U.S. Companies with Foreign Ownership

Do you really care?

This item all started when Tesco PLC, a British company, announced it is planning to close its Fresh and Easy convenience markets located in many cities throughout the United States. One of the potential buyers is Trader Joe’s. As it happens Trader Joe’s is owned by another foreign company, ALDI Einkauf GmbH & Co. oHG, a German company.

Everyone wants a piece of the American pie. Bayer Aspirin is German. Nestle is a Swiss company selling chocolate to water. Royal Dutch Shell is the owner of Shell Oil, Philips Lighting (various light bulbs found in Lowe’s and Home Depot) is owned by Koninklijke Philips NV, a Dutch company, and Westfield shopping malls are owned by The Westfield Group an Australian conglomoerate.

Henan Shuanghui Investment & Development Co., China’s largest meat processing enterprise, will now be the parent company of brands like Armour, Farmland and Healthy Ones all thanks to the purchase of Smithfield Ham.

Others:

BEN & JERRY’S	Unilever, the British/Dutch company
GERBER	Novartis, Swiss pharmaceutical company
PURINA	Nestle, a Swiss company
ALKA-SELTZER	Bayer, a German pharmaceutical company
JOHN HANCOCK LIFE INSURANCE	Manulife Financial, a Canadian insurance company
IBM THINKPAD	Lenovo, a Chinese company
TD AMERITRADE	Toronto Dominion Bank, a Canadian company
BUDWEISER	InBev, a Belgian company

Learn more by reading the packages of the products you buy!

“Taper” and “Sequester” both Wall of Strength?

“Taper” may be easier to define (and spell) than “sequester” but both caused the same headache for financial markets.

“Taper” is the latest buzzword that describes the Federal Reserve’s pledge to gradually drawdown the ultra-loose borrowing conditions fueled by its bond buying (the Fed’s demand drives up bond prices and drives down borrowing rates pinned to those bonds). “Sequester” you’ll remember was the S-word that emerged from federal budget-balancing attempts. It had investors bracing, however briefly, for an expensive and inconvenient government service disruption. Words can be potent once they’ve entered the investing vernacular. We get it. It’s noise that can be hard to tune out. And who wants to turn a deaf ear when our portfolios are at stake? Frankly, the negative use of the word “tapering” has muddled the fact that the Fed is simply readying for actions that most investors have expected for some time—which ironically, are tailored responses to an improving economy.

The formidable line here is an uptrend. The S&P 500 closed at an all-time high 1,669.16 on May 21, 2013, up over 130% from its financial-crisis low of 676.53 reached March 9, 2009, but it wasn’t a straight path to that high. From election uncertainty to fiscal-cliff vertigo to rumblings from Europe, and now, intense focus on the Fed–we’ve been here before. Data source: TD Ameritrade/Standard & Poors.

Of course there are no guarantees. Today panic seems to be in the air.

George Zimmerman has a Jury of Six

July 13, 2013

George Zimmerman found innocent!

Six women were selected yesterday to serve on the Florida jury that will decide if George Zimmerman is guilty of second-degree murder in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.

I was surprised to learn that the Zimmerman murder trial in Florida consists of only six people on the jury. I had always believed a jury must consist of 12 people.

From Exploring Constitutional Conflicts I have learned the following:

The Court (Supreme Court) had long taken the position that a jury in a criminal case must have 12 members. In 1898, the Court said, “a jury comprised of 12 persons, neither more or less” was a constitutional requirement. In 1970, in Williams v Florida, they Court reconsidered its earlier statements on jury size in a case that affirmed the conviction of a robber convicted by a six-member Florida jury. The Court noted that the Sixth Amendment says nothing at all about jury size, even though 12 person-juries had been traditionally used in America. The expectation that a jury consists of 12 members dated back to the 1300s, but the Court found that to be a “historical accident.” Concluding that a six-person jury could fulfill the framers’ expectations concerning a jury’s functions just as well as a 12-person jury, the Court rejected its prior words on the subject and held that six-person juries satisfy the requirements of the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments. Justice Harlan harshly criticized the majority’s reasoning, asking where and how the Court might draw the line on jury size. Would a three-person jury be okay, he wondered?

California does use the 12 person jury. Criminal cases must have a unanimous verdict. Civil cases require a nine person majority. Nowhere does the United States Constitution say that a jury has to consist of 12 people.

For thousands of years, though, civilizations have given great mystical prominence to an even dozen. The 12 days of Christmas. The 12 hours on the clock. The 12 tribes of Israel. Twelve months of the year, 12 houses of an astrological chart. A baker’s dozen.

And 12 jurors. That’s the tradition and the law in most states. An ancient Welsh king, Morgan of Gla-Morgan, who established trial by jury in A.D. 725, is said to have declared, “For as Christ and his 12 apostles were finally to judge the world, so human tribunals should be composed of the king and 12 wise men.”

Convincing six people of anything is defintiely easier than convincing twelve. It seems to me that erring on the side of a person is innocent until proven guilty the Supreme Court would have upheld the 12 person requirement.

City Mismanagement

In 1950, Chicago’s population peaked at about 3.6 million people. Since then, the city has lost nearly 1 million residents. Corruption, government bureaucracy, high taxes and a lack of a significant wealth-generating industry have all been cited as factors.

The city’s fastest growing industry is Business Products & Services according to a study conducted by city government. Seaton Companies, a headhunter firm is their largest fast growing company. While head hunting companies do create jobs, the numbers would be small compared to the more likely industries like finance and manufacturing.

On Wilshire Blvd. Beverly Hills – Panasonic DMC FZ28, f/5.6, 1/500 sec., ISO 100, hand held

Los Angeles seems to be taking a page from the Chicago playbook. Added taxes, added fines, and potential lost jobs are the consequence of surrendering to environmentalists. The latest decision by the Los Angeles city council is to ban plastic shopping bags at all stores and require stores to charge 10¢ for every paper shopping bag.

The Los Angeles County unemployment rate is 9.3%. To drive that number even higher the city council should consider new taxes at restaurants, hotels, and amusement parks. The reason would be we need more money to clean the streets or hire more police.

Of course this makes no sense. But who said City Hall is sensible?

There is the issue. The city councils of Chicago, Los Angeles, and many other cities are responding to pressure groups rather than doing the right thing. Of course they say they are doing the right thing. With high unemployment in Los Angeles and a falling population in Chicago, are they doing the right things?

The Joy of Sarah Palin

Former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is rejoining Fox News. It’s a time to rejoice for liberal commentators.

The crew over at MSNBC has been in a funk. After all their major targets for ridicule have been Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin. The mockery has been well deserved.

Bachmann is famous for her accusations. She suggested that the HPV vaccine known as Gardasil had caused mental retardation in the child of one of her supporters. After a swift public outcry, Bachmann cautioned that she was not a doctor but still stood by her story. The there was the time that Bachmann told Chris Matthews on “Hardball” that the media should probe Congress for “anti-America” views.

Then there were the Katie Couric (when Couric was the CBS Evening News anchor) interviews with Sarah Palin. They were not meant to be disrespectful and the questions were what most would consider “softball.”

Couric asked Palin her opinion on the emergency economic bailout the Bush administration was proposing:

COURIC: Why isn’t it better, Governor Palin, to spend $700 billion helping middle-class families, who are struggling with healthcare, housing, gas and groceries, allow them to spend more and put more money into the economy instead of helping these big financial institutions that played a role in creating this mess?

PALIN: That’s why I say, I, like every American I’m speaking with, we’re ill about this position that we have been put in where it is the tax payers looking to bail out, but ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the healthcare reform that is needed to help shore up our economy, helping tho— it’s got to be all about job creation too, shoring up our economy, and putting it back on the right track, so healthcare reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions and tax relief for Americans. And trade, we’ve got to see trade as opportunity, not as— competitive— scary thing, but one in five jobs being created in the trade sector today, we’ve got to look at that as more opportunity. All those things under the umbrella of job creation. This bailout is a part of that.

In another segment aired on September 30, 2008, Couric asked Palin about her taste in periodicals:

COURIC: And when it comes to establishing your world view, I was curious, what newspapers and magazines did you regularly read before you were tapped for this — to stay informed and to understand the world?

PALIN: I’ve read most of them again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media, coming f—

COURIC: But like which ones specifically? I’m curious that you—

PALIN: Um, all of ’em, any of ’em that, um, have, have been in front of me over all these years. Um, I have a va—

COURIC: Can you name a few?

PALIN: I have a vast variety of sources where we get our news too. Alaska isn’t a foreign country, where, it’s kind of suggested and it seems like, ‘Wow, how could you keep in touch with what the rest of Washington, D.C. may be thinking and doing when you live up there in Alaska?’ Believe me, Alaska is like a microcosm of America.

And who could forget Palin’s comment that the difference between a hockey mom and a Pit Bull? Lipstick. You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.

Chris Matthews can hardly wait for Palin’s return to Fox News.

Clean Tap Water Fails to Reach Faucets Nationwide

June 17, 2013: The Los Angeles Times has caught up with KPCC and the New York Times in today’s from page article titled “Funding to improve drinking water has come at a slow drip.” What will it take to motivate California government?

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KPCC, an NPR station in Los Angeles, had an item this past Friday about Springfield California that does not have drinkable water. Nitrates from fertilizer have poisoned the well that is the source of their piped water. The residences of the community must drive five miles to buy bottled water. The people are all too poor to move from the community. The community is unincorporated and does not qualify for any grant programs.

Springfield lies along a single dusty road near Watsonville in Monterey County. Strawberry fields surround the road. The town is so small you cannot find it on a map. In the middle of one of those fields is the source of the community’s frustration.

Upon research I have learned that this situation is not at all uncommon throughout the nation.

Laura Garcia, whose well water is laced with excessive nitrates, had to use bottled water until the recent installation of a filtration system in her sink.

MONSON, Calif. — I did find it on the map north of Visalia California. Laura Garcia was halfway through the breakfast dishes when the spigot went dry. The small white tank beneath the sink that purified her undrinkable water had run out. Still, as annoying as that was, it was an improvement over the days before Ms. Garcia got her water filter, when she had to do her dishes using water from five-gallon containers she bought at a local store.

Environmental Protection Agency distributes funds to state agencies that are supposed to identify problems and underwrite solutions. By the E.P.A.’s calculations, no state has been as inept in distributing the money as California.

According to Jared Blumenfeld, the regional administrator of the E.P.A., nearly a quarter of all small water systems in California are in the Central Valley. To fix the problems, however, requires access to engineering and financial management resources beyond the reach of the needy communities, Mr. Blumenfeld said. “We require the state to be sure the people they fund have managerial, financial and administrative capacity to deal” with their water issues.

Meanwhile there are people retiring in California from government jobs with annual pensions of more than $100K.

Additional source for this article from the New York Times.

Does the Federal Government know too much about you?

June 10, 2013 news report:

“Orwell’s ‘1984’ Soars on Amazon After NSA Surveillance Reports”

The 4^th Amendment to the Constitution says:

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

Despite those words the NSA (National Security Agency) has programs that monitors who is talking, texting and e-mailing to whom. The programs are both domestic and international. The NSA has used FISA court approvals that give their investigations legitimacy.

Senate Intelligence Committee lead members Dianne Feinstein and Mike Rogers both say that the NSA is acting legally and both contend that their have been real benefits to the agency’s actions.

CNN pointed out one example. This was also reported in the New York Magazine and on CBS News. The email monitoring program called PRISM stopped Najibullah Zazi from blowing up backpacks in the New York City subway. The CNN report showed the email where Zazi sent an email asking for instructions on bomb building. He included his phone number in the email.

When I applied for Social Security my monthly payout was increased by $100 because I am married. The Social Security worker not only named my wife, she gave me her birth date. I merely confirmed the information.

Writing me a check for $10,000 or more? The banks are required to report those transactions to the Treasury Department.

Try not filing your income tax form one year and see if anyone notices.

It’s all in the name of security. To put it another way, has Orwell’s “1984” finally arrived?

10 states most at risk for major disasters

Surprisingly Oklahoma is not the number one state for disasters according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Oklahoma came in at number 3.

10. Missouri

The Show-Me State has been shown disastrous weather in every month of the year: severe snow and ice storms in winter, tornadoes during the spring, summer and fall, and flooding at virtually any time.

Major disaster declarations since 1953: 53

9. Arkansas

Arkansas has been walloped by heavy rain, snow, ice, tornadoes and flooding over the years and has even taken poundings from tropical storm systems, though it’s not a coastal state. In 2008, storms and tornadoes associated with Hurricane Gustav littered streets with debris, damaged buildings, roads and bridges, and knocked out electric cooperatives.

Major disaster declarations since 1953: 54

8. Kentucky

The disaster roster in Kentucky has included landslides, mudslides and rockslides, along with flooding and tornadoes. The state was ripped up in 2008 by the remnants of Hurricane Ike. Another major disaster declaration involved a record snowfall in late 2004, and yet another stemmed from a 1981 series of chemical explosions in the Louisville sewers.

Major disaster declarations since 1953: 56

7. Alabama

This Gulf Coast state has been battered by hurricanes, including Isaac in 2012, Gustav in 2008, Katrina and Dennis in 2005, and Ivan in 2004. But tornadoes in April 2011 rivaled the hurricanes for destructive power, lashing the state with winds that exceeded 210 mph and leaving about 250 people dead and an estimated $1.5 billion in damage.

Major disaster declarations since 1953: 57

6. Louisiana

It has taken Louisiana years to recover from Hurricane Katrina, the now-legendary 2005 storm that government officials say killed nearly 1,000 residents and caused tens of billions of dollars in damage. The Gulf state has been visited by numerous hurricanes including 1969’s Camille, a Category 5 storm that came ashore with 190 mph winds. By comparison, Katrina was “only” a Category 3 on the wind scale.

Major disaster declarations since 1953: 60

5. Florida

The Sunshine State has been pummeled by dozens of tropical storm systems since the 1950s — none worse than Hurricane Andrew in 1992. The Category 5 hurricane with gusts of more than 200 mph held the title as the most expensive natural disaster in U.S. history until Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Severe freezes have been disastrous for Florida farming on multiple occasions.

Major disaster declarations since 1953: 65

4. New York

Across its empire that stretches from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic coast, New York has been lashed by everything from blizzards to tropical storms. In 2012, Superstorm Sandy killed nearly 50 in the state and caused more than $40 billion in damage. New York also received disaster declarations for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center and an earlier bombing in the complex’s garage.

Major disaster declarations since 1953: 67

3. Oklahoma

The recent monster tornado that blasted through the Oklahoma City suburbs is only the latest devastating storm to hit a state that recorded an average of 55 twisters per year since 1950. The worst tornado in recent history struck near Oklahoma City in May 1999 with unprecedented winds in excess of 300 mph that killed 36 people. Oklahoma also has endured severe winter storms, wildfires, floods and the 1995 terrorist bombing that killed 168 people at the Oklahoma City federal building.

Major disaster declarations since 1953: 73

2. California

Apartment house damage from 1994 Northridge Earthquake

The nation’s most populous state also is one of the most disaster-prone thanks to wildfires, landslides, flooding, winter storms, severe freeze and even tsunami waves. But earthquakes are the disaster perhaps most closely associated with California. The worst in recent years have included a magnitude-6.9 quake near San Francisco in 1989 that killed 63 and a magnitude-6.7 quake in Southern California in 1994 that killed 61.

Major disaster declarations since 1953: 78

1. Texas

Within Texas’ nearly 267,000 square miles (second only to Alaska in size), at least one major disaster is declared nearly every calendar year. The Lone Star State has dealt with tornadoes, floods, wildfires and fairly frequent coastal hurricanes. One of the deadliest and costliest in recent decades was Hurricane Celia, which tore up Corpus Christi in 1970. The storm left 13 dead and destroyed millions of dollars’ worth of property.

Major disaster declarations since 1953: 86