Japan Radiation Fallout Spark Panic Salt-buying in China

A policeman tries to maintain order as residents throng a wholesale salt market in Taiyuan, northeastern China, to stock up on the seasoning in the mistaken belief that it would protect against radiation poisoning. (Reuters / March 17, 2011)
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Japan radiation fears spark panic salt-buying in China

By David Pierson, Los Angeles Times

March 18, 2011

 

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Long lines and mob scenes ensue at stores amid a clamor for iodized salt fueled by rumors of a radioactive cloud from Japan's quake-damaged nuclear plant and the belief that the salt would protect against radiation poisoning.

Reporting from Beijing—

China tried to quell panic buying of iodized salt Thursday after grocery stores across the country were emptied of the seasoning by hordes of people hoping to ward off radiation poisoning after the nuclear accidents in Japan.

The clamor for salt reportedly started after rumors spread, possibly by cellphone text messaging, that China would be hit by a radioactive cloud from Japan's Fukushima No. 1 (Daiichi) nuclear plant, which had been badly damaged during last week's earthquake and tsunami.

People were under the false impression that consuming enough iodized salt would protect against radiation and that China's sea salt supplies would be contaminated as a result of the unfolding Japanese crisis.

That sparked long lines and mob scenes in major cities such as Shanghai, Beijing and Hangzhou.

In a scene repeated across the country, online video from the eastern city of Wenzhou showed panicked shoppers filling their baskets with tubs of salt and street vendors complaining about being cleaned out.

"I hear there was also a huge earthquake in Taiwan and it will hurt salt supply," a woman was heard saying. There was no earthquake in Taiwan.

Chinese authorities have tried to quash the rumors, explaining that the country has massive reserves and that 80% of its salt sources were on land.

Thousands of television screens on Beijing's subway cars displayed a public service announcement Thursday that said: "The local salt bureau has stated that there's an adequate supply of salt. Salt is a special product that is controlled by the government. Supply is greater than demand."

Meanwhile, China's National Development and Reform Commission told price-control authorities to crack down on hoarding.

The Chinese National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center also tried to allay fears that radioactive particles were headed toward China, explaining that currents in the Pacific Ocean next to Fukushima were flowing east.

"It is impossible for radioactive substances to reach China's sea areas via the ocean current," the forecasting center said, according to the official New China News Agency.

Salt producers benefited from the pandemonium. Shares of Yunnan Salt & Chemical Industry Co. rose by the daily limit of 10%.

In another sign that panic over Japan's nuclear crisis is spreading across borders, authorities in the Philippines held a news conference Thursday to silence rumors that the country would be hit by radioactive fallout.


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Open Missouri Website, Government Data Now Exposed

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Government Data Now Exposed

Mar 17, 2011

by Christine Karsten

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 http://openmissouri.org/

COLUMBIA - The Reynolds Journalism Institute held a day-long conference on open government records Thursday.
David Herzog launched his Open Missouri website at the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute on MU's campus during Open Missouri Day. Herzog has worked on the project alongside Missouri School of Journalism's students to make government data more accessible and understandable for journalists, businesses and citizens.
Herzog created a portal (http://openmissouri.org/) as part of a nation-wide movement to bring government data more into the public eye. A well-known term is "Government 2.0." The website contains a lot of information and set into categories to make it easier to find data that may be important to you.
According to his blog, Herzog say he has contacted numerous agencies about collecting the data they are storing in their databases. One Missouri contains 135 Missouri state government databases that were not exposed on the internet before. Some of the problems he has run into is some agencies do not have inventories of their databases and need to create them. Others simply will not disclose the information they do have.
Herzog wrote in his blog, "Some agencies have flat-out told us they're not going to divulge information about the data they collect using taxpayer money."
Not only is Herzog working with master's students, he is also working with the Sunlight Foundation. This foundation is a non-profit, nonpartisan organization that wants to create government openness and transparency.
Herzog ultimately wants this website to inspire people to look for data and share it with others. He also hopes that other states will look at the website and get motivated to create other version of the project to benefit their states.

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Cost of Living Record High U.S. February 2011, Passes Pre-Crisis High July 2008

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US Cost of Living Hits Record, Passing Pre-Crisis High

Thursday, 17 Mar 2011 

 By: John Melloy

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One would think that after the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, Americans could at least catch a break for a while with deflationary forces keeping the cost of living relatively low. That’s not the case.

A special index created by the Labor Department to measure the actual cost of living for Americans hit a record high in February, according to data released Thursday, surpassing the old high in July 2008. The Chained Consumer Price Index, released along with the more widely-watched CPI, increased 0.5 percent to 127.4, from 126.8 in January. In July 2008, just as the housing crisis was tightening its grip, the Chained Consumer Price Index hit its previous record of 126.9.

“The Federal Reserve continues to focus on the rate of change in inflation,” said Peter Bookvar, equity strategist at Miller Tabak. “Sure, it’s moving at a slower pace, but the absolute cost of living is now back at a record high in a country that has seven million less jobs.”

The regular CPI, which has already been at a record for a while, increased 0.5 percent, the fastest pace in 1-1/2 years. However, the Fed’s preferred measure, CPI excluding food and energy, increased by just 0.2 percent.

“This speaks to the need for the Fed to include food and energy when they look at inflation rather than regard them as transient costs,” said Stephen Weiss of Short Hills Capital. “Perhaps the best way to look at this is to calculate a moving average over a certain period of time in order to smooth out the peaks and valleys.”

The so-called core CPI is used by the central bank because food and energy prices throughout history have proven to be volatile. However, one glance over the last two years at a chart of wheat or corn shows they’ve gone in one direction: up. And many traders say Fed Chairman Bernanke’s misplaced easy money policies are to blame.

Over time, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has made changes to the regular CPI that it feels make it a better measure of inflation and closer to a cost of living index. It improved the way it averages out prices for items in the same category (e.g., apples) and also uses the often-criticized method of hedonic regression (if you're curious, you can learn more about that here) to account for increases in product quality.

In 2002, the BLS created this often-overlooked cost of living index in order to account for the kinds of substitutions consumers make when times are tough. It is supposed to be even closer to an actual “cost of living” measure than the regular CPI.

“For example, pork and beef are two separate CPI item categories,” according to the BLS web site. “If the price of pork increases while the price of beef does not, consumers might shift away from pork to beef. The C-CPI-U (Chain Consumer Price Index) is designed to account for this type of consumer substitution between CPI item categories. In this example, the C-CPI-U would rise, but not by as much as an index that was based on fixed purchase patterns.”“As the cost of living increases, we are headed toward a bigger problem with the slowing of housing permits,” said JJ Kinahan, chief derivatives strategist at thinkorswim, a division of TD Ameritrade. “As the staples start to cost more, this could lead to a quick slowdown in the auto and technology sectors as an iPad is an easy thing to pass on if you are paying more for your gas and food and need to cut back somewhere.”

Bottom line: The cost of living for Americans is now above where it was when housing prices were in a bubble, stock prices at a record, unemployment low and consumer confidence was soaring. Something has gotta give.
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$ 5 ATM FEES U.S. Banks Start Charging More

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U.S. banks start charging $5 fee to use ATMs

If the new fees could bring in a significant amount of income to JP Morgan, the bank would likely charge similar ATM fees in other states.

Vittorio Hernandez
March 17, 2011


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Some U.S. banks have started to increase their ATM fees, according to report. Among them are JP Morgan Chase and Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation USA.
JP Morgan is testing the higher $5 charge on non-customers in Illinois who would withdraw from their ATMs. The bank charges a $4 fee for a similar ATM transaction in Texas. If the new fees are successful then JP Morgan will likely charge similar ATM fees in other states.
About 20 percent or 3,600 out of 16,000 JP Morgan ATMs are located in Texas and Illinois. The bank has spent about $400 million to put the cash machines in place and allocates another $200 million yearly for ATM maintenance.
HSBC Bank USA also started to charge this month non-customers a $3 fee when they use the bank’s ATMs.
60 percent of HSBC’s cash machines charge the $3 fee on non-clients, the remaining 40 percent charges a lower $1.75 or $2.50 fee.
An industry observer forecast that other major American banks such as Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Citibank would soon follow suit and charge similar ATM fees on non-customers who would use their cash machines.

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Obama Disconnect While Japan Begs for Help, Videotaping His NCAA Tournament Picks, Hitting the Golf Course

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Obama Plays While Japan Begs for Help

Paul Joseph Watson & Alex Jones
Infowars.com
March 16, 2011
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History tells us that Nero fiddled while Rome burned, but Barack Obama is providing the famous emperor with some serious competition when it comes to going AWOL while America and the world face crises the likes of which haven’t been experienced in decades.
Even as the situation at the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant continues to worsen by the hour, and as radiation surges across the Pacific towards the U.S. west coast while Americans panic buy supplies of potassium iodide, President Obama seems remarkably sanguine about the whole affair.
While protests and civil wars rage in Libya and Bahrain, Obama is keeping himself busy by videotaping his NCAA tournament picks, hitting the golf course for the 61st time in his presidency, and partying with lawmakers during a Chicago Bulls vs. Charlotte Bobcats game.
The most energy Obama could bother to devote to what is fast coming one of the biggest nuclear disasters in history was to make an empty statement about how people could donate to usaid.gov, while labeling the NCAA exercise a “great diversion.”
While Japan begs the United States for help to rescue the dire situation at Fukushima, Obama seems more concerned about dressing up nicely to please the media elite at the annual Gridiron Dinner.
Even as the planet faces the threat of a “new Chernobyl on steroids,” Obama has chosen to prioritize a speech about “Women’s History Month,” a White House get-together on “bullying” and a meeting with the Chicago Blackhawks instead of offering any kind of leadership.
But forget Japan, it’s not as if Obama hasn’t got any matters to attend to on the home front, with gas prices surging as a result of an oil spike driven by turmoil in the middle east, as well as a massive budget crisis, not to mention the perilous state of the US dollar and the stuttering economy.
Obama’s fiddling has made the crucial deceision of whether or not to impose a no fly zone over Libya all but academic, with Colonel Gaddafi taking the opportunity to use the delay to crush rebel opponents in key regions.
“But the fun stuff won’t end anytime soon,” writes veteran White House reporter Keith Koffler, who accuses the President of succumbing to “childish distractions” while the world is afire. “On Thursday, the Taoiseach of Ireland will be in town to help the president celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. And then Friday it’s off to Brazil for the start of a three-country Latin American tour.
Granted, Obama is not superman and nobody expects him to act as some kind of omnipotent savior, but the remarkable regularity with which Obama goes AWOL when crises hit not just globally but also in America has become characterisitic of his whole presidency.
Lest we forget that during the course of the devastating BP oil spill crisis, Obama took no less than three vacations, disappearing from public view at the very height of the drama when Americans were desperate for a leader.
Obama’s behavior exemplifies the fact that he is a completely hollow sock-puppet of a president. After being billed as an icon for hope, change and fresh leadership as America sought to reclaim its global reputation, Obama has been nothing but a crushing disappointment and a massive failure.
The whole farce reminds us once again that Obama, like George W. Bush before him, controls absolutely nothing, has no influence on world affairs, and has now stopped even bothering to maintain the pretense that he is anything other than an obedient yes-man whose role comprises of nothing more than following orders from the Wall Street and banking elite that have pulled his strings from the very beginning.
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Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show.

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