Infinite Unknown

- Cervix vaccine issues trigger health notice (Japan Times/Kyodo News, June 15, 2013):

The health ministry has issued a nationwide notice that cervical cancer vaccinations should no longer be recommended for girls aged 12 to 16 because several adverse reactions to the medicines have been reported.

“It is necessary to gather information immediately to accurately grasp how often (the side effects) are occurring,” said Mariko Momoi, who chairs the panel at the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry that decided to suspend the recommendation. Momoi is vice president of the International University of Health and Welfare.

Continue reading »

Tags: Cervarix, Gardasil, GlaxoSmithKline, Global News, Government, Health, Japan, Merck, Politics, Vaccination, Vaccine

- Treasury Sales By Foreigners Hit Record High In April (ZeroHedge, June 14, 2013):

The monthly TIC (foreign capital flows) data gets less respect than it should. Perhaps it is because it is two months delayed, or perhaps due to the Treasury Department labyrinth one has to cross in order to figure out what is going on. Either way, for those who do follow the data set, will know by now that in April, foreign investors, official and private, sold $54.5 billion. Why is this number of note? Because it is the biggest monthly sale of Treasurys by foreigners in the history of the data series. The TSY revulsion was somewhat offset by a jump in MBS purchases, which saw $23 billion in acquisitions, while corporate bonds were sold to the tune of $4.5 billion. Finally, looking at equities, foreigners were responsible for some $11.2 billion in US stock purchases. The great rotation may not be working domestically, but it seems to be finally impacting foreign investors.

As for the question who sold the most US paper, the answer is below: not surprisingly, Japan is at the top, and we can only imagine the proceeds from the sale were used to fund (currently even more money losing) purchases in the Nikkei, which is currently at levels last seen in March, or before the great BOJ intervention.

Tags: Bank of Japan, Bonds, Debt, Economy, Global News, Japan, U.S.

- Japan Resorts To Teenage Girls In Short Skirts To Get Their Stocks Up (ZeroHedge, June 13, 2013)

Tags: Economy, Global News, Japan, Society

Greece, Athens

- This is what crisis feels like: a personal story (Sovereign Man, June 12, 2013):

On December 1, 2001, Argentina’s economy was in trouble. Unemployment was high, debt was high, and recession had taken hold. But life was somewhat ‘normal’.

Basic services still functioned. And no one had to really worry about… food. Or water. Then it all changed. Literally within a day.

On December 2nd, our bankrupt government imposed measures that essentially froze everyone’s bank accounts. You can just imagine– one day having access to your funds, and the next day being completely cut off.

Within a matter of days, people were out in the streets doing battle with the police. The government soon defaulted on its debt, and the currency went into freefall.

I was doing some post-graduate work in Boston at the time. As a foreigner in the US, I wasn’t really able to work… so I was living on a tight budget from my savings.

Yet, overnight, I went from being able to pay my rent and living expenses to being completely cut off from my funds. I had nothing.

But when I spoke to my family back in Argentina, I realized that they had it even worse.

Everything became scarce. The electricity went out all the time. Even food on the grocery store shelves ran low. You would eat what you had available at home.

Continue reading »

Tags: Argentina, Bonds, Collapse, Debt, Economy, Food, Global News, Government, Japan, Politics, Society

- The Most Magical And Mysterious Economic Policy In The World! (Japan Subculture Research Center, June 7, 2013):

Tags: Funny, Japan, Shinzo Abe

- Tepco considers using aquifer in great deep for contaminated water storage (Fukushima Diary, June 3, 2013):

On 5/30/2013, the committee of experts suggested Tepco an idea of using the aquifer of great deep for increasing contaminated water storage.

400 tones of ground water flows into the plant on the daily basis. Having contaminated water continuously increasing, Tepco is forced to find a new water storage.

The committee of experts suggested to use aquifer of great deep or build a storage facility in great deep, so the radiation from the retained water doesn’t reach above the ground. They emphasized the importance of investigating the proper geologic stratum and the potential construction period.

http://www.tepco.co.jp/nu/fukushima-np/roadmap/images/c130530_03-j.pdf#page=40

Related article..Tepco to consider freezing ground for 1400m to stop ground water flowing into the plant [URL]

Tepco considers to fill Torus room with grout to stop ground water flowing in [URL]

Tags: Contamination, drinking water, Environment, Fukushima, Global News, Health, Japan, Nuclear, Nuclear reactors, Radiation, TEPCO, Water

- 18 Signs That Massive Economic Problems Are Erupting All Over The Planet (Economic Collapse, June 2, 2013):

This is no time to be complacent.  Massive economic problems are erupting all over the globe, but most people seem to believe that everything is going to be just fine.  In fact, a whole bunch of recent polls and surveys show that the American people are starting to feel much better about how the U.S. economy is performing.  Unfortunately, the false prosperity that we are currently enjoying is not going to last much longer.  Just look at what is happening in Europe.  The eurozone is now in the midst of the longest recession that it has ever experienced.  Just look at what is happening over in Asia.  Economic growth in India is the lowest that it has been in a decade and the Japanese financial system is beginning to spin wildly out of control.  One of the only places on the entire planet where serious economic problems have not already erupted is in the United States, and that is only because we have “kicked the can down the road” by recklessly printing money and by borrowing money at an unprecedented rate.  Unfortunately, the “sugar high” produced by those foolish measures is starting to wear off.  We are going to experience a massive amount of economic pain along with the rest of the world – it is just a matter of time.

But for the moment, there are a lot of skeptics out there.

For the moment, there are a lot of people that are declaring that the problems of the past have been fixed and that we are heading for incredibly bright economic times ahead.

Unfortunately, those people appear to be purposely ignoring the economic horror that is breaking out all over the globe.

The following are 18 signs that massive economic problems are erupting all over the planet… Continue reading »

Tags: Australia, Ben Bernanke, Collapse, Cyprus, Economy, EU, Europe, Fed, Federal Reserve, France, Global News, Government, Greece, Italy, Japan, Marc Faber, NYSE, Portugal, Quantitative Easing, Riots, Spain, Stock Market, U.S., Unemployment, Wall Street

Full article here:

- It’s A “0.6%” World: Who Owns What Of The $223 Trillion In Global Wealth (ZeroHedge, June 2, 2013):

Back in 2010 we started an annual series looking at the (re)distribution in the wealth of nations and social classes. What we found then (and what the media keeps rediscovering year after year to its great surprise) is that as a result of global central bank policy, the rich got richer, and the poor kept on getting poorer, even though as we predicted the global political powers would, at least superficially, seek to enforce policies that aimed to reverse this wealth redistribution from the poor to the rich (a doomed policy as the world’s legislative powers are largely in the lobby pocket of the world’s wealthiest who needless to say are less then willing to enact laws that reduce their wealth and leverage). Now that the topic of wealth distribution (or rather concentration) is once again in vogue, below we present the latest such update looking at a global portrait of household wealth. The bottom line: 29 million, or 0.6% of those with any actual assets under their name, own $87.4 trillion, or 39.3% of all global assets.

Here are the key highlights via Credit Suisse:

…

Tags: Australia, Belgium, Ben Bernanke, Brazil, China, Economy, EU, Europe, Federal Reserve, France, Germany, Global News, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Society, U.K., U.S.

- Japan halts imports of U.S. wheat after USDA’s shock finding of genetic pollution from GMOs (Natural News, May 31, 2013):

It has already begun: Japan has just cancelled a large contract to purchase U.S. wheat. “We will refrain from buying western white and feed wheat effective today,” Toru Hisadome, a Japanese farm ministry official in charge of wheat trading, told Reuters.

As many readers well know, I predicted precisely this scenario just yesterday in a Natural News article warning about the consequences of genetic pollution. There, I wrote, “All wheat produced in the United States will now be heavily scrutinized — and possibly even rejected — by other nations that traditionally import U.S. wheat. This obviously has enormous economic implications for U.S. farmers and agriculture.”

Now we’re already seeing the result: the ditching of U.S. wheat by world nations that want nothing to do with GMOs. Continue reading »

Tags: Agriculture, Environment, Food, Genetically Modified Organisms, Global News, GMO, Government, Japan, Monsanto, Politics, wheat

- Cs-134/137 from pool bottom sediment of 9 of 9 elementary school in Chiba, max as 796 Bq/Kg (Fukushima Diary, May 28, 2013)

Tags: Contamination, Environment, Fukushima, Global News, Health, Japan, Nuclear, Nuclear reactors, Radiation