taking over two U.S. companies in Colorado and California.

Virtela Technology Services, based in Colorado, provides corporations with computer networking service.

California’s RagingWire collects, processes and stores your personal data.

NTT Communications’ take over will be complete by January 2014.

Japan is part of the Trilateral Commission alliance.

The Trilateral Commission was founded by David Rockefeller in 1973.  The official goal is to foster economic and political co-operation between Japan, North American countries and European countries (notice these are the regions that are currently in big economic trouble).

In 2000, the Japan membership was expanded to include many other Asian countries, and is now called the Pacific Asia Group.

In April 2013, Japan became a member of NATO (which has become the Trilateral Commission’s military unit): “…..You might ask why the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization should come to the Pacific region.  The answer is very simple.  Today’s NATO is a new NATO.  It’s a NATO with a global perspective.  It’s a NATO with global partners.  And Japan is our longest-standing global partner…..NATO and Japan are like-minded……we can help the United Nations and the international community to reinforce the rules-based international system……we need common approaches and responses…….To confront global threats such as terrorism, cyber attacks, and proliferation…..And I am delighted that later today, Prime Minister Abe and I will sign a Joint Political Declaration to guide our future work.”-Anders Fogh Rasmussen, NATO Secretary General, from statement made on the morning of 15 April 2013, Japan National Press Club

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Too Big to Jail: Elitists ripped off by their own elite hotel!

26 October 2013 (14:52 UTC-07 Tango)/21 Dhu’l-Hijja 1434/04 Aban 1391/22 Ren-Xu (9th month) 4711

The Maryland, U.S.A., based elitist hotel chain, Ritz Carlton, admits to ripping off wealthy customers at their Osaka, Japan, hotel.

In a press conference the hotel’s general manager, Oriol Montal, admitted he knew back in July that customers in the restaurant were not being served what they ordered.  Food items were being made with cheaper ingredients.  Montal also admitted that some food items were contracted out to third party food services.

However, in true elitist style Montal blamed the restaurant’s menus for the bait-n-switch, saying the menus had incorrect item descriptions.  This does not explain why he said nothing for the past three to four months since learning of the problem.  Montal says he will refund his rich customers their money.

Montal admitted there is no oversight regarding how the hotel restaurant is run.  In July he was told of shrimp ingredients that were not what was printed on the menus.  He claims that it was this month (October) that he was told, apparently by a restaurant whistleblower, that other food items, like bread, were not what they seemed.

I hope all those laissez-faire elitists liked their bait-n-switch meals!

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

Exceptional Failed State: U.S. job losses & store closings 10-12 August 2013. Veteran run military contractor stealing bombs from National Guard? Idaho loses 1500 jobs in one day? More health care cuts blamed on the Federales!

Incomplete list of announced closings and layoffs.

AOL (American On [Off ?] Line) announced they are selling off 400 Patch sites!  This after announcing they will layoff as many as 500 Patch Editors!

California: In Alameda County, the Almeda Health System laid off at least 57 employees at two hospitals, this as AHS is actually adding two more hospitals to its inventory. One of those hospitals was donated by a non-profit health care group (probably done in by Obama Care).  Hospital officials say the layoffs are their attempt to comply with Obama Care!  In Long Beach, the Christian Saint Mary Medical Center laid off 86 employees.  In Redwood City, Perseid Therapeutics ended operations.  59 people unemployed. It’s the result of a takeover by Astellas.  In San Jose, IBM laid off 203 people!  The layoffs were part of IBM’s elimination of 3-thousand jobs World wide!

Florida: In Tampa, Too Big to Jail JP Morgan Chase lays off another 208 people!  That’s on top of the 435 cuts announced in June. The evil bank officials admitted that the home mortgage disaster has reached a point where it’s not worth it for banks to continue stealing people’s homes, so they’re now going after their own employees!

Georgia: In Tucker, Park Pet Retreat shut down. The owner of the doggie daycare center blames a suck ass investor:“I am so very sorry to tell you that the Investor that was brought to me and led me on for a month has backed away from the deal.”   But, apparently some good news; it seems Rita MacCallon has such loyal customers that she’s opened a new doggie daycare under the title Rita’s Pet Retreat.

Idaho: In Boise, Micron Technologies (the World’s 2nd largest DRAM maker) announced it will fire 1500 employees!  It’s the result of Micron taking over Japanese competitor Elpida.  Micron officials say the layoffs will be spread around the World, but a Boise financial consultant, Dave Pesto, said “It appears to be pretty heavy here.”  Micron laid off 2-thousand people in Boise back in 2009!

Illinois: In Chicago, Career Education Corporation laid off another 480 people!  That’s on top of the 900 people laid off since last November!  The company has lost more than a hundred million dollars since last year!

Kansas: Wichita City warned of layoffs.  If city revenues are down, as is expected, they want to layoff 13 employees.

Louisiana: Explo Systems bankrupt, company officials in prison.  They are $3 million in debt, and were even served with an eviction notice by the Army National Guard.  The company was supposed to be disarming and destroying out of date munitions for the Louisiana National Guard.   At least six employees were charged with unlawful storage of explosives, reckless storage of explosives, failure to obtain magazine license, failure to properly mark explosive material,  failure to keep accurate inventory and conspiracy.

New York: In Buffalo, yet another non-profit health care provider, Phoenix Frontier, bankrupt because of the federal government.  The IRS claims the disabilities and mental health service provider failed to pay taxes.  In Levittown, magic Shop closed (the store sign actually has magic spelled with lower case m).

North Carolina: The Agricultural and Technical State University laid off at least 50 employees.  The University of North Carolina at Greensboro laid off an undisclosed amount of employees.  In both cases it’s blamed on state funding cuts, and declining student enrollment.  In Greensboro, Cafe Carolina closed down. The owner blames the suck ass economy: “We really wished, we had the ability to keep it going, but under the current conditions we just can’t.”-Ron Hines

Texas: In Waco, Southern Foods Group ended operations.  150 employees let go!

Vermont: Wood burning stove maker, Vermont Castings, laid off 100 employees! Other layoffs took place in Kentucky and Mexico. The company was taken over by its own management, who decided to slash and burn in the name of consolidation.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DoL) doesn’t count the hundreds of layoffs involving less than 50 people each, in its mass layoff reports. It also doesn’t count all the little ‘mom & pop’ businesses that shut down.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Exceptional Failed State: Study says U.S. citizens too stupid to compete in Global workplace! Older U.S. workers smarter!

25 October 2013 (15:17 UTC-07 Tango)/20 Dhu’l-Hijja 1434/03 Aban 1391/21 Ren-Xu (9th month) 4711

Despite the fact that people in the U.S. have decent access to computers and the internet, they actually score lower in intelligence than even countries who lack access to technology!

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development released the results of their comparison of average workers in a couple dozen countries, including the United States.  U.S. workers lose!

The average U.S. worker earned a “Mean proficiency in literacy” score of 262.  Only France, Spain, Italy and Cyprus scored lower.  Surprisingly German workers scored only 267.1.  The average score is 270. Russian workers scored 275.2.  Not surprisingly, Japanese workers are way ahead of the pack with a high score of 293.6 (but their high technical intelligence still doesn’t make them much money).

Those scores include people in the age range of 16 to 65 years.  When OECD cut the age range to just 16 to 24 years, U.S. workers scored even lower, dropping to 260.9, meaning the older U.S. workers are smarter than the young workers.

This contrasts with most other countries, who saw a jump in their literacy score when the older workers were left out of the equation.   This is not good for the United States, because it suggests that as more older workers retire, or are refused jobs because of their age (like me), the overall global competitiveness of U.S. workers will continue to fall in the coming decades.

When it comes to the “adjusted” math (numeracy) score the U.S. worker does worse.  Only Cyprus and Italy scored lower than the U.S.  And it gets even worse when you throw out the old fogies: U.S. workers aged 16 to 24 suck with the lowest score of 240!  Even the young workers of Cyprus beat the U.S. in math!

The OECD also gave the U.S. poor IT and problem solving scores, but my dumb ‘merican brain couldn’t take it anymore (I is college edumacated, yes I is, Idaho State Uni).  Check it out for yourself: OECD Skills Outlook 2013.

Fukushima

More Fukushima Fallout: IAEA says Japanese government promises on decontamination can not be achieved!

21 October 2013 (12:42 UTC-07 Tango)/16 Dhu’l-Hijja 1434/29 Mehr 1392/17 Ren-Xu (9th month) 4711

The Japanese government has been promising the people of Japan that radiation contamination from Fukushima Daiichi would be reduced to one millisievert!  Today the International Atomic Energy Agency said that was impossible!

The IAEA spent the past week investigating the ongoing decontamination efforts at the GE designed nuclear reactors and basically concluded the current containment and cleanup efforts are a joke!

In their preliminary report, the IAEA said the government of Japan, and Tokyo Electric Power Company, are not communicating honestly with the public.

Also, Juan Carlos Lentijo, who heads the IAEA team, suggested at a press conference that radiation measurements are not being taken in accordance with international standards. Lentijo believes a major problem with the Japanese government is its inability to establish priorities: “In other words, we have to make decisions on how much are we going to spend in decontamination, how much in reconstruction of infrastructure etc.”

It will be two months before the IAEA releases their final report.

 

International, U.S.

World War 3, South East Asian Front: Japan & Vietnam practice war on China, under the guise of rescue ops!

21 October 2013 (05:06 UTC-07 Tango)/16 Dhu’l-Hijja 1434/29 Mehr 1391/17 Ren-Xu (9th month) 4711

Japan’s Maritime Self Defense Force is taking part in “rescue” games with the navy of Vietnam.

It’s interesting that some of the crews of the rescue training operations took part in familiarization with anti-ship missiles!  The three Japanese ships taking part are totally combat oriented, and are not true rescue ships.  Japanese naval officers also gave their Vietnamese counterparts a computer presentation about the combat capabilities of the Japanese ships.

Japan and Vietnam have increased military relations, in July the Japanese Coast Guard made a port call in Da Nang.

Several Japanese and Vietnamese news sources admitted that Vietnam and Japan are joining forces against China in ongoing territorial disputes.  Japan occupied Vietnam during World War 2, claiming they were liberating the country from French control.

During the Second World War, the U.S. government promised the Vietnamese independence if they rescued U.S. aircrew who were shot down by the Japanese.  Then after the war the U.S. government stabbed them in the back by letting France retake control of Indochina.

Japan is now a major lender of official development assistance (ODA) to Vietnam.

Vietnam has also contracted with Japanese companies to build nuclear power plants.  Why isn’t the U.S. government upset over that?

Fukushima

More Fukushima Fallout: Strontium spreading!

21 October 2013 (04:25 UTC-07 Tango)/16 Dhu’l-Hijja 1434/29 Mehr 1392/17 Ren-Xu (9th month) 4711

After Typhoon Wipha blew through Japan, Tokyo Electric Power Company reporting spreading contamination due to heavy rain.

TEPCo is now reporting that eleven ridiculously short barriers around the leaking contaminated water storage tank farms, are overflowing with rainwater.  Rainwater overflowing six barriers is testing positive with strontium contamination, 71 times the government safe limits!

The barriers are only 30 centimeters (11.8 inches) high!  TEPCo subcontracted workers also found highly radioactive water in drainage ditches, that lead to the Pacific Ocean.

For the past two years TEPCo had ordered that during rain storms the drain pipes on the barriers be opened to allow the rainwater to run out.  However, in August this year is was discovered that rainwater was becoming contaminated after running off the water storage tanks.  Since then the drainage pipes are kept closed, and rainwater is pumped into small tanks.

TEPCo admitted their water pumps could not keep up with the latest heavy rainfall.  Not only that, but it turns out the small water tanks they’re using are too small, as one tank recently overflowed while being filled, for hours before anybody noticed.

On 16 October, Japanese news media reported that water in a drainage ditch contained 1400 becquerels (bq) of radiation per liter.  The day before there was only 19 bq!

On 18 October, Japanese media reported radiation suddenly skyrocketing in groundwater test wells.  As much as 400-thousand bq per liter of radiation was detected in one well.  More than 6-thousand times higher than levels detected the day before, in the same well!

Another typhoon is expected to hit Japan this week.

In related news, fishermen in the area have decided to resume fishing despite the never ending contamination of the Pacific Ocean.  They claim the fish they’ve caught are not contaminated.

 

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

World War 3, U.S. Economic Front: Job losses & store closings 03-06 August 2013. Canadian company bails on California, says U.S. economy dragging them down! Japan taking over U.S. ATM industry! Social Security has already been cut, causing layoffs!

Incomplete list of announced closings and layoffs:

AOL laid off another undisclosed number of employees.

Apple subsidiary FileMaker laid off 20 employees.

Internet shopping innovator, Geek.com, has abandoned the internet and will now operate traditional brick & mortar stores.

Alabama: At Fort Rucker, tax sucking military aircraft maintenance contractor, Army Fleet Support, laid off 70 employees.  Apparently the U.S. Army is intentionally reducing aircraft flights to save money on fuel, but that also means a reduction in aircraft maintenance intervals.  In Jefferson County, two Food World grocery stores closed.  The parent company, Belle Foods, is bankrupt and will close/sell off stores in several states.

California: In La Jolla, Kashi closed down. 28 people laid off.  In San Jose, Bon Appetit Management closed, 188 people out-o-work!  In Hayward, for profit legal drugs pusher, Impax Labs, laid off 142 employees! The FDA rejected Impax’s new costly Parkinson’s drug.  In Fontana, Canadian based trucking company, Viatran Express, ended U.S. operations. Company officials said they had to get out of the U.S. economy if they were to remain profitable! 87 California jobs lost.  In Los Angeles, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center laid off 113 employees!  In Bassett, National Envelope shut down, 147 jobs lost!  For the reason see Wisconsin, below.  In Yuba, Rideout Health laid off 13 employees. Originally 90 employees were gonna get the axe.  Company officials are struggling to adjust their operating budget to the new Obama Care funding.

Colorado: In Colorado Springs, Lang’s Shoes closed.

Florida: In Miami, AgroTrade America laid off 157 employees!  No official reason given. Homewrecker RealAuction.com/RealForeclosure.com now bankrupt.  Good!  ATM operator, Global Axcess, sold its assets for $10 Million USD, then went bankrupt!  U.S. news reports said the ATM operations were sold to a California based company, however, according to a report in The Japan Times the so-called California company is really a front (“wholly owned U.S. subsidiary”) for a Japanese company called Seven Banks. In Orlando, Orlando Health laid off hundreds of employees in a second round of cuts.  Hospital officials warned back in November 2012 they were forced to layoff up to 400 employees, due to a 20% cut in Medicaid funding (thank you Obama Care)!  In West Boca, popular kids indoor playcenter, Playtown Cafe, shut down. It’s blamed on the property owner and property developers.

Idaho: In Caldwell, the Canyon County Animal Shelter warned of layoffs due to county budget concerns and crashing donations!

Illinois: Allsup, a company that helps people with their disability funding, laid off 65 employees.  Company officials blame it on the U.S. Social Security Administration.  Company officials also warned of more possible layoffs due to the rip off called Obama Care.

Indiana: In Lafayette, heavy equipment maker Caterpillar laid off 125 people!  Company officials blame their crashing sales on the dead economy in Europe, and a slowing economy in China.

Kentucky: Fruit of the Loom laid off an undisclosed number of employees.  Company officials would only say it was less than 100.  The United States Enrichment [Uranium] Corporation began laying off employees at its Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant.  The first round will put 160 people out-o-work.  It’s blamed on high production costs and falling nuclear fuel prices.

Maryland: In Hagerstown, women’s clothing store Lena’s closed.  The store’s manager/investor said the economy is dead: “The economic situation in Hagerstown and Washington County is, I mean I know others may say other things, but to me it is pretty devastated!”-Lori Ruda

Massachusetts: In Wesseley, the 84 years old upscale women’s clothing Triangle Shop closed. The greedy property owner suddenly canceled the lease, no warning.  The current shop owner is hoping to re-open in a new location.

New Hampshire: Stop & Shop grocery stores shut down across the state.  670 people out-o-work!  It sounds like BS to me because the corporate officials said the grocery stores “…have not achieved performance goals…”, they never said the stores were losing money.

New York: In NYC, Green Chimneys-Gramercy Group Residence for homeless homosexual children closed after hidden video cameras revealed physical abuse of children by staff.  Teenagers also claimed sexual and financial exploitation.  43 people deservedly unemployed. Upstate Cerebral Palsy laid off 26 teachers. It’s blamed on a sudden and unexpected crash in student enrollment: “We can’t refer students if we don’t have them.”-Lori Eccleston, Utica City School District

North Carolina: The Craven County School District laid off 36 teachers.  It’s blamed on $1.27 million in state funding cuts!  In Rockingham, the Goodman Furniture store closed.

Ohio: In Mason, Bradley Caldwell (BCI) closed down.  81 jobs lost.  In Waverly, 58 years old Streitenberger’s Garage shut down.  In Toledo, Maryland based Ukazoo Books closed. The retail space is now being used for internet sales only.

Oregon: The Umatilla Chemical Weapons Depot laid off 100 people! The depot is shutting down, claiming they’ve destroyed the last of their CW.  Since 2011 hundreds of employees have been laid off.

Pennsylvania: In Johnstown, Yankee Shoe Repair factory shut down after 92 years of operations. The owner blamed a multitude of things: “Without sufficient skilled staff, and considering current footwear buying trends, coupled with economic conditions, the long term stability of the business was in jeopardy…Given the materials used in footwear today, 95% of the shoes people buy can’t be repaired.”-Larry Coco

South Carolina: In Clinton non-profit Alzheimer’s care center, Senior Options, laid off 21 more staff.  Back in March they laid off 20 drivers, a direct result of cuts to Medicaid funding (Obama Care)!  In Aiken, funding cuts from the U.S. Department of Energy forces Shaw Project Services Group/Savannah River Remediation to layoff 485 employees!  Also in Aiken, AREVA Federal Services laid off 28 employees.  In Landrum, the Christian God can’t stop the Blue Ridge Christian Academy from shutting down.  School officials said they couldn’t raise enough funding for the school year.  The school also caused controversy with a science test given to fourth graders last year.

Tennessee: In Memphis, tech startup Work for Pie failed.  Lack of revenue is blamed.

Texas: In Midland, AT&T closed down, 101 people unemployed! In Roanoke, Ryder Logistics closed down, 60 people unemployed.

Wisconsin: In Appleton, bankrupt National Envelope shut down after being sold off.  153 people unemployed!  Employees across the country affected as well.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DoL) doesn’t count the hundreds of layoffs involving less than 50 people each, in its mass layoff reports. It also doesn’t count all the little ‘mom & pop’ businesses that shut down.

Fukushima

More Fukushima Fallout: UN says radiation exposure worse than first reported!

13 October 2013 (05:10 UTC-07 Tango)/08 Dhu’l-Hijja 1434/21 Mehr 1392/09 Ren-Xu (9th month) 4711

Recently, Tokyo Electric Power Company reported detecting cesium in the Pacific Ocean, in an area previously free of the isotope!

For the 68th Session of the UN General Assembly, the Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation reported that the initial radiation exposure to humans around Fukushima Daiichi, back in 2011, was at least 20% higher than what TEPCo and the Japanese government reported!

The report stated that “…severe core damage to three of the six nuclear reactors…resulted in the release, over a prolonged period, of very large
amounts of radioactive material into the environment.”

The UNSCEAR investigation discovered that TEPCo and the Japanese government was not able to directly measure certain isotopes, such as radioactive iodine and cesium, in their radiation exposure assessments.  The thousands of employees at Fukushima Daiichi suffered the highest radiation contamination, higher than what the official Japanese government reports say.

The major problem with the Japanese reports of exposure levels is that they are purely “estimates”.  The UNSCEAR pointed out that there were no direct radiation measuring available at Fukushima Daiichi in 2011, and therefore corporate and government officials based exposure on “various models”.

(as I wrote back in 2011, they were guessing!)

The UNSCEAR added that “…low-level releases into the ocean were still ongoing in May 2013.”

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

Government Evil: U.S. sanctions Iran over nuke industry, yet makes deal to sell nuclear tech to Vietnam! More proof the U.S. is the patsy of Israel & Saudi Arabia!

11 October 2013 (23:33 UTC-07 Tango 10 October 2013)/06 Dhu’l-Hijja 1434/19 Mehr 1391/07 Ren-Xu (9th month) 4711

Only days after General Giap died (the man credited with forcing the U.S. out of Vietnam) the Obama regime signed a deal to sell nuclear technology to Vietnam!  This while the United States has steadily increased economic sanctions against Iran, supposedly because the U.S. doesn’t want Iran to have nuclear technologies!

The U.S. and Vietnam fought a tens years war with each other (before that the U.S. supported France in its eight years war against Vietnam), and yet the Obama regime will allow the private sector to sell off its nuke tech to the South East Asian country?

Iran has never attacked the United States (to be clear, Vietnam never attacked the U.S. either)!  Yet the United States shot down Iran Air flight 655 killing 274 Haj pilgrims and 16 crewmen, launched a tens years war against Iran via Saddam Hussein of Iraq, launched recon drones and even special forces/CIA ops inside Iran, and has imposed economic sanctions for the past 30 years!

Can you say “What a bunch of bullshit!”?

Why can the government of the U.S. be so eager to sell nuke tech to a former enemy, Vietnam, yet continue to warmonger against Iran?  The answers are Saudi Arabia and Israel.

Saudi Arabia and Israel are afraid of an independent and strong Iran.  Never mind the fact that in ancient times the Semites seemed to always find a friend in the Iranian empire (aka Persian empire).

Israel’s NAZI Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, just days ago gave the European Union an order during news media interviews: “Stop it [Iran] now while you’re in a strong position to do so.”

Nut job yahoo then went on a lying rampage that was just amazing, basically blaming Iran for every act of terror and accusing Iran of wanting to destroy the World!

Nut job yahoo’s spoiled brat tantrum could have been the result of being informed by the Obama regime that the U.S. and the EU might ease sanctions against Iran.

Then there’s the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (K.S.A.), who benefits from the U.S. oil sanctions on Iran.  Note that the U.S. buys from K.S.A. what it would have bought from Iran, although Saudi officials deny a connection.

Just a couple of days ago, Reuters reported that the Saudi monarchy is having a shit fit over the possibility that the U.S. and EU could ease sanctions against Iran: “The Saudis’ worst nightmare would be the administration striking a grand bargain with Iran.”-Robert Jordan, former U.S. ambassador to K.S.A.

“I am afraid in case there is something hidden. If America and Iran reach an understanding it may be at the cost of…..Saudi Arabia.”-Abdullah al-Askar, chairman of foreign affairs K.S.A. Shoura Council

The U.S. wants to jump on Vietnam’s estimated $50 billion USD nuke industry market.  You know, Iranian officials have stated, in the past, that they would love to do open business with U.S. nuke corporations.  Japan and Russia have already been awarded contracts to build electricity generating nuclear factories in Vietnam.  The Obama regime took Vietnam’s word that the nuke tech won’t be used for making bombs, yet U.S. can’t take Iran’s word that they are not making a bomb?