Tag Archives: ows

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Corporate Evil: Mystery disease killing children in Cambodia? Remember Vientam’s Kanup/Roundup/Monsanto disaster?

05 July 2012, Cambodian health officials have turned to the UN World Health Organization for help in finding out what is killing their children.  A similar thing happened in Vietnam.

In Vietnam the mystery disease was made public in April this year.  It looks like a case of villagers incorrectly using a Monsanto product called Kanup 480 SL (Roundup in the United States).  The villagers had never used herbicides prior to a chemical company sale person tricking them into using the Roundup.

Now, Cambodian officials are reporting the deaths of at least 61 children.  The deaths began in April of this year.  Symptoms include sudden onset of fever, neurological problems and severe respiratory problems.  Officials say it is not contagious, implying it is not a virus or bacteria.

Cases have been reported in 14 Cambodian provinces.  At this point health officials are treating this as a traditional disease.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Chock Full o’Crap Western News Media: Korea South caves to Iran’s growing Purchasing Power!

“Iran is one of the major importers of Korean products. And in the eventuality that the policy of sanctioning Iranian oil is implemented, then that nation will suffer.”-Rostam Qasemi, Iranian Oil Minister

On 02 July 2012, I posted how Korea South (a U.S. ally/puppet) was getting around oil sanctions against Iran, by using Iranian tanker ships.

On 03 July 2012, Iranian media revealed the reason Korea South went against its master’s (United States) wishes: Iran has more purchasing power than the United States!

On 26 June 2012, Korea South announced they would stop oil shipments from Iran.  Iranian diplomats quickly threatened the embargo of all products made in Korea South.  Officials in the southern half of Korea did the math and decided it was not economically sound to go along with the puppet master’s (U.S.) oil embargo against Iran.

Just how much does Korea South rely on Iran for trade?

In 2007 Korea South signed a trade agreement with Iran.  According to the Korea International Trade Association, exports to Iran have increased 32%, while imports of Iranian goods increased 63.7% (the way the data was presented wasn’t clear, the percentages could be 32% for imports and 63.7% for exports)!

“Korea’s shipments to Iran amounted to $6 billion [USD] last year.”-Korea Times

The Korean Times reported that the threat by Iran, to embargo all southern Korean products, would slam 2,900 companies!

There are at least two petroleum companies from southern Korea working in Iran, and they have backing from U.S. investors!  In fact U.S. companies are involved with at least $1.4 billion USD worth of North American investments into Iran!

Here’s the bottom line; Iran is a big spender, and they pay in cash or trade!  The United States is broke, and they pay with credit, or steal it from you with bogus War on Terror tactics.  Who’s gonna get the World’s business in the long run?

 

Fukushima

Government Incompetence One Year Later: 600 page report blames ongoing nuclear disaster on idiots in government! Faulty construction of disaster reactors blamed!

“The accident was not a natural disaster but was obviously a man made disaster.”-Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission

On 05 July 2012, the results of a months long Diet (Japanese parliament) investigation into the ongoing nuclear disaster at the General Electric designed Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power factory, places blame squarely on Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCo), and the government.

The report also stated that failings in management began years before the  March 2011 disaster.

The report criticizes government response to the nuclear disaster.  The former prime minister who was in charge last year, Kan Naoto, gave a typical Japanese political response, agreeing with parts of the report and refuting other parts.

The report said that construction of Fukushima Daiichi was not up to earthquake standards, as claimed by TEPCo. The report says the nuclear disaster might have actually started with the earthquake, not the tsunami.

Government and corporate leadership only made things worse: Self serving attitudes of leaders resulted in willful negligence, both in the construction of the nuke plant, and the disaster response.

There were plenty of opportunities for TEPCo to upgrade Fukushima Daiichi with stronger construction and better safeguards.

In the first hours of the disaster the government interfered at different levels, causing confusion within corporate chains of command.

The government also confused the general public, by giving reports that conflicted with media reports. In some cases government reports outright contrasted with events watched live on Japanese TV  (I remember watching live on the internet as the tsunami swept over three story buildings, then heard a government official saying the waves were only 3 meters tall!!!)!

The government issued confusing evacuation advise, in some cases people actually evacuated into areas being contaminated with radiation. The report suggests that government leaders were trying to avoid taking full responsibility for the disaster by making evacuations voluntary, and using terms like “just in case”.

Another issue was the announcement of radiation danger zones long after the nuclear disaster began. The report says the government had radiation data for a whole month before hand, and could have declared the danger zones much sooner.

The Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission (NAIIC) began in December 2011, interviewing 1,167 people, including former government and TEPCo officials.   The NAIIC is planning “…to make an English version of the final report to show it to the world.”-Kurokawa Kiyoshi, lead investigator

Japanese version of report here.

 

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

More proof of Chock Full o’Crap Western News Media: Iran selling $3 billion worth of gas bonds, and investors are buying them up!

On 25 June 2012, Iranian banks began selling bonds on behalf of the Pars Oil and Gas Company.  The plan is to raise $3 billion USD to use for development of the massive South Pars natural gas field.

So far $5 million USD in tax free bonds have been sold.

The people who buy the bonds can remain anonymous, and can transfer them to a third party. Any profits on the bonds are calculated on a daily bases, and paid out every three months.

If full o’crap western news media reports are true, about Iranian petroleum products being backlogged because of the sanctions, they why is Iran pushing so hard to expand their petroleum industry?

Fukushima

One Year Later: Fresh water fish more radioactive than salt water fish! More proof that you need lots of salt in your diet!

03 July 2012, the Ministry of Environment in Japan discovered that fresh water fish are more susceptible to radiation contamination than salt water fish.

From December 2011 to February 2012, they sampled fish from rivers, lakes and eight locations in the Pacific Ocean.  Fresh water fish were much more contaminated than salt water fish.

In a river north of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, goby fish were found with 2,600 becquerels per kilogram of cesium!  The highest readings of cesium in salt water flounder and bass were 260 becquerels per kilogram.

The researchers speculate that the salt in the ocean water absorbs much of the radiation, and then the fish excrete it (the concept is similar to the idea of taking iodide pills after a nuclear accident).

Radiation ends up being concentrated in the bodies of fresh water fish.

ONE YEAR LATER: LEFT BEHIND; FUKUSHIMA PETS STILL WITHOUT HOMES, NEW KITTENS FOUND NEAR NUCLEAR PLANT

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?

 

Idaho, U.S.

Pocatello Charlotte Fire update: 100% contained, fireworks for 4th of July, seed for rebuilding community!

02 July 2012, the Charlotte Fire was declared 100% contained.  The Eastern Idaho Interagency Fire Center will turn control over to the city of Pocatello Fire Department at about 22:00 hours Monday night.

Pocatello city officials also lifted the fireworks ban, but only for 04 July 2012, and only from 12:00 hours to 00:00 hours.  Also, not every part of Pocatello is cleared for fireworks so check with police.  The city of next door Chubbuck has also lifted their fireworks ban for the 4th of July, from noon ’till midnight.

Bannock county has purchased $2,500 worth of grass and wildflower seed, to help affected residents start rebuilding their properties. Because the fire hit hilly areas, the seed will be needed to prevent mudslides and flash floods.  Contact Pocatello fire officials for details.

fire fighters call Pocatello a War Zone!

Business/Economics, U.S.

Corporate Evil & Investor Evil: U.S. drug maker hit with record fine for fraudulent claims on Paxil, Avandia and Wellbutrin! Stock price shoots up!

02 July 2012, GlaxoSmithKline reportedly pled guilty to fraudulent activities involving the drugs Paxil, Avandia and Wellbutrin.  The company is being fined a record $3 billion USD!

The U.S. Department of Justice says the pharmaceutical giant claimed the drugs could be used to treat conditions and/or people for which they were not approved!

Paxil is meant for adults only, but was sold for use in children! The antidepressant Wellbutrin was sold as a weight loss drug!  GlaxoSmithKline was also accused of failing to report safety data, concerning the diabetes drug Avandia, to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration from 2001 to 2007.

Also, under a type of probation, for the next five years company executives could lose their bonuses to the government, if any employee is caught conducting fraudulent activity.  As well, sales reps will no longer be paid based on total sales, but on the quality of their job performance.

Interestingly, when news of GlaxoSmithKline’s guilty plea was heard investors jumped on the company’s stock driving the price up!  Why would an ‘honest’ investor want to buy stock in a company who admits to fraud?

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.

What Economic Recovery? European unemployment rate holds on to record highs! Austerity policies to blame! Trilateral policies in motion!

02 July 2012, the European Union (EU) statistical office released unemployment data from its member countries.  Record high rates persist.

For the month of May, Spain set a new record of 24.6%! Unemployment for Spanish people under 25 years of age hit 52.1%!  For perspective, that’s more than 5.6 million people out of work in a country with a population of 46 million people!

Portugal at 15.2%, Italy at 10.1%.  In total, the number of people unemployed in the EU reached 17.6 million, an increase of 88,000 from April to May 2012!

Greek numbers are months behind, but their report for March shows an increase in unemployment, to 21.9%!  Unemployed Greek youths are also at 52.1%!

EU officials noted that the greatest increase in unemployment are in member countries that have harsh austerity policies (cut spending, increase taxes, which are publicly stated policies of the Trilateral Commission).