Tag Archives: japan

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

Economic Recovery? Japan’s Elpida gets owned by Idaho’s Micron! Take over of Taiwan’s Rexchip in the works. Expect higher prices for your gadgets!

“Under the proposed arrangement with Powerchip, if Micron entered into an agreement to acquire Elpida, Micron would have the right to purchase the Rexchip shares held by Powerchip.”-Dan Francisco, Micron Technology

03 July 2012, failed Japanese microchip maker, Elpida Memory, has agreed to become a subsidiary of Idaho’s Micron Technology.  Of course, the U.S. main stream media says it’ll be good for the U.S. economy.

Elpida was a major supplier to Apple.

The major move makes Idaho’s Micron one of three chip makers who’ll dominate 90% of the World’s memory chip market!  The other two are Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.

In recent years the memory chip market got flooded with so many chips that the bottom fell out, and even Micron was adversely affected (once the biggest employer in the Boise, Idaho, not anymore).

The result was a dog eat dog situation between international chip makers.  In 2007, Pocatello, Idaho’s AMI Semiconductor (not necessarily memory chips, but the same thing happened with this industry) was taken over by Arizona based ON Semiconductor.  Following that ON went on to take over dozens of other companies right on up to February 2011.

“The DRAM industry is heading towards an oligopolistic market. The emergence of three major DRAM players will help DRAM chip prices gradually stabilize, bidding farewell to the price-slashing competition of the past.”-Trendforce, Taiwanese technology research company

So when market prices drop too low, when there are just too many chip makers out there, the only recourse is for companies to merge or be taken over. The result will reduce the amount of competition, and soon memory chip prices will rise making our high tech gadgets more expensive (of course people will lose their jobs as well).

Micron is also in the final stages of taking over Taiwan based Rexchip Electronics. The approval of the sale is conditional upon Micron’s take over of Elpida.  A company called Powerchip is selling its controling shares of Rexchip to Micron.  Already the price of Rexchip stocks has jumped 58% since 29 June!

“The deal will reduce price volatility as Micron will have tighter control over capacity expansion and investment plans as it needs to integrate Elpida and Rexchip.”-Song Myung-sub, HI Investment & Securities

The amazing thing about Micron’s take overs is that Micron has lost billions of dollars in the past couple of years. So where’d they get the money to initiate these take over moves?

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

LIBOR: U.K. orders new investigation! Top three Japanese banks involved in international rate fixing! Bank governor admits banks are “deceitful”! More proof of Trilateral policies, & that the Too Big to Fails caused the economic mess!

“Your working hypothesis should be that every bank in the industry did some version of this same thing. There will be more to come.”-unnamed banking official in letter to British news media

02 July 2012, Marcus Agius, a chairman of evil British Empire’s Barclays has resigned.  Barclays recently settled with U.S. and U.K. regulators over the LIBOR scandal. The settlement was a pittance compared to the damage Barclays, and other banks caused.

The general public in Britain has been calling for Barclays boss, Bob Diamond, to resign as well.  Public officials are calling for criminal charges: “…when we’re setting up the National Crime Agency we should look at the record of the Serious Fraud Office. I suspect financial crime is easier to get away with in this country than practically any other sort of crime.”-Ken Clarke, Justice Secretary of United Kingdom

Barclays “systematically” falsified data to set the London Interbank Offered Rate, or LIBOR.  Regulators from Switzerland and U.K., are investigating at least 20 banks, including the top three banks in Japan (for fraudulent Tokyo Interbank Offered Rate or TIBOR), banks in Canada, U.S. and European Union!  Elites from Japan, North America and Europe are members of the private organization Trilateral Commission.

Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, said LIBOR “is now dead”, and even called the very banking system he represents “deceitful”!  Now the British government is calling for a new independent investigation into the British banking system and LIBOR.

The amount of money manipulated by the LIBOR (and now TIBOR) scandal is estimated at more than $361 trillion USD!!!

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

World War 3: Europe enforces oil sanctions against Iran. Iran prepares to close Hormuz Strait. Iran creates $14 billion fund to expand oil industry! More examples of Chock Full o’Crap western media!

“There is a bill prepared in the National Security and Foreign Policy committee of Parliament that stresses the blocking of oil tanker traffic carrying oil to countries that have sanctioned Iran.”-Ibrahim Agha-Mohammadi,  Member of Iranian Parliament

02 July 2012, in a move that seems counter to the European Union (EU) oil sanctions that went into effect on 01 July 2012, Iranian lawmakers say they will block oil shipments to Europe by closing the Strait of Hormuz.

It’s also meant to show that Iran does not need European countries for its oil business.  As of Sunday, 100 of the 290 members of Iran’s parliament have signed the bill.

Also today, Iran created a $14 billion USD fund to expand its oil industry: “The $14 billion fund can create a remarkable momentum in the oil industry and indicates that despite sanctions there is no problem in the trend of the country’s development and production in the oil sector.”-Mohammad Reza Farzin, Managing-Director of Iran’s National Development Fund

Also today, South Korean news media reported that South Korean oil refiners and Iranian oil companies have reached an agreement that would allow South Korea (a U.S. ally/puppet) to resume Iranian oil shipments without violating the European sanctions: “Korean oil refiners and the Iranian side have been in consultations over the matter of using Iranian flagged oil tankers to resume oil shipments.”-unnamed South Korean official

For insurance reasons South Korea will use Iranian tanker ships, which turns out to also be a loop hole in the European oil sanctions!

Also today, Iran’s Oil Ministry announced that despite the 01 July 2012 European oil sanctions, Iranian exports of refined gasoline for European customers will actually increase: “The daily production of euro4 gasoline will reach 24 million liters [6.3 million U.S. gallons] by the end of the current [Iranian] year.”-Alireza Zeiqami, Iran’s Deputy Oil Minister

But who’s the biggest buyer of refined Iranian fuels?  Why the U.S. occupied country of Afghanistan!  In 2011, Afghanistan bought $51.6 million USD worth of Iranian fuels.

On 01 July 2012, corrupt British bank Barclays revealed that a certain type of Iranian oil will escape any attempt at sanctions. It’s called “bunkers” (aka vital blending components).  Bunkers are blended fuels for ships, and the international shipping fleets will need at least $145 billion USD this year, according to Bloomberg.  But here’s the rub for U.S. and EU sanctions: “This is a problem we didn’t foresee. We don’t know how much Iranian oil is already blended in.”-Peter Sand, Baltic and International Maritime Council, which represents 65% of ship owners

Reports also show that Iran really does not need the U.S. or EU as customers, demands from Asia and Africa are growing rapidly. Currently Iran is supplying 100% of Sri Lanka’s petroleum needs, 51% of Turkey’s, 25% of South Africa’s, 11% of India’s and China’s, and 10% of Japan’s and South Korea’s demands.

Oh, by the way, did you know that at the end of June the U.S. government exempted China from the latest sanctions, for the next 180 days?

Full o’Crap western news media continue to claim U.S. led sanctions have hurt Iran’s economy.  The U.S. has imposed sanctions for decades, yet Iran has become one of the richest countries in the region, and not just because of oil!

Iran’s mining industry, excluding petroleum, is now the seventh largest in the world: “We have now achieved self-sufficiency in mining and heavy industries by over 70% in the last four years, while we were once totally dependent (on foreign countries) in these sectors.”-Hassan Polark, Iran’s Industry, Mines and Trade

“The richest gold mines in Venezuela, for instance, have been discovered by the young Iranian engineers.”-Hamid Safdel, Iran’s Industry, Mines and Trade

Iran and Iraq have increased trade to close to $10 million USD so far this year, and they plan to do more: “The volume of the trade exchanges between Iran and Iraq amounts to $9.7 billion which shows an 8% growth compared with the last year.”-Mostafa Mohammad Najjar, Iran’s Interior Minister

Also: “We are also ready to build new power plants in order to increase the capacity of power exports to Iraq. The [Karkheh-al-Emara] power line has increased the capacity of Iran’s electricity exports to Iraq to 1,200 megawatts [daily].”-Majid Namjou, Iran’s Minister of Energy

I could go on and on, like Iranian construction contractors building apartments in the South American country of Venezuela.  Belorussian tractor companies making joint production deals with Iranian tractor companies. Iranian automobile manufacturers reporting increased production, for yet another year in a row.

And to prove Iran is making money despite U.S. and EU sanctions, on 02 July 2012, Iranian officials announced they were able to buy two million metric tons of wheat: “The government has so far been able to import two million tons of wheat into the country despite financial restrictions and sanctions. Such a (large) volume of imported wheat is for supplying the country’s strategic reserves.”-unnamed Iranian official

Iran buys wheat from several sources.  Pakistan is a top source, but India is reportedly offering to beat Pakistan’s prices to win orders from Iran.  India is now the second largest producer of wheat in the world.

Iran also buys wheat from Kazakhstan.  Iranian reports say imports of Kazak wheat could increase by 5 million metric tons next year!

 

Business/Economics, International

What Economic Recovery? Japanese government collasping over tax increases! DPJ turning against their own Prime Minister!

02 July 2012, 52 members of Japan’s Diet (parliament) have resigned over the sales tax increases called for by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda.

The prime minister and the lawmakers who quit are part of the same political party, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ).  One of the lawmakers to resign is Ichiro Ozawa, who helped found the DPJ. He’s forming a new political party to challenge the government.

The members who left occupied positions in both houses of the Diet.  If the DPJ were to lose 55 members in the more powerful Lower House, then the DPJ would not be able to stop any recall of the prime minister.  The Lower House of the Diet appoints the Japanese prime minister, he is not elected by the general public.

Yoshihiko Noda is the sixth prime minister in the past six years.

Technology

Overwhelming proof that printer ink gives you Cancer

For at least a decade now there have been cancer cases, and studies from around the world suggesting that printer ink, and other chemicals used for printers, cause cancer.

Recently the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, in Japan, announced they are now studying the high rate of cancer among people who work in printing operations.

This came after several researchers revealed that people in one factory were dying from an unusually high rate of bile duct cancer.

According to Shinji Kumagai, an associate professor at the University of Occupational and Environmental Health, the cancer rate at this particular printer company is 600 times higher than the average Japanese man who dies from bile duct cancer.

University researchers began looking into the situation last year, when a former employee died of bile duct cancer.  He claimed that many of his coworkers had the same cancer.  He had quit the factory five years prior, saying “The work environment is bad, with organic solvents in the air.” 

Four people recently died from the cancer in Osaka, in western Japan.  Another person died in Miyagi Prefecture, in northern Japan.  A former printing company worker in Tokyo has been diagnosed with bile duct cancer.

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, says they are now investigating at least 500 printing companies throughout Japan.

In 2007 an Australian study showed that printer ink can get into the air when printing.  Printer inks contain Carbon Black, which causes cancer.  There was also concern with other toxic chemicals in the inks.

In 1996, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) reported that many studies through out the 90s revealed “significant” increases in cancer rates among people involved with all kinds of printing, from newspapers to silk screen.  The cancers studied were of the lung, oropharynx, bladder and kidney, and Leukemia.

However the IARC downplayed the dozens and dozens of studies by prefacing the case reports with “…studies did not provide clear patterns of results.”,  “…poor specificity of exposure information.”  and “…the findings are not strong or consistent enough to be evaluated.”

2018 Update, here’s a list of main stream articles and/or studies concerning cancer and inks:

UrduPoint News: Ink When Mixes With Oily Foods Can Cause Cancer

Cure Today: Think Before You Ink 

U.S. National Library of Medicine (PebMed): Tattoo ink particles can spread into lymph nodes

ScienceAlert: Ancient Chinese Ink Could Hold a Surprising New Way to Kill Cancer

Science Daily: Ink from ancient Egyptian papyri contains copper

SafeCosmetics:  Carbon black is a dark black powder used as a pigment in cosmetics  … been linked to increased incidence of cancer and negative effects on organs.

Karger:  Carbon Black Nanoparticles and Other Problematic Constituents of Black Ink

Emerging Technologies: Nanoparticles in tattoo ink could cause cancer

OnLineLibrary: Risk of lung cancer following exposure to carbon black, titanium dioxide and talc: Results from two case–control studies in Montreal

Cancer related Blind Bat News: HOW WOULD YOU LIKE YOUR COFFEE? BLACK, WHITE OR ASIAN? OR, WOULD YOU LIKE SOME CANCER WITH YOUR TEA OR ENERGY DRINK?

 

Fukushima

One Year Later: Record level radiation at Reactor 1, Fukushima Daiichi! Proof of near full blown melt down!

27 June 2012, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCo) reporting highest radiation levels yet inside Reactor 1 of the GE (General Electric) designed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power factory.

Using endoscopes and dosimeters on 26 June 2012,  TEPCo employees detected 10,300 millisieverts per hour inside the reactor!  That level will kill you in less than an hour!

That level of radiation was picked up 20 centimeters (7.8 inches) from a pool of water.   At 4 meters (13 feet) above the water 1,000 millisieverts per hour was detected (which is ten times more than Reactor 2 or 3).

TEPCo officials say the high radiation levels from Reactor 1 are because the reactor was closer to a full blown runaway melt down, than any of the other reactors.

 

Fukushima

One Year Later: You can now call Reactor 4 the Leaning Tower of Fukushima!

25 June 2012, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCo) announcing today that they discovered, last month, that the outer walls of the building housing Reactor 4 are tilting!

TEPCo officials claim the building is still structurally safe! The third floor has the most extreme tilt, at 4.6 centimeters (1.8 inches).

Reactor 4, of all the reactors at Fukushima Daiichi, has the largest number of spent fuel rods located in a giant pool at the top of the building, housing more than 1,500 fuel rods. TEPCo says there is no worry about the spent fuel pool  as it is supported by central pillars, and not the outer walls.  (how many times has TEPCo made such statements that became famous last words?)

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Global Economic War: China & Mitsubishi increase oil orders from Iran!

22 June 2012, Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation has just renewed its yearly orders of Iranian oil.  The decision comes after the United States exempted Japan from the oil sanctions, and the Japanese government agreed to provide shipping insurance for tankers carrying Iranian oil.

It was also revealed that while Japan’s Showa Shell Sekiyu, and JX Nippon Oil & Energy, had officially cut back on oil purchases in past months, Mitsubishi was actually picking up those companies’ barrels of oil under the Mitsubishi banner.  So a slight of hand on the part of the Japanese before they got the exemption!

On 21 June 2012, it was revealed by Customs data that China has actually increased the amount of oil it gets from Iran.

China added 133,902 barrels per day to its crude shipments from Iran in May, a 34.5% increase.  A Reuters report said China was trying to offset the cuts they made earlier in the year.

Business/Economics, International

What Economic Recovery? Despite making a profit Nissan will cut production, blames inflation!

21 June 2012, Japan’s Nissan Motor is cutting production in Japan.

Starting next month Nissan will end production of four models of cars in Japan. It amounts to 15% of Nissan’s Japanese production.

The move comes after Nissan reported a profit of $4.29 billion USD for the Japanese year ending in March.  Company officials say the production cut is meant to offset surging production costs, and declining car sales in Japan.

The rising value of the yen is also making it more difficult to sell cars made in Japan to other countries.

Nissan officials say they will try to keep workers employed by assigning new jobs to them.

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Government Idiots: Japan oil industry says U.S. & EU oil sanctions against Iran will not affect global oil supply!

“For the time being we will be able to continue smoothly transporting Iranian oil to Japan. I would like to thank the government and all parties concerned for their efforts.”-Yasushi Kimura, Petroleum Association of Japan

21 June 2012, Yasushi Kimura, president of the Petroleum Association of Japan, basically said the U.S. and European oil sanctions against Iran are impotent!

Kimura based his conclusion on the fact that there is plenty of oil supply, and that because of the continued downward spiral of the international economy global demand for oil will drop.

The fact that the United States exempted several countries from their oil sanctions, including Japan, also proves that the U.S. sanctions against Iran are nothing but hot air!

So what were U.S. & European leaders trying to accomplish with their impotent oil sanctions against Iran?