Category: Corporate Statism

Fukushima updates

~ susie ~ 2 Comments

Spent Fuel Pool (02813601)

Via FDL:

TEPCO has discovered that the #3 reactor is heavily damaged by falling debris. Personally, I think the plug displayed was damaged by the different explosion in #3.

Remember the worries I posted about damage to the racks in the #4 SFP? It looks like that happened in the #3 SFP as well. But worse. The damaged fuel rods obviously didn’t dump enough pellets to create a criticality, but how we’re going to remove the damaged rods I’ve no idea. The water itself is VERY hot from the spilled fuel. I suppose they’re going to have to lower torches from a safe distance and try to cut them out.

Here is an update report on a visit to the #4 reactor. Heavily damaged, as expected. They’re reporting about 20% of the fuel assemblies have been removed from the #4 SFP.

They’re seeing so much gamma radiation around the work area in #4 that they have had to put down lead plates and reduce work times. The gamma is likely coming from neutron activation of some of the nickle parts, turning them into cobalt 60. The #4 reactor was empty at the accident, so where did a neutron flux that intense come from? Perhaps the “different” explosion at unit 3?

Japanese Doctors are starting to issue more dire warnings.

The US and Canada have received about 13% of the Fuku emissions according to this study.

Very hot material found about 15km from Fuku. Probably from #3, though it’s not clear if it came from the explosion or floated in from the sea.

Remember last week I reported new record cesium levels? Well, that record has been broken. Officials admit there may be a new leak. TEPCO and the JG are still preparing the world for dumping massive amounts (“controlled releases”) of very hot (“within government guidelines”) of radioactive water. They’re still trying to come up with reasons the world will accept. IMO this is a cost issue, they simply don’t want to pay the price to store the water.

Even Larry Summers knows there’s something wrong

~ susie ~ 5 Comments

Downton Abbey

When Larry Summers says so, you know it’s bad:

Inequality has emerged as a major issue in the US and beyond. A generation ago it could reasonably have been asserted that the overall growth rate of the economy was the main influence on the growth in middle-class incomes and progress in reducing poverty. This is no longer a plausible claim.

The share of income going to the top 1 per cent of earners has increased sharply. A rising share of output is going to profits. Real wages are stagnant. Family incomes have not risen as fast as productivity. The cumulative effect of all these developments is that the US may well be on the way to becoming a Downton Abbey economy. It is very likely that these issues will be with us long after the cyclical conditions have normalised and budget deficits have at last been addressed.

Well, Larry, if you and your ilk hadn’t been pushing deficit reduction, it wouldn’t be anywhere near as bad. So fuck you.

[…] It is not enough to identify policies that reduce inequality. To be effective they must also raise the incomes of the middle class and the poor. Tax reform has a major role to play. The current tax code is so badly designed that it is very likely to be having the effect of reducing economic growth. It also allows the rich to shield a far greater proportion of their income from taxation than the poor. For example, last year’s increase in the stock market represented an increase in wealth of about $6tn, of which the lion’s share went to the very wealthy.

It is unlikely that the government will collect as much as 10 per cent of this figure. That is because of a host of policies that favour the rich, such as the capital gains exemption, the ability to defer tax on unrealised capital gains, and the fact that gains on assets passed on at death are not taxed at all. Similarly, the corporate tax system allows value to flow through it like a sieve. The ratio of corporate tax collections to the market value of US corporations is near a record low. The estate tax can be more or less avoided with sophisticated planning.

High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/875155ce-8f25-11e3-be85-00144feab7de.html#ixzz2tdvXPXlQ

Closing loopholes that only the wealthy can enjoy would enable taxes to be cut elsewhere. Measures such as the earned income tax credit can raise the incomes of the poor and middle class by more than they cost the Treasury, because they give people incentives to work and save.

It is ironic that those who profess the most enthusiasm for market forces are least enthusiastic about curbing tax benefits for the wealthy. Sooner or later inequality will have to be addressed. Much better that it be done by letting free markets operate and then working to improve the result. Policies that aim instead to thwart market forces rarely work, and usually fall victim to the law of unintended consequences.

Now that I think of it, fuck you twice, Larry. We know which side you were on.

Another banker jumps

~ susie ~ 3 Comments

This is No. 7:

A man on Tuesday jumped to his death from the top of Chater House in Central, where Wall Street bank JP Morgan has its Asia headquarters, witnesses told the South China Morning Post.

The man, said to be in his early 30s, went to the roof of Chater House, a landmark 30-floor building in the heart of Hong Kong’s central business district – also near the city’s stock exchange – and jumped.

The incident happened between 2pm to 3pm, a witness said.

Several policemen were seen on the roof but apparently failed to convince the man not to jump, one of the witnesses said.

Max Kaiser thinks it’s because the foreign exchange trading desks are being replaced with computers.

Debt slavery

~ susie ~ 5 Comments

FP_IMAGE_7651016/FP_SET_7650602

This is pretty fucking unbelievable. If you have one, tear it up and send it back:

Credit card issuer Capital One isn’t shy about getting into customers’ faces. The company recently sent a contract update to cardholders that makes clear it can drop by any time it pleases.

The update specifies that “we may contact you in any manner we choose” and that such contacts can include calls, emails, texts, faxes or a “personal visit.” As if that weren’t creepy enough, Cap One says these visits can be “at your home and at your place of employment.”

… “It sounds really invasive, but I don’t think it’s a violation of your 4th Amendment rights,” said Daniel E. Kann, a Santa Clarita lawyer who specializes in illegal-search cases.

… Incredibly, Cap One’s aggressiveness doesn’t stop with personal visits. The company’s contract update also includes this little road apple: “We may modify or suppress caller ID and similar services and identify ourselves on these services in any manner we choose.”

Porn flick about Comcast would be called ‘Insatiable’

~ odd man out ~ 3 Comments

Swamp Rabbit and I were reading that Comcast, the nation’s No. 1 cable provider, has bought out Time Warner Cable, the No. 2 provider. I wondered aloud what’s become of the Federal Communications Commission, the outfit that is supposed to prevent media corporations from establishing monopolies that exploit consumers. And where is the so-called Department of Justice? These questions are at least as old as the 1980s, when Ben Bagdikian wrote The Media Monopoly.

“The FCC done got neutered,” the rabbit said. “I been livin’ in this swamp for years, but I know that. Where you been?”

Good question. I try to keep up with change, but I can’t figure out how the feds justify allowing companies like Comcast to make such crudely obvious power grabs. It’s hard to overestimate the effect of Comcast’s multimillion-dollar lobbying efforts, or the power of David Cohen, Comcast’s executive vice president. But still…

Here’s part of the explanation, from Guardian UK’s Dan Gilmor:

America’s cable companies grew up in the cozy embrace of local governments that gave them monopoly franchises, which they’ve expanded over the years via mergers and acquisitions, not just normal growth. The noncompetitive local franchise model means that when one cable giant buys another, the customers generally have the same choices as before for subscription TV (cable or satellite) and internet service (cable or phone company DSL).

Whose interest is served by such a deal? The shareholders of TWC and Comcast would be thrilled, for sure. So would the NSA and other surveillance statists, who would undoubtedly be happiest if we reverted to the era when a single behemoth telecommunications enterprise served, for all practical purposes, as an arm of the spy services.

The other main winners would be the remaining telecom “competitors” that would be part of an ever-cozier oligopoly of enterprises that upgrade reluctantly and, compared to providers in other developed nations, grossly overcharge their customers. So look for more mergers, even less user privacy, higher prices and – if this is possible for the generally loathed cable companies – even worse service.

Call it the reality of pervasive political corruption. As City Paper’s Daniel Denvir wrote:

Philadelphia’s elected officials will no doubt line up to back Comcast, which recently announced its plans to build a second (taxpayer-subsidized) skyscraper here in its hometown. This is a company that works hard to make political friends, and which is energetically supporting Gov. Tom Corbett’s imperiled reelection campaign.

But still… Isn’t it the job of the feds to make sure gluttonous corporations don’t morph into entities so powerful they can crush competition by buying the people who write the laws? And wasn’t that a naive question?

Maybe the current FCC commissioners and the DoJ have decided today’s media monsters are too big for quaint anti-trust laws. We should know by the end of the year.

I guess they’re supposed to be in it for the honor

~ susie ~ 1 Comment

Laura Vikmanis

Not even minimum wage? Sheesh!

A cheerleader for the Cincinnati Bengals has sued the football franchise accusing the team of violating federal wage laws.

Alexa Brenneman, in a class action lawsuit filed in Cincinnati and aimed at covering all Ben-Gals, said the cheer squad members put in more than 300 hours of time attending mandatory practices and charity events and performing required volunteer work but are paid a flat rate of $90 a game for cheering at 10 games during the 2013 season.

The suit says Brenneman was paid $2.85 an hour when the Ohio minimum wage in 2013 was $7.85 an hour.

The complaint seeks a judge’s order to stop the Bengals from violating the Fair Labor Standards Act, unpaid wages for cheerleaders, attorney fees and court costs.

Fake chicken

~ susie ~ 8 Comments

The Girls

This pisses me off. I’m sure they charged more, of course!

(Reuters) – Kroger Co, the biggest U.S. supermarket operator, faces a lawsuit claiming it deceived consumers by marketing a store brand as humanely raised chicken products when the animals were raised under standard commercial farming.

The complaint, filed late Tuesday in Superior Court of California in Los Angeles County, is seeking class-action status against Kroger for allegedly misleading California consumers with claims about the grocer’s “Simple Truth” premium-priced store brand of chicken.

The “Simple Truth” chicken products are packaged with labeling that stated the animals were raised “in a humane environment” and “cage free,” according to the lawsuit.

However, standard industry practice for broiler chickens is to house them inside large buildings, not cages, according to industry experts. The “Simple Truth” chicken products are produced by Perdue Farms, which has followed industry practices such as electric stunning birds prior to slaughter, according to the lawsuit.

Kroger spokesman Keith Dailey said Wednesday that the company had not seen a copy of the complaint and had no comment on the case.

The case highlights the growing tension between food retailers and U.S. consumers, who have become more vocal over how food is produced and marketed to the public.

“Looking to profit from growing consumer awareness of, and concern with, the treatment of farm animals raised for meat production, Kroger engaged in a deceptive and misleading marketing scheme to promote its ‘Simple Truth’ store brand chicken as having been sourced from chickens raised ‘cage free in a humane environment’,” according to the complaint.

“In fact, Simple Truth chickens are treated no differently than other mass-produced chickens on the market.”

All your cables belong to Comcast

~ susie ~ 5 Comments

Monopoly? Don’t be silly, we don’t have those anymore!

Comcast to buy Time Warner Cable for $45 bn (via AFP)

Comcast has agreed a $45-billion stock deal to buy Time Warner Cable, a move that would merge the two biggest cable operators in the United States, US media reported. The boards of both companies have approved the deal and an announcement will be made…

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