Tag Archives: tea party

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Idaho’s Coldwater Creek loses money again! Executives oblivious? Stocks worth less than $1.00

Idaho’s Coldwater Creek women’s clothing retailer just posted their 1st quarter 2012 results.

For the 1st quarter, which ended April 28, the struggling apparel company reported a loss of $23.8 million USD.  But that was less than company execs thought they were going to lose!

Chairman and Chief Executive, Dennis Pence, actually takes the news as a good sign: “Customers responded favorably to our spring and early summer collections, which offered an increased emphasis on color, print, and pattern.”

The problem with that train of thought is that Coldwater Creek lost money for the same reason as always, their sales are down!  Pence calls that “responding favorably”?

The news caused Coldwater Creek stock prices to drop to 84 cents per share before the closing bell on 30 May.  But, it’s dropped to 74 cents in after hours trading!

 

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

Oil & Gas Prices: Disparity in fuel prices; Eastern U.S. vs Western U.S. It’s all about supply vs demand! Western U.S. fuel supply lowest since 1999! Expect U.S. fuel prices to drop in long run!

I was upset by a Memorial Day report on one of the mainstream U.S. national TV news programs, ’cause they reported gas prices down across the country!  Wait a minute, I live in the United States and gas prices actually went up where I live!

I noted that the mainstream media report focused only on the eastern half of the United States. I checked the internet for reports concerning the western half, and sure enough fuel prices have been going up here!

In the Pacific Northwest U.S. state of Idaho gas prices average $3.64 USD, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA).  But here in eastern Idaho it’s more like $3.77 per gallon.  In Mackay (pronounced Mac-Key), Idaho, it’s $3.90.

In the U.S. state of California prices are more than $4.00 per gallon. Gas prices have not come down in the past few weeks, even though oil prices have!

What’s going on? Why have fuel prices come down in the eastern half of the U.S. and, in some cases, actually gone up in the western half?

For one, the eastern half has a glut of oil, from the fields in the U.S. state of North Dakota, and from the northern country of Canada.  However, in recent months there was a lot of predictions that fuel prices would actually go up for the eastern half of the U.S., because several major refineries were being permanently shut down.

Two of those refineries are located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania.  Fears of skyrocketing fuel prices turned to joy when it was revealed, towards the end of April, that Delta Airlines and Energy Transfer Partners will buy those refineries, and keep them up and running!

Also at the end of April, it was revealed that a new refinery, also in Pennsylvania, was up and running on the Delaware River!  It’s primary source of oil is shale oil from North Dakota and Texas.  This is important because it turns out that many of the older refineries can not handle refining shale oil.

Another important fact is that finally new oil pipelines are opening up, helping to get that bottlenecked glut of oil in North Dakota, and from Canada, down to refineries along the Gulf of Mexico, and to ports in Portland, Maine.

Finally, there was a recent report that a new diesel fuel refinery will be built near Williston, North Dakota!

So what’s happening in the western half of the U.S.?

On 22 May it was reported that U.S. oil supplies were at a 21 year high. However, when you look at refined gasoline and break it down between eastern and western U.S. you get a different picture, because you’ll see that having a lot of oil does not translate into having a lot of gasoline.

The very next day, 23 May, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released a report which stated: “PADD 5 gasoline inventories at 24.1 million barrels on May 18, about 5.1 million barrels (17 percent) below typical levels for that date, the lowest for the region since March 1999.”

The DOE explained: “Abnormally low refinery runs on the West Coast since February tightened local gasoline markets, causing both wholesale and retail gasoline prices to rise.”

The DOE blamed reduced fuel supply to the western U.S. on that fact that several refineries were shut down for maintenance.  One of those refineries, British Petroleum’s Cherry Point, in the U.S. state of Washington, should be re-starting.

The DOE also explained that the western half of the U.S. sees higher fuel prices because of a lack of pipelines: “While unplanned refinery outages generally cause retail product prices to rise, the West Coast market is especially sensitive to such shutdowns. That is because the West Coast market is relatively isolated. Given the West Coast’s lack of significant pipeline connections to other markets and relative distance from the active physical trading markets….”

According to the DOE, it takes six weeks for any change in the price per barrel of oil plus any shortage or surplus of refined fuel, to be reflected in western U.S. fuel prices at the pump, but, if there are no further interruptions in western refinery operations prices should start coming down.

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

What Economic Recovery? Problems, and hopes, for east Idaho’s Eagle Rock owner; Areva

Back in March, Areva announced a $3.2 billion USD loss, which is what it would cost to build the planned Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility near Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Now Areva, based in France, is struggling to raise cash just to survive.  But there is also some hopeful news for Areva.

29 May 2012, Areva announced “outstanding” performance results from their Steam Generator Repair Services crew.  They just finished work on the Indiana Michigan Power Donald C. Cook nuke plant:  “Constant monitoring and good peer checking by our team were the key factors that contributed to zero safety incidents and very low dose [radiation exposure].”-Mike Jefferson, Field Operations Manager

 

 

29 May 2012, Finnish media reporting that Areva is five years behind scheduled, for completion of Finland’s third generation nuclear power plant.  Areva officials blame it on the fact that no nuclear plant has been built in Europe for 20 years, resulting in troubles finding reliable supply chains for proper construction materials.

28 May 2012, The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency started taking final public comments on the possibility of Areva operating a uranium mine located 700 kilometres north of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.

15 May 2012, Areva announced that it will partner with Japan’s Mitsubishi to search for uranium in Australia.

2 May 2012, Areva announced it was selling its nuclear radiation measurement unit in Australia, to raise needed cash.  CEO, Luc Oursel, says the company needs to raise at least 1.2 billion euros by the end of 2013, to make up for huge loses!  He plans on doing that by selling off Areva assets.

At the end of April 2012, the country of Jordan announced that Areva and Mitsubishi were being considered to build the country’s first nuclear reactor.

 

 

 

Fukushima

Cesium contamination of soil in Japan, from study published in October 2011

The following quotes are from a cesium-137 soil contamination study reviewed in July, and published in October 2011, just months after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster began.

“The soils around Fukushima NPP [nuclear power plant] and neighboring prefectures have been extensively contaminated with depositions of more than 100,000 and 10,000 MBq km-2…”

“…around 90% of the total deposition of 137Cs occurs with precipitation.”

“…most of the eastern parts of Japan were effected by a total 137Cs deposition of more than 1,000 MBq km-2.”

“Airborne and ground-based survey measurements jointly carried out by MEXT and the US Department of Energy (DOE) (21) show high 137Cs deposition amounts were observed northwestward and up to a distance of 80 km from Fukushima NPP. It was estimated from the first measurement that by April 29, more than 600,000 MBq km-2 had been deposited in the area, which is greater than our estimate of less than 500,000 MBq km-2…”

“Overall, however, the highest potential deposition occurred over the Pacific Ocean…”

The study used soil samples taken by Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), U.S. DOE and independent sources. Again, this was during the first few months of the ongoing the nuclear disaster.

The study is titled Cesium-137 deposition and contamination of Japanese soils due to the Fukushima nuclear accident.

Business/Economics, International

Government Coverup: Japan’s nuclear policy commission suspended, too many pro-nuke lovers and secret meetings!

29 May 2012, The Japan Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC) suspended a commission which was reviewing the Japanese government’s official nuclear policy.

A number of members of the commission discovered that the policy review was being unfairly influenced by other members who were actually employed by the nuclear power industry.

On top of that, it was discovered that since May 2011 those members who are pro-nuke, or actually employed by the nuke industry, were holding secret closed door meetings with government leaders!

Demands were made that a independent third party investigate the closed door meetings. Instead the JAEC simply suspended the policy review commission, with a promise that they would create a new review commission that did not have pro-nuke industry panelists.

Fukushima

One Year Later: Tuna caught near United States contaminated with Radiation! U.S. media trying to downplay, it happened last year!

On 29 May 2012, the U.S. media reporting a group of California University researchers say that tuna caught off the California coast showed traces of cesium-134 & 137.  However, their discovery actually happened last year!

Stanford researchers tested blue fin tuna, caught near San Diego in August 2011, and found low levels of cesium.  The scientists, and the U.S. news media, are downplaying this pointing out the levels are too low to cause harm.

However, a similar study in 2008 showed that blue fin tuna had no radiation contamination at all.  Now realize that the latest study was done in August 2011, and the nuclear disaster at Fukushima Daiichi is far from over, radiation is still pouring into the Pacific Ocean!

Also, Tokyo Electric Power Company, just last week, reported that radiation emitted by the disaster reactors, between March and September 2011, was higher than what the Japanese government was reporting!

Back in November 2011, Greenpeace activists tested tuna and cod for radiation and found they were contaminated, the mainstream media ignored their findings!

ONE YEAR LATER: RADIOACTIVE RATS IN JAPAN

International, U.S.

Drug War: Drug Lord gets new life in Spain thanks to the U.S. taxpayer!

On 28 May 2012, Spanish media reported that a Colombian drug lord, Javier Antonio Calle Serna (aka Comba), and his parents, sister, wife and kids, are now living a new life in Spain.

The drug lord worked in the Norte del Valle cartel before forming his own drug gang, known as the Rastrojos.  He surrendered to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) on 6 May.

He was supposed to stand trial in New York City, however, the Spanish newspaper, El Mundo, says Spanish authorities also wanted the drug lord for drug dealing and money laundering in their country.

In the end the drug boss agreed to tell everything he knew, in exchange for a new life in Spain, thanks in part to the U.S. DEA.  What’s interesting is that the Spanish media reports his whole family arrived in Spain back in April!

 

 

Influenza

H3N2 Update, 29 May 2012: Dominant Flu. Season ending in the North (but not for Hong Kong), beginning in South. New vaccine required.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that of the type A viruses hitting the Northern Hemisphere, H3N2 made up 60%.

Two deaths in the U.S. were reported in May, one from type B virus, the other was H3N2.

The U.S. CDC, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), and the UN World Health Organization (WHO) say influenza cases are declining in the Northern Hemisphere, as the flu season ends, but are expecting flu cases to increase in the Southern Hemisphere, as the flu season is officially beginning there.

Already the WHO is reporting that 86.6% of recent type A influenza cases, in the South, are H3N2.

The WHO also reporting that the H3N2 cases in the Northern Hemisphere showed rapid changes in the virus, meaning a new vaccine is needed.

As the flu season begins in the Southern Hemisphere, New Zealand is reporting that people there are scrambling to get vaccinated.  So far more than 910,000 New Zealanders have been vaccinated.

Flu season might be officially ending in the Northern Hemisphere, but don’t tell that to Hong Kong health officials.  The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) says the number of flu cases there are still high, with H3N2 making up 88.1% of recent cases in the weeks from 21 April to 12 May. Health officials in Hong Kong say the reason is that the new strain of H3N2 renders the vaccine useless!

The CHP reports at least 92 flu related deaths between 13 January and 14 May.

 

 

 

Influenza

H5N1 Update, 27 May 2012: Only one vaccine? U.S. changing rules. Global Food Crisis as Egypt’s food supply hit hard, blame the U.S.

H5N1 is not only making people in Egypt sick, it’s also destroying their food supply.  Bird flu, along with foot & mouth disease, is taking down precious livestock.  It’s becoming not only a health issue, but an economic one as well.

According to a 14 May report in the Atlantic, H5N1 is also threatening livestock in “…Sudan, Israel, the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Jordan.” But the article says everyone should blame the U.S./NATO backed war in Libya!

The Atlantic says that the U.S./European created war in Libya is responsible for more than 10% of livestock deaths, as a result of disease, making Libya “ground zero” of a public health emergency.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization is “…warning that the epidemic in Egypt was threatening human food supplies for all of the Middle East and North Africa.”

The Atlantic also explains that six years of efforts to control H5N1 in Egypt are not working. That’s because the current vaccine is no longer valid against the new strain of H5N1.  It’s estimated that millions of chickens (a main protein source in Egypt) have died, or been culled because of H5N1 infection.

Now ducks are showing up with a new version of H5N1.  The UN World Health Organization says Egypt is number two for human cases of H5N1, Indonesia is number one!

On 7 May 2012, another dead wild bird in Hong Kong tested positive for H5N1.

At the beginning of May the controversial H5N1 study was made public. This was the study that shows how to make H5N1 transmissible between humans. As a result the U.S. National Institutes for Health (NIH) wants new rules regarding dual-use research of concern (DURC).

DURC refers to studies which look at the possibility of current diseases becoming more deadly, so that the medical community could be better prepared.  The problem is that those studies could also serve as instructions for making biological warfare agents.

The NIH is considering advise from local health organizations before coming up with the new DURC rules.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Sinovac Biotech, a Chinese company, is the “…only supplier of the H5N1 pandemic influenza vaccine to the [Chinese] government-stockpiling program.”

The vaccine is called Panflu, and they are working on a new version called Panflu 1.

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Global Economic War: New study shows lack of business had a lot to do with the collapse of the Mayan Empire. Similar to the collapse of the Caliphate. “It’s the Economy stupid.”

A new study published in the journal Antiquity, reveals a new factor in the collapse of the Mayan Empire.  You can now add ‘bad economy’ to social unrest, disease, warfare, drought and deforestation.

The bad economy was due to a shift away from inland centers of business, to coastal centers.  Researchers at the University of Illinois say the main product the Mayan’s traded was obsidian.  It was used for making tools, as the Mesoamericans had not yet learned how to make metals strong enough for tools.

Researchers say Mayan maps show that the obsidian, and other products, were increasingly sent to coastal areas for trade.  They are not sure why, but speculate that military/political/social/environmental problems inland could be factors. Also, methods to ship over water probably improved.

I think they are correct, because if you study the demise of the Islamic Caliphate you realize that it was a combination of internal political disputes and, mainly, the ability of the Europeans to sail directly to Asia, thus avoiding the traditional Silk Road.

The invasion of North Africa by Napoleon, and finally the demise of the Ottoman Empire, were only the end result of a long period of decline for the Muslim Empire.

From the beginning of the Caliphate there were always internal problems arising out of differences of opinions as to how the Empire should be run, but that’s typical with all societies. The true cause of their collapse is economic. The Muslim Empire controlled most of the famous Silk Road trade routes, and the Christian Crusades were attempts by Europeans to regain a piece of that pie (of which they had since the time of Alexander the Great, forget the rhetoric about religion and god).

It actually began in earnest when the Portuguese, followed by the British and Dutch, were able to finally sail around Africa to the point where the Silk Road actually began, in a sense cutting out the middle men who controlled the trade routes through the Muslim Empire.

What’s been going on since the discovery of oil in the Middle East, is an attempt by Western societies to maintain control of the region, and prevent the locals (who have radically different ideas about politics/religion/economics) from regaining a position of economic power.

So, as usual, most wars are economic, that is, an attempt to monopolize international trade. As one infamous U.S. President said, before he became president: “It’s the economy, stupid!”-Campaign slogan created for Bill Clinton, by James Carville, criticizing then U.S. President George H.W. Bush