Analysis: $35 Trillion Pension Fund Industry In New Crisis

Analysis: Pension funds in new crisis as deficit hole grows (Reuters, Sep. 5, 2011):

LONDON (Reuters) – Pension funds in developed economies are facing a new crisis as falling equities and tumbling bond yields widen their deficits, threatening the incomes and retirement dates of future retirees.

At the heart of their problems is a steady move by pension plans in the United States, euro zone, Japan and the UK to cut exposure to risk after the financial crisis.

But this “de-risking” may end up depressing their long-term returns from stock market investment and challenge the conventional wisdom that shares generate higher returns than bonds.

Read moreAnalysis: $35 Trillion Pension Fund Industry In New Crisis

Destroying The Libyan Culture (Video)


YouTube Added: 05.09.2011

Gaddafi was a political anarchist. Mahdi combines his academic analysis with his personal experiences, and fortunately he remains concentrated even when I jump around different issues.

See also:

Libya: Letter From Tripoli – Carnage of the Innocent

Libya: NATO Destroying Sirte – Worse Than Gaza

NATO Rebel Tactics Mean Libyans Can Never Surrender (Video)

Gaddafi Son Saif’s Speech (Sept 01, 2011 – English)

Webster Tarpley: Al-Qaeda Commander of NATO’s Bloody Reign of Terror in Tripoli is the Monster Abdel Hakim Belhadj, aka Abdel Hakim al-Hasadi, Friend of Osama Bin Laden, former US POW, and Infamous Killer of US Soldiers in Afghanistan

France Made Secret Deal With NTC For 35% Of Libya’s Oil (Libération)

GENOCIDE: NATO Bombs Libya With Depleted Uranium (Video)

Read moreDestroying The Libyan Culture (Video)

Germany: Angela Merkel’s CDU Party Loses Home-State Election

German Stocks Fall as Merkel’s Party Loses Home-State Election (Bloomberg, September 5, 2011):

Sept. 5 (Bloomberg) — German stocks retreated to the lowest level since November 2009 after German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party suffered its fifth election loss this year and European services and manufacturing growth weakened in August.

Deutsche Bank AG fell to the lowest since March 2009 as the lender is among 17 sued by the U.S. for $196 billion. BASF SE and Bayer AG lost more than 2 percent after Clariant AG, a Swiss maker of chemicals and paints, cut targets for sales and profitability this year.

Read moreGermany: Angela Merkel’s CDU Party Loses Home-State Election

‘Welcome To The Recovery’: The US Jobs Crisis Worsens – Unemployment Report Bleak On All Counts

Welcome to the Recovery (New York Times, by Timothy Geithner, August 2, 2010)


The Jobs Crisis (New York Times, Sep 3, 2011):

The August employment report, released on Friday, is bleak on all counts, but at least it leaves no doubt that the United States is in the grip of a severe and worsening jobs crisis. That should lend a sense of urgency to the speech on jobs that President Obama plans to deliver this week.

The economy added no jobs in August — zero — and the anemic numbers for June and July were revised downward. The unemployment rate is stuck at 9.1 percent, but it would be 16.2 percent if it included the swelling ranks of those who find only part-time work and the millions who have given up looking for jobs that simply do not exist.

Read more‘Welcome To The Recovery’: The US Jobs Crisis Worsens – Unemployment Report Bleak On All Counts

Prof. Kunihiko Takeda of Chubu University: ‘A Girl Doesn’t Talk’

Kunihiko Takeda: “A Girl Doesn’t Talk” (EX-SKF, September 5, 2011):

Professor Takeda of Chubu University has an unusual, short post on his blog for September 5. It’s titled “A Girl Doesn’t Talk…” and the following is my unauthorized, quick translation:

A girl doesn’t talk…

She doesn’t talk. With her clear eyes she looks at everything her mother does. At her side, a boy with bright eyes is excited with the train just passing by.

A middle-aged man shouts. Why can’t I sell contaminated vegetables? I took great pains growing them. What about our livelihood?

The girl doesn’t talk. She quietly eats her school lunch as it is served. Even if the vegetables are contaminated, she takes in the radioactive materials because she trusts adults.

The angry middle-aged man, with the help of the governor and the board of education, shipped the contaminated vegetables that were sold as foodstuff for the school lunches, and he made the living. The government and TEPCO pretended they didn’t know, and the media was afraid to report.

The girl who didn’t talk is now sick in bed. Who could have saved this girl who didn’t talk?

Read moreProf. Kunihiko Takeda of Chubu University: ‘A Girl Doesn’t Talk’

Libya: Letter From Tripoli – Carnage of the Innocent


YouTube Added. 05.09.2011

This letter came from the NGO that was in Tripoli – now they are back in the USA – and they just received this letter.

See also:

Libya: NATO Destroying Sirte – Worse Than Gaza

NATO Rebel Tactics Mean Libyans Can Never Surrender (Video)

Gaddafi Son Saif’s Speech (Sept 01, 2011 – English)

Webster Tarpley: Al-Qaeda Commander of NATO’s Bloody Reign of Terror in Tripoli is the Monster Abdel Hakim Belhadj, aka Abdel Hakim al-Hasadi, Friend of Osama Bin Laden, former US POW, and Infamous Killer of US Soldiers in Afghanistan

France Made Secret Deal With NTC For 35% Of Libya’s Oil (Libération)

GENOCIDE: NATO Bombs Libya With Depleted Uranium (Video)

NATO Vows To STAY In Libya!

Rep. Ron Paul on Libya (Aug 29, 2011)

The Greatest Betrayal: Handing Over Libya To Al-Qaeda

ALL SAHARAN TRIBES From Many Countries Offer To Help And Come To Libya At ONE Call From Gaddafi – Algerian People Headed For Libya Because Of Information That NATO Has 5000 Soldiers On The Ground In Tripoli

Read moreLibya: Letter From Tripoli – Carnage of the Innocent

‘Welcome To The Recovery’ – Collapse: Dying Detroit Looting Itself – Unemployment Estimated At Up To 50 % – Officials: More People In Poverty Than Cars On The Street – Capital Of Scrap

Welcome to the Recovery (New York Times, by Timothy Geithner, August 2, 2010)

Meet Obama’s 75,000 new jobs.

Coming to a city near you (soon).

This is the Greatest Depression.


YouTube (RT, Sep 04, 2011):

US car manufacturers received bailout money and are now reporting profits, but the financial recovery of America’s car makers is not filtering down to the streets of the country’s once-booming automotive capital. Detroit increasingly looks like a ghost town with its residents literally surviving on scraps, while once it was a city that symbolized America’s innovation and manufacturing might.

Several White House Officials Knew About Gun Trafficking Operation ‘FAST AND FURIOUS’

ATF ‘allegedly’ allowed… ???

See also:

AND NOW: Federal Agents Allowed Drug Cartel To Smuggle Tons Of Cocaine Into US

Guns From Illegal ATF ‘Operation Fast and Furious’ Found At Mexican Crime Scenes

Gun-Smuggling Cartel Figures Possibly Were Paid FBI Informants

US Government Openly Admits Arming Mexican Drug Gangs With 30,000 Firearms

Second ATF Agent Speaks Out: ATF Allowed And Encouraged Gun Trafficking To Mexican Drug Cartels

Big US Bank Laundered Billions From Mexico’s Murderous Drug Gangs

Former Assistant Secretary of Housing: The U.S. is the Global Leader in Illegal Money Laundering


ATF Gunwalker: Who at the White House knew? (CBS News, September 2, 2011):

CBS News has obtained a series of emails that show the White House had more information on ATF’s controversial Fast and Furious operation than previously disclosed. But administration officials insists nobody at the White House knew specifically that ATF was allowing guns to “walk” into the hands of suspected gun traffickers for Mexican drug cartels.

ATF ‘allegedly’ allowed more than two thousand assault rifles and other weapons to fall into the hands of suspects from late fall of 2009 through 2010.

The emails indicate three White House officials were briefed on gun trafficking efforts that included Fast and Furious. The officials are Kevin O’Reilly, then-director of North American Affairs, now assigned to the State Department; Dan Restrepo, senior Latin American advisory; and Greg Gatjanis, a national security official.

The White House officials were provided information on Fast and Furious and other border gun trafficking efforts through what an administration source calls “back channels” by ATF’s then-Special Agent in Charge of Phoenix Bill Newell. “…don’t want ATF HQ to find out, especially since this is what they should be doing (briefing you),” Newell wrote in an email to the White House’s O’Reilly on July 28, 2010. Newell has since been transferred out of that post.

Read moreSeveral White House Officials Knew About Gun Trafficking Operation ‘FAST AND FURIOUS’

Nassim Taleb Author Of ‘The Black Swan’: American Economy Will Transfer $5 TRILLION To Banker Pay And Bonuses Over The Next 10 Years

Nassim Taleb: The American Economy Will Transfer $5 Trillion To Banker Pay And Bonuses Over The Next 10 Years (Business Insider, Sep. 2, 2011):

For the American economy – and for many other developed economies – the elephant in the room is the amount of money paid to bankers over the last five years. In the United States, the sum stands at an astounding $2.2 trillion.

Extrapolating over the coming decade, the numbers would approach $5 trillion, an amount vastly larger than what both President Barack Obama’s administration and his Republican opponents seem willing to cut from further government deficits.

That $5 trillion dollars is not money invested in building roads, schools, and other long-term projects, but is directly transferred from the American economy to the personal accounts of bank executives and employees.

Such transfers represent as cunning a tax on everyone else as one can imagine. It feels quite iniquitous that bankers, having helped cause today’s financial and economic troubles, are the only class that is not suffering from them – and in many cases are actually benefiting.

Read moreNassim Taleb Author Of ‘The Black Swan’: American Economy Will Transfer $5 TRILLION To Banker Pay And Bonuses Over The Next 10 Years

Full-Blown Civil War Erupts On Wall Street: As Reality Finally Hits The Financial Elite, They Start Turning On Each Other

Recommended ‘extensive roundup’ here:

Full-Blown Civil War Erupts On Wall Street: As Reality Finally Hits The Financial Elite, They Start Turning On Each Other (AmpedStatus, Sep 3, 2011):

Finally, after trillions in fraudulent activity, trillions in bailouts, trillions in printed money, billions in political bribing and billions in bonuses, the criminal cartel members on Wall Street are beginning to get what they deserve. As the Eurozone is coming apart at the seams and as the US economy grinds to a halt, the financial elite are starting to turn on each other. The lawsuits are piling up fast. Here’s an extensive roundup:

Typhoon Dumps Record Rain On Japan, Killing At Least 20 People

Typhoon dumps record rain on Japan, killing 20 (AP, Sep 04, 20119):

TOKYO (AP) — Typhoon Talas dumped record amounts of rain Sunday in western and central Japan, killing at least 20 people and stranding thousands more as it turned towns into lakes, washed away cars and triggered mudslides that obliterated houses. At least 50 people were missing, local media reported.

Evacuation orders and advisories were issued to 460,000 people in the region, which is hundreds of miles (kilometers) from the country’s tsunami-ravaged northeastern coast.

Read moreTyphoon Dumps Record Rain On Japan, Killing At Least 20 People

Bizarre: Lost iPhone 5 Prototype Update: Police Waiting In Car While Apple Investigators Search Man’s Home

Lost iPhone 5 Update: Police ‘Assisted’ Apple Investigators in Search of SF Man’s Home (San Francisco News, Sep. 2 2011):

The bizarre saga involving a lost prototype of the iPhone 5 has taken another interesting turn. Contradicting past statements that no records exist of police involvement in the search for the lost prototype, San Francisco Police Department spokesman Lt. Troy Dangerfield now tells SF Weekly that “three or four” SFPD officers accompanied two Apple security officials in an unusual search of a Bernal Heights man’s home.

Dangerfield says that, after conferring with Apple and the captain of the Ingleside police station, he has learned that plainclothes SFPD officers went with private Apple detectives to the home of Sergio Calderón, a 22-year-old resident of Bernal Heights. According to Dangerfield, the officers “did not go inside the house,” but stood outside while the Apple employees scoured Calderón’s home, car, and computer files for any trace of the lost iPhone 5. The phone was not found, and Calderón denies that he ever possessed it.

In an interview with SF Weekly last night, Calderón told us that six badge-wearing visitors came to his home in July to inquire about the phone. Calderón said none of them acknowledged being employed by Apple, and one of them offered him $300, and a promise that the owner of the phone would not press charges, if he would return the device.

The visitors also allegedly threatened him and his family, asking questions about their immigration status. “One of the officers is like, ‘Is everyone in this house an American citizen?’ They said we were all going to get into trouble,” Calderón said.

One of the officers left a phone number with him, which SF Weekly traced to Anthony Colon, an investigator employed at Apple, who declined to comment when we reached him.

Reached this afternoon, Calderón confirmed that only two of the six people who came to his home actually entered the house. He said those two did not specifically state they were police officers.

However, he said he was under the impression that they were all police, since they were part of the group outside that identified themselves as SFPD officials. The two who entered the house did not disclose that they were private security officers, according to Calderón.

“When they came to my house, they said they were SFPD,” Calderón said. “I thought they were SFPD. That’s why I let them in.” He said he would not have permitted the search if he had been aware the two people conducting it were not actually police officers.

Read moreBizarre: Lost iPhone 5 Prototype Update: Police Waiting In Car While Apple Investigators Search Man’s Home

Sunflowers Battle Radiation In Fukushima, Japan

Every plant that absorbs high levels of calcium and confuses calcium with radioactive cesium will absorb a lot of radiation.

Can this be called a solution?


Sunflowers battle radiation in Fukushima, Japan (Yahoo News, Aug 30, 2011):

Out of the earthquake’s rubble, bright blooms are providing hope to a nation reeling from nuclear disaster.

When March 11th’s massive earthquake and tsunami knocked out cooling systems at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, about 80,000 people were forced to abandon their homes.

It was “the world’s worst nuclear accident in 25 years.”

With radiation leaks, hydrogen explosions and overheated fuel rods to blame, the radiation spread beyond just the evacuation area, contaminating the ground in the agricultural region. In some areas, even the tea is radioactive.

Fifty kilometres away from the plant site the Buddhist Joenji temple. There, chief monk Koyu Abe and a team of 100 volunteers began growing and distributing sunflowers, hoping to both lift spirits and lighten the radiation’s impact.

“We plant sunflowers, field mustard, amaranthus and cockscomb, which are all believed to absorb radiation,” said the monk. “So far we have grown at least 200,000 flowers (at this temple) and distributed many more seeds. At least 8 million sunflowers blooming in Fukushima originated from here.”

Read moreSunflowers Battle Radiation In Fukushima, Japan

Near Tokyo: Mother Shocked That, Despite Stringent Efforts To Protect Her Child From Radiation, Test Results Show Radioactive Cesium-137 In Her Child’s Urine

Contamination Outside Fukushima (Asia Pacific Journal, September 4, 2011):

The extent of radioactive contamination in Fukushima Prefecture is at the center of important debates as some scientists, NGOs, and citizen’s groups argue that the Japanese government has not gone far enough in dealing with the fallout from the Fukushima Daiichi accident and has deliberately downplayed the potential health effects of radiation. With so much attention focused on Fukushima, however, there has been less consideration of the impact of the crisis, ongoing since March 11, on other parts of Japan. The August 22 issue of AERA magazine, published by Japan’s major progressive newspaper Asahi Shimbun, ran a feature on contamination in the Kanto region entitled Kanto no ko kara hoshano (Radiation Detected from Kanto Children), which broadens discussions of the Fukushima Daiichi crisis’ potential impact. Below is a summary of the AERA article, published under the byline of editor Yamane Yusaku.

The Kanto region is a large area of central Japan that includes Tokyo and nearly 1/3 of Japan’s population including Tokyo. The Japanese government has taken the position that no one outside of the vicinity of the Fukushima Daiichi plant is likely to suffer health effects from the radiation that has been released since March. Many Japanese, especially parents of young children, are doubtful. The article begins by reiterating a point that has been made frequently by critics of the Japanese government – that we simply do not know what effects low levels of radiation and the presence of isotopes in the human body will have on long-term health. The piece tells the story of a mother in Saitama Prefecture who, in the absence of direct government support, arranged to have a sample of her daughter’s urine tested. The test indicated that despite stringent efforts to protect her fifth grader from exposure to contaminated food and airborne radiation, the result was 0.4 Bq of Cesium 137 per kilogram of urine. Cesium 137, with a half-life of just over 30 years, is one of main radioactive isotopes released from the Fukushima Daiichi plant. “I felt a mixture of shock and a feeling that of course this is the case”, laments the girl’s mother.

Read moreNear Tokyo: Mother Shocked That, Despite Stringent Efforts To Protect Her Child From Radiation, Test Results Show Radioactive Cesium-137 In Her Child’s Urine

The Only Thing We Have To Fear Is Fear Itself … And Governments Telling Us What To Fear: Why The Beginning Of The End Started With FDR’s Confiscation Of Gold

The Only Thing We Have To Fear Is Fear Itself… And Governments Telling Us What To Fear: Why The Beginning Of The End Started With FDR’s Confiscation Of Gold (ZeroHedge, Sep 4, 2011):

As is well-known by now, following America’s collapse in the first Great Depression back in 1929, one of the first decisions undertaken by president FDR, not even a month following the first of four inaugural speeches (in which he notably said that “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself“) was to respond to the rolling bank runs and shutdowns, by doing something unprecedented: confiscating the gold of American citizens. And then he logically followed up by doing the only thing that insolvent governments know how to do: he debased the US Dollar overnight by 40% by changing the official exchange ratio of the USD to gold from $20.67 per ounce to $35.00 per troy ounce. Alas, since exchanging such gold would be impossible until 40 years later, nobody could take advantage of this generous offer. It is this point in history that to William Buckler of the famous Privateer newsletter marks the transition of American government from republican (on behalf of the people) to being authoritarian (in control of the people). It also begs the question: what did FDR offer in return for gold confiscation – after all if gold confiscation is not “something to be feared” then there is a quid pro quo. Why he gave us Social Security and the Welfare state. The same “welfare” state whose unfunded obligations amount to roughly $80 trillion, and whose increasingly tangible insolvency is precisely the reason why ever more capital is shifting right back to, you guessed it, gold. Perhaps FDR should have added that in addition to fear itself, the one other thing everyone should fear is governments believing they they know what they are doing when transitioning to central planning an an authoritarian regime based on nothing but faith.

From the latest Privateer newsletter:

The US banking collapse which occurred early in 1933 was the result of a huge withdrawal of Gold by both foreigners and Americans. There was real fear that the incoming government would repudiate the Gold standard – just as the UK government had done in late 1931. The worst nightmare of all central bankers was taking place. Just as Mr Bernanke does today, Fed Chairman Eugene Mayer had access to (primitive) helicopters and printing presses. What he did not have was a “fiat” currency. As long as foreigners – AND AMERICANS – could redeem their US Dollars for Gold, his hands were tied.

Read moreThe Only Thing We Have To Fear Is Fear Itself … And Governments Telling Us What To Fear: Why The Beginning Of The End Started With FDR’s Confiscation Of Gold

Bank of America ‘Called Grieving Widow 48 Times A Day To Remind Her Of Husband’s Debt’

Bank of America ‘called grieving widow 48 times a day to remind her of husband’s debt’ (Daily Mail, Sep 3, 2011):

Bank of America bombarded a grieving widow with calls up to 48 times a day to remind her that her recently deceased husband had missed a mortgage payment, it is claimed.

Deborah Crabtree, from Honolulu, Hawaii, is suing the bank after she said she was called by debt collectors as often as every 15 minutes including during the wake for her husband.

According to papers filed in Hawaii, Mrs Crabtree told the bank that she would pay the debt as soon as she received her husband’s life insurance pay out, but the bank continued to threaten to foreclose on her home.

The bank told the widow that it was unable to stop the calls until the debt was paid as they were computer generated.

Read moreBank of America ‘Called Grieving Widow 48 Times A Day To Remind Her Of Husband’s Debt’

AND NOW: Japan Government Told Fukushima Farmers to Farm as Usual

#Radioactive Produce: National Government Told Fukushima Farmers to Farm as Usual (EX-SKF, September 4, 2011):

It is unconfirmed information, which may not be confirmed at all even if it is true as it may have been the “administrative guidance” from the government without a formal document. Plausible deniability has been one of Japan’s forte over hundreds of years if not thousand.

A resident of Fukushima City, responding to one of the tweets about why the farmers in Fukushima farmed at all this year and continue to sell produce even when they are aware that the land is heavily contaminated with radioactive fallout from Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, says the following:

Read moreAND NOW: Japan Government Told Fukushima Farmers to Farm as Usual

Biggest (Anti-Bankster) Rally In Israel’s History Presses Elite Puppet PM Netanyahu

The elitists have planned – WW III – total destruction for Israel (and the entire middle east) not prosperity.

So be careful people of Israel.

Learn that there is NO enemy out there, EXCEPT the elitists that have created ALL terrorist organizations and ALL wars.

NOTHING on this planet happens by ‘accident’. Everything is PLANNED.

And if these protests turn violent, just catch the ‘rioters’ and you’ll find out that they are really undercover cops.

Flashback:

Former Head of Mossad Meir Dagan: Israel Government ‘Reckless And Irresponsible’ – ‘I Decided To Speak Because When I Was In Office, Diskin, Ashkenazi And I Could Block Any Dangerous Adventure. NOW I AM AFRAID THAT THERE IS NO ONE TO STOP BIBI AND BARAK’


Biggest rally in Israel’s history presses PM (Reuters):

Hundreds of thousands marched Saturday for lower living costs in the largest such rally in Israel’s history, bolstering a social change movement and mounting pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take on economic reform.

Protest leaders called it “the moment of truth” for the grassroots movement that has swollen since July from a cluster of student tent-squatters into a countrywide mobilization of Israel’s middle class.

“An entire generation wants a future,” read one banner as demonstrators flooded the streets of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and cities throughout Israel, shouting “the people demand social justice.”

Read moreBiggest (Anti-Bankster) Rally In Israel’s History Presses Elite Puppet PM Netanyahu

Libya: NATO Destroying Sirte – Worse Than Gaza

Every Single Day There Are Bombings.


YouTube Added: 05.09.2011

Asiel spoke to many people in Sirte today – and recounts to us what is going on – it is surrounded by NATO’s rebels.

See also:

NATO Rebel Tactics Mean Libyans Can Never Surrender (Video)

Gaddafi Son Saif’s Speech (Sept 01, 2011 – English)

Webster Tarpley: Al-Qaeda Commander of NATO’s Bloody Reign of Terror in Tripoli is the Monster Abdel Hakim Belhadj, aka Abdel Hakim al-Hasadi, Friend of Osama Bin Laden, former US POW, and Infamous Killer of US Soldiers in Afghanistan

France Made Secret Deal With NTC For 35% Of Libya’s Oil (Libération)

GENOCIDE: NATO Bombs Libya With Depleted Uranium (Video)

NATO Vows To STAY In Libya!

Rep. Ron Paul on Libya (Aug 29, 2011)

The Greatest Betrayal: Handing Over Libya To Al-Qaeda

ALL SAHARAN TRIBES From Many Countries Offer To Help And Come To Libya At ONE Call From Gaddafi – Algerian People Headed For Libya Because Of Information That NATO Has 5000 Soldiers On The Ground In Tripoli

Read moreLibya: NATO Destroying Sirte – Worse Than Gaza

US In Recession Right Here, Right Now! (Charts)

And I am amused that so view people call it a DEPRESSION.

(Not only) Real unemployment numbers are at depression levels.

This is the Greatest Depression.


US In Recession Right Here, Right Now (Global Economic Analysis, August 29, 2011):

I am amused by those who think a US recession will come within a year. Even more amusing are those who think a recession will not come at all.

The US is in a recession now. I am not the only one who thinks so.

Last Friday, I received an email from Rick Davis at Consumer Metrics, complete with an Excel spreadsheet that shows that had the GDP deflator been based on the consumer price index (CPI) rather than the BEA’s measure of price inflation, the US would already be in the second quarter of contraction.

My friend Tim Wallace noted Davis’ explanation would be consistent with Petroleum Distillates Demand Shows “Definite Economic Downturn Starting April/May 2011”.

Thus Wallace was not surprised at all.

In the meantime, I received a set of emails from Doug Short. He had already charted what I was about to graph. Let’s take a look.

The Deflator Makes Big a Difference

Please consider Will the “Real” GDP Please Stand Up? by Doug Short.

How do you get from Nominal GDP to Real GDP? You subtract inflation. The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) uses its own GDP deflator for this purpose, which is somewhat different from the BEA’s deflator for Personal Consumption Expenditures and quite a bit different from the better-known Bureau of Labor Statistics’ inflation gauge, the Consumer Price Index.

I’ve updated my charts showing quarterly Real GDP since 1960 with the official and three variant adjustment techniques. The first chart is the official series as calculated by the BEA with the GDP deflator. The second starts with nominal GDP and adjusts using the PCE Deflator, which is also a product of the BEA. The third adjusts nominal GDP with the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers (CPI-U, or as I prefer, just CPI). The forth chart, a recent addition prompted by several requests, adjusts nominal GDP using the Alternate CPI published by economist John Williams at shadowstats.com

The following charts are courtesy of from Doug Short.

Read moreUS In Recession Right Here, Right Now! (Charts)

4 Above Limit Radioactive Cesium Tea Products Reach Market

Cesium over limit found in tea using Saitama, Chiba leaves (Japan Times/Kyodo News, Sep. 4, 2011):

Radioactive cesium exceeding the legal limit has been detected in four tea products that reached the market and were made with tea leaves from Saitama and Chiba prefectures, a recent health ministry inspection showed.

One of the products, using tea leaves from Chiba Prefecture, contained 2,720 becquerels of cesium per kilogram, far above the government-set limit of 500 becquerels, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said Friday.

The three other products, made with tea leaves from Saitama Prefecture, were found to contain between 800 and 1,530 becquerels of cesium. It is the first time cesium exceeding the maximum limit has been detected in Saitama tea leaves.

The cesium levels were recorded during snap inspections of farm products by the ministry.

Read more4 Above Limit Radioactive Cesium Tea Products Reach Market

TEPCO: Plutonium 238, 239, 240 Detected At Fukushima Playground, Considered To Be From Triple Meltdown

Detection of radioactive materials in the soil in Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (31st release) (TEPCO, Press Release Sept. 03, 2011):

As part of monitoring activity of the surrounding environment, we conducted an analysis of plutonium contained in the soil collected on March 21 and 22 at the 5 spots in Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. As a result, plutonium 238, 239 and 240 were detected.

As a result of plutonium and strontium analysis in the soil from the samples at the 3 periodic sampling spots collected on August 15, plutonium 238, 239, and 240 and strontium 89 and 90 were detected as shown in the attachment 1 and 2.

In addition, as a result of nuclide analysis of the gamma ray contained in the soil, radioactive materials were detected as shown in the attachment 3.

Today, we informed the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency and the government of Fukushima Prefecture of the results.

We will continue conducting the similar analysis.

Appendix1: Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station: Plutonium analysis 
           result in the soil (PDF 34.4KB)
Appendix2: Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station: Strontium analysis 
           result in the soil (PDF 8.80KB)
Appendix3: Result of gamma ray nuclide analysis of soil
           - Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (PDF 10.2KB)

See also:

Tokyo University Soil Expert: ‘This Is A Disaster Affecting All Residents Of Japan’ – ‘In 5-10 Years Time Cancer Or Illness Will Show’

Radioactive Fish Above Legal Limit Caught in River North Of Tokyo – ‘Survey Finds Radiation Over Wide Area in Japan’ (Wall Street Journal)

Greenpeace: Fukushima Schools Unsafe For Children With Radiation Readings As Much As 70 Times Above Safety Limit

Fukushima Released 76 TRILLION Bequerels Of Plutonium 239

DOOMED: Japan Gov. To Allow All RADIOACTIVE Material To Be Burned And Buried

Fukushima Soil Contamination Exceeds Chernobyl Dead Zone At 34 Locations In 6 Municipalities, In One Location The Contamination Level Is More Than 10 Times The Chernobyl Level

Read moreTEPCO: Plutonium 238, 239, 240 Detected At Fukushima Playground, Considered To Be From Triple Meltdown

28,000 Becquerels/Kg Of Radioactive Cesium In Wild Mushrooms in Fukushima

Wild Mushroom in Fukushima Tested 28,000 Becquerels/kg of Radioactive Cesium (EX-SKF, September 3, 2011):

“It’s not food any more, it’s simply radioactive materials”, as the young man at the Citizen’s Radioactivity Measuring Station in Fukushima City said of the radioactive mushroom in Germany’s ZDF program aired on August 9.

Wild mushroom harvested in a town in Fukushima tested highest ever radioactive cesium so far in food after the Fukushima I Nuke Plant accident that I’m aware of: 28,000 becquerels per kilogram.

According to the data from Fukushima Prefecture, 13,000 becquerels/kg of cesium-134, and 15,000 becquerels/kg of cesium-137 were detected from the mushroom.

The town, Tanakura-machi, is located at about 73 kilometers southwest of Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant.

From Yomiuri Shinbun (9/3/2011):

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Fukushima Prefecture announced on September 3 that 28,000 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium was detected from wild mushroom, Lactarius volemus, harvested in the mountains in Tanakura-machi. The level of radioactive cesium vastly exceeds the national provisional safety limit of 500 becquerels/kg.

Read more28,000 Becquerels/Kg Of Radioactive Cesium In Wild Mushrooms in Fukushima