America’s Nuclear Nightmare

From the Rolling Stone sent to my by Shaza. Don't worry dear readers The Hive is alive and well. We have at least 250 page views a day and although many may be bots looking to dump their spam Google does a pretty good job of keeping them out. BTW that was a great story Bukko and I want to thank everyone for the reassurance. I am feeling much better about it today. Queenbee
There are 4 pages to the story so follow the link for the whole story on RS.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/america-s-nuclear-nightmare-20110427

The U.S. has 31 reactors just like Japan’s — but regulators are ignoring the risks and boosting industry profits

By JEFF GOODELL

APRIL 27, 2011 9:00 AM ET

Five days after a massive earthquake and tsunami struck Japan, triggering the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, America's leading nuclear regulator came before Congress bearing good news: Don't worry, it can't happen here. In the aftermath of the Japanese catastrophe, officials in Germany moved swiftly to shut down old plants for inspection, and China put licensing of new plants on hold. But Gregory Jaczko, the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, reassured lawmakers that nothing at the Fukushima Daiichi reactors warranted any immediate changes at U.S. nuclear plants. Indeed, 10 days after the earthquake in Japan, the NRC extended the license of the 40-year-old Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor — a virtual twin of Fukushima — for another two decades. The license renewal was granted even though the reactor's cooling tower had literally fallen down, and the plant had repeatedly leaked radioactive fluid.

Photo Gallery: See America's Worst Nuclear Plants

Perhaps Jaczko was simply trying to prevent a full-scale panic about the dangers of U.S. nuclear plants. After all, there are now 104 reactors scattered across the country, generating 20 percent of America's power. All of them were designed in the 1960s and '70s, and are nearing the end of their planned life expectancy. But there was one problem with Jaczko's testimony, according to Dave Lochbaum, a senior adviser at the Union of Concerned Scientists: Key elements of what the NRC chief told Congress were "a baldfaced lie."

This article appears in the May 12, 2011 issue of Rolling Stone. The issue is available now.

Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer, says that Jaczko knows full well that what the NRC calls "defense in depth" at U.S. reactors has been seriously compromised over the years. In some places, highly radioactive spent fuel is stockpiled in what amounts to swimming pools located beside reactors. In other places, changes in the cooling systems at reactors have made them more vulnerable to a core meltdown if something goes wrong. A few weeks before Fukushima, Lochbaum authored a widely circulated report that underscored the NRC's haphazard performance, describing 14 serious "near-miss" events at nuclear plants last year alone. At the Indian Point reactor just north of New York City, federal inspectors discovered a water-containment system that had been leaking for 16 years.

Read Jeff Goodell on the Gulf oil spill, one year later

As head of the NRC, Jaczko is the top cop on the nuclear beat, the guy charged with keeping the nation's fleet of aging nukes running safely. A balding, 40-year-old Democrat with big ears and the air of a brilliant high school physics teacher, Jaczko oversees a 4,000-person agency with a budget of $1 billion. But the NRC has long served as little more than a lap dog to the nuclear industry, unwilling to crack down on unsafe reactors. "The agency is a wholly owned subsidiary of the nuclear power industry," says Victor Gilinsky, who served on the commission during the Three Mile Island meltdown in 1979. Even President Obama denounced the NRC during the 2008 campaign, calling it a "moribund agency that needs to be revamped and has become captive of the industries that it regulates."

In the years ahead, nuclear experts warn, the consequences of the agency's inaction could be dire. "The NRC has consistently put industry profits above public safety," says Arnie Gundersen, a former nuclear executive turned whistle-blower. "Consequently, we have a dozen Fukushimas waiting to happen in America."  

The Federal Reserve Is Selling Paper Gold and Buying Physical Gold

The good ole "American way"—through proxies

A couple of weeks ago, I pitched an idea to some associates of mine who are involved in SERIOUS [tonnage] PRECIOUS METALS procurement—physical metal only—let's just say HUGE money.  I asked them if they would be interested in purchasing an “option”—cash up front—for the exclusive rights [first right of refusal on off-take] of a gold producer [miner] for a set number of ounces for 3–5 years "at the market"—using LBMA pricing [a.m./p.m. fixes] in the future.  The answer I got back from my associates was "show us a terms sheet, we definitely have interest."

So, I spoke to a friend who is very close to an intermediate producer who is in the mode of raising money right now.  I had them ask the producer if they would have interest – the producer said, "YES, we are interested—but just to let you know—J.P. Morgan has been asking us if we would sell them the same option."  So, while gold producers have shuttered their "gold hedge books"—the Bullion Banks are "synthetically" trying to keep physical output captive—I would suggest FOR THE EXPRESSED REASON THAT THEY SELL EVERY PHYSICAL OUNCE AT LEAST 100 TIMES OVER.

Gold is going to get EXTREMELY scarce in the future folks.  Big money interests are now cutting off [or bidding for / gaining exclusive access to] the traditional bullion supply chain "at the pit."

The shorts of "paper gold" at J.P. Morgan [the Fed in drag] are selling the daylights out of the paper market and simultaneously buying exclusive rights to producers' future production so they can try to fudge their way through an unmitigated fraud and settle a big enough chunk of their bad bets to keep this "systemically ruinous" precious metals Ponzi scheme alive.

Price of Gold and Interest Rates Are Joined at the Hip

The academic research that outlines the inter-relatedness of gold and interest rates is succinctly laid out in a 2001 treatise, Gibson's Paradox Revisited, by Reg Howe.  From this one can deduct that ANY rigging of the gold price must go hand-in-hand with simultaneous rigging of interest rates.

Folks would do well to realize how neatly emerging details of Fed surrogate Morgan's  "stealth" activity in the bullion market dovetails with their obscene, obsequious activity elsewhere in their derivatives book—particularly their JUMBO TRILLIONS sized interest rate swap positions.

Stealth activity on the part of the Fed—utilizing proxy institutions to generate limitless artificial demand for any and all U.S. Government Debt—effectively gives the Fed control of the long end of the interest rate curve [the bond market].

From a timing perspective, it is also noteworthy that gold price rigging—long maintained by GATA—is alleged to have begun in earnest during the Clinton Administration with the appointment of Robert Rubin as U.S. Treasury Secretary [along with understudy Lawrence Summers] in Jan. 1995.  Coincidentally [or perhaps not?] we can trace the genesis of the "explosion" in the use of derivatives [mostly interest rate] to that exact same time frame.  In fact, if we follow the time line in "reverse"—the growth in the use of derivatives appears like a trail of bread crumbs —right back to the time when Professor Lawrence Summers, under the tutelage of Sir Robert of Rubin, brought his academic alchemy to Washington:

Does anyone with a pulse really believe that ANY Bank Holding Company in the U.S. would be permitted to have a derivatives position in excess of 75 TRILLION [five times the size of U.S. GDP] if they were not "in bed" with the FED????

If you except the premise that, "J.P. Morgan 'is' the Fed," then, "IT'S REALLY THE FED WHO IS BUYING GOLD" and they [unfortunately, this means "America"] likely have NONE LEFT to sell.

NOTHING could be more bullish for the price of gold going forward.

Everyone needs to get it through their heads; these criminals are NOT IN IT for profits.  The survival of our "BROKEN FIAT MONEY SYSTEM" "IS" their only goal.

Conclusions: 

Officialdom will never admit it and it will NEVER be reported in the mainstream financial news but our financial system has NEVER been in a more precarious state. A banking crisis of unparalleled proportions is coming—probably soon—the exact timing is still sketchy.

Got physical precious metal yet?

http://financialsense.com/contributors/rob-kirby/the-federal-reserve-is-selling-paper-gold-and-buying-physical-gold

Republicans Dismiss Unrest Over Medicare Revamp as Orchestrated

U.S. House Republicans pushing to overhaul Medicare dismiss the vocal opposition some have encountered from constituents as orchestrated by political foes.

The Republicans, who have spent much of the two-week congressional recess fending off questions from voters about the proposal, say they are standing by the plan, a cornerstone of the 2012 budget measure the House passed April 15 on a party- line vote.

They’re blaming much of the criticism voiced at town-hall meetings, which sometimes turned raucous, on activists dispatched by MoveOn.org and other Democratic allies, even as some of the lawmakers have taken measures to control the tone of forums.

“This is not genuine anger over Medicare; it’s manufactured political anger that’s causing the disturbances,” said Representative Lou Barletta, a freshman Republican from Pennsylvania.

At one forum, Barletta offered a slide show detailing the Republican plan, written by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. It calls for replacing the traditional Medicare health-care system for the elderly by providing those currently under the age of 55 with subsidies to buy private insurance. His presentation quickly devolved into a shouting match after a constituent accused Republicans of trying to destroy the program.

Barletta dismissed the hecklers as Democratic plants and said he would keep promoting the plan in public forums. “It’s very important for me to continue to have these meetings to make sure that seniors know they have nothing to worry about,” he said.

‘Extreme Ideology’

Democrats rejected the accusation that they had orchestrated the outrage.

“Republicans must be so blinded by their extreme ideology that they can’t see what’s happening at town halls across the country where the American people are rejecting their radical scheme to end Medicare and raise health care costs for seniors,” Jesse Ferguson, spokesman for theDemocratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said in an e-mail.

The executive director of MoveOn.org, Justin Ruben, said in an e-mail that his group “is simply encouraging our members to attend town halls and talk to their elected representatives about their votes to abolish Medicare.”

“Republicans dismiss this anger at their peril,” he said.

Political Pressure

The confrontational tone of meetings like Barletta’s highlight the political pressure confronting Republicans as they attempt to fulfill campaign promises to reduce the federal deficit and, in the process, alter the entitlement programs that are its biggest drivers.

While voters say they want politicians to bring down the deficit -- which the Congressional Budget Office estimates will reach $1.4 trillion by Sept. 30, the end of the 2011 fiscal year -- surveys show that they don’t want to significantly change entitlements such as Medicare and Social Security.

“The perception of the American public is we can fix all our problems if we just didn’t waste the money,” said Ed Goeas, head of the Tarrance Group, a Republican polling firm in Alexandria, Virginia. “Which makes getting into the discussion of how we make programs better more difficult.”

A Washington Post/ABC News poll conducted April 14-17 found that 78 percent of Americans oppose cutting Medicare spending to lower the debt and 65 percent said Medicare should remain as it is, rather than providing recipients with a check or a voucher from the government to purchase private insurance.

The budget crafted by Ryan would slash U.S. spending by $6.2 trillion over a decade by cutting Medicare and scores of other programs, including Medicaid, food stamps, farm subsidies and Pell college tuition grants.

Medicare ‘Crisis’

As they left for the congressional recess, Republican leaders said they and their colleagues needed to focus on discussing the Medicare issue. “It’s important for our members to go home and talk about the crisis that we face” in the program’s funding, House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, told reporters on April 15.

Democrats and their allies had their own plans for the recess, mobilizing a campaign of automated phone calls, advertisements and protests that charged the Republican aim was to end the program.

The House Majority PAC, a political action committee focused on helping Democrats regain the House majority in the 2012 elections, ran radio ads in 10 districts in which an announcer said Republican lawmakers had voted for a plan that “threatens to end Medicare as we know it.”

In an April 26 interview with ABC News, Boehner cautioned that while he backed the plan, he was not “wedded to one single idea” to tackle Medicare.

“I’m for it. It’s our idea,” he said, “but other people have other ideas.”

Wider Focus

Republicans also have sought to switch the focus from Medicare to overall federal spending -- a more challenging issue for Democrats who, polls have shown, face voter skepticism that they are willing to tackle the budget deficit.

The National Republican Campaign Committee launched a three-week run of ads targeting 13 fiscally conservative Democrats, featuring an announcer saying that the lawmakers “refused to vote for any of the five budget proposals that cut spending.”

Security Concerns

Still, even Ryan has faced mixed receptions at public meetings in his district. Several news outlets reported that attendees booed Ryan at some of those sessions this week. He left one of them, on April 26, through a different door and in a different car due to security concerns, according to a report by Milwaukee television station WTMJ.

Representative Dan Webster, a freshman Republican from Florida, faced a confrontational crowd at an April 26 town hall meeting that included a shouting match. Video shot by Orlando television station WFTV showed hecklers holding up signs that said “Hands off my Medicare” as Webster stressed the Ryan plan’s exemption for those 55 and older from the privatization provisions.

A few Republicans have worked to restrict the typically open nature of the town hall forum.

In their town hall sessions this week, freshman Representatives Allen West of Florida and Michael Grimm of New York asked moderators to select and vet questions submitted by constituents.

Despite such efforts, three hecklers were removed from West’s forum in Fort Lauderdale on April 26, including one in handcuffs, according to local news reports.

A Democratic website, BlueBroward.org, had urged Democrats to question West at the session. “We need everybody (especially seniors) at this town hall meeting -- media will be present!” a member of the group posted on the site last week.

West said the protesters wouldn’t change his position.

“I am disturbed that a select few of people are using these informative events as their own personal soapbox,” he said in a statement. “I will not be intimidated.”

Catherine Austin Fitts -- A Major Shift of Capital

From the Marc Faber blog 4/27/11

Japan Rating Outlook Lowered to Negative by S&P on Quake Rebuilding Costs

For a nice breakdown of the situation financially in Japan go to Mr K's Mean Old Investor on the blog list. This is from Bloomberg.

Japan’s sovereign-rating outlook was cut to “negative” by Standard & Poor’s as the nation’s reconstruction needs following last month’s earthquake will likely add to what’s already the world’s biggest debt load.

The outlook on Japan’s local-currency debt rating, at AA-, the fourth-highest grade, was lowered from “stable,” S&P said in a statement today. The company had reduced the rating by one step in January in the first cut since 2002. Moody’s Investors Service said last month the disaster may bring forward the “tipping point” for the country’s bond market.

Today’s decision adds to pressure on Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who has yet to detail how the rebuilding will be paid for and how he plans to rein in longer-term fiscal deficits. A cross-party group of senior lawmakers said that Kan shouldn’t raise taxes, and called on the central bank to buy more government bonds instead.

“Japan has repeatedly suffered under poor leadership, but this disaster has made that point even clearer,” said Noriaki Matsuoka, an economist at Daiwa Asset Management Co. in Tokyo. “The government needs to decide how it’s going to fund its next reconstruction package.”

The yen slid to as low as 81.78 against the dollar after the announcement, before trading at 81.59 at 2:24 p.m. in Tokyo. Japanese government bond prices fell, with the benchmark 10-year yield rising one basis point to 1.225 percent. The Nikkei 225 (NKY) Stock Average rose 1.4 percent after improved earnings in the U.S. added to signs of strength in the global economy.

Retail Sales

As public spending increases, revenue will likely decline because of the economic hit from the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear radiation crisis, with a report today showing retail sales tumbled the most in 13 years last month.

“It’s wrong to immediately raise taxes from a macro- economic standpoint, and we should use government bonds,” Sakihito Ozawa, a former environment minister and member of Kan’s Democratic Party of Japan, said at a press conference in Tokyo today. “The Bank of Japan should buy bonds in purchase operations to raise cash.”

Ten legislators from the DPJ, the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party, the New Komeito Party, the Social Democratic Party, the Your Party and the People’s New Party attended the briefing. They made no specific mention of pushing the BOJ to directly underwrite government debt, a suggestion Governor Masaaki Shirakawa and administration officials have rejected.

Rebuilding Cost

S&P predicted that rebuilding will cost as much as 50 trillion yen ($611 billion), with 30 trillion yen its “central forecast.” That will require more borrowing, boosting net government debt to 145 percent of gross domestic product in fiscal 2013, compared with an earlier forecast of 137 percent, S&P estimated.

Kan’s first of what may be multiple extra budgets for reconstruction is for 4 trillion yen. The package, including public works to rebuild roads, bridges, ports and other infrastructure in devastated northeastern areas, may create about 200,000 jobs, the Cabinet Office said in a statement today.

“Much will depend on Japan’s political leadership and its ability to forge a political consensus on how to offset fiscal measures in the future,” S&P said. “A downgrade is possible if Japan’s public finances weaken further over the next two years in the absence of fiscal consolidation.”

Japan must work to restore its fiscal health while doing everything it can to rebuild, Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said after the announcement. Moody’s today reported no change to its negative outlook for Japan’s Aa2 grade rating, the third highest, after a reduction from “stable” in February because of political gridlock.

Rising Debt

Japan’s public debt will probably rise 5.8 percent to 997.7 trillion yen in the year started April 1, from a projected 943.1 trillion yen last year, the Finance Ministry said in January.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development last week urged Kan’s government to at least double a sales tax to 10 percent and to implement increases as soon as possible. Total public debt will reach 204 percent of gross domestic product this year, according to the OECD, the highest level among nations tracked by the group.

“We’ll continue to work to maintain and secure trust in Japanese government bonds,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said after S&P’s announcement, while declining to comment specifically on the change.

Japan maintains its credit rating for now because of a strong financial system, a surplus of funds within the nation and a “diversified” economy, according to S&P.

Bond Yields

“Japan continues to have an abundance of savings, so bond yields are unlikely to surge,” said Hiroaki Muto, a senior economist at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management Co. in Tokyo. “If the central bank helps with reconstruction by adding further monetary stimulus, Japan will probably be able to avoid a fiscal collapse.”

After spending to counter the global financial crisis, governments in developed nations are struggling to rein in debt, with S&P last week revising the long-term outlook for the AAA credit rating held by the U.S. to “negative” from “stable.”

That assessment means that the firm sees a one-in-three chance of a downgrade within two years. S&P sees a “material risk” that U.S. policy makers may fail to agree on how to address medium- and long-term budgetary challenges by 2013.

In Europe, ratings companies have this year downgraded Portugal, Greece and Ireland, with yields on those nations’ securities reaching records amid speculation that they will restructure debt.

Worse Than Lehman

European Central Bank Executive Board member Jose Manuel Gonzalez-Paramo said yesterday that such a move by Greece would be “more devastating” than the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in 2008.

Nations to get ratings upgrades this year have included Indonesia, Ecuador, Chile and Brazil.

Economists estimate that Japan’s GDP will shrink the most since the global credit crisis this quarter, before restoring expansion in the second half of the year. The economy may contract 3 percent in April-to-June, according to the median of 18 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey this month.

Retail sales slumped 8.5 percent in March from a year earlier, according to a statement by the trade ministry in Tokyo today. None of 14 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News forecast such a large decline. Toyota Motor Corp. (7203) led a record drop in auto sales in March and retailers Aeon Co. and Seven & I Holdings Co. expect full-year profit to slide.

“Everything is working against consumers, from the power shortage to a general reluctance to spend after the tragedy,” Yoshiki Shinke, senior economist at Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute in Tokyo, said after the report. “It’s looking increasingly likely that March was the worst month on record for consumer spending, and it’ll take a while before spending returns to pre-quake levels.”