Is the Banana Boat Sunk?

You’re fixing to lose the bananas in your breakfast cereal.

And banana pudding will become only a sweet memory.

Grocery stores may no longer be selling bananas.

Why?

The global crop is dying, and will soon be dead.

Global as in worldwide.

Dead as in extinct.

Extinct as the Dodo bird.

Which, by the way, is thought to have become extinct c.1690 – a very long time ago. So naturally, there are no photographs of the Dodo bird, since the development of photography (yes, it’s a bad pun) was begun c.1826 with the image entitled “View from the Window at Le Gras,” which was made by Nicéphore Niépce, a French inventor in Saint-Loup-de-Varennes, France.

A harmful soil fungus, for which there is no known remedy, has begun to affect banana crops worldwide. Found in Taiwan in the 1990’s, the fungus, which resides naturally in the soil, is a variant of

Does This Trump-Caused Market Slump Foretell Recession?

Of course, the Stock Market is NOT the economy, but for many, it’s the easiest touchstone to consider approximating the economy. And because most Americans are NOT heavily invested in Wall Street, its performance only nominally and indirectly affects them.

However, for those traders whose livelihood depends upon its gains or losses, such as corporate and investment banks, and brokerage houses, speculators, derivatives traders, hedge and other type funds, and the like, it doesn’t portend well.

And then, Steve Mnuchin, Secretary of the Treasury, while vacationing in Mexico, decided to call on Sunday the CEOs of 6 of the largest banks in America (Brian Moynihan of Bank of America; Michael Corbat of Citi; David Solomon of Goldman Sachs; Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan Chase; James Gorman of Morgan Stanley; and Tim Sloan of Wells Fargo), and then Twitterized it ex post facto. The media managers at Treasury decided to inform the public that… “The CEOs confirmed that they have ample liquidity available for lending to consumer, business markets, and all other market operations. He also confirmed that they have not experienced any clearance or margin issues, and that the markets continue to function properly.”

The Current White House Occupant is Mad at Mnuchin, and wants to fire Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell, ostensibly because Mnuchin told POS45 that Powell would be a good choice for Fed Chairman. That’s according to four anonymous people, who were described by Bloomberg News as being “four people familiar with the matter” and speak “on condition of anonymity.” Where I come from, and live, that’s called cowardice. It might be called something else in Trumpanzeeville.

In the days ahead, POS45 will

Build The Wall: A Simple How-To Primer

On June 16, 2015, when Donald Trump announced his candidacy for United States President, he said in part, “I would build a great wall, and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me, and I’ll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border. And I will have Mexico pay for that wall.”

Trump has estimated construction costs could range from $8-12 Billion, that it should be be made of precast concrete, rise 35 to 40 feet, or 50 feet, or higher, and that it doesn’t need to span the entire distance of the border, but only half because of natural barriers.

Accurate official Cost Estimates to build The Wall are sketchy, and a 2009 report by the Congressional Research Service  found that the challenges include “costs versus benefits, location, design, environmental impact, potential diplomatic ramifications, and the costs of acquiring the land needed for construction.”

Projected costs vary widely, and the report stated that:

The Corps of Engineers study predicted that the costs of constructing a double layer fence consisting of primary fencing and Sandia fencing would range from $1.2 million to $1.3 million a mile, excluding the costs of land acquisition. The Corps of Engineers also predicted that the 25-year life cycle cost of the fence would range from $16.4 million to $70 million per mile depending on the amount of damage sustained by the fencing.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has estimated that border fencing would cost $3 million a mile to construct and that maintenance would total roughly 15% of the overall project costs per year.

According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the border fencing constructed by the end of FY2007 (using mostly the Corps of Engineers and the National Guard to construct the fencing) cost about $2.8 million a mile. The fencing constructed in FY2008, using mostly private constructors, cost about $5.1 million a mile.

In “Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security, Committee on Homeland Security, House of Representatives” entitled “SOUTHWEST BORDER SECURITY: Additional Actions Needed to Assess Resource Deployment and Progress; Statement of Rebecca Gambler, Director, Homeland Security and Justice” published Tuesday, March 1, 2016, the U.S. Government Accountability Office stated that:

“In addition, with regard to fencing and other tactical infrastructure, CBP reported that from fiscal year 2005 through May 2015, the total miles of vehicle and pedestrian fencing along the nearly 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border increased from approximately 120 miles to 652 miles. With the completion of the new fencing and other tactical infrastructure, DHS is now responsible for maintaining this infrastructure including repairing breached sections of fencing.”

See also: Highlights of GAO-16-465T, a testimony before the Subcommittee on Border and Maritime Security, Committee on Homeland Security, House of Representatives.

And make no mistake, Public Law 109–367 enacted by the 109th Congress, also known as the “Secure Fence Act of 2006” requires that “the Secretary of Homeland Security shall provide for least 2 layers of reinforced fencing, the installation of additional physical barriers, roads, lighting, cameras, and sensors…” at specified locations. But in typical Congressional fashion, the law was changed in 2008, and the fence requirements contained in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008, still mandates the construction of a fence covering “not less than 700 miles” of the border, but eliminated the requirement that the fence be double-layered. According to “Remarks by Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson: “Border Security in the 21st Century” – As Delivered,” “in Fiscal Year 2000 we had 10 miles of secondary fence along the southwest border; today we have 36.3 miles of secondary fence.”

Citing a U.S./Mexico Trade Deficit of $50 Billion in 2014, and a $54 Billion Trade Deficit for the first 11 months of 2015, Trump has proposed reinstating tariffs on Mexican goods in violation of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Trump said, “When they say Mexico can’t pay for the wall, I say of course they can. We have a trade deficit with Mexico that’s unbelievably big. … It’s billions and billions of dollars — far more than what we’re talking about for the wall.”

His claim that “I will have Mexico pay for that wall,” would ostensibly be done by reinstating tariffs, otherwise known as “taxes” on goods “Hecho en Mexico.”

However, there is another potential manner in which he could “have Mexico pay for that wall,” which would be to

Why #ALpolitics Should’ve Elected @RonSparks2010 – @GovernorBentley In His Own Words: “I had no clue.”

Having made no bones about it, I remain searingly and scathingly critical of Alabama Governor Robert Julian Bentley, a retired physician-turned-Republican legislator from Tuscaloosa, who is twice elected governor – in 2010, and in 2014.

While I wished him well after his initial victory in the governor’s race against his Democratic opponent then-Secretary of Agriculture and Industries, Ron Sparks, he has disappointed the state since Inauguration Day 2011 when he put his foot in his mouth at Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church, Montgomery, where on Martin Luther King Day, Monday, January 17, 2011 – mere hours after taking the oath of office and inauguration – he said in part, “There may be some people here today who do not have living within them the Holy Spirit. But if you have been adopted in God’s family like I have, and like you have if you’re a Christian and if you’re saved, and the Holy Spirit lives within you just like the Holy Spirit lives within me, then you know what that makes? It makes you and me brothers. And it makes you and me brother and sister. Now I will have to say that, if we don’t have the same daddy, we’re not brothers and sisters. So anybody here today who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, I’m telling you, you’re not my brother and you’re not my sister, and I want to be your brother.”

It was at that point that Rebekah Caldwell Mason became his Communication Director, and later, Senior Political Advisor-cum-paramour.

More to the point, however, I have maintained that among other things, as an elected official, he has been feckless, and clueless.

But, let’s let him speak for himself.

Here’s in part what Governor Bentley said in a speech to a statewide gathering of city officials in Montgomery, May 2013, “You know where I came up with that idea? Ron Sparks.

McFat Like Me: Wanna’ Soup Or Size That?

McD’s began rationing French Fries Wednesday morning, December 17, at it’s 3100 Japanese locations as an emergency airlift of 1,000 tons of spuds and an extra shipment by sea from the U.S. East Coast set sail.

Industrial Food Manufacturer McDonald’s continues to spread diet-related disease internationally. 
Getty Images

The highly processed frozen spuds are deep-fryer ready, and a leading U.S. export. Folks in the Land of The Rising Sun love their French Fried spuds, and eat more than 300k tons of the imported American tuber annually, according to USDA figures. Of particular note, most of Japan’s locally grown potatoes are eaten fresh.

McD’s continually denies any responsibility, role or contribution to increased obesity, either in America, or abroad where they conduct business. But increased rates of Japanese obesity, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome, suggest not conspiracy, but wanton disregard for, if not flagrant violation of, Japan’s Ministry of Health 2008 ‘Metabo Law’ that requires men to maintain a waist line less than 33.5 inches and women less than 35.4 inches.

A McDonald’s in Japan

The American Fast Food Industry was introduced to Japan in the 1970’s, and since then, consumption of rice in the daily Japanese diet has decreased and been replaced by bread, meat, dairy products, hamburgers, French fries, milkshakes and doughnuts.

Similarly to America, one of the time-honored Family Values of enjoying freshly prepared food at home has declined, and consumption of Industrially Prepared Food, and use of video games has risen.

Even though the Japanese diet still includes much more fish having omega-3 fatty acids, the adoption of a more ‘Western Diet’ is causing health problems. O3FAs are thought to protect against heart disease, and on average, the Japanese eat much less food high in saturated fat than Americans.

The Japanese government has quickly acknowledged the damaging health effects of Industrialized Food Production, which is known as the Standard American Diet, and has moved to disincentivize their citizens from becoming obese like Americans.

Japanese people have historically enjoyed a high life expectancy, very nearly 80 years, although in recent years, their increase in longevity has slowed to 1.2%. The Japanese health care system provides Universal Coverage primarily through local government or employer insurance, and the system is foreseeing dire financial trouble because chronic diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, high blood pressure, high glucose levels and cholesterol will significantly burden the system.

As the Japanese population ages and their health begins to deteriorate, the workforce will not be large enough to cover those health costs. The government sees an opportunity to cut costs by lowering rising obesity.

cnbc.com/id/102275074

bu.edu/themovement/2011/05/29/the-fats-on-fire

Fun-n-Easy Guessing Game… of International Intrigue

Hey kiddos!

Here’s a fun–n–easy guessing game!
(Emphasis on “easy.”)

Don’t be scared or intimidated by the fill-in-the-blanks.
(Which appear as _?nation?_.)

It’s really only two answers.
(The other answer is _?currency?_.)

HINT: (None of which are “United States.”)
FROM:

The CIA World Factbook

The _?nation?_ economy has experienced continuous growth and features low unemployment, contained inflation, very low public debt, and a strong and stable financial system. By 2012, _?_ had experienced more than 20 years of continued economic growth, averaging 3.5% a year.

Demand for resources and energy from Asia and especially China has grown rapidly, creating a channel for resources investments and growth in commodity exports. The high _?currency?_ has hurt the manufacturing sector, while the services sector is the largest part of the _?nation?_  economy, accounting for about 70% of GDP and 75% of jobs.

_?nation?_ was comparatively unaffected by the global financial crisis as the banking system has remained strong and inflation is under control.

_?nation?_ has benefited from a dramatic surge in its terms of trade in recent years, stemming from

Climate change benefits English wine growers now producing high quality sparkling wine

British winemakers credit climate change for boom in bubbly sales

By Anthony Faiola, Published: April 28, 2013

CUCKMERE VALLEY, England — Blessed with soil similar to France’s Champagne region, vineyards in England nevertheless produced decades of low-grade goop that caused nary a Frenchman to tremble. But a Great British fizz boom is underway, with winemakers crediting climate change for the warmer weather that has seemed to improve their bubbly.

Sparkling wine undergoes an early fermentation process at the Ridgeview Wine Estate in East Sussex, England. Warmer summers are producing wines competitive with some from France.
– GRAHAM BARCLAY/BLOOMBERG NEWS

Increasingly hospitable temperatures have helped transplanted champagne grapes such as chardonnay and pinot noir thrive in the microclimates of southern England, touching off a wine rush by investors banking on climate change. Once considered an oxymoron, fine English sparkling wine is now retailing for champagne prices of $45 to $70 a pop. In recent years, dozens of vineyards have

Afghanistan Opium Poppy Production Increases 3d Consecutive Year

In their Utopian Ivory-Towered existence, the “Libertarian” response is to legalize it all, ensure purity standards, and tax it.

But then again, Libertarians oppose taxes.

They also oppose governmental regulation ensuring purity standards, along with uniform weights & measures, too.

How messed up could one political ideology be?

---

April 15, 2013

Production of Opium by Afghans Is Up Again

By ROD NORDLAND

KABUL, Afghanistan — For the third year in a row, opium cultivation has increased across Afghanistan, erasing earlier drops stemming from a decade-long international and Afghan government effort to combat the drug trade, according to a United Nations report released on Monday.

The report’s findings raised concerns among international law enforcement officials that if the trend continued, opium would be the country’s major economic activity after foreign military forces depart in 2014, leading to the specter of what one official referred to as “the world’s first true narco-state.”

Afghanistan is already the world’s largest producer of opium, and last year

Occupy Wall Street

The MainStream Media CANNOT ignore this!

What is Occupy Wall Street?

Twitter hash tag: #OccupyWallStreet

OccupyWallStreet.org

If you’re tired of the lies, the deception, the failed mortgages, bail-outs, TARP, jobs shipped overseas, inferior imported goods,

How (NOT) to Sell Toothbrushes: A Moral Story

Perhaps you’ve read the story.

It, like many, circulates through email.

Who thinks up that junk?

And yes, it’s SPAM – pure and simple.

And yes, you probably chuckled when you read it.

But there’s a truth – as all those stories purport to espouse, albeit quietly.

And yet, with this one, there’s an even higher truth.

For those of you NOT aware of the story, although it appears in various forms, it’s summarized as

Coca-Cola’s secret formula secret no more?

Rumor has it that Pepsi has already made their first batch.

And now, you can too!

And just so you’ll know… Coca-Cola is STILL made with sugar, instead of high fructose corn syrup. But NOT in the United States.

But where, then?

South of the border… Mexico.

Look for it – Coca-Cola made with cane sugar – in Latino grocery stores, or in your grocer’s Hispanic/international food aisle.

But, how did this happen, and what is the formula?