Thursday, December 31, 2009

KBR

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#34636039

KBR being sued for putting soldiers (in Iraq) at risk in 2003.
Today those soldiers are dying.

To refresh your memory KBR was a subsidiary of Halliburton.

Halliburton is the oil services company that does mostly work for the government. Their CEO was Dick Cheney.

Cheney earned tens of millions as CEO. When he became vice president he maintained millions in stock and also received deferred salary while he was Vice President. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/09/26/politics/main575356.shtml

As a result Halliburton received BILLIONS worth of no bid contracts in Iraq.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/04/25/60minutes/main551091.shtml

Halliburton is an extremely shady company. They have been in trouble over and over and over for unethical behavior.

They overcharged the US government.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/12/12/politics/main588216.shtml

http://articles.latimes.com/2004/aug/04/business/fi-halliburton4

They supported terrorist’s regimes
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/22/60minutes/main595214.shtml
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7119752/

They were fined 579 million for paying bribes to win contracts.
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/02/12/kbr_halliburton_fined_579m_total/

They were involved in raping one of their own female employees and covering it up.
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=3977702&page=1

12 soldiers are dead because they were electrocuted in the shower do to shoddy KBR electrical work
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=4489783&page=1

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

GMAC

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704234304574626613952095966.html?mod=WSJ_hps_LEFTWhatsNews#articleTabs%3Dcomments

GMAC getting another 3.5 BILLION. This on top of the 12 BILLION they received last year.

Never ceases to amaze me the second a big bank hiccups the US Treasury opens up the cash drawer and starts piling the money on the table. There is no limit for the corporate banks.

Meanwhile where the real people live it is a daily struggle and nobody cares.........

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/30/nyregion/30foreclose.html

"In New York City, where 20,000 homeowners faced foreclosure this year, a recent study by the Center for NYC Neighborhoods found that lenders have offered new or trial mortgages to just 3 percent of the homeowners who have sought help."

So basically the big banks took the TARP money. Then they took the 75 Billion (the government handed them) to re adjust people mortgages (but then didn't re adjust them. They simply pocketed the money). In the end they will still foreclosure and get the homes. So it is a win win win for the big banks.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2006-04-03-gm-deal_x.htm

What is interesting about the GMAC bailout is 1) When GM sold GMAC in 2006 it was profitable. 2) One of the companies that ended up buying them (Citibank) has already received TARP money. So Citibank got bailed out (as Citibank) and then they got bailed out a second time as GMAC. Must be nice.....That is like GM receiving a bailout for Buick, then a separate bailout for Cadillac. I suppose if we wait long enough that might just happen too.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Moldy Tylenol

http://www.webmd.com/news/20091229/tylenol-recall-expands

"Moldy" Tylenol is giving people "nausea, stomach pain, vomiting, and diarrhea."

That sounds awesome. I bet it was made in China too. Of course nobody is highlighting where it was made but you can be sure where ever tainted products are found China isn't far away.

Oh here it is.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003732744_vitamins03.html

"China makes 70 percent of the world's penicillin, 50 percent of its aspirin and 35 percent of its acetaminophen (often sold under the brand name Tylenol)"

Airport Security is optional

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/AheadoftheCurve/air-security-technology-stopped-xmas-attack/story?id=9436877

"19 airports across the country already give passengers the option to undergo a full-body imaging scan instead of a pat-down"

The rediculous part of this story (that nobody is talking about) is the decsion by the TSA (last May) to stop using the explosive "sniffer" machines. That decsion is directly linked to this latest security failure. Again nobody connects the dots.

They didn't need the sniffers because they had the body scans. But then the body scan machines aren't available everywhere. Where they are available it is optional because people don't want their hooters on display for all to see.

So as we see security as it relates to explosives is non existent.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/21/AR2009052104361.html

Monday, December 28, 2009

Wilmington

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/12/17/60minutes/main5996883.shtml?tag=contentMain;cbsCarousel

This story is interesting. Wilmington Ohio screwed when DHL left and 10,000 people lost their jobs. It is the same story told over and over across the country.

If you watch “Roger and Me” ( from 1989 ) about Flint Michigan’s struggles when GM moved plants to Mexico it is essentially the same story.

Corporate America lays everyone off and entire communities suffer.

It has been 20 years and Flint still hasn’t recovered. http://www.mlive.com/business/mid-michigan/index.ssf/2009/07/flints_unemployment_rate_hits.html

Nobody should expect Wilmington to recover either.

I take issue with the first line of the story stating that this is the third year of the “Great Recession”

It isn’t the third year….. it is the 10th year. This downward spiral started at the end of the Clinton administration (in 2000) and it hasn’t ended yet. Nor is it going to end .

2000 the US economy heading towards recession
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2000/dec/27/usa.michaelellison

2001 US economy in recession
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/27/business/27ECON.html?pagewanted=1

2002 US economy in recession
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/07/business/americans-gradually-feel-grip-of-recession.html

2003 recession is over but there are no jobs. (So it is not really over)
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/18/business/18ECON.html?ex=1059105600&en=f840f4e10721aec3&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE

2004 Recession is coming – Again
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=94806&page=1

2005 Recession very close.
http://www.forbes.com/2005/03/24/cz_js_0324soapbox_inl.html

2006 Recession will be bad.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/coming-recession-will-be-nastier-than-2001s-economist-says

In 2007 everyone "officially" agrees the recession started but in actuality it has been here since 2000.

Except for the housing bubble (which wasn’t real) it has been bad economic news for 10 straight years. Everyone should accept that it is going to continue on for the next 10 too.

Friday, December 18, 2009

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Liebermans priorities

700 Billion dollar stimulus Lieberman could support. No problem

800 Billion for Wall street bonuses Lieberman could support. No problem

Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, predicted “overwhelming support among Senate Democrats” for releasing the money.

Healthcare for the people....Well Lieberman isn't so accommodating.

Down he goes

My last post explains this article. The American people voted for change and what we have now is what we always have. America isn't buying the snow job.

Obama - Meet the new boss.. Same as the old boss

Obama.....Bush.....Clinton.....What is the difference...... They are all the same. Bought and paid for. They all talk a good game but when it is time to play ball it is always the same game.

"Food and Drug Administration chief Margaret Hamburg warning of "significant safety concerns." (Where was this same concern when China was making tooth paste tainted with Melamine? Where was the concern when millions of American toddlers were sucking on toys covered in lead paint. Where was the concern when the FDA lifted the ban on shoddy Chinese Chicken.

"These arguments don't hold up well, considering that 40 percent of the active ingredients in American prescription drugs come from India and China, and that the latter slipped tainted heparin past the FDA"

IRS is mean to everyone except Citibank

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/15/AR2009121504534.html?hpid=topnews

This is unbelievable. If you don't pay your taxes you go to jail. No if ands or buts. The IRS is not known for cutting anyone a break ever. BUT if you are Citigroup....well....that is another story entirely. The IRS is more the willing to help Citigroup avoid Billions in taxes. If you are Citigroup the IRS is your friend. Next month you will start reading stories about high profile people in trouble for not paying taxes. It happens every tax year. It is the IRS's way of scaring people during tax season. Yes, It doesn't matter who you are unless you are corporate America. Then there is an entirely different set of rules.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Stimulus Check

http://stimuluswatch.org/2.0/performance_places/state/CT/300/id/asc

So the State Of Connecticut has been given $12,901,185 in Federal Stimulus money . So far that money has created 11 jobs according to this website. That comes out to about 1 million dollars per job. What a complete waste of money.


I like how Yale is getting federal grant money. Yale who has an endowment of 16.3 BILLION Dollars.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125363732991331211.html

This country is so screwed up it is unreal.

Caterpillar

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29139938/

In February Caterpillar told Obama they would rehire laid off workers if his stimulus passed. Well it passed.......

Today on CNN there is a story about long term unemployed. One of the people profiled was laid off by Caterpillar last April. Not only did they not hire people back but they continued to lay people off.

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2009/news/0912/gallery.long_term_unemployed/4.html


Oh wait they are going to rehire 550 workers. They laid off 20,000 and will rehired 500. That stimulus is working out great.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aWaNyeYiD82U

AT&T about to nickel and dime customers

http://www.pcworld.com/article/184589/atandt_iphone_users_irate_at_idea_of_usagebased_pricing.html

"AT&T's overtaxed data network has led to shoddy service. AT&T received the lowest score among wireless carriers with a below average rating in a recent Consumer Reports customer satisfaction survey."

So basically this is saying AT&T told people to join their service because they are great. Then people did join (because the IPhone is all the rage) but now their sh*tty network can't handle the volume of people using their products. The products they told everyone to come use. So now they want to start gauging people for using their service.

They want to remain the exclusive seller of the IPhone but then they complain that Iphone users use to much of their service.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123973238611017715.html

Sunday, December 13, 2009

One scumbag operation dumps another

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/13/AR2009121302262.html

When it comes to sending American jobs overseas reputation matters. Having a scumbag philanderer represent their pure operation was not going to work.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

NFL is being stupid and greedy

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4718965

This is another colossal mistake by the NFL. The first mistake was pulling out of the collective bargaining agreement. The owners didn’t think 40% of Billions was fair. So now they will cause a work stoppage in two years.

This is mistake #2.

Both of these idiot moves the NFL closer to resembling MLB. That is not a good thing. There are reasons why MLB struggles and the NFL has been a juggernaut. This is undoing all the advantages.

The reason baseball sucks is because there is no revenue sharing. So you have the rich teams Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, Phillies etc. And then you have everyone else.

Whenever a small market baseball team develops a good player they can never afford to keep them. So all the good players funnel to the rich teams. That is why you end up with the Yankees winning year after year. Not because they are overly smart but because they are filthy rich. When was the last time the Yankees developed anyone? All their players were taken from other teams (except Jeter). When was the last time the Pittsburgh Pirates won anything? A long long long time ago. Because they are poor.

The reason the NFL is awesome is because small market teams can compete and do well. Green Bay, Baltimore, Arizona all have a chance. Now the NFL is going to screw it all up.

Greedy Idiots.

Monday, November 30, 2009

A jobs Summit to fix everything....Oh good.

Obama is having a big jobs summit this week.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/11/30/opinion/main5835425.shtml

He is inviting more high flying CEO’s to attend.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/29/business-titans-and-others-expected-at-jobs-summit/

He wants to know what the overpaid CEO’s think will solve the problem (which they created).

So he is asking the millionaires what should be done.

That is like asking the fox how to best protect the hen house.

And they wonder why it never gets better.

Here are some of the geniuses who are attending.

Randall Stephenson CEO of AT&T.

Here is AT&T laying off 2000 people.
http://www.wtnh.com/dpp/news/business/news_wtnh_meriden_att_layoffs_200909231350

Here is AT&T outsourcing to India because American worker are “too dumb”
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/ATT-CEO-We-Offshore-Because-Youre-Dumb-93029

Here is the CEO making 18 million for his genius leadship.
http://www.fiercetelecom.com/story/att-ceo-collects-18-million-in-pay-perks/2008-03-12

Also attending is
Surya N. Mohapatra of Quest Diagnostics,

Here Quest is laying off 60 people.
http://www.genomeweb.com/blog/quest-lay-60-staffers-conn-testing-facility

Here is Quest looking to hire people in India.
http://www.questdiagnostics.in/job-seekers.aspx .

Here is the CEO making 7 million for his genius leadership.
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/12/VBFZ.html

Also attending
Frederick W. Smith of FedEx,

Here is Fed Ex laying off thousands.
http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local-beat/FedEx-to-Lay-Off-Thousands.html

Here is Fed Ex expanding in China.
http://www.chinaeconomicreview.com/china-eye/2009_07_01/FedEx_expands_China_customer_center.html

Here is the CEO making 8 million for his genius leadership.
http://people.forbes.com/profile/frederick-w-smith/32123

Also attending
Brian L. Roberts of Comcast Corp.,

Here is Comcast preparing to lay more people off real soon.
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Comcast-Hints-At-Layoffs-105347

Here is the CEO making 38 million for his genius leadsership.
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/12/lead_bestbosses08_Brian-L-Roberts_1BLX.html

Also attending
James McNerney of Boeing.

I have spent a lot of time tearing Boeing apart for their idiotic decisions. See the Dreamliner. I don’t think more is needed.

Here is the CEO making 14 million for his genius leadership.
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/12/lead_07ceos_W-James-McNerney-Jr_8WTF.html

Also attending
Peter Y. Solmssen of Siemens AG.

Siemens isn’t even an American company......Whatever!

Also attending
Eric E. Schmidt of Google

Here is Google laying people off.
http://www.businessinsider.com/2009/1/google-announces-layoffs-goog

Here is the CEO making 3.6 million for his genius leadership.
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2009/12/best-boss-09_Eric-E-Schmidt_OYW6.html

Also attending is
Robert A. Iger of the Walt Disney Co

Here is Disney laying off 1900
http://orlando.bizjournals.com/orlando/stories/2009/03/30/daily51.html

Here is the CEO making 30 million for his genius leadership.
http://people.forbes.com/profile/robert-a-iger/79382

Yes these are precisely the people we need to lead us out of the darkness. The same people who lead us into the darkness in the first place. Don't be surprise when this summit (of the intellectual elites) doesn’t lead to more jobs.

From Bad To Worse

Food stamps at all time high.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/29/us/29foodstamps.html?_r=2&th=&adxnnl=1&emc=th&adxnnlx=1259589878-7Ylkoc9P4ktFAlaIwL8LuA

Foxwoods teetering on Bankruptcy. When Foxwoods opened it was a goldmine. The largest Casino in the world and the cash entered by the truckload. Now they are struggling in the new reality of 10.2% unemployment. http://www.courant.com/business/hc-foxwoods.artnov29,0,6058252.story


But fear not because Obama is having a jobs summit this week. That should solve everything.

Friday, November 27, 2009

What goes up must come down

Dubai is in deep financial trouble.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/28/business/global/28dubai.html

They have been spending like drunken sailors for years thinking things only go up. Now they are trying to stop the avalanche that is about to bury them.

Here is Dubai on 60 minutes (2 years back) being hailed as a great success for their wild spending.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4312234n&tag=related;photovideo

Now they are going broke. What goes up must come down.

Labels:

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Why GE CEO gets invited to State Dinner

GE spending money on politicians -

"GE spent more on lobbying in the second quarter of this year than did any other company, according to federal lobbying files. Since 1998, GE has been the king of lobbying expenditures, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, outpacing its runner-up by 40 percent."

"Last election, GEPAC spent $2.4 million, with a slim majority going to Democrats. So far this year, two-thirds of GEPAC money has gone to Democrats."

Politicians spending money on GE -

"Labeled “climate revenues” and totaling $646 billion over eight years, this line item in Obama’s budget has inspired confidence in GE Chief Executive Officer Jeff Immelt. As Immelt put it in a letter this week, he believes that the Obama administration will be a profitable “financier” and “key partner.”

CEO's celebrating the demise of America

I took a look at the invite list to the big state dinner last night. Two names stood out. David Cote the CEO of Honeywell and Jeff Immelt the CEO of GE. Why would these two CEO's be invited to a state dinner for India. Because both companies are investing lots of money in India (to the detriment of the US economy). Both companies are also laying off American employees. For this Obama invites them to celebrate like kings.

Honeywell investing in India.

Honeywell laying off Americans. Again. And again.

GE investing in India

GE laying off Americans

I didn't notice a single unemployed American invited to the festivites last night. Too bad because there are millions Obama could have picked from.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

A Forum to help send jobs to India

The US government and Corporate CEO's working together to send our jobs to India. What a great idea.

When your goal is to kill the US economy you need look no further then Wall Street. The expertise is abundant.

"The company heads are slated to discuss investment opportunities (In India), job growth (In India) and potential partnerships. The forum held its first meeting of the year at the Treasury Department on Monday".

India treated like royalty

India gets the first state dinner. A country that does nothing more then accepts our stolen jobs will get the first high honor of this White House. Actually the last two White Houses also gave India a state dinner. This dinner needs to be outside so they can accommodate more people (corporate executives) to attend the festivities.

When England came to town it was very different though. You know England....Our closest ally for the last 100 years. The country that helped us in Iraq, and is still helping in Afghanistan. When England came to town the reception was "chilly". Turns out corporate America has no use for England. They have no cheap labor to be exploited. Obama could barely muster the effort to attend.

Monday, November 23, 2009

We will not negotiate - just kidding...

"Hamas will not negotiate with Israel" said Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum. "We do not believe in engaging with the occupation, or in talks that would beautify its face in the eyes of the world."

Israel will not negotiate with Hamas either. That has been their standard retort for years.

Just kidding - They will all totally negotiate... Palestinians always say that Israel devalues them. It looks like they are devaluing themselves. (1000 to 1).

Israel always says they can't make deals with terrorists because it will only encourage them. But here they are making deals that will no doubt encourage them.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Someone in the government doesn't like woman

Thanks to the Insurance companies who don't want to pay for this sh*t anymore. So they hand over millions to congress and tell them to change the guidelines. Once the guidelines are changed they can say they are no longer covering the tests for this entire age group. Then they point to the government guidelines as to why they are not paying. The government says it isn't necessary so we aren't paying.

First no more mammograms. Now no more Pap exams. Someone in the government doesn't like woman. Next they will say woman no longer need to wear seat belts.

It is all about the money in politics. Until the money is forced out of politics corporate America will continue to steer the ship right into the ice berg.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Dell

"Since returning as chief executive officer in January 2007, Michael Dell has made 10 acquisitions, cut more than 10,000 jobs and outsourced 40 percent of production under a plan to save $4 billion annually"

The results of these genius moves -

Third-quarter net income fell to $337 billion, from $727 million. (He succeeded in making 390 million less dollars. What a winning strategy.)

Dell lost its No. 2 ranking in the PC market during the back-to-school shopping period. (Another success story from corporate America)

Aetna

Oct 29 Aetna profits up 18%. Net income 326.2 Million in the 3rd quarter. Good news

November 18th. To Celebrate their good fortune Aetna is laying off 1250 people. That will help the economy before the holidays.

Why would they do that........ Because Congress is working to regulate them. This is corporate Americas version of a temper tantrum.

Silverdome

How bad is the economy in Detroit? The Pontiac Silverdome just sold for $583,000. It cost $55 Million to build in the 70's. It was sold to a Canadian firm just to add a little more salt.

It is beyond pathetic.

China's Space Progress

Here China's technological advancement impresses.

Here the US is handing over all our technology and know how on a silver platter.

We just hand over the technology to them. We have been doing it for years. Our stupidity is breath taking. It isn't good. It is all our fault too. Here come look at all our sh*t.

We are winding down our space program and they are firing theirs up. We are wasting time on stupid drones and they are working on advancing state of the art ideas.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Oil - The lies continue

Oil rises because of an "unexpected decline in inventories"

REALLY.... hmmmmm

That is funny because two days ago I read that oil supplies were at a 10 year high. Two days ago there were 129 ships being held offshore full of oil.

The lying continues.......

Meanwhile this artificial manipulation is killing the economy which was already on life support.

I hope Obama takes over this industry soon and regulates the crap out of it.

This nonsense needs to stop!

Boeing - The bad news never ends.

Airbus beating Boeings brains in.

Airbus received over 5x as many orders as Boeing. Boeing still can't convince people to buy planes that don't actually fly.

Thank goodness they saved so much money outsourcing. Lord knows they aren't making any money selling planes.

Boeing getting sued in a class action lawsuit because they lied about the dire state of their failed airplane.

Another "glitch" found on the grim reaper of airplanes. Add this one to the long (and never-ending) list of screw-ups.

Yay outsourcing......

Goldman is sorry...

Goldman is sorry? I don't think so. In reality Goldman is scared sh*tless that the government is about to tear them apart. This is their PR attempt to stop America from hating them. It won't work.

Lets look at the numbers.

They set aside $17 billion for their own personal bonuses. Because they have done such a good job destroying the country. They will give $100 million to small businesses. $100 million to Goldman Sachs is like a penny to the rest of us. Who cares.......

I hope the government tears them apart.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

China's F-22

The US sees no value in making more F-22's. The program has been cancelled. China sees lots of value in building them. They are hot on the trail of building their own state of the art fighter plane.

"given the quantity and quality of data Chinese hackers have been stealing in the past five years, it's possible that they have much of the American technology that makes the F-22 and F-35 possible."

I remember when the US said China wasn't capable of sending a man into space too. Then they did it. I remember when the US said China couldn't make a small enough nuclear warhead to fit on a missile. Then they did it (They stole technology from Los Alamos). We didn't think China was smart enough to hack into the Pentagon. They do it all the time. Our analysis is always wrong.

We didn't know India was working on nukes then they tested one. We didn't know Pakistan was working on Nukes then they tested one too. We didn't think North Korea had the know how to make a nuke but then they tested one. We were sure Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. They didn't.

Our intelligence sucks.

10 years is not that far. Once our program is shuttered that is the end. The planes we fly today were built 25-30 years ago. The F-15, F-16, F-18 were all built in the 70's. You need to plan way in advance. The B-52 was built in the 50's.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Exxon Lies

Exxon CEO says gas prices are inflated $20 to $25 because of the weak dollar. That is a lie.

He also says when the price of oil was $147.00 a barrel he didn't understand why. That is also a lie. Albeit a different lie then the one he told in 2008.

At the time he said "the increase was driven by demand". Lies, lies, lies.

The first lie is more important. The real reason the price of oil is artificially inflated is because it is still being deliberately held off the market. This for the sole purpose of raising the price.

This has been going on for over a year and keeps getting worse.

Currently there are 129 tanker ships docked in the oceans of the world full of Oil.

The main stream media should start covering this story. For the exception of one or two stories nobody is paying the slightest bit of attention to this mass manipulation of the market.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Keeping America Great by Bill Gates

Yes ask Bill Gates how to keep America great. The only thing Bill knows is how to make himself rich. He could care less about the rest of America. As long as he has more money then everyone else he is more then happy to tell everyone how great Capitalism is working.

Here is Microsoft laying off 5000 employees this year. I bet those people agree that Capitalism is working.

Here are 5000 employees Microsoft has in India. They don't need to worry about losing their jobs

In 2005 Gates invested 1.7 Billion in India. That is a good way to ensure America remains great.

Here Bill is in 2008 going to Congress to demand more foreign workers. America workers cost too much. This from a man with 40 Billion in the bank. In a country with 300,000,000 people he isn't able to find qualified workers. He obviously isn't looking very hard. Bill gets to go before Congress. none of the 5000 people laid off by his company get the same considerations.

Yes Bill Gates is the perfect person we should all be looking to for keeping America great.