April 30, 2011

The Mind-numbing Coverage of the Royal Wedding Played into Our Collective Serf Mentality

The Mind-numbing Stupidity of the Royal Wedding

The crowds who gathered outside Buckingham Palace on Friday to watch the newlyweds kiss on a balcony were good-natured. But London has also seen large protests recently against the Conservative-led government's austerity plans, which aim to cut 310,000 government jobs and raise university tuition fees. Some of the anger at the plans have been directed at the royals — Prince Charles and his wife Camilla were shaken up when their Rolls-Royce was attacked in December when a student protest turned violent. - William, Kate praised for being serious, Associated Press, May 1, 2011

April 29, 2011

Salon.com - So Prince William and Kate Middleton, now Duchess of Cambridge, are married. They exchanged vows before the Archbishop of Canterbury at Westminster Abbey on the morning of April 29, 2011, with planes roaring overhead and Union Jacks waving and hundreds of thousands of people in the London streets and millions upon millions upon millions of people watching on international television.
"It really is something special," anchor Diane Sawyer said on ABC a few minutes after their first public kiss. Then she added a few minutes later, in a rundown of factoids, "He knows how to line dance!"
The moment capped hours of continuous coverage on every major broadcast network and cable news channel. The news organizations never cut away except for commercials. And they managed to forgo those breaks when it seemed as if something exciting, or "exciting," was about to happen -- such as the newly-hitched royal couple's first kiss, which was so brief that the TV organizations played it back in slow motion, and their second kiss, which presumably was an attempt to improve on the first one.
"I'm a hard-hearted old cynic, but I must admit I did shed a tear," said ABC's Buckingham Palace correspondent Nick Watt, who then stopped just short of taking credit for the chant in the crowd that pushed William and Kate to kiss a second time. "I'd like to think I played a small part in that," Watt said, beaming.
I wish the royal couple the very best. They seem like nice people, truly. Fellow human beings, at the very least. And that's why I hope that when in the unlikely event that they ever read this, that they won't take it personally when I say that the coverage of this whole ceremony and its run-up was revoltingly obsequious and almost entirely devoid of news value, and so altogether bubble-brained that it makes me think that if there is such a thing as karmic payback for wrong priorities, we're due for some major trauma.

As you read this, the big three morning shows -- "Good Morning America," "Today" and "The CBS Morning News" -- are continuing to re-hash, analyze and replay the ceremony on tape while going live to various correspondents and experts in England and elsewhere. The morning shows usually run two hours -- more if an affiliate takes their built-in spillover, but for the sake of argument let's just say they did two hours' worth, and add that to the overnight coverage, which ran four hours in some cases, bringing the total to six. And then let's ask ourselves this question: When's the last time the top guns of the American electronic media covered an event, any event, for six hours straight without any significant interruption, at any hour of the day or night?

It's been so long I can't remember offhand. The countdown to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, maybe....though I was a TV critic then, too, and I don't recall the medium's biggest and most important outlets spending so much time on that one gravely important topic to the exclusion of other news. They certainly don't do that kind of thing for the State of the Union Address, or for the president's meeting with any significant head of state, or for Congressional debates about urgent issues of foreign or domestic policy, even for the funerals of our most significant and beloved (or despised) leaders. American presidential inaugurations don't rate that many nonstop, laser-focused hours. Even the run-up to our own annual homegrown orgies of celebrity worship, the SuperBowl and the Oscars, don't go on for four to six hours on every major broadcast network and cable news outlet simultaneously, to the exclusion of everything else. This sort of thing is mostly just not done -- except when the royal family of the United Kingdom, our onetime estranged national parent, adds a new member via nuptials.

This, apparently, is what it takes to get the media's undivided attention: the marriage between two people who are politically powerless, and who spend their waking lives as designated fetish objects for the United Kingdom's interested citizenry, for Anglophiles the world over, and for the celebrity-fixated media. Our collective Ken and Barbie dolls.

We love looking at their clothes and shoes and cars and security details and following tabloid reports of their social events and private miseries and misadventures. We comb newsstands and Google for photos of the latest royal baby.

This, according to TV news, is what we really, really, really, really, really care about.
"Maybe this is the year of the commoner," Walters said, sometime around 6 AM Eastern, as the Bentleys were pulling up to Westminster Abbey and the wedding party was filing in.
The remark capped a list of royals from different countries who had married non-royals, but it seemed like an apt designation any way you parsed it. The royal wedding appeals to romantics, to fans of all things English, to people-watchers and to aficionados of fine clothes and uniforms, yes.

But there's something deeper at play, and it's a bit frightening: a marrow-deep urge to put down the plow, wash the muck from under our fingernails and go worship our designated social superiors; to queue up on the streets or gather in our living rooms in the wee, small hours for a glimpse of a passing motorcade or a flash of a white gown or a white glove or a red uniform tunic, then breathlessly tell others,
"I saw them! I saw the prince and duchess! I, a humble serf, saw them and was ennobled by their presence, by the grace of almighty God!"

Queen Elizabeth II, the Largest Individual Landowner on Earth

Originally Published on February 27, 2007

Who Owns the World - Queen Elizabeth II, head of state of the United Kingdom and of 31 other states and territories, is the legal owner of about 6,600 million acres of land, one sixth of the earth’s non ocean surface. She is the only person on earth who owns whole countries, and who owns countries that are not her own domestic territory.

This land ownership is separate from her role as head of state and is different from other monarchies where no such claim is made – Norway, Belgium, Denmark etc...

Her main holdings are 2,467 million acres in Canada (the 2nd largest country on earth), 1,900 million acres in Australia (the 7th largest country on earth), 114 million acres in the Papua New Guinea, 66 million acres in New Zealand, and 60 million acres in the UK. She is the world’s largest landowner by a significant margin.

Largest Five Personal Landowners on Earth:
Queen Elizabeth II (6,600 million acres)
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia (553 million acres)
King Bhumibol of Thailand (126 million acres)
King Mohammed IV of Morocco (113 million acres)
Sultan Quaboos of Oman (76 million acres)

The next largest landowner is the Russian state, with an overall ownership of 4,219 million acres, and a direct ownership comparable with the Queen’s land holding of 2,447 million acres. The 3rd largest landowner is the Chinese state, which claims all of Chinese land, about 2,365 million acres. The 4th largest landowner on earth is the Federal Government of the United States, which owns about one third of the land of the USA, 760 million acres. The fifth largest landowner on earth is the King of Saudi Arabia with 553 million acres.

Largest Government Landowners on Earth:
Russian State (4,219 million acres)
Chinese State (2,365 million acres)
U.S. Federal Government (760 million acres)



The Royal Wedding Farce

April 30, 2011

levi-tarot.co.uk - Come on people! Did you really think I would pass this opportunity up?

Tomorrow, is a day of national embarrassment for the UK as the rest of the world looks on and laughs at the many British flag waving Idiots and Morons who think they are being Patriotic.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry for the flag wavers. I am torn between pity and scorn for them.

Queen of England and her dysfunctional brood of weirdos should be tried for treason and betrayal of the British People.

Here we are in a state of hardship. Governments screwing families into the ground with Austerity Measures yet can conjure up billions to drop "Bombs" on Libya [maybe a hidden clue there].

Then along comes the so called Royal Family who make the Addams Family and the Munsters look normal.

There they will be, ramming their absolute wealth down the throats of the poor and downtrodden. Many of which will be flag waving and cheering the Royal Brats. Dumb is not the word. Imbeciles maybe?

Have you seen the unwashed camping out already? They have their little toy crowns on their heads too! Must be dole day on Friday. Lazy bastards. Get a life!

The public are paying for it. Not one penny will come out of skinflint Queen Lizzies bottomless pockets because she has very short arms. Richest female entity on the planet too!

Yet the very public who she has betrayed on many occasions will be out in their droves.

Poor dumb little feckers is what they are. If they only knew about this brood of Satanic spawn of freeloaders.

Patriotic? What a bleeding joke. Even tradition is being broken because the Royal parasites have moved the goal posts. Apparently, if the first born is a girl, she is entitled to the throne. Something going on there then. Maybe its because the male Windsors are all mental cases like old Dumbo ears Prince Charles who preaches eco values while traveling by private jet and train to spread his message and polluting the world in the progress.

Let's not forget the darling Queen Mother. The nation's favourite horse-gambling junkie who kept her vast properties heated all year round even though she was not in residence. At the expense of the taxpayer of course. May she rot in Hell! Amen!

Queen Liz is just as frugal. As I reminded recently, she applied to the poor fund for help with the electricity bill for the Palace. Cheeky tight-fisted cow! "Poor Fund" set up for the section of the public who struggle to pay utility bills like old age pensioners and such. The biggest land owner in the world with vast riches! Penny pinching bitch is what she is.

Let's face it folks. I am only writing the truth here, not making it up. There are many things I am not allowed to say in public but, trust me, those in the PB or those who have done their own research will know what the Royals really are.

Furthermore I can guarantee that they and myself will not be flag-waving like demented morons.



The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy

Read More...

Power Lines to Nuclear Plants Knocked Out by Tornado Outbreak in Virginia and Alabama

Tornado Cuts Power to Surry Nuclear Power Plant in Virginia

April 18, 2011

ViriginaBusiness.com - The weekend storm that spawned deadly tornados over some parts of North Carolina and Virginia knocked out electrical power to two nuclear units at Dominion Virginia Power’s Surry Power Station. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Monday that it’s monitoring the situation after Surry’s offsite power was knocked out early Saturday evening by a tornado.

According to Dominion Virginia Power, an apparent tornado touched down on the switchyard supporting the power station near the facility’s access road, cutting off the electrical feed from the grid to the station. The plant is located about 17 miles northwest of Newport News.

The NCR reported that Surry’s two units automatically shut down after losing power, and four of the plant’s diesel generators started to power the units’ emergency loads. Dominion notified the NRC of the situation soon after it happened and declared an “unusual event,” the lowest of the four NRC emergency classification levels, around 7 p.m.

Roger Hannah, a spokesman for the NRC in Atlanta, said the agency sent its two resident inspectors to Surry, and also is following the situation through an incident response center in Atlanta.
“In a situation like this, we have a handful of technical experts on standby in Atlanta, so the resident inspectors can call and ask questions.” He said the NRC assigns resident inspectors to every U.S. nuclear plant, and that the typical number, as in the case with Surry, is two. Monitoring will continue, Hannah added, until “they restore the offsite power, and I think they are well on the way to doing that … When they say they are no longer in the unusual event, we’ll stop the monitoring, although we may do a follow up inspection.”
By early afternoon today, Dominion Virginia Power said crews had restored power, although the NRC was reporting that power had been partially restored.

Dominion said in a press release that the tornado did not strike the two nuclear units, which are designed to withstand natural events such as tornados, hurricanes and earthquakes.

The reactors are housed inside steel reinforced concrete containment buildings. In addition, the company reported no release of radioactive material beyond minor releases associated with normal station operations. Dominion said these minor releases are below federally approved operating limits, and pose no threat to station workers or the public.

There were no injuries at the site. In addition to the NRC, Dominion notified state and local officials about the power outage.

Asked about the frequency of tornados knocking out power to nuclear plants in this country, Hannah said it’s not unheard of during bad storms.
“I don’t know of any that have completely lost offsite power, but it’s not unusual with bad storms to lose power. It’s unusual to have a switchyard problem, where you lose all power, but it’s not unheard of.”

Tornado Outbreak Knocks Out Offsite Power to Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in Alabama, Triggering Automatic Shutdown of All Three Reactors and Startup of Backup Diesel Generators to Supply Power to the Plant's Safety System

Dozens of tornadoes spawned by a powerful storm system wiped out neighborhoods across a wide swath of the South, killing at least 209 people in the deadliest outbreak in nearly 40 years, and officials said Thursday they expected the death toll to rise. "Including yesterday's storm, there have been a whopping 800 reports of tornadoes in April, easily surpassing April 2003's all-time record of 543 twisters. We rounded up videos of some of this month's twisters here. And check out the New York Times' map of where tornadoes hit here" [The Lookout, Watch Tuscaloosa’s terrifying tornado, April 28, 2011].


"The Browns Ferry nuclear power plant about 30 miles west of Huntsville lost offsite power. The Tennessee Valley Authority-owned plant had to use seven diesel generators to power the plant's three units. The safety systems operated as needed, and the emergency event was classified as the lowest of four levels, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said" [Dozens of tornadoes kill 209 in 6 Southern states, Associated Press, April 28, 2011].

April 28, 2011

Russ' Place - All 3 Browns Ferry units (identical to Fukushima’s) are knocked off-line.

I recently wrote about my on-site experience with the Browns Ferry nuclear power plant. This plant is virtually a twin of Japan’s Fukushima power plant. Both use the General Electric Mark 1 Boiling Water Reactor (BWR) and were built between 1965 and 1974.

Yesterday, giant storms roared through the Birmingham, Alabama area and knocked out high voltage power lines that feed the Browns Ferry plant. This triggered shutdowns of all 3 reactors and probably start-up of the plant’s Diesel generators, to cool the reactors’ cores.

In a press release last night, TVA stated:

“The three units at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in northern Alabama automatically shutdown as a result of transmission line damage from the storm. The plant is safely shutdown and is using a combination of offsite transmission lines and on-site diesel generators to provide power to the plant. At 4:36 p.m. (central time) Browns Ferry declared an “Unusual Event,” due to the automatic shutdown of the plant. An Unusual Event is the lowest level of emergency at a U.S. nuclear plant. I’d like to emphasize that the nuclear plant is performing as designed… and all systems are operating safely.“
TVA's Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant is located near near Athens, Ala.  (AP Photo/Jay Reeves)
TVA's Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant is located near near Athens, Ala. (AP Photo/Jay Reeves)

Storms Knock Out TVA Nuclear Units, Power Lines

April 27, 2011

Reuters - Severe storms and tornadoes moving through the Southeast dealt a severe blow to the Tennessee Valley Authority on Wednesday, causing three nuclear reactors in Alabama to shut and knocking out 11 high-voltage power lines, the utility and regulators said.

All three units at TVA's 3,274-megawatt Browns Ferry nuclear plant in Alabama tripped about 5:30 EDT (2230 GMT) after losing outside power to the plant, a spokesman for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Agency said.

A TVA spokeswoman said the plant's output had reduced power earlier due to transmission line damage from a line of severe storms that spawned a number of tornadoes as it moved through Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky and Tennessee. The NRC spokesman said early information indicated the units shut normally and the plant's diesel generators started up to supply power for the plant's safety system.

The government-owned corporation said crews were working to restore service, but more severe weather was forecast, TVA said in a release.

Most of the damage so far has occurred in the western part of TVA's service territory in Mississippi, Alabama and western Tennessee and Kentucky.

Cullman Electric Cooperative in Cullman, Alabama, is the only power company directly affected by TVA's transmission outage, TVA said in a statement.

Rainfall amounts between four and seven inches have fallen since Tuesday in the area. Eight of the nine dams on the Tennessee River were generating at full power to move water through the river system to help control flooding, TVA said.

Details of the transmission outages and co-op power outages were immediately available.

TVA Loses All Power Transmission Lines in Alabama and Mississippi, Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant Forced into Emergency Shutdown

April 28, 2011

Chattanooga Times Free Press - Wednesday’s storms took out all of TVA’s electric power transmission lines in Mississippi and North Alabama, and forced Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant unto diesel backup power and into emergency and automatic cold shutdown.

Bill McCollum, the chief operating officer of Tennessee Valley Authority, said it may be weeks before power can be restored to all of the 300,000 customers whose power is supplied by the federal utility.

“With the level of damage we have, it will be — we hope it will be days until we get most of the customers back on, but it will be weeks before we’ve fully repaired all of the damage,” he said.

McCollum said the reactors, now being cooled by backup diesel power, are safe.

He said the spent fuel pools also are being cooled by backup diesel power and are safe.

The transmission lines are the monster power lines that carry electricity from TVA power plants to power distributors such as EPB and Huntsville Utilities. Now those utilities, along with a number of large industries that are wired directly to TVA transmission lines, will not have power until the lines are repaired, McCollum said.

The loss of those transmission lines also caused Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant to lose power.

When the plant generates power, it uses some of that power and the excess is sent out on the transmission lines. When those transmission lines can’t take power, it causes the reactors to trip, according to TVA officials.

The Worst Tornado Outbreak in U.S. History

Deadly Tornado Swarm Kills 317 in 8 States

Some 211 tornadoes were reported within a few hours' span on Wednesday, including a series of so-called long-track twisters that raked across six states. The Tuscaloosa twister alone may register as the most powerful long-track tornado in US history. Unconfirmed Death Toll at 325; Confirmed Death Toll by State: Alabama: 210; Tennessee: 35; Mississippi: 33; Georgia: 16


The Dark Wednesday: SPC received 211 tornado reports among a total of 806 severe weather reports.

April 29, 2011

FIRE-EARTH - Hurricane Katrina claimed an estimated 1,800 lives in 2005; death toll from tornadoes and storms attacks is at least 316, and mounting.

Wednesday’s tornadoes are now the deadliest in the U.S. history, breaking previous record was set on April 3, 1974 when twisters killed 310 people.

The tornadoes and violent storms that ripped through 8 states left “major, major” trails of destruction in their paths.

“As we flew down from Birmingham, the track is all the way down, and then when you get in Tuscaloosa here it’s devastating,” Gov. Robert Bentley said, declaring Alabama “a major, major disaster.”
Entire civic infrastructures were wiped out as tornadoes and storms leveled entire neighborhoods in various parts of the South, obliterating homes, businesses, schools, hospitals, churches, trees, power lines…

At least 36 people were killed in Tuscaloosa, with more than 600 injured, local media reported.

There are no official reports of the dimension of destruction as yet; however, FIRE-EARTH estimates that up to 6 thousand structures may have been razed/damaged, with an estimated loss of about 10 billion dollars.

States of Emergency

Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Virginia have declared states of emergency.

Super-cell T-storms

“These were the most intense super-cell thunderstorms that I think anybody who was out there forecasting has ever seen,” Greg Carbin of the SPC in Oklahoma told the AP.

The twister that destroyed large parts of Tuscaloosa is believed to have been an EF-5 tornado.

“We have neighborhoods that have been basically removed from the map,” Tuscaloosa mayor Walter Maddox said, describing the damage as a path of “utter destruction.”

Another large twister, possibly an EF-4 tornado, reportedly destroyed about 90% of the town Hackleburg in Alabama’s Marion County. The National Weather Service has confirmed an EF-4 tornado touched down in the Tennessee Valley, a report said.

Storm Shuts Down 3 TVA Nuclear Reactors at Browns Ferry in Alabama

The 3 reactors at TVA’s 3,297-megawatt Browns Ferry nuclear plant in Alabama switched over to emergency diesel generators to supply power for the reactors cooling system at 5:30 EDT (22:30 UTC) after storms knocked out transmission lines that supplied power, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Agency said. More…

On April 20, a tornado reportedly damaged the switchyard at Dominion’s Surry Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) forcing both aging reactor units to shut down.

About 650,000 homes and business were still without power, mostly in northern Alabama and Mississippi, Thursday night, a report said.

“Roughly 70 high powered transmission lines remain out of service, with some creating dangerous situations because they’ve fallen across roads.”

Browns Ferry nuclear plant won’t restart so long as so much of the grid is down, TVA chief of operations was quoted as saying.

“When the system is ready for the plant, we can begin the process of restarting it. But we have to get the transmission system ready.”

Forecast: Large-scale lightning outbreaks

Unfortunately, the worst may NOT be over yet. In addition to more tornadoes and violent storms this year and the next, FIRE-EARTH forecasts phenomenally large-scale outbreaks of potentially deadly lightning clusters throughout the United States.


Global Disasters:

April 29, 2011

Obama Is Not a 'Natural Born Citizen' of the United States; Therefore, He Is Not Eligible for the Presidency

Natural Born Citizens, Political Elites, Main Stream Media, Obama’s Eligibility

The Constitution requires that a person be a natural-born citizen to be eligible for the Presidency. The Constitution does not say “citizen,” but specifically combines the legal concepts of jus soli (right of the soil) and of citizen parents jus sanguinis (right of blood), meaning not only that the President must have been born on American soil but his or her parents must have been U.S. citizens at the time of his or her birth. It was intentionally designed by the Framers to prevent a President from having dual allegiance. So, for the first time in U.S. history, an individual, who is not a natural born citizen, was knowingly elected President of the United States.

April 28, 2011

Canada Free Press - It is now the patriotic duty of individual states to rescue the United States.

Before the 2012 election, we must push our state legislatures to pass laws requiring Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates to prove that they are natural born citizens i.e. born in the United States, of citizen parents at the time of birth, in order for them to appear on the state ballot.

By publicly releasing his long-form birth certificate, Obama has officially announced that he is not a natural born citizen and is arrogantly challenging the legitimacy of the Constitution.

Not surprisingly, the political elites and the main stream media (MSM) seemed unanimously elated after the release of his alleged long-form Certificate of Live Birth. I imagine that they all had tingles running up their legs.

Both the Republicans and Democrats in Washington, D.C. insist that we should put the issue of Obama’s eligibility behind us, so they may focus on the “more serious” issues facing the country.

First, there is no more important issue for the country than the integrity of the Constitution. Without it, the federal government is null and void and the rule of law is undermined.

Second, the political elites want to move on because they have been complicit in a flagrant contravention of the Constitution, the Founders intent and judicial precedence by substituting political fiat for the legal processes involved in amending the Constitution.

The political elites and the MSM have always known that they were promoting an infringement of the Constitution by protecting Obama.

Facts are stubborn things.



For the first time in US history, an individual, who is not a natural born citizen, was knowingly elected President of the United States.

Sadly, I do not remember a time when there has been such a collection of fools and scoundrels populating the federal government and the MSM as there has been in recent years.

In my opinion, it is useless to petition Congress about Obama’s ineligibility. They have dishonored their oaths of office to support and defend the Constitution. They are frightened and they will do nothing because they all share the blame for the Constitutional crisis in which we now find ourselves.

Article II, Section I of the Constitution requires that a person be a natural born citizen to be eligible for the Presidency.

The Constitution does not say “citizen”, but specifically combines the legal concepts of jus soli (right of the soil) and of citizen parents, jus sanguinis (right of blood). It was intentionally designed by the Framers to prevent a President from having dual allegiance.

The authors of the Constitution no doubt based their understanding of the term “natural born citizen,” on the 1758 book “The Law of Nations” by Emerich de Vattel, who wrote:
“… natural-born citizens, are those born in the country, of parents who are citizens. … children naturally follow the condition of their fathers, and succeed to all their rights. … The country of the fathers is therefore that of the children…”
The narrative of the 14th Amendment is also consistent with the Framers intent regarding dual allegiance and natural born citizenship.

Representative John Bingham, author of the 14th Amendment, defined natural born citizenship:
“It means every human being born within the jurisdiction of the United States of parents not owing allegiance to any foreign sovereignty is, in the language of our Constitution itself, a natural born citizen.”
The underlying issues within those Congressional debates were hotly contested. Yet Bingham’s definition of natural born citizen was never challenged on the floor of the House of Representatives.

Supreme Court cases supporting the natural born citizen definition of born in the US of citizen parents include:
  • The Venus, 12 U.S. 8 Cranch 253 253 (1814)
  • Shanks v. Dupont, 28 U.S. 3 Pet. 242 242 (1830)
  • Minor v. Happersett , 88 U.S. 162 (1875)
  • United States v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 U.S. 649 (1898)
  • Duncan v. Louisiana, 391 U.S. 145 (1968)
In September 2008, Lawrence B. Solum, the John E. Cribbet Professor of Law at the University of Illinois College of Law, published an article in the Michigan Law Review entitled “Originalism and the Natural Born Citizen Clause”, which stated:
“What was the original public meaning of the phrase that establishes the eligibility for the office of President of the United States? There is general agreement on the core of its meaning. Anyone born on American soil whose parents are citizens of the United States is a natural born citizen.”
Despite the intentional distortions continuously disgorged by the MSM and the willful ignorance displayed by the political elites, there is no ambiguity. Obama is not eligible for the Presidency.

Stand your ground, if he means to have a war, let it begin now.

Commodity-driven Prices of Food and Energy Crippling U.S. Households

The 9 Places Where Inflation is Crushing Us

Meat, gas, even diapers are costing regular folks

April 28, 2011

Market Watch - Inflation is far from under control and it's time that Americans demand our government officials do something about it.

The Federal Reserve would have you believe that everything is fine, focusing on core inflation rates and ignoring broader measures of inflation as they affect food and energy. These commodity-driven prices, as our central banking overlords would have you believe, are naturally more volatile and shouldn't be overstated.

You would think after Fed bureaucrat William Dudley was castigated for talking up the affordability of iPads while ignoring real family expenses, our Federal Reserve officials would have woken up to reality. But after the publicity stunt by Chairman Ben Bernanke on Wednesday, it's clear that the Fed — and perhaps many Americans as a result — is in denial when it comes to the inflationary trends crippling U.S. households.

While it's all well and good for investors to focus on surging precious metals and the profit opportunities there, let's not overlook the dark side of inflation that is eating away at family budgets.

Here are nine crushing costs of inflation that are breaking many American households:

1. Beef

In a revised forecast Monday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said consumers will see higher price tags on ground beef and steak, projecting 6% to 7% increases year over year. That's up from a previous forecast of just 4.5% to 5.5% inflation for beef prices. Beef prices have surged in the last several months as supplies shrink, exports boom and grain costs soar.

2. Pork

Don't think you can just switch from cow to pig to avoid this trend — pork could see retail price increases of as much as 7.5% over 2010 levels according to the USDA.

3. Grains

Even going vegetarian is more expensive than it was a year ago. Corn prices have doubled, from $3.49 a bushel in July to well over $7.70 currently. Wheat prices have rolled back a bit in recent weeks, but topped 2008 highs in February to set a new record and remain very high currently.

4. Gasoline

The average U.S. price of a gallon of gasoline has jumped about 12 cents over the last two weeks to $3.88, with the highest average price for gas tallying $4.27 in Tucson, Ariz. This is with oil at $112 a barrel — if crude prices reach 2008 peak levels of $145, four bucks for gas may seem cheap.

5. Copper

The price of copper at the end of 2008 was just $1.30 per pound. Currently, copper is trading around $4.30 after setting a record of $4.60 in February. Unlike gold and silver, which are largely used in luxury goods or as investments, copper is used in a wide range of household items — from electrical wiring to air conditioners to water pipes.

6. Diapers

Consumer-products company Procter & Gamble PG (NYSE: PG - News) said this week that list prices for Pampers are up 7% on average over last year, with even Pampers wipes up 3%. To be clear, that's not a retail price hike, just a cost increase to stores. Retailers will decide how much of those price increases to pass along to shoppers. Kimberly-Clark KMB (NYSE: KMB - News), maker of Huggies, said Monday it plans to raise prices for similar reasons — rising costs for the petroleum products and paper pulp that go into the diapers. It will be the third such announcement for Kimberly-Clark since the middle of March.

7. Paper towels and toilet paper

If you don't have infants, you're not off the hook. P&G also said that Charmin toilet paper and Bounty paper towels are both listing for 5% more now with retailers and distributors than they were a year ago. KMB's diaper price update will also be accompanied by a boost for its flagship Kleenex tissues.

8. Shipping surcharges

Freight shipper United Parcel Service UPS (NYSE: UPS - News) will be hiking its fuel surcharges from 7.5% to 8.5% as of May 2 for ground freight and from 13% to 15% for air freight. That really hurts small businesses. If you are a storekeeper simply trying to keep your shelves stocked, you have no choice but to pay more and endure smaller margins — or hike prices yourself and add to this inflationary mess.

9. Wages

Perhaps the most insidious factor of our current inflationary spiral is the fact that while all these other items are costing more, household purchasing power is shrinking because wages and salaries aren't keeping up. While the consumer price index rose 2.7% in March to clock the fastest 12-month pace since December 2009, a staggering 18.3% of personal income is now made up of food stamps while wages account for just 50.5%. That's the lowest since the government started keeping records in 1929.

The Triumph of Socialism: U.S. Education System is Teaching Groupthink or Collectivism over Individual Initiative

The Methodical Destruction of American Education

February 3, 2011

Patriot News Network - For approximately one hundred years, education in America has been controlled by subversive organizations. These organizations have used, and are continuing to use, education as a tool of oppression. This infiltration has led to the decay of morality, freedom, and prosperity in this country.

The end goal through the covert control of the educational system is to destroy the United States Constitution and subjugate the American people, along with the rest of the world's people, into a one-world totalitarian government.

Our children are being indoctrinated daily with humanism conducive to world government. Education “reform” in the present day is a scam as both sides of the debate are controlled by the same interests. This fictitious debate is part of a Hegelian dialectic designed to indoctrinate our children into humanism and collectivism while giving them just enough workforce education to serve their corporate masters in the global economy.

Early experimental psychologists, adhering to humanist ideology, thought that man could be conditioned or molded in any way desired as long as the psychologists applied the proper techniques. The late 1800s marked a time when educational theory in America began to shift away from schools imparting knowledge to children to schools that focused on changing behavior in children. Psychologists began to ponder not what kinds of things should be taught, but rather what kind of children they wanted to mold for society.

In the early years of the twentieth century, powerful families, namely the Rockefellers and Carnegies, would lend financial support to the research efforts of the behavioral psychologists, which forever changed American education and society in a negative manner.

In 1921, the Rockefeller- dominated Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) was established. This insidious, pro-socialist world government organization has had a profound effect on education in America and continues to at present.

The same year the CFR was established the Tavistock Institute in London was founded with financial backing from the Rockefellers, Rothschilds, and British Monarchy. Tavistock is a think tank created to influence public opinion and condition minds for world government. Today, Tavistock controls the Aspen Institute which strongly shapes American education through its influence on America's leading education reformers, specifically the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) network of charter schools and Teach For America.

With the Council on Foreign Relations and the powerful tax-exempt organizations controlled by the Rockefellers, Carnegies, and other elite families firmly established, the 1930s proved to be a time when humanism and socialism gained widespread support among academic and political circles. During the 1940s and 1950s, the communist and socialist “change agents” had infiltrated our government at the highest levels which enabled them to put the United States on a path to destruction via control of its educational system. This was a time period when several key pieces of humanist and socialist legislation were passed affecting education. It was also a time when several mass mind control organizations stepped up efforts to psychologically enslave the American people into collectivist and humanist thought in order to establish world government.

Furthermore, the United Nations was founded in 1945 and the United States became a member of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1946. This was extremely damaging to our nation as humanist educational policies from UNESCO were implemented in American schools in the following decades.

In 1953, the behavioral psychologists made their lasting mark on education by perfecting the work of Wundt and Dewey. Skinner, Bloom, and others set the stage for the complete indoctrination and conditioning of children inside classrooms by means of operant conditioning, thus allowing for total societal control in the future. Bloom’s Taxonomy is a foundation for education and teacher training all across the country today.

The last four decades of the 20th Century saw radical changes in education nationwide due to the actions of humanist and socialist change agents who followed in the footsteps of their predecessors of the 1940s and 1950s. Legislation was passed that removed local control of schools and placed control in the hands of the federal government, thus ensuring control of society by elitist social engineers.

Federally-controlled organizations and programs were created, which ensured the changing of teachers into behavior “molders” using Skinnerian methods instead of teachers who imparted knowledge to children using traditional methods. Additionally, federal workforce training programs were implemented in schools to provide lifelong laborers for corporations in the 21st Century – all in the name of a highly controlled, socialist world government.

Currently, the education reform debate rages in this country between two seemingly different parties. On one side is the National Education Association and its supporters, and on the other side of the debate is the Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) and Teach For America (TFA) representing charter schools. However, the elite socialists and communists control both sides.

Bear in mind that the majority of people involved with these two camps are unaware of this truth and are good people who really believe that they are making a difference in the lives of children, but they are being brainwashed and manipulated by their hidden controllers who have propped them up with funding in order to pull their strings from behind the scenes. The powerful tax-exempt foundations and their affiliated think tanks and corporations, are behind it all – and a highly controlled, socialist society under world government is the endgame.

The National Education Association was compromised several decades ago via the Rothschild and Rockefeller-funded Tavistock Institute. Thousand of teachers and leaders have been run through the brainwashing mill of National Training Laboratories, which is run by Tavistock.

Of course, the socialists and communists have their grip on the KIPP/TFA side of the dialectic, primarily through the Rockefeller-dominated Council on Foreign Relations and Trilateral Commission and the Tavistock-controlled Aspen Institute. The leadership of KIPP and TFA is loaded with members of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission. In addition, many of the KIPP and TFA leaders are undergoing collectivist brainwashing at the Aspen Institute. Furthermore, KIPP's biggest donors have strong ties to the Council on Foreign Relations, UNESCO, and the Aspen Institute.

Again, the same manipulative tax-exempt foundations and their affiliated think tanks and corporations are behind the intentional destruction of education as well as its reform. The ultimate goal, or synthesis, is a world government with a dumbed down global workforce, ready and willing to serve their corporate masters. The real reason behind the creation of “choice” through the charter school movement was to open the door to corporate influence. The United States is now seeing the early stages of a corporate takeover of education.

Ultimate control of American education can be traced back to the British Empire working through British Freemasonry. The Rhodes-Milner Round Table was founded by British Freemasons with the backing of the Rothschild banking dynasty. Cecil Rhodes of the Round Table was an admitted racist and wrote in his will that he desired for the United States to be brought back under the control of the British Empire and for the British Empire to rule the world. Rhodes stated in his final will that he wanted to establish a scholarship program for students to be indoctrinated into British Imperialism in order to carry out his plan for British domination of the world. Rhodes Scholars have infiltrated our educational system and government at the highest levels. From the Round Table originated the Royal Institute for International Affairs and its sister organization in America, the Council on Foreign Relations. The Trilateral Commission was founded by David Rockefeller as a sister organization to the CFR. The British-Rothschild alliance also gave birth to the Tavistock Institute in London, which controls the Aspen Institute in the United States.

Lastly, the financiers and controllers of American education are intimately connected to the racist Eugenics movement and depopulation agenda. Both the Carnegies and Rockefeller families have funded Eugenics research in America. The Rockefellers supported the Eugenics research of the Nazis and founded the Population Council in 1952. Educational financier, Bill Gates, gives millions to UNESCO and KIPP as well as the Eugenics front organization, Planned Parenthood.

The humanist elite who are destroying education in this country are suffering from mental illness. They believe that through science they are going to perfect human nature, or become God, and that they are going to create two separate species from human beings: One is to be the slave class and the other is to be the perfect human.

They are trying to create a society that will progress into absolute tyranny – total world government in the hands of the few at the expense of the many. Only a well-informed public can stop these people dead in their tracks.

The Corporate Takeover: The Trend for Appointing CEOs to Top Jobs is Symptomatic of a Declining Commitment to Public Education and Social Justice

November 30, 2010

The Guardian - The top positions in state education across the US reflect a trust in CEO-style leadership for education management and reform. Along with these new leaders in education, billionaire entrepreneurs have also assumed roles as education saviours. Bill Gates, Geoffrey Canada, Arne Duncan, Joel Klein, and Michelle Rhee have capitalised on their positions in education to rise to the status of celebrities, as well – praised in the misleading documentary feature Waiting for Superman, on Oprah, and even on Bill Maher’s Real Time.

Like Obama, Secretary Duncan has led refrains against bad teachers, while ignoring the growing impact of poverty on the lives of children and on schools. One very visible effect of this trend for recruiting CEO-style leaders and billionaire entrepreneurs is the new commitment to corporate-sponsored charter schools. The corporate push to take over state education is, in fact, masking the failures of corporate America. And, in turn, this masks the fact that America has failed state education, rather than state education failing America.

The standards, testing and accountability movement is built on a claim that education can change society. The corporate support for the accountability movement and the “no excuses” charter school movement seeks to reinforce that claim because, otherwise, corporate America and the politicians supporting corporate America would have to admit that something is wrong with our economic and political structures.

And the evidence isn’t on the side of corporate America.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has shown that only 14% of pupil achievement can be attributed to the quality of the school; 86% of that achievement is driven by factors outside of education. David Berliner has also established six out-of-school factors that overwhelm the effectiveness of education against poverty and expanding social inequities.

In the US, achievement gaps and failure in state schools reflect larger inequalities in society, as well as dysfunction in corporate, consumer culture. The schools did not cause those gaps or failures – although it is true that, far too often, they perpetuate the social stratification. And the evidence shows that schools alone will never be able to overcome powerful social forces.

The real failure, which is the message being ignored here, is that one of the wealthiest countries in the world refuses to face the inequities of its economic system, a system that permits more than 20% of its children to live in poverty and to languish in schools that America has clearly decided to abandon, along with its democratic principles.

Jack Kent Cooke Foundation is Part of Team of KIPP Supporters

November 19, 2011

Jack Kent Cooke Foundation - The next likely tough-love chapter in the reform-schooling of urban America appears to be moving into alignment, explicably borne forward by willful ignorance, political hubris, moneyed arrogance, and a national advertising campaign to publicize a new secret weapon in the continuing crusade to raise test scores and close the achievement gap. The reformers’ new secret weapon is a non-profit corporate chain of charter schools known as the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP).

Since being embraced by George W. Bush in 2000, KIPP, Inc. has become the new miracle (or mirage) choice model that promises to finally fix the children in neighborhoods where poverty is left unchecked and in a viral state.

With a new administration now in Washington even more keen than the last one on accelerating the number of charter schools in urban areas where a psychological “no excuses” rehab seems to be in order, we could see the fruition of an ideological commitment to privatization, anti-unionism, and social efficiency control that, heretofore, has constituted the education agenda of political conservatives only.

The seamless replacement of urban public schools by corporate-run charter schools could depend, sadly, on the ability of cash-starved states and cities to withstand takeover bids from corporations and their foundations, which now effectively exert their power through the federal education establishment. With the Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, publicly supportive of the CEO-powered urban model, from the mayor’s office down to the principal’s office, resistance may prove futile among economically hard-pressed state and city governments.

Begun as a single middle school in 1994 by two ambitious Teach for America alums in Houston, Texas, the KIPP chain now has over 80 locations and the financial backing of America’s most active corporate givers to K-12 education. Since 2000, when a simulated KIPP classroom skit was presented as part of the program for Republican National Convention, the growing list of benefactors has grown impressively. With many deep pockets at the ready to assist, KIPP has emerged as the poster school for urban education reform.

Here is a partial list available from the KIPP Foundation website:

60,000,000 and above:
Doris & Donald Fisher Fund

25,000,000-39,999,999:
The Walton Family Foundation, Inc.

10,000,000-24,999,999:
The Atlantic Philanthropies
The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation

5,000,000-9,999,999:
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Michael & Susan Dell Foundation
Rainwater Charitable Foundation
Robertson Foundation

1,000,000-4,999,999:
Anonymous
Arnold Family Foundation
Reed Hastings and Patty Quillin
Jack Kent Cooke Foundation
Marcus Foundation
Miles Family Foundation
New Profit Inc.

500,000-999,999:
Thomas and Susan Dunn
Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation

100,000-499,999:
Abrams Foundation
All Stars Helping Kids
The Annie E. Casey Foundation
CityBridge Foundation
Credit Suisse
John and Laura Fisher
Robert and Elizabeth Fisher
William and Sakurako Fisher
Goldman Sachs Foundation
Goldsbury Foundation
Kinder Foundation
Koret Foundation
Leon Lowenstein Foundation
The Louis Calder Foundation
Hee-Jung and John Moon
Stephen Jr. and Susan Mandel
National Geographic Education Foundation
Prudential Foundation
Arthur Rock
SAP America, Inc.
Paul Singer
State Farm Companies Foundation
The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

...

Teach for America (TFA) — another favorite non-profit educational organization among philanthro-capitalists (Mosle, 2009) — continues to ramp up its advertising to include national buys on television, as many of the same corporate benefactors from KIPP’s impressive list of givers pour in more edu-preneurial investments through non-profit and tax-sheltered foundations and social entrepreneurial investment funds such as the New Schools Venture Fund.

With the average KIPP teacher leaving after three years service (Browne 2009, 174), and with new KIPP locations planned, the $18-20 million annually that TFA now spends on recruiting will likely fall short of the amount needed to sustain the teacher induction effort.

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The Goal of the Corporate State (the Government and Its Corporate Allies) Is to Have Total Control of Everything

Dow Rises After Strong Corporate Earnings

April 29, 2011

AP – The Dow Jones industrial average rose in early trading Friday after more strong earnings reports from major U.S. companies. Broader indexes were mixed.

Merck & Co., Chevron Corp. and Caterpillar Inc. beat earnings forecasts for the first quarter. All three are among the 30 companies that make up the Dow average.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. rose 12 percent, the most of any company in the Standard & Poor's 500 index, after it set a company sales record and reversed its loss from the first quarter of last year.

Caterpillar, the world's largest maker of mining and construction equipment, rose 3 percent after its earnings rose more than five-fold. The company also raised its sales and profit outlook for the year.

"The industrial sector and the manufacturing sector of this country are much stronger than many investors have perceived," said Rob Lutts, president and chief investment officer of Cabot Money Management.

D.R. Horton Inc. also reported a surprisingly strong profit, sending the homebuilder's stock up 2 percent. The company said its profit more than doubled mostly because of a large tax benefit.

The Dow rose 18, or 0.2 percent, to 12,782 in morning trading. The index is on track to have its best month since December. The Standard & Poor's 500 fell less than a point to 1,360. The Nasdaq composite index fell 8, or 0.3 percent, to 2,865.

Microsoft Corp. sank 4 percent. The software maker reported late Thursday that revenues from its Windows operating system fell 4 percent from the same time last year.

Bond prices were flat. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note was unchanged at 3.32 percent from late Thursday.

Merck Q1 Net Income Triples on Lower Costs

April 29, 2011

AP - Merck & Co. on Friday said its first-quarter profit more than tripled as strong sales of key drugs and lower costs from integrating its Schering-Plough acquisition offset sales lost to competition from generic versions of its drugs.

The results beat Wall Street expectations. Merck's stock rose 61 cents in premarket trading to $36.38.

The maker of Singulair for asthma and allergies and Januvia for diabetes says net income was $1.04 billion, or 34 cents per share, up from $299 million, or 9 cents a share, in 2010's first quarter.

Revenue edged up 1 percent to $11.58 billion. That includes several billion dollars from products acquired when Merck bought Schering-Plough Corp. in November 2009 for $49 billion.

Excluding numerous one-time items, net income was $2.86 billion, or 92 cents per share.

Analysts forecast earnings per share of 84 cents and revenue of $11.38 billion. Analysts typically exclude one-time items in their estimates.

The $1.82 billion in net charges included $1.58 billion in merger-related writedowns on the value of assets and research, $126 million in restructuring costs and a $500 million payment to settle arbitration with Johnson & Johnson over rights to two drugs. A year ago, Merck had charges totaling $2.31 billion.

Merck, based in Whitehouse Station, N.J., raised the bottom end of its 2011 adjusted profit forecast by 2 cents, predicting $3.66 to $3.76 per share. Including charges, it expects $2.04 to $2.39 per share this year.

"We're very much committed to growth and we think we're off to a terrific start in the first quarter," Chief Executive Kenneth Frazier told analysts during a conference call. "The steps we are taking are paying off."

Merck shares rose 7 cents to $35.84 in early trading.

Frazier noted the company got double-digit sales growth from key products, "combined with deliberate cost control measures across all areas of the company as we continue to create a more effective and efficient operating model."

Production costs were down 22 percent at $4.06 billion, partly because Merck has sold some of the two companies' factories.

Caterpillar's 1Q Profit Soars, Boosts Forecast

Caterpillar Inc. is the bulldozer manufacturer that President Barack Obama used to help push his $787 billion stimulus plan. Chief Executive Officer Jim Owens, 63, is a member of the president’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board. Obama visited the Peoria, Illinois, headquarters on February 12, 2009, the final day of his campaign to press for Congressional passage. - How’s the stimulus working out for Caterpillar?, Michelle Malkin, April 21, 2009

Caterpillar Inc. of Illinois announced nearly 2,400 layoffs despite President Obama using his home state’s company as an example of a struggling manufacturer that would benefit from his economic stimulus plan and save jobs. The new round of job cuts will span five plants in Illinois, Indiana and Georgia, and follows the January news that Caterpillar would slash 22,000 people from its 112,000-person workforce. Mr. Obama hosted an event in support of his stimulus plan at the company’s Peoria, Ill., headquarters in mid-February, saying the $787 billion stimulus would be “a major step forward on our path to economic recovery.” - Caterpillar slashes jobs despite stimulus, Washington Times, March 17, 2009

April 29, 2011

AP – Heavy equipment maker Caterpillar Inc. said Friday its first-quarter profit soared more than five-fold as a growing economic recovery boosted demand for the company's mining and construction equipment.

The results blew past analysts' expectations and it boosted its outlook for the year. Its shares rose $3.06, or 2.7 percent, to $115.70 in morning trading.

Caterpillar's earnings are a bellwether for the global economy, as it sells the kind of kind of expensive, heavy machinery used for construction, mining and logging.

Its first-quarter profits reflect an industrial sector that is growing again, with most of its sales growth coming from the sale of big machines.

The Peoria, Ill., based company said its net income climbed to a record $1.23 billion, or $1.84 per share, for the quarter ended March 31. That's up from $233 million, or 36 cents per share, a year ago. Revenue rose 57 percent to $12.95 billion from $7.55 billion a year ago.

Analysts had expected earnings of $1.30 a share on revenue of $11.43 billion.

Revenue at Caterpillar's machinery and power systems division surged to $12.29 billion from $7.55 billion during the same period last year.

"We expect that the pace of world economic growth will support continued recovery in the key industries we serve," CEO Doug Oberhelman said in a statement.

Based on its higher-than-expected sales, Caterpillar boosted its 2011 outlook, forecasting revenue between $52 to $54 billion and net income between $6.25 and $6.75 per share. It previously forecast revenue above $50 billion and net income of roughly $6 per share. The company said its projection does not include its recent acquisitions of MWM Holding GmbH or Bucyrus International, Inc. because the deals haven't closed yet.

Caterpillar said its outlook would have been higher if not for the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, which damaged many of its suppliers. Supply disruptions and delays will likely cost the company $300 million on lost sales and $100 million in lost profit.

Flashback: After Laying Off 22,000 U.S. Workers and Then Receiving Stimulus Funds from U.S. Taxpayers, Caterpillar Plans to Install Factory in China

At a Caterpillar Inc. plant in Peoria, Ill., today, President Obama said that his proposed economic stimulus would allow the company's CEO to rehire recently laid-off employees. But the head of the company said he will have to fire more workers before he can rehire anyone who has been let go. Obama has said twice in the past two days that Caterpillar CEO James Owens indicated his company would be able to rehire some of the 20,000 recently laid-off employees. "Yesterday, Jim, the head of Caterpillar, said that if Congress passes our plan, this company will be able to rehire some of the folks who were just laid off," Obama said today in Peoria. But when asked today if the stimulus could do that, Owens said, "I think, realistically, no. The honest reality is we're probably going to have more layoffs before we start hiring again." - CEO Contradicts Obama on Rehiring Employees, ABC News, February 12, 2009

Legislators have been bleeding the next two generations of Americans dry by pouring money into corporations that are building in overseas locations to avoid paying taxes while “those of us making $250,000 less” get to choose our government-run health insurance and ain’t none of us paying one thin dime more according to TPTB. Yeah – that’s a huge run-on sentence, but I am just that upset! - What Stimulus Money Did For Caterpiller- But at What Cost to The American Taxpayer?, The PPJ Gazette, September 29, 2010

September 29, 2010

AFP - Caterpillar, the world's largest manufacturer of construction equipment, will build a factory in China to produce mini hydraulic excavators, the company said in a statement.

Construction will begin in Wujiang, near Shanghai, at the end of 2010 and the facility should be ready in 2012 to begin production of mini excavators of less than eight tons, the company said Tuesday.

Caterpillar did not say how much the project will cost.

It is part of a long-term plan for investments in China that will make Caterpillar one of the leading manufacturers of construction equipment in the country.
"China is the world's largest market for excavators in the below eight ton class, and the development of this new facility will better position Caterpillar to provide our customers in China with solutions that will help them succeed," said Mary Bell, a Caterpillar vice president.
Caterpillar already has a factory in Xuzhou, which is also near Shanghai.

The company, which is headquartered in Peoria, Illinois, had sales and revenue of 32.4 billion dollars in 2009.

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Oil Barons Earned Billions in First Quarter 2011 as Gas Rose 81 Cents a Gallon

Chevron Profit Rises 36 Percent on High Oil Prices

April 29, 2011

AP - Chevron Corp. said Friday its first-quarter net income rose 36 percent, the latest strong earnings report from a major oil company.

Chevron earned higher prices for its oil around the globe. In the U.S., Chevron sold its oil for an average price of $89 per barrel in the last quarter, compared with $71 a year ago. Internationally, Chevron sold oil for an average price of $95 per barrel, compared with $70 a year earlier.

This was partially offset by lower prices in the U.S. for natural gas. International natural gas prices rose slightly.

These higher prices led to a $1.25 billion increase in profit from exploring for and producing oil and gas. Refining profits more than doubled, to $622 million.

In all, Chevron's net income rose to $6.21 billion, or $3.09 per share, from $4.55 billion, or $2.27 per share a year ago. The results topped Wall Street expectations and marked Chevron's best three months since it earned $7.9 billion in the third quarter of 2008.

Gasoline prices have topped $4 per gallon in nine states plus the District of Columbia. As oil company profits approach levels of three years ago, when gas prices last spiked in the United States, the industry is fighting a renewed push from President Barack Obama and Democrats to end its $4 billion a year in taxpayer subsidies.

On Thursday, Exxon Mobil reported net income of almost $11 billion, its best quarter making $14.83 billion in the July-September period of 2008. That's the record for a publicly traded company.

Also, Shell's profit rose 60 percent to about $9 billion in the first quarter. France's Total SA made about $5.8 billion, up 50 percent. ConocoPhillips' earnings rose 43 percent.

Chevron's revenue rose 25 percent to $60.34 billion in the quarter.

In early trading, Chevron shares rose 24 cents to $109.05.

Rockefeller-owned Exxon Made $11 Billion in First Quarter 2011

April 28, 2011

AP – Exxon made almost $11 billion and practically apologized for it.

Sensing public outrage over gasoline prices that have topped $4 in some states, the company struck a defensive posture Thursday after posting some of its best quarterly financial results ever.

Exxon said it had no control over high oil prices. It said it's one of the biggest taxpayers in the United States. It cast federal subsidies as "legitimate tax provisions" that keep jobs at home, and cast itself as a victim of Washington scapegoating.

"They feel they have to demonize our industry," said Ken Cohen, Exxon's vice president for public affairs.

What's more, the company argued, it doesn't even make that much money selling gasoline.

Exxon's profit of $10.65 billion for the first quarter was its highest since it made $14.83 billion in the third quarter of 2008, a record for a publicly traded company. That was also a time of $4-plus gas.

The first-quarter results were also the best among the big oil companies, which have reported improved results this week.

As oil company profits approach levels of three years ago, when gas prices last spiked in the United States, the industry is fighting a renewed push from President Barack Obama and Democrats to end its $4 billion a year in taxpayer subsidies.

This week, the industry's lobbying group touted the 9.2 million jobs that depend on Big Oil and rolled out a study showing that oil and gas stocks are excellent investments for public pension plans.

Before it even came out with the quarterly results, Exxon pleaded its case on a company blog, saying it was not to blame for high gas prices.

Then Cohen took an unusual step and spoke to reporters after Exxon reported the big profits. He said Exxon pays more taxes than any other company in the Standard & Poor's 500 index — $59 billion in the United States over the past five years. After taxes, the company earned $41 billion from U.S. operations during that period.

Drivers and politicians may still need some convincing. Gas costs more than $4 a gallon in eight states and the District of Columbia. The national average is $3.89 and has risen for 37 straight days.

At a time when most people aren't getting raises, gas has risen 81 cents a gallon this year. High gas prices ate into the nation's overall economic growth in the first three months of this year. The economy grew at a 1.8 percent annual rate, slower than the 3.1 percent at the end of last year.

Cohen has a point that Exxon doesn't control the price of oil or gasoline. Oil is traded around the world on public exchanges, and experts point out that the world is consuming more oil now than it did before the recession, raising demand. When oil prices go up at the exchange, Exxon sells oil for more money to refiners and other buyers.

Gasoline is made from oil. So while gas prices can rise and fall based on other factors, like refining problems or natural disasters, they generally go up as oil prices rise on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Exxon noted that only 6 percent of its profit came from refining and selling gas in the United States. Other parts of its business, like selling oil and natural gas overseas, accounted for much more.

Argus Research analyst Phil Weiss finds that argument reasonable. But oil companies will struggle to win over people as long as they're making billions of dollars every quarter, he said.

"They get these high profits and people get upset. That's what politicians respond to," Weiss said.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi called for a vote on ending taxpayer subsidies to oil companies next week.

"There is no reason American taxpayers should subsidize Big Oil's profits," Pelosi said.

The tax provisions at issue include some rules put in place as long ago as 1913 and more recent ones designed to encourage companies to invest in the United States. For instance, a 2004 rule that gives oil and other companies a special deduction for their U.S. operations could save the oil industry $18.2 billion over 10 years. A rule that allows faster depreciation of the value of oil and gas wells could save independent companies — those that only explore and produce oil but don't refine it — about $11 billon over a decade.

Exxon officials said it would be unfair for Obama to end oil subsidies while keeping similar incentives for renewable energy. The Obama administration and clean energy advocates argue that profitable companies do not need special tax treatment while newer industries deserve breaks until they can establish themselves.

It's not likely, though, that Exxon would give up its subsidies if the government also removed them for solar, wind and other renewables.

"Getting into trade-offs is not really helpful," Exxon Vice President Bill Colton said.

Environmental groups say the industry needs no taxpayer help.

"Why does an industry that makes this much money need $4 billion in tax subsidies?" asked Bob Keefe, spokesman for the Natural Resources Defense Council. "Why can't we use that tax money to improve and expand other alternatives, increase vehicle efficiency, better public transportation that would reduce our dependence on oil?"

Exxon counters that the government shouldn't decide which energy companies succeed and which fail. Whichever fuel source "produces the biggest bang for the buck for the consumer" will be the one the market settles on, Cohen said.

The main reason the industry is doing well is that oil prices were up 20 percent from the same period last year. Exxon's profit was 69 percent higher than the $6.3 billion it earned a year earlier. Revenue increased 26 percent, to $114 billion.

The rise in oil prices allowed Exxon to make more money despite producing 3 percent less oil overseas, about 2 million barrels per day, partly because of storms in the Middle East. Exxon sold crude in international markets for about $101 a barrel, up 36 percent from a year ago. In the U.S., Exxon sold oil for about $93 per barrel, up 27 percent from a year ago.

Exxon's per-share earnings of $2.14 beat Wall Street estimates by 10 cents, but oil industry stocks fell anyway because investors fear that demand for gas, which has fallen over the past month compared with last year, will keep dropping in the United States.

Exxon Mobil Corp. shares lost 94 cents to $86.84 in afternoon trading.

The company has increasingly focused on producing natural gas, which it expects to replace coal as the second most important fuel source after petroleum within the next decade. Last year it acquired XTO Energy to become the largest U.S. natural gas producer.

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