Tag Archives: wall street

Fukushima

Government & Corporate Incompetence: Fukushima Reactor 2 going Critical, TEPCo pouring Boric Acid into reactor!

02 November 2011, Tokyo Electric Power Company announced that melt down has re-started in Fukushima Daiichi Reactor 2.

TEPCo detected radioactive xenon-133 and xenon-135, in the reactor’s containment vessel on 02 November.  They are produced during nuclear fission.  TEPCo poured a boric acid solution into Reactor 2 to suppress the nuclear fission (melt down).

Analysts are speculating that the other reactors at Fukushima Daiichi could also go critical.  Professor Okamoto Koji, of the University of Tokyo Graduate School, says the presence of xenon in the reactors leaves open the possibility that localized and temporary fission could still occur.

TEPCo claims that using the boric acid has cooled down the reactor.

 

 

 

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Occupy the World: Elites being told to hoard more Money, as Greek government tries to please its citizens after key politician defects and joins the protestors, bailout loans part of plan to take over governments

“This may be the time not to expand production capacity. It might be better to just hoard the cash.”-John Lonski, Moody’s Capital Markets Group

This statement came after the Greek Prime Minister announced that he will let the Greek people decide if their country will accept the latest bailout offer.  It seems likely they will vote against the bailout.

That move came after a member of the ruling party resigned, effectivly joining the protestors.  This leaves the ruling party with a slim two seat majority in parliament.

The Greek Finance Minister also expressed doubts about what is going on: “I can no longer look at polls where the majority is against the agreement, the majority is against the program, but a majority is also in favor of staying in the euro.”-Evangelos Venizelos, Greek Finance Minister

The move to put the Greek bailout to a vote of the Greek people is causing stock markets to crash around the world.  This is proof that the banking/finance industry WANTS to force Greece (and other countries) to take on bigger debt in the name of being ‘bailed out’:  It actually makes governments more beholden to the private sector (Corporate America).

Now Germany and France have called a meeting between EU members and the IMF.  Reports say that what’s being discussed now is a way to kick Greece out of the European Union: “The situation is so tight that basically it would be a vote over their euro membership.”-Alexander Stubb, Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade of Finland

The banking/finance industry claims that if the Greek people refuse the latest bailout loan, then Greece will default, starting a domino affect across Europe and North America.  That might be true, but they might also escape the control of Corporate America.

 

 

Business/Economics, U.S.

Occupy America: Know your enemy; the top 1% are money sucking vampires. 1.4 million vampires are sucking the money out of more than 300 million people!!! Are you under their spell?

“The top 1 percent of households took a bigger share of overall income in 2007 than they did at any time since 1928.”-Annie Lowrey, New York Times

Here’s a shocker; in New York City the top 1% average U.S.$3.7 million in income, according to Christopher Ketcham.

The IRS and the CBO have already proven with their data that the top 1% have been acting like money vampires, sucking money out of our economic system.

What kind of jobs do the 1% have?  According to a CNNMoney report, 8.4% are attorneys, 14% are financial professionals, 15.7% are medical professionals, and 31% run Corporate America (executives, managers and supervisors).

Mother Jones has a more detailed breakdown.  MJ also shows that most of the wealth of the top 1% is invested in paper (stocks, securities, trusts, equities),  not traditional real estate.

AlterNet gives top five astounding facts about the 1%: “1. The Top 1 Percent of Americans Owns 40 Percent of the Nation’s Wealth, 2. The Top 1 Percent of Americans Take Home 24 Percent of National Income, 3. The Top 1 Percent Of Americans Own Half of the Country’s Stocks, Bonds and Mutual Funds, 4. The Top 1 Percent Of Americans Have Only 5 Percent of the Nation’s Personal Debt, 5. The Top 1 Percent are Taking In More of the Nation’s Income Than at Any Other Time Since the 1920s.”  AlterNet breaks down each of their claims with facts.

So how many of these money suckers are there, how many vampires make up the 1%?  Approximately 1,400,00 (according to the IRS).  Compare that to the total U.S. population of  308,745,538 (according to 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data).  1.4 million vampires are sucking the money out of more than 300 million people!!!

And what about raising taxes on the top elites?  According to IRS data, reported by Bloomberg Businessweek, the top 400, out of the 1.4 million money suckers, actually paid less taxes in 2007.  These super elite vampires (the Count Draculas of the money suckers) saw their effective tax rates fall from nearly 30% in 1995 to under 17% in 2007!!!

I still don’t understand why there isn’t more of the 99% joining the Occupy America (OWS, Occupy Wall Street) movement, unless they’re under the spell of the money sucking vampire elites known as the 1%.

 

 

Business/Economics, U.S.

Class War: U.S. government office proves that the Elites have been waging economic war on the rest of us

“The share of income going to higher-income households rose, while the share going to lower-income households fell.”-CBO Trends in the Distribution of Household Income Between 1979 and 2007

The U.S. Congressional Budget Office released data that showed the top 1% of the population saw their incomes jump 275% over 28 years: “For the 1 percent of the population with the highest income, average real after-tax household income grew by 275 percent between 1979 and 2007.”

The next highest income earners, the top 19% of the population (not counting the top 1%), saw their incomes go up 65%, “…much faster than
it did for the remaining 80 percent of the population…”.

As you go down the income ladder, the majority of workers (which are at the bottom of the scale) actually saw their income drop 2% to 3%: “All other groups saw their shares decline by 2 to 3 percentage points.”

This latest data backs up earlier reports from the Internal Revenue Service.  In a 2007 report, the IRS said that incomes for the majority of the U.S. population had actually been dropping since 1986!  They used tax filings to compile their data.

What’s been happening is that the elites have been waging a class war to suck up most of the money in our our economic system.  The top 1% are not trickle downers, they are money hoarders!





Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Occupy America! Police begin shutting down protests, arrests across the U.S.

“…handful of gigantic banks that have simply hijacked the economy and the populations of the world for their own interest.”-F. William Engdahl, economic researcher

Police in New York City have been busy arresting protestors today, the day before major international protests are to take place.  OWS personnel are planning a major march on Times Square.

Also, police in Denver, Colorado, have been dispersing protestors, who were camped out in front of the state’s capitol building.  In San Diego, California, police are busy arresting protestors there, as well as police arresting protestors in Austin, Texas.

October 13, police in Washington DC arrested at least six protesters, some of them elderly.  Many of the protestors in the country’s capitol are disgruntled elderly people, not just disgruntled youth.  According to the local NBC TV station, they were “…arrested for unlawful conduct – demonstrating.”

Economic analyst F. William Engdahl, says one answer is to nationalize the too big to fail banks: “…nationalize major banks and draw a fence around the problematic institutions until they can be sorted out.”

Engdahl says nationalization is not socialism, it is a way of admitting that a capitalist system has failed, and needs to be fixed!

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Occupy the World! Italian Protestors attack Goldman Sachs office, international protests to hit Idaho

Italian students stormed the central Milan office of one of the world’s leading investment banks, Goldman Sachs.  Police chased them off.

Protesters also threw eggs at the headquarters of UniCredit, Italy’s biggest bank.

The attack on the Goldman Sachs office comes a day before planned international protests.  October 15 will see coordinated international demonstrations against the finance industry.

People living in eastern Idaho get ready to take part: Occupy Idaho Falls and Pocatello (as well as smaller communities) are planning to take part.

Watch Occupy Pocatello’s march, from Wednesday October 13.

 

 

Fukushima

Government & Corporate Incompetence: More radiation in Yokohama, this time school lunches!

Shiitake mushrooms used in school lunches have tested positive for 350 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive cesium.  That’s below the government limit of 500 becquerels, but Yokohama school officials are getting rid of them anyway.

Yokohama is about 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

At a Ibaraki Prefecture mushroom farm, 830 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive cesium were found on the mushrooms there.  The farm is about 170 km (106 miles) from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Earlier in the week mushrooms in Chiba Prefecture were found to be contaminated with cesium, higher then the government safe limits.  Clearly, after almost seven months, radiation is still spreading from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Business/Economics, U.S.

Occupy America! Wall Street protestors refuse to leave Zuccotti Park, clean park themselves

“Seems likely that this is their attempt to shut down OWS for good. We know where the real dirt is: on Wall Street … We won’t allow Bloomberg and the NYPD to foreclose our occupation. This is an occupation, not a permitted picnic…”-OWS statement

“The cleanup is a pretext to remove us from the camp. And we can return only if we abide by the rules of Brookfield Properties.”-Justin Wedes, protestor

As a challenge to Mayor Bloomberg’s threat to use police to clear the protestors, ostensibly to clean the park, the OWS participants have begun cleaning up the park themselves.

 

Business/Economics, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Economists say U.S. income to stagnate for at least 10 more years, young generations to struggle more than their parents

“People know that there is no real out. The children of the current adults are looking and realizing they are not likely to have as good a life as their parents. And their parents are distressed because they realize it’s true!”-Jeff Gates, former counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance

In an interview with Iranian media, former adviser to the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, Jeff Gates, said there is no short term hope for the U.S. economy.  Gates joins a growing number of experts who’re doubting that any recovery will happen soon.  They’re also justifying the anger of the Occupy protests spreading across the United States.

Gates says the Occupy Wall Street movement is justified because as much as two thirds of the money being made in the U.S. is by Wall Street (stock markets, finance markets), not by main street!

Also, in a Wall Street Journal survey of 50 economists, the majority say not only have most incomes dropped after 2000, but they will not go back up to pre-2000 levels for at least ten more years!

“Standards of living in the U.S. will continue to decline as we de-leverage and emerging markets take over as the growth engine of the global economy.”-Julia Coronado, BNP Paribas.

What Julia Coronado is saying is that the United States is no longer the world economic leader, not even a driving force. This is more proof that China does not need the U.S. for it’s economic growth.

Economists say the average U.S. income fell 7% after 2000, but will grow by only 5% by 2021.  The Wall Street Journal article also warns college graduates, and current college students: The only way you might make more money is to get at least a Masters degree, and work all the time (no free/family time)!  With the cost of college, it’s just another reason why college ain’t worth it anymore.

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Occupy America! Protests to hit college campuses, janitors and security guards join Wall Street protest

October 13, there are protests planned for at least 90 college campuses across the United States today.

Also today, hundreds of janitors and security guards have joined the Wall Street protests in New York City.

Across the world, there have been anti-government, anti-corruption and anti-corporation protests in about 1,400 cities, so far.

The latest Reuters/Ipsos poll shows that 82% of U.S. citizens are aware of the Occupy movement, and 38% support it.  35% are unsure, with only 24% opposed.