Oil Pipelines are Safe.....Sure they are......

http://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/exxon-mobil-pipeline-leaks-thousands-of-barrels-of-oil-in-arkansas-1.1217858

Exxon Mobil Corp. says crews are working to contain and clean up an oil spill near Mayflower, Arkansas after its Pegasus pipeline ruptured Friday afternoon.

The pipeline carries Canadian heavy crude oil from Patoka, Illinois to refineries on the Texas Gulf coast.
Exxon Mobil issued a release that said the company was responding to a spill of more than 10,000 barrels
The company said the 20 inch pipeline had been shut down as crews tried to prevent the spilled oil from reaching a nearby lake.

On Monday federal regulators proposed that Exxon Mobil pay $1.7 million in civil penalties for safety violations linked to a pipeline rupture that spilled an estimated 238,000 litres of crude oil into Montana's scenic Yellowstone River in July 2011.

The spill fouled approximately 110 kilometres of the Yellowstone River's banks, killing fish and wildlife and prompting a massive, months-long cleanup.

Examples of why Obama should tell the oil industry NO on the Keystone Pipeline.

Energy Drinks....Buyer Beware!‏

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162-57575799/energy-drinks-may-increase-blood-pressure-change-hearts-rhythm/ 

A new study presented at the American Heart Association's 2013 Scientific Sessions in New Orleans revealed that energy drinks may increase blood pressure and change the heart's rhythm. 

The FDA announced in November 2012 that it was investigating 13 deaths tied to 5-hour Energy products and other reports of adverse events. 

another investigation was opened to look at five deaths and one non-fatal heart attack that were linked to Monster Energy Drinks. This included the death of a 14-year-old Maryland girl, whose family sued the company after she went into cardiac arrest after drinking two 24-ounce Monster Beverage Corp. drinks within a day. 

Emergency room visits due to energy drinks have doubled over the last four years from 10,000 in 2007 to 20,000 in 2011. 

Energy drinks are not regulated by the FDA because they are considered “supplements” and Bill Clinton deregulated supplements in 1994.  As we all know deregulation is always a horrible idea.  100% of the time it leads to bad awful things that I have to continually write emails about.

Soda in decline....Nobody wants to drink HFCS.‏

http://www.ajc.com/news/news/coca-cola-to-lay-off-750-in-us-canada/nWyf5/ 

Coke is unable to sell their bottles full of High Fructose Corn Syrup so they are laying off 750 people. 

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/lifestyle/2013/03/pepsi-bottles-get-a-makeover-after-17-years/ 

Pepsi is also unable to sell their High Fructose Corn Syrup too so they are redesigning their bottle.  Maybe to new sleeker look will distract from the ingredients in the bottle. Good luck with the new strategy Pepsi. 

The new design is part of Pepsi’s “Live for Now” marketing campaign.  Yes live for now because tomorrow (after you drink this soda) you are going to be even fatter then today.  Your quality of life will continue to deteriorate and tomorrow will be a lot bleaker.  So enjoy today while you still can. 

the importance of packaging innovation in helping to drive brand equity and sales and we hope to do this with our new bottle.”  You certainly won’t be driving sales with your ingredients that is for sure.

Yankees VS Stub Hub‏

http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/19/stubhub-barred-near-yankee-stadium-for-now/ 

Professional sports teams (like the Yankees) went out and built new expensive stadiums to fleece their fans (of every penny they have ever earned) to buy tickets.  

Fans have been staying away in droves.  Stadiums are half empty and teams don’t know what to do.  Along came Stub Hub which is killing these teams even more.  

Rich fans go buy season tickets but can’t physically go to every game.  So they put their tickets on Stub Hub (at massively reduced rates) just trying to get some money back.  

Teams like the Yankees are irate because fans aren’t buying their single game tickets (at the box office window) for $96.00 each.  Instead fans go on Stub Hub and get an equivalent ticket for $30.00.  

The practice is killing the box office for these big greedy sport teams.  They want to do whatever they can to squash Stub Hub and the entire secondary market.  

These rich greedy billionaire owners LOVE talking about capitalism and the free market until the free market works against them.  Then they are no longer fans.  

Too bad! 

I hope Stub Hub puts some of these teams right out of business.

Please Cut Spending...But not really.‏

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/21/us-usa-postal-delivery-idUSBRE92K0OL20130321 

Congress keeps saying…….We have to cut spending….We have to cut spending…..We have to cut spending…. 

So the Post Office responds by cutting  Saturday mail deliver.  That will save money.  Congress says NO you can’t do that. 

Why do you need mail on Saturday?   Is it a real burden to not receive your utility bills until Monday?  Who cares.  Just cut it. 

Several polls have shown a majority of the public supports ending six-day delivery of first-class mail.

NFL Owners Cleaned the Players Clock‏

http://bostonherald.com/sports/columnists/ron_borges/2013/03/borges_nfl_owners_bask_in_new_cba_sun

 Just as I told you at the time….. 

the NFL owners cleaned the players clock.  Year two of the new CBA and nobody is making any money but the owners.  Players have zero leverage and are getting paid less and less everyday.  Teams would rather cut a player and plead poverty (poverty they created) then sign anyone.  If they do get signed the contract will be back loaded and they will be cut long before they ever see the imaginary money.

 One salary cap year removed from the lockout, the cap is flat and salaries are in free fall. A year ago, a former seventh-round draft choice with one Pro Bowl season in his career named Cortland Finnegan signed a five-year, $50 million free agent contract with $27 million guaranteed to play defensive back for the St. Louis Rams.

Two days ago Aqib Talib signed a one-year, $5 million deal to play defensive back for the Patriots and was happy to get it after finding the market as dry as the desert air in Arizona. His hope is that things will be better next year. It won’t be.

In the history books it will say the New York Giants won the Super Bowl two years ago but the truth of the matter is 32 NFL owners won the real Super Bowl six months earlier. It is a victory they are celebrating this offseason by taking down player salaries right and left after last year gutting the pay of rookies under the new CBA. 

his year’s NFL owners meeting is more a victory lap than a convention. There’s no 50-50 split with the cattle anymore and you won’t see anything like a 57-43 divide again. 

Life is back to how it used to be: the lawyers are sitting in the sun, the bagels are sitting in the press room and the players are sitting back in their place — as employees, not partners.

CEO's doing GREAT!‏

http://money.cnn.com/2013/03/07/news/companies/mulally/index.html 

Ford CEO Alan Mulally has amassed 317 MILLION DOLLARS.  Alan used to be CEO of Boeing.  He was CEO when the Dreamliner debacle was born.  

http://www.businessinsider.com/dreamliner-problems-blamed-on-alan-mulally-2013-2 

Eventually he realized he needed to “move on” and he is now at ford counting his stacks of money.  There are a lot of stacks.  Detroit is a shambleshttp://money.cnn.com/2013/03/14/news/economy/detroit-emergency-manager/  thanks to companies like Ford getting rid of all the jobs…….But you wouldn’t know that sitting in Mulally’s office.  It is stacks of green as far as the eye can see. 

http://money.cnn.com/2013/03/11/news/companies/ge-immelt-pay/ 

GE CEO received a 25% raise last year….Didn’t we all.  He is making 25 MILLION.  It pays to be BFF with the President of the United States.  How is that Jobs commission going?  By my count he has helped create ZERO jobs.  Nice work.  Enjoy your money. 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-15/boeing-boosted-ceo-s-pay-20-in-year-before-787-grounding.html 

CEO of Boeing received a 20% raise….Didn’t we all.  He is making 27 MILLION.  Sure their flag ship airplane is grounded and completely unreliable.  That is no reason to punish the guy in charge.  Back up the armored truck and start unloading the money. 

Some people say this is the worst economy since the great Depression.  Funny how none of these article reflect that at all.  I think it is safe to say that Republicans were right.  Obama is redistributing the wealth.

Corporations VS The People.....The People are losing. Badly!‏

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/04/business/economy/corporate-profits-soar-as-worker-income-limps.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 

the split between American workers and the companies that employ them is widening 

That gulf helps explain why stock markets are thriving even as the economy is barely growing and unemployment remains stubbornly high. 

With millions still out of work, companies face little pressure to raise salaries 

in this recovery, corporations have captured an unusually high share of the income gains, 

The U.S. corporate sector is in a lot better health than the overall economy 

The result has been a golden age for corporate profits, especially among multinational giants  

As a percentage of national income, corporate profits stood at 14.2 percent in the third quarter of 2012, the largest share at any time since 1950, while the portion of income that went to employees was 61.7 percent, near its lowest point since 1966.  

Corporate earnings have risen at an annualized rate of 20.1 percent since the end of 2008,  

disposable income inched ahead by 1.4 percent annually over the same period 

“There hasn’t been a period in the last 50 years where these trends have been so pronounced,”  

At 218,300 employees, United Technologies’ work force is virtually unchanged from seven years ago, even though annual revenue soared to $57.7 billion in 2012 from $42.7 billion in 2005.  That 57.7 Billion comes mostly from US taxpayers paying for their military jet engines with the cracked blades. 

four days after the company’s shares soared past $90 to a record high last month, United Technologies confirmed it would eliminate an additional 3,000 workers this year, on top of 4,000 let go in 2012 

3M, based in Minnesota, has grown substantially in recent years, rising to 87,677 last year from 76,239 in 2007. But of those 11,438 positions added, only 608 were in the United States. 

“The Federal Reserve has done a good job stimulating financial conditions and lifting the market,” he said. “It’s been less successful in stimulating job growth.”

Obama-CEO's and Cyber Security‏

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-obama-hacking-20130314,0,2583428.story


President Obama met with more than a dozen corporate chief executives to seek their support for stalled cyber-security legislation amid increasing evidence that government agencies, businesses and individuals are vulnerable to computer network break-ins. Thanks to Bill Gates!

The closed-door session Wednesday at the White Housecame a day after the nation's top intelligence officials warned in a Senate hearing that cyber attacks and digital spying have eclipsed terrorism as the top threat to national security. Thanks to Bill Gates!

As if on cue, authorities reported numerous new cyber attacks Wednesday, and hackers believed to be operating from servers in Russia posted online what appeared to be personal financial information about former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, golfer Tiger Woods and others.

The FBI is investigating whether credit reports, banking information and other financial information from Vice President Joseph Biden and First Lady Michelle Obama were illegally obtained and published online Tuesday. Also that day, hackers posted financial data that appears to be from former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Atty. Gen. Eric Holder, FBI Director Robert Mueller III and Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck.

"What is absolutely true is that we have seen a steady ramping up of cyber-security threats,"Thanks to Bill Gates! Obama said on ABC's"Good Morning America." "Some are state-sponsored. Thanks to Bill Gates! Some are just sponsored by criminals."

A wave of computer attacks also targeted New York'sJPMorgan Chase & Co., the nation's biggest bank. Hackers bombarded the Chase website with phony requests, blocking legitimate customers from Internet access to their bank accounts Tuesday and early Wednesday.

They said the chance of a major attack is remote in the near term, but digital thefts of intellectual property are putting U.S. competitiveness at risk.

"What is absolutely true is that we have seen a steady ramping up of cyber-security threats," Obama said on ABC's"Good Morning America." "Some are state-sponsored. Some are just sponsored by criminals."

A wave of computer attacks also targeted New York'sJPMorgan Chase & Co., the nation's biggest bank. Hackers bombarded the Chase website with phony requests, blocking legitimate customers from Internet access to their bank accounts Tuesday and early Wednesday.

Global Temperatures Highest in 4,000 Years....

If only there was some kind of scientific proof that Global warming was real......

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/08/science/earth/global-temperatures-highest-in-4000-years-study-says.html?_r=0

Global temperatures are warmer than at any time in at least 4,000 years, scientists reported Thursday, and over the coming decades are likely to surpass levels not seen on the planet since before the last ice age.

In the new research, scheduled for publication on Friday in the journal Science, Shaun Marcott, an earth scientist at Oregon State University, and his colleagues compiled the most meticulous reconstruction yet of global temperatures over the past 11,300 years, virtually the entire Holocene. They used indicators like the distribution of microscopic, temperature-sensitive ocean creatures to determine past climate.

Funny Math.....

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/08/business/economy/weekly-claims-for-jobless-benefits-decline.html?_r=0

Initial claims for state jobless aid fell 7,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 340,000

http://www.wfsb.com/story/21553775/us-adds-236k-jobs-unemployment-falls-to-77-pct

A burst of hiring last month added 236,000 U.S. jobs and reduced the unemployment rate to 7.7% from 7.9% in January.

Am I the only one who thinks this makes no sense?

For the last WEEK (7 days) 340,000 people became unemployed and started collecting benefits.

For the MONTH (28 Days) 236,000 people got new jobs.

Yet the unemployment rate went down. I am not great at math but to me this makes no sense.

Dreamliner Circuit Board "Concerns"

http://seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2020496541_787japancircuitsxml.html

Boeing wants everyone to think the only fire problem on the 787 is their sh*tty batteries. Those aren’t the only fire concerns going on though…..

Power-distribution-panel circuit boards were damaged onthree ANA 787s last year

Power panel faults, whileunrelated to the battery problems that have grounded the 787 since mid-January

On flights inMarch, April and June of last year, faults in power-panel circuit boards on Dreamliners operated by Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways (ANA) resulted in error messages in the cockpit, said airline spokeswoman Nao Gunji.
Each time, the panels were inspected after landing. In the case of the fault on an April 7 flight, a circuit board was found to have shorted, causing “slight discoloration” fromburning.
the April 7 incident “was serious and caused damage to the surrounding area,”
He said the small spark inside the circuit boards producedno safety hazard, only a loss of function that was handled by the plane’s multiple, redundant power systems.
What Boeing hopes (Prays) nobody remembers is that Circuit board fire is NOT a new issue on the Dreamliner. They had a fire during a test flight in 2010.
From2010 – http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/25/business/25boeing.html?_r=0
Nobody mentions that event because nobody pays any attention (or remembers) EXCEPT ME!
In 2010 they said it was an isolated incident. They said it was not serious (even though they grounded the planes). Eventually the FAA shrugged their shoulders and said “Whatever” and certified the plane. Yet the fires keep happening over and over and over and over.
So far they have been lucky that all the different fires haven’t taken out the plane. It is like playing Russian Roulette though. At some point the luck is going to run out.
Enjoy your flight.

H1B Workers NOT The Best Or the Brightest…..

http://www.informationweek.com/global-cio/h1b/h-1b-workers-not-best-or-brightest-study/240149839

Managers of high-tech companies insist they need more H-1B visas for foreign IT workers to ensure access to the best and brightest workforce. But a study released on Thursday finds that imported IT talent is often less talented than U.S. workers.

The study, published by the Economic Policy Institute and conducted by Norman Matloff, professor of computer science at the University of California in Davis, compares U.S. and foreign IT workers' salaries, rates of PhD awards, doctorates earned and employment in research and development to determine whether those admitted to the U.S. under the H-1B visa program have skills beyond those of U.S. IT workers.

Based on Matloff's analysis, there's no evidence that those granted H-1B visas offer exceptional talents.

"We thus see that no best and brightest trend was found for the former foreign students in either computer science or electrical engineering," Matloff writes in his report. "On the contrary, in the CS case the former foreign students appear to be somewhat less talented on average, as indicated by their lower wages, than the Americans."

The report concludes that the H-1B program and related work programs are not making the U.S. companies more innovative and are in some ways making them less so

Shipping Across The North Pole......

Good news…..Once all that ice is melted they can send shipping right over the North Pole. Get that made in China merchandise on the store selves that much faster.

Think of the savings…..

Keep those Coal Fire power plants humming people and we can make this a reality.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2013/03/04/climate-change-arctic-shipping-lanes-global-warming/1962685/