7 June 2012, the Greek statistics agency just put the official unemployment rate at 22%! A new record high.
That percent is for March! More than 50% of young adults, 25 years of age and younger, are unemployed!
Tag Archives: taxes
What Economic Recovery? President of Argentina dumps U.S. dollars. Pesos more profitable, or just another sign of Hyper Inflation?
“I’ve just had one fixed term account in dollars for some time, and I’ve decided to put it in pesos, it’s more profitable to have it in [Argentine] pesos.”-Cristina Fernandez, President of Argentina
7 June 2012, la Presidenta also urged “…any officials who’ve got a few little dollars to do the same thing.”
Argentina is the number three economy in South America. However, having a booming economy has resulted in an inflation rate around 9 to 10%! The result is that many people, and banks, in Argentina are buying up U.S. dollars to try and hedge against hyperinflation.
Argentines have been there done that many times before. Many people bought U.S. dollars to survive Argentina’s notorious hyperinflation in the past, but this time the U.S. economy is in the toilet, so buying up those gringo dollars might be a bad move.
Government Incompetence: Vacuum cleaner causes fire that results in $400 million repair bill for U.S. taxpayers!
It turns out that a “massive” fire on a U.S. Navy nuclear submarine, on May 24, was caused by a vacuum cleaner! It burned for several hours and sent several personnel to the hospital. The sub was docked at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, in the U.S. state of Maine.
Now comes the news that the fire was caused by a vacuum cleaner “…stored in an unoccupied space…”, and that the “…initial rough repair cost…” will be $400 million plus 10%!!!
And guess who pays for the U.S. Navy’s mistakes? The U.S. taxpayer!
At least the Russian’s claimed their recent submarine fire was an act of sabotage by U.S. agents.
What Economic Recovery? Best Buy founder jumps ship, hopes his leaving will help company recover!
“There is an urgent need for Best Buy to reinvigorate growth by reconnecting with today’s customers and building pathways to the next generation of consumers.”-Richard Schulze, founder of Best Buy
7 June 2012, founder and boss of Best Buy for 36 years, Richard Schulze, has resigned.
Best Buy has been struggling with falling sales, and accusations of inappropriate behavior by members of the board.
A former CEO of Best Buy is accused of “…violated company policy by engaging in an extremely close personal relationship with a female employee that negatively impacted the work environment…”-Best Buy statement
Best Buy suffered a 26% drop in net income for the 1st quarter of 2012!
World War 3: Terror Drone update. Former CIA official says blowback coming for U.S., because drones kill mainly civilians!
“We have gone a long way down the road of creating a situation where we are creating more enemies than we are removing from the battlefield. We are already there with regards to Pakistan and Afghanistan.”-Robert Grenier, former CIA official
5 June 2012, Robert Grenier, head of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) counter terrorism center from 2004 to 2006, and was a CIA station chief in Pakistan, is warning of blowback from the use of assassination drones (unmanned aerial vehicles, UAVs).
This is because drone strikes kill more bystanders than actual terrorist targets!
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism estimates as many as 830 civilians have been killed in Pakistan. 138 civilians in Yemen and 57 in Somalia. The problem, Grenier says, is that Obama’s drone policy is too vague; anyone, especially males, seen in an area suspected of having terrorists is considered a target: “It needs to be targeted much more finely. We have been seduced by them and the unintended consequences of our actions are going to outweigh the intended consequences.”
He says recent drone killings in Yemen will actually make that country the new safe haven for terrorists: “If you strike them indiscriminately you are running the risk of creating a terrific amount of popular anger. They have tribes and clans and large families. Now all of a sudden you have a big problem … I am very concerned about the creation of a larger terrorist safe haven in Yemen.”
World War 3: U.S. ally, United Kingdom, slams U.S. focus on Asia Pacific as new area of global conflict. Bad economy to blame!
On 4 June 2012, an official representative of the Queen Elizabeth II’s Royal Military, criticized the plans of the United States, to send 60% of U.S. naval forces to the Asia Pacific region by 2020.
Armed Forces Minister, Nick Harvey, stated that the Royal Navy, let alone other European navies, will not be ready to pick up the slack in the Atlantic, by 2020.
The United Kingdom has been slashing and burning its military budget. The Ministry of Defence revealed that in the past three years $26.2 billion USD of military equipment has been scrapped!
Harvey said it will take time to rebuild their navy in order to fill the void when the U.S. sails most of its fleet to Asia: “When we’re back in the carrier strike game we could pull more weight, [but] if Europe is to take more responsibility, we’ve got some way to go.”
What Economic Recovery? British government cuts services, then charges British taxpayers for Queens Jubilee! Royal parasite family just lost the British economy $1.8 billion+!
5 June 2012, the government of United Kingdom has been slashing and burning social programs, yet charges the taxpayers for the Queen’s Jubilee!
While the people of Britain have been told that austerity measures are necessary, they were forced to pay at least $1.5 million USD so that the Queen could celebrate 60 years of rule! The $1.5 million is the estimated amount coming from the Sovereign Grant Fund, as reported by The Guardian.
The Sovereign Grant Fund is what the British subjects (taxpayers) pay to the Royal parasite family. You could call the Royal parasite family the wealthiest welfare recipients in the world!
Queen Elizabeth II is not a figure head, and any public ceremony held for the Royal parasite family is paid for by taxpayers!
Private donations also pay for the Royal parasite family’s public parties. According to estimates reported in The Guardian, donations paid for $16.2 million USD of the jubilee expenses.
Local governments forked over an average of $700,000 USD to support the jubilee.
Then there’s the “extra costs” caused by the fact that most businesses were closed for the jubilee. One estimation says the extra “bank holiday” could end up costing the British economy $1.8 billion USD!
Back in March, the Bank of England warned of economic doom because of continued support for the Royal elites. So much for the Royal parasite family being of any benefit to the people of Britain!
One Year Later: Incompetence continues at Fukushima Daiichi, cooling pumps fail, again!
6 June 2012, Tokyo Electric revealed that a cooling pump for the spent fuel pool, above Reactor 4, failed on Monday, 4 June. Japanese media says the pump was burnt.
A back up pump was used the next day, but it failed as well. TEPCo finally got it working today, however, temps in the spent fuel pool have hit 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit)!
TEPCo says it will take 12 to 24 hours to cool down the spent fuel pool.
Christian “Ice Princess” Republican Senator convicted of ripping off taxpayers, could serve 10 years in prison!
“You stand convicted of crimes that demean the sanctity of all we do as lawyers…the sin is overborne by the deflection; the crime overshadowed by the cover up.”-Jeffrey A. Manning, Judge
On 4 June 2012, former Pennsylvania Republican Senator, Jane Clare Orie, was sentenced to as many as 10 years in state prison. She was convicted in March of using taxpayer money to run election campaigns.
Orie, who claims to be Christian, used her own taxpayer paid staff to conduct campaigns. She also introduced forged evidence at her first trial, which helped to get her the heavier sentence of up to ten years in prison.
Orie was convicted of 14 counts including theft of services, conflict of interest and forgery. The judge is still deciding how much in fines she will have to pay.
Former Warren County Sheriff, Larry Kopko, called Orie “the meanest” prosecutor he ever saw. She was called “The Ice Princess” by the Warren County press.
Orie still doesn’t think she did anything wrong, she admits that “Every staff was involved in campaigns…”, but stressed that it was not unusual for an elected official to use their taxpayer paid staff to help with elections. She’s not remorseful: “I’ll never stop doing what I did.”
What Economic Recovery? Emergency meeting Group of 7! “Impossible” to save Spain! Major credit freeze coming, just as Toyota warned!
“It is really hard in Spain to get a job right now because there are no jobs, and if somewhere you might have a chance, they do not want to pay what is more or less normal. Plus, everything is so expensive: supermarkets, food… Everything is really difficult now.”-Ada Adon, unemployed in Madrid, Spain
It has been revealed that the seven top industrialized countries (Group of 7, aka G7) had been in an emergency phone conference since late last night Japan time, early morning U.S. time!
Finance and banking officials from Japan, United States, Canada, Britain, France, Germany and Italy were discussing the global economic situation, a sign that things are getting worse! The focus is on the European Union (EU).
No joint statement was issued, but Japan’s Finance Minister, Jun Azumi, said all efforts at the moment will focus on preventing a total collapse of the EU.
A German analysts said many investors are on the verge of giving up: “History is repeating itself, we are again in full crisis mode. Last year: crisis; this year: crisis. The politicians have learned nothing. It would be so easy though. The ECB [European Central Bank] should massively intervene and buy time for countries like Italy and Spain so that they can pursue reforms. Nobody can bear this cacophony, this waiting, this riding out any more.”-Robert Halver, Baader Bank
This comes before the G20 meeting, and it comes on the same day Spanish officials announced a possible second credit crisis.
Spanish Treasury Minister, Cristobal Montoro, admitted on Spanish radio that it was “technically impossible” to save Spain’s economy!
It turn’s out that the recently created EU European Stability Mechanism (a bailout fund) doesn’t have enough money to bailout Spain, let alone other EU members!
Montoro blames high interests rates for crashing the Spanish economy, as well as other EU economies. He says the result will be another huge credit crunch. On 31 May 2012, Toyota of Japan signaled such an international credit crisis by announcing it was selling $2.5 billion USD in bonds, to raise cash in order to ride out a second coming credit crisis (of course the U.S./British media misreported it).