North Korea threatens South with 'final destruction'

  

GENEVA (Reuters) - North Korea threatened South Korea with "final destruction" during a debate at the United Nations Conference on Disarmament on Tuesday, saying it could take further steps after a nuclear test last week. Jon's comments drew quick criticism from other nations, including South Korea, France, Germany and Britain, whose ambassador Joanne Adamson said such language was "completely inappropriate" and the discussion with North Korea was heading in the wrong direction. 

"In the 30 years of my career I've never heard anything like it and it seems to me that we are not speaking about something that is even admissible, we are speaking about a threat of the use of force that is prohibited by Article 2.4 of the United Nations charter," Catalina said. Since the North tested a nuclear bomb last week in defiance of U.N. resolutions, its southern neighbour has warned it could strike the isolated state if it believed an attack was imminent. Pyongyang said the aim of the test was to bolster its defences given the hostility of the United States, which has led a push to impose sanctions on North Korea. "If the U.S. takes a hostile approach toward the DPRK to the last, rendering the situation complicated, it (North Korea) will be left with no option but to take the second and third stronger steps in succession," he said, without indicating what that might entail. North Korea has already told key ally China that it is prepared to stage one or two more tests this year to force the United States into diplomatic talks, a source with direct knowledge of the message told Reuters last week.

Impoverished and malnourished North Korea is one of the most heavily sanctioned states in the world. It is still technically at war with South Korea after a 1950-53 civil war ended in a mere truce.
Washington and its allies are believed to be pushing to tighten the noose around North Korea's financial transactions in a bid to starve its leadership of funding. Jon said last week's test was an act of self-defence against nuclear blackmail by the United States, which wanted to block North Korea's economic development and its fundamental rights. Jon said the United States had conducted most of the nuclear tests and satellite launches in history, and he described its pursuit of U.N. Security Council resolutions against North Korea as "a breach of international law and the height of double standards".

Neither Russia nor China, which are veto-wielding members of the U.N. Security Council, spoke at Tuesday's meeting in Geneva. Before its nuclear test, North Korea was already facing growing diplomatic pressure at the United Nations. The U.N. Human Rights Council is widely expected to order an inquiry next month into its leaders' responsibilities for crimes against humanity. MadOne

Best Buy announces locations for store closings

RICHFIELD, Minn. (AP) — Best Buy on Saturday announced the locations of 50 stores that it is closing this year, including seven in California, six in Illinois and six in the company's home state of Minnesota. The struggling electronics chain said last month that it would close some of its so-called big box stores, cut 400 corporate jobs and trim $800 million in costs. Best Buy plans to open 100 smaller, more profitable Best Buy Mobile stores. The company is trying to avoid the fate of Circuit City, which went out of business in 2009. It faces slower sales of expensive items like TVs, plus increased competition from Amazon.com and discount stores like Target.

Best Buy has about 1,400 locations in the United States. It has already closed two stores this year, one in Missouri and one in Arizona. Most of the rest of the 50 will close May 12, others this summer.

Scientists warn of 'emergency on global scale'

Leading scientists on Thursday called on the upcoming Rio Summit to grapple with environmental ills that they said pointed to "a humanitarian emergency on a global scale." In a "State of the Planet" declaration issued after a four-day conference, the scientists said Earth was now facing unprecedented challenges, from water stress, pollution and species loss to spiralling demands for food.

"The continuing function of the Earth system as it has supported the wellbeing of human civilisation in recent centuries is at risk," said the statement issued at the "Planet Under Pressure" conference. "These threats risk intensifying economic, ecological and social crises, creating the potential for a humanitarian emergency on a global scale." "Climate change, the financial crisis and food, water and energy security threaten human wellbeing and civilisation as we know it."  "Climate change, the financial crisis and food, water and energy security threaten human wellbeing and civilisation as we know it."

These changes have brought stability and innovation but created a system vulnerable to sudden stress, as the global financial meltdown and surge in food prices had shown. Existing international arrrangements are not dealing quickly enough with current global challenges such as climate change and biodiversity loss. It called for a "polycentric approach" for planetary stewardship, meaning a diverse partnership between local, national and regional governments that also includes business and grassroots groups. AFP

Wal-Mart is Worried about Amazon

Five years ago, the world’s largest retail chain didn’t have to worry much about the world’s largest online mall. Only about a quarter of Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) customers shopped at Amazon.com (AMZN), according to data from researcher Kantar Retail. Today, however, half of Wal-Mart customers say they’ve shopped at both merchants. That’s leaving the mega-retailer—which long ago bested local brick-and-mortar merchandise stores and supermarkets across America—with a massive online competitor that is too tough to ignore. Threatening Wal-Mart’s dominance are two trends: The discounter’s traditional customers—bargain hunters making less than $50,000 a year—are getting more tech-savvy, and more-affluent shoppers who began frequenting Wal-Mart during the recession are returning to Amazon as their finances improve. 

In the last year Wal-Mart has increased its investment in its online business. The company has spent more than $300 million acquiring five tech firms since May and hired more than 300 engineers and code writers in the U.S. and India. Wal-Mart is trying to improve links between its store inventory, website, and mobile phone apps so that more customers can order online and pick up their purchases at stores, which half of Web customers do already. Wal-Mart is trying Web-based shopping tactics, like its Pay With Cash program for Wal-Mart customers who don’t have credit cards. The new program allows them to reserve products online and pay cash at their nearest store. To cater to its affluent customers, Wal-Mart is selling more expensive items—for example, high-end televisions from Sony (SNE) and Samsung—only online. What's my take on all this.... shop Amazon. MadOne / Bloomberg BusinessWeek

Unemployment in Las Vegas area takes a dip

CARSON CITY — For the first time in four months, the unemployment rate has dropped in the Las Vegas area, dipping to 13.6 percent in September. The number of unemployed fell from 135,720 in August to 129,400 in September. The Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation reported today the statewide rate stabilized at 13.4 percent for the month, the same rate as in August. Gov. Brian Sandoval said, “This month it appears the unemployment rate is stabilizing and that job growth is outpacing job losses.” Bill Anderson, chief economist for the department said, however, “While employers in the Silver State added 10,000 most were seasonal in nature.” The U.S. rate remained at 9.1 percent. 

In the Las Vegas area, construction employment grew by 1,000 jobs to a total of 41,900 in September. The number of jobs in the hotel-casino category increased by 800 to 161,200. The 13.6 percent in the Las Vegas area was the lowest since 12.1 percent in April and compared to the 14.2 percent in August. The department reported employment in manufacturing in the Las Vegas area remained at 18,300. The number of jobs in trade, transportation and utilities reached 143,400, up 400 from August. Washoe County, meanwhile, also saw a decline in unemployment, dropping from 13 percent in August to 12.6 percent in September. Carson City’s rate fell from 12.7 percent in August to 12.4 percent in September. MadOne

More Americans than Chinese can’t put food on the table

The number of Americans who lack access to basic necessities like food and healthcare is now higher than it was at the peak of the Great Recession, a survey released Thursday found. And in a finding that could worsen fears of U.S. decline, the share of Americans struggling to put food on the table is now three times as large as the share of the Chinese population in the same position.

The United States' Basic Index Score, a Gallup measure of access to necessities, fell to 81.4 in September--even lower than the 81.5 mark it reached in February and March, 2009. The recession officially ended in June of that year, but the halting recovery hasn't provided a sustained boost to the number of Americans able to provide for themselves. The government reported last month that a record number of Americans is living in poverty.

Between September 2008 and last month, the share of Americans with access to a personal doctor plummeted from 82.5 percent to 78.3 percent. The share with health insurance fell from 85.9 percent to 82.3 percent. And the share saying they had enough money to buy food for themselves and their family dropped from 81.1 percent to 80.1 percent. Gallup's surveys are based on the phone and in-person interviews.

Meanwhile, Gallup found that just 6 percent of Chinese said there were times in the past 12 months when they lacked enough money for food for themselves or their family, compared to 19 percent of Americans. Just three years ago, those results were almost reversed: 16 percent of Chinese couldn't put food on the table at times, compared to 9 percent of Americans. Yahoo / MadOne

IRS Shake down coming?

Imagine this scenario: The IRS may soon just do your taxes for you — and send you the bill. If this sounds farfetched, it’s not. With a new congressional “super committee” tasked with finding $1.5 trillion in cuts by November, creative ways to find additional revenue are in high demand. And allowing the IRS to prepare you taxes could be one solution. The idea has been around for a while, but has been picking up steam in recent years. In 2006, Senate  Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) argued it would close a $345 billion annual difference between what the government believes taxpayers owe them and what the IRS actually collects, which he calls the “tax gap.” 

But this isn’t just an idea floated by senators and presidential advisers. While running for president, then-Sen. Barack Obama touted it during a 2007 speech at the Tax Policy Institute: “The government already collects wage and bank account information,” he said, “so there’s no reason the IRS can’t send Americans pre-filled tax forms to verify.” While the notion of allowing government to encroach on yet another aspect of our lives might sound like a hard sell, members of the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) believe this is a very real threat. InfoWars

Obama to propose $300 billion jobs package

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama, facing waning confidence among Americans in his economic stewardship, plans some $300 billion in tax cuts and government spending as part of a job-creating package, U.S. media reported on Tuesday. The price tag of the proposed package, to be announced by Obama in a nationally televised speech to Congress on Thursday, would be offset by other cuts that the president would outline, CNN reported, citing Democratic sources. Bloomberg News said the plan would inject more than $300 billion into the economy next year through tax cuts, spending on infrastructure, and aid to state and local governments.

Obama's aides have refused to go public with the estimated cost of Obama's package or provide many specifics in advance, except to say that the proposals will have a "quick and positive" impact on boosting jobs at a time of stubbornly high U.S. unemployment. Republicans criticized Obama for not including them in discussions on the package before his big speech and indicated any jobs bills could face tough passage through Congress, where they control the House of Representatives. 

An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll showed Obama's job approval rating at a low of 44 percent, while an ABC News/ Washington Post poll found that six in 10 Americans now rate the president's job on the economy and jobs negatively. Obama must get unemployment down from levels currently above 9 percent to improve his chances of winning a second White House term in the November 2012 election.

U.S. Dollar to drop on S&P move

LONDON (Reuters) - The dollar may fall and Treasury yields rise on Monday in response to the United States losing its top-tier credit rating from Standard & Poor's but any selling is likely to be tempered by the euro zone's escalating debt crisis. Equity markets' likely reaction was indicated by a drop of more than six percent on Sunday in Tel Aviv stocks, one of the first to open globally after S&P on Friday cut the U.S. long-term credit rating by a notch to AA-plus from AAA. 

Investors will be all the more likely to withdraw to safe havens, such as the Swiss franc, the yen and gold, if euro zone officials cannot stem concern that their debt crisis risks engulfing Italy, the bloc's third largest economy, whose government bond yields have soared to 14-year highs. "The real effects of this (U.S. credit rating downgrade) will take time to show through but a weaker U.S. dollar and marginally higher yields are likely," said Charles Diebel, a strategist at Lloyds Bank.

U.S. Loses Triple AAA Rating.

After a week that saw $2.5 trillion wiped off global stock markets, they are under pressure to show political leadership and reassure markets that Western governments have both the will and ability to reduce their huge and growing public debt loads.  Standard and Poor's deepened the urgency for action late on Friday by stripping the United States of its top-tier AAA credit rating, a move that over time could ripple through markets worldwide by pushing up borrowing costs and making it more difficult to secure a lasting recovery.

It cited the acrimonious debate in Washington on raising the debt ceiling and near political paralysis over the best way to reduce the its $14.3 trillion debt, which on the current trajectory could climb above 100 percent of U.S. national output this decade. S&P's one-notch downgrade of the U.S. sovereign credit rating to AA-plus, while not totally unexpected, adds another level of uncertainty. Loss of gold-plated status for the world's benchmark interest rate risks pushing up borrowing costs on everything from car loans, mortgages and corporate debt to government bonds worldwide. 

China, the largest foreign holder of U.S. debt, took the world's economic superpower to task for allowing its fiscal house to get into such disarray. It also revived its calls for a new stable global reserve currency to replace the U.S. dollar, gaining a sympathetic ear in the United Kingdom. "The U.S. government has to come to terms with the painful fact that the good old days when it could just borrow its way out of messes of its own making are finally gone," China's official Xinhua news agency said in a commentary. Xinhua scorned the United States for a "debt addiction" and "short sighted" political wrangling. China, it said, "has every right now to demand the United States address its structural debt problems and ensure the safety of China's dollar assets." MadOne

Nevada June jobless rate climbs to 12.4 percent

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) -- Nevada's unemployment rate has inched up to 12.4 percent in June to mark the first time this year numbers have increased. The June figure is a slight jump from May's 12.1 percent jobless rate but is still lower than last June's 14.9 percent statewide unemployment.

State employment department chief economist Bill Anderson says non-farm payrolls shed 2,900 jobs between May and June, signaling that weak national market conditions are trickling down to Nevada. The Las Vegas metropolitan area continues to post the highest jobless numbers in the Nevada, with a 13.8 unemployment rate last month, compared to 13 percent in the Reno-Sparks area and 12.5 percent in Carson City. Nevada still lags behind the national June jobless rate of 9.2 percent. MadOne

Unemployment rose to 9.2 percent as hiring stalls

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hiring slowed to a near-standstill last month. U.S. employers added the fewest jobs in nine months and the unemployment rate rose to 9.2 percent. The economy generated only 18,000 net jobs in June, the Labor Department said Friday. And the number of jobs added in May was revised down to 25,000.

The latest report offered stark evidence that the recovery will be painfully slow. It also raised doubts that the economy will rebound in the second half of the year after hitting a spring slump.

Businesses added just 57,000 jobs last month— the fewest in more than a year. Governments cut 39,000 jobs. Over the past eight months, federal, state and local governments have cut a combined 238,000 positions. Stock futures plunged after the report's release. "June's employment report doesn't have a single redeeming feature," said Paul Ashworth, an economist at Capital Economics. "It's awful from start to finish." 

Unemployment has topped 8 percent for 29 months, the longest streak since the 1930s. It has never been so high so long after a recession ended. At the same point after the previous three recessions, unemployment averaged just 6.8 percent.

U.S. Jobless Rate Rises

WASHINGTON (Lucia Mutikani) - Employment rose far less than expected in May to record its weakest reading since September, while the jobless rate rose to 9.1 percent as high energy prices and the effects of Japan's earthquake bogged down the economy.

Nonfarm payrolls increased 54,000 last month, the Labor Department said on Friday, with private employment rising 83,000, the least amount since June. Government payrolls dropped 29,000. Economists polled by Reuters had expected payrolls to rise 150,000 and private hiring to increase 175,000 in May. The government revised employment figures for March and April to show 39,000 fewer jobs created than previously estimated.

The employment report showed weakness across the board, with the private services sector adding 80,000 jobs last month after increasing payrolls by 213,000 in April. Within the private services sector, leisure and hospitality fell, showing no boost from McDonald's recruitment of about 50,000 new staff in April, which was after the survey period for that month's payrolls. Spring is traditionally a strong hiring period for McDonald's. Retail employment, which recorded its largest increase in 10 years in April, fell 8,500 last month. Manufacturing payrolls growth contracted 5,000 last month, while construction employment rose 2,000. Huffington Post

Amazon Tax Bill Passes California State Assembly

The state of California could collect more than $1 billion a year by taxing Amazon and other online retailers if a bill approved by the Assembly becomes law. Assemblyman Charles Calderon, a Democrat from Whittier, says his legislation doesn’t impose a new sales tax, but extends one that California should already have been enforcing.

AB155 passed, 47-16, with the support of one GOP lawmaker Tuesday. It now heads to the Senate. InfoWars

Plan in works for 500-foot, $100M Las Vegas wheel

Aritst drawing of Skyview Super Wheel

LAS VEGAS – A developer is rolling out plans to build a 500-foot viewing wheel on the Las Vegas Strip that would be higher than the London Eye and give visitors an unparalleled view of Sin City. Developer Howard Bulloch of Compass Investments released details of the project Monday to reporters, local lawmakers and business leaders at the site across Las Vegas Boulevard from the Mandalay Bay hotel-casino. Bulloch wants the Skyvue Las Vegas Super Wheel to open in 2013 as part of a $100 million privately funded project also including a roller coaster and 200,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and entertainment space.

Republicans rejects higher taxes on oil firms

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell on Sunday rejected a proposal to scale back tax breaks for big oil firms, calling it a political maneuver. Democrats have crafted a bill to scrap certain tax deductions used by the five biggest oil companies, and potentially free up $21 billion over a decade to help ease the budget deficit. Eliminating the tax breaks has been a goal of President Barack Obama and the call by Democratic lawmakers has become louder as gasoline prices have hovered near $4 a gallon.

Republicans for their part are hammering Obama over high gasoline prices, which threaten to slow the economy just as it is beginning to pick up steam.Under pressure over energy costs, Obama announced on Saturday the expansion of domestic oil production in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico.

Obama approval hits 60 percent

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama's approval rating has hit its highest point in two years — 60 percent — and more than half of Americans now say he deserves to be re-elected, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll taken after U.S. forces killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

In worrisome signs for Republicans, the president's standing improved not just on foreign policy but also on the economy, and independent Americans — a key voting bloc in the November 2012 presidential election — caused the overall uptick in support by sliding back to Obama after fleeing for much of the past two years. Comfortable majorities of the public now call Obama a strong leader who will keep America safe. Nearly three-fourths — 73 percent — also now say they are confident that Obama can effectively handle terrorist threats. And he improved his standing on Afghanistan, Iraq and the United States' relationships with other countries.

Despite a sluggish recovery from the Great Recession, 52 percent of Americans now approve of Obama's stewardship of the economy, giving him his best rating on that issue since the early days of his presidency; 52 percent also now like how he's handling the nation's stubbornly high 9 percent unemployment.

The economy remains Americans' top issue.

Employment rate for black men at record low

If the election of America's first African-American president was expected to give blacks an economic boost, it hasn't emerged yet. Indeed, the percentage of African-American men with a job has dropped to its lowest level since records began in 1972, according to the government's monthly jobs report released last week.

Even as the economy added a better-than-expected 244,000 jobs, the percentage of black males over 20 who are currently employed dropped slightly to 56.9, the Labor Department's April report shows. For whites, the equivalent figure is 68.1 percent.

Before this recession, the percentage of black adult men with a job had never dropped below 60 percent, according to Labor Department statistics. And among blacks, it's not just men who are suffering. Just 51.5 percent of African-Americans across the board--compared to 59.5 percent of whites--have a job, the numbers show. That's the lowest level for blacks since 1984. (That group includes 16- to 19-year-olds, who are employed at a far lower rate than their elders.)

These employment rates are calculated differently from the top-line unemployment rate, which includes only those actively looking for work, and inched back up last month to 9 percent.

Age of America Nears End

For the first time, the international organization has set a date for the moment when the "Age of America" will end and the U.S. economy will be overtaken by that of China. According to the latest IMF official forecasts, China's economy will surpass that of America in real terms in 2016 — just five years from now. 

It provides a painful context for the budget wrangling taking place in Washington right now. It raises enormous questions about what the international security system is going to look like in just a handful of years. And it casts a deepening cloud over both the U.S. dollar and the giant Treasury market. 

According to the IMF forecast, which was quietly posted on the Fund's website just two weeks ago, whoever is elected U.S. president next year — Obama? Mitt Romney? Donald Trump? — will be the last to preside over the world's largest economy.

10 Companies That Make Billions From The U.S. Government

1. Lockheed Martin

Contracted in 2010: $35.9 billion*
Total 2010 revenue: $45.8 billion
Contracted in 2011, so far: $15.74 billion

Lockheed’s biggest contracts in 2010 included a $2.51 billion contract with the Department of Defense for fixed - wing aircraft and a $1.1 billion contract with NASA that included work on the Orion project.  

2. Boeing (BA)

Contracted in 2010: $19.4 billion
Total 2010 revenue: $63.3 billion
Contracted in 2011, so far: $6.01 billion  
Although Boeing’s main sources of revenue are commercial airlines, the Chicago-based company’s Defense, Space & Security segment deals primarily with the U.S. Government. That segment accounts for approximately $32 billion of the company’s $63.3 billion in 2010 revenue. 

3. Northrop Grumman (NOC)

Contracted in 2010: $16.47 billion*
Total 2010 revenue: $34.8 billion
Contracted in 2011, so far: $4.04 billion

As with most of the highest paid contractors, Northrop Grumman’s largest contracts are also with the Department of Defense, including an individual contract for $1.29 billion for work on aircraft carriers. So far in 2011, Northrop Grumman’s biggest individual contract was a $569 million deal with the U.S. Coast Guard for radio navigation equipment.

4. Raytheon (RTN)

Contracted in 2010: $14.9 billion
Total 2010 revenue: $25.18 billion
Contracted in 2011, so far: $4.33 billion 

In 2010, Raytheon’s biggest contract was for $1.06 billion in a deal to supply guided missiles, while so far in 2011, the company’s biggest contract was also for guided missiles in a deal worth $1.39 billion. 

5. General Dynamics (GD)

Contracted in 2010: $14.8 billion
Total 2010 revenue: $32.47 billion
Contracted in 2011, so far: $2.49 billion 

In 2010, General Dynamics of Fairfield, Connecticut engaged in 16,526 transactions with the U.S. Government, totaling approximately $14.8 billion. The largest single award was a $2.48 billion contract for the U.S. Navy on the construction of Virginia-class submarines.

6. L-3 Communications (LLL) Contracted in 2010: $13.07 billion*
Total 2010 revenue: $15.68
Contracted in 2011, so far: $1.84 billion

The company derived 83% of its 2010 revenues from U.S. Government sources, while another 8% was derived from foreign governments. The Department of Defense was L-3’s largest customer, with $11.93 billion in contracts last year.

7. United Technologies (UTX)

Contracted in 2010: $7.7 billion
Total 2010 revenue: $54.32 billion
Contracted in 2011, so far: $1.96 billion 

The biggest contract for United Technologies in 2010 was for $2.02 billion to manufacture rotary wing aircraft from its Sikorsky division. Other large projects include the maintenance and repair of gas turbines, jet engines and other aircraft, several of which cost the government over $400 million each.

8. Oshkosh Corp. (OSK)

Contracted in 2010: $7.2 billion
Total 2010 revenue: $9.82 billion*
Contracted in 2011, so far: $1.85 billion 

The biggest contracts for Oshkosh in 2010 were for combat and ground vehicles, three of which eclipsed $1 billion, with the most expensive being $1.13 billion, with all of its $100+ million contracts going to the Department of Defense. 

9. SAIC Inc. (SAI)

Contracted in 2010: $6.9 billion
Total 2010 revenue: $11.12 billion
Contracted in 2011, so far: $1.7 billion 

SAIC’s largest contract in 2010 was with the National Institutes of Health to the tune of $541 million. The contract was for the “operation of government-owned facilities” under both the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute, with the latter under the Recovery Act. 

10. BAE Systems

Contracted in 2010: $6.6 billion
Total 2010 revenue: $36.69 billion
Contracted in 2011, so far: $1.3 billion 

  According to USASpending.gov, the company was awarded $6.6 billion in U.S. Government contracts in 2010 and has already been awarded $1.3 billion so far in 2011.

The Department of Defense is responsible for BAE’s top 10 contracts from 2010, which ranged from $102 million to $321 million. Of the $6.6 billion, $2.8 billion arose from the U.S. Navy and $2.5 million from the U.S. Army, while the largest contract was for the Caiman MTV troop transport.