Robert Reich's Blog 12-8-2009

The President's Job's Initiative Doesn't Measure Up:

Ten percent unemployment translates into roughly 18 percent of our workforce unemployed or underemployed. Housing markets are in terrible shape: One quarter of homeowners are paying more each month than their houses are worth; the rates of tardy mortgage payments continue to rise. Thirty percent of American households contain someone who has lost a job and can't find another, and yet almost all households are dependent on more than one wage earner in order to make ends meet. A quarter of all American children are now dependent on food stamps.

Read more of Mr. Reich’s opinions and numbers:  Robert Reich's Blog

New poll shows 'Tea Party' more popular than Republican Party - Yahoo! News

tea party movement's popularity is growing, so much so that it garners more support than the Republican party on a generic Congressional ballot.

Click on the following for more details:  New poll shows 'Tea Party' more popular than Republican Party - Yahoo! News

NDK - NIHON DEMPA KOGYO CO., LTD.

History of NDK

1948
Founded as Nanbu Shoko Co., Ltd. in Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo

1949
Started crystal unit production and sales

1950
Changed the corporate name to Nihon Dempa Kogyo Co., Ltd.

Relocated Registered Office to Ohyama-cho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo

1954
Relocated to newly constructed Head Office and Plant in Yoyogi Shin-machi (now Nishihara), Shibuya-ku, Tokyo

1958
Succeeded in test production of synthetic quartz crystal

1959
Started crystal filter production

1960
Started crystal oscillator production

1962
Started construction of Sayama Plant in Sayama-city, Saitama

1963
Started mass production of synthetic quartz crystal

Began trading of NDK stock on the OTC market

1964
Developed the crystal unit for clock

Opened Kansai Sales Office in Osaka

1965
Started mass production of crystal unit for color TV

Developed the ultrasonic prove

1970
Established Hawk Denshi Co., Ltd., in Niigata (Changed the corporate Name to Niigata NDK Co., Ltd., in 2005)

Developed the temperature-compensated crystal oscillator (TCXO) and the monolithic crystal filter (MCF)

1975
Opened representative sales office in Cupertino, California, U.S.A.

1976
Established Furukawa NDK Co., Ltd., in Miyagi, for mass production of crystal units

1978
Designated as authorized manufacture by the National Space Development Agency of Japan(NASDA, now JAXA)

1979
Established Asian NDK Crystal Sdn. Bhd., in Selangor, Malaysia, for mass production of crystal units and crystal blanks

Development and industrialization of the surface acoustic wave (SAW) filter

Started mass production of optical low-pass filter

Established NDK America, Inc. in Fremont, California, U.S.A., and dissolved representative sales office

1984
Developed crystal units for use in surface-mounting technology
1985
Completed five-story main building at Sayama plant

1986
Installed Automatic Production Line of miniature crystal unit (AT-51)

Opened Chubu Sales Office in Aichi

Established Malaysian Quartz Crystal Sdn. Bhd., in Selangor, Malaysia (now NDK Quartz Malaysia Sdn. Bhd.)

Completed three-story new building at Sayama Plant

1988
Developed SMD crystal unit “CP12A”

Established NDK Electronics Singapore Pte. Ltd., in Singapore (now NDK Crystal Asia Pte. Ltd.)

Established NDK Europe Ltd., in the U.K.

1989
Established Hakodate NDK Co., Ltd., in Hakodate-city, Hokkaido

1990
Relocated Head Office to Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo

Listed NDK stock on Second Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange

Developed SMD crystal unit “CP21B

2001
Opened NDK Europe Ltd. German Office for Sales and Product Development
2002
Established NRS Technologies Inc. in Hakodate-city, Hokkaido

Issued Annual Report fully adopted by the IASB (International Accounting Standards Board)

Opened NDK Electronics (HK) Limited, Shenzhen Representative Office

Established NDK-Electronics Shanghai Co., Ltd.

Developed SMD crystal unit NX2520DA

2003
Relocated Head Office of NDK America, Inc. to Belvidere, Illinois, U.S.A.

NDK Crystal, Inc. started operation (Established in Belvidere, Illinois, U.S.A. on Mar. 2002)

Established NDK Crystal Asia Pte. Ltd. in Singapore, and dissolved NDK Electronics Singapore Pte. Ltd.

Developed SMD crystal clock oscillator NZ2520SA

Developed SMD TCXO NT3225BA

2004
Opened Chitose Technical Center in Chitose-city, Hokkaido

Developed High-Precision High-Stability Dual Mode SC-OCXO

Developed Monolithic Oven OCXO 9325C

2005
Hakodate NDK Co., Ltd. merged NRS Technologies Inc.

Relocated Head Office to Sasazuka, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo

Developed SMD crystal unit NX2016AA

Developed SMD TCXO NT2520SA

Developed Low Phase Noise Synthesizer

2006
Relocated KSP Technical Center to Sasazuka, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo and renamed Sasazuka Technical Center

Developed High Stability / Low Phase Noise VHF OCXO 9325D

2007
Developed Frequency Synthesizer for digital terrestrial broadcasting S510M804MA

Developed QCM System PSA10A

Developed Ultra Small Crystal Unit NX1612AA

Developed Frequency Controlled Crystal Oscillator (FCXO)

2008
Obtained ISO/IEC 17025:2005 certification at Quality Assurance Laboratory

Developed Mechanical 3D Linear Array Probe

Developed QCM Twin Sensor

Click on the following for information from NDK:  http://www.ndk.com/en/

CIT Group moves away from bankruptcy

 

The government gave CIT $US2.3 billion  last fall as part of its $US700 billion  bank rescue program. That $US2.3 billion investment was lost when CIT filed for bankruptcy.

CIT Group Inc, one of the biggest US lenders to small and mid-sized businesses, said that a judge approved its reorganisation plan and it plans to emerge from bankruptcy protection on Thursday.

Click on the following for more details:  CIT Group moves away from bankruptcy | Stuff.co.nz

U.K., U.S. Top Aaa Ratings Tested by Debt Burdens, Moody’s Says

 U.S. and the U.K. may “test the Aaa boundaries” because public finances are worsening in the wake of the global financial crisis.

“The deterioration has been pretty severe….“We expect a pretty strong policy response in the next couple of years in order to keep the debt in the Aaa range. We expect them to bend but not to break.”

huge increase in debt-to-gross-domestic- product ratios as a result of the crisis,”to 97.5 percent of gross domestic product next year from 87.4 percent….UK.’s public debt will swell to 89.3 percent of the economy in 2010 from 75.3 percent this year,

cost of protecting U.S. debt from default was unchanged at 32 basis points, or $32,000 a year to protect $10 million of the nation’s bonds from default for five years, according to CMA DataVision prices. That compares with a peak of 100 basis points in February and 20 basis points in October.

government debt cost 74 basis points, up from 72.5 yesterday, according to CMA prices. The U.K. contracts, which peaked at 175 basis points in February, rose from 44 basis points on Sept. 30,

U.K., U.S. Top Aaa Ratings Tested by Debt Burdens, Moody’s Says - Bloomberg.com

Blog Count for the last 30 days: 979 visits; 663 separate visitors.

The major increase was due to the NDK explosion,  There were 173 visits on Monday December 7, 2009, the date of the blast.

Since September 1, 2009:  1903 visits, 1034 separate visitors

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Kane County Board bans video gambling

The Kane County Board today narrowly voted to prohibit video gambling in the county's unincorporated areas.

The 12-11 vote followed a failed motion to postpone action until the state finalizes regulations for video gambling, and comments from two local pastors who urged the board to vote for the ban

Click on the following for more details:  Kane County Board bans video gambling - Chicago Breaking News

Stalled Chicago skyscraper project may start again

A group of union pension funds _ eager to provide work for union workers _ are in talks to loan $170 million to Irish developer Shelbourne Development Group so construction of the twisting 2,000-foot-high Chicago Spire can resume as soon as early next year….money would come from an AFL-CIO pension fund and Union Life Insurance Co., and perhaps pension funds from various locals…..We were interested in funding part of the Olympic Village," he said. But when the city lost the games, "This (the Spire) jumped into first place as a project we focused on."

Click on the following for more details: 

www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/12/08/financial/f152636S07.DTL&type=realestate

McKenna announces Illinois finance plan

 

Republican candidate for governor Andy McKenna on Tuesday proposed dramatically cutting state spending to rescue Illinois' finances without an income tax increase.
Chicago businessman McKenna said the state should cut spending to 2006 levels, amounting to about a 20 percent drop. That could mean big cuts to state government while only addressing about half of the budget deficit…. likely would need to remain frozen there for three or four years so the state can dig out of "a real deep hole

Click on the following for more details:  JG-TC.com > Ap-state-il > McKenna announces Illinois finance plan

Moody's downgrades Illinois debt ratings | Reuters

Moody's put the state on review for a potential downgrade shortly after Illinois enacted its fiscal 2010 budget in July.

Ahead of the $530 million sale of Build Illinois bonds, S&P affirmed an AAA rating, while Fitch affirmed an AA rating based on strong debt service coverage provided by the sales tax.

Moody's downgrades Illinois debt ratings | Reuters

State's creditworthiness downgraded

Moody’s Investors Services lowered the state’s ratings on general obligation bonds from A1 to A2 and lowered ratings on related bonds affecting about $24 billion in state debt because of “significant weakening” in state revenues and an inability by Quinn and state lawmakers to significantly narrow an $11.6 billion budget gap.

The move leaves only California with a worse credit rating among states, with California having the lowest at Baa1 a Moody’s spokesman said.

“The downgrades are the result of high structural imbalances and little time to effect modifications to the budget in the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, 2010, as well as evidence of significant weakening in the state's 2009 results,”

Click on the following for more details:  State's creditworthiness downgraded :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Politics

Free garage sale for needy

her family will take donations at any time during the next week for the free garage sale. She said anyone who wishes to shop at the sale may do so for free. Those who can afford to donate some food for the Burlington-Hampshire Food Pantry or make a monetary donation for the aforementioned family in need are welcome to do so, she said.

The sale will be held at 233 White Oak St. in Hampshire from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., or until all items have been given away.

Click on the following for more details: Free garage sale for needy :: The Courier News :: Local News

Freezin' for Food breaks record

This was the first Freezin' for Food for Salvation Army Capt. Michael Cho, who called it "amazing." The food pantry currently is serving between 600 and 700 DeKalb County households a month, he said, and the number is on the rise.

In past years, the Salvation Army has closed the food pantry in December to focus on fundraising, Cho said, but with the need so great this year, the organization has relied heavily on volunteers to keep the pantry open

Click on the following for more details:  Freezin' for Food breaks record | Daily Chronicle

Companies will be slow to hire | Daily Chronicle

Hiring is expected to be slow in the first quarter of 2010, according to the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey released Monday.

picture is more optimistic for the Rockford area, which has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state. Between January and March, 13 percent of employers intend to hire, while only 9 percent intend to cut jobs. Seventy-six percent expect to maintain current staffing levels and 2 percent are not sure.

The best job prospects for the Chicago area are in financial activities and professional and business services, while cuts are expected in construction, manufacturing, transportation and utilities, wholesale and retail, information, leisure, and government, according to the survey.

In Rockford, the outlook is good for manufacturing, wholesale and retail, financial activities, education and health, leisure, and government, while construction and transportation and utilities are likely to see cuts.

Nationwide, 12 percent of companies plan to hire in the next three months, and 12 percent expect to cut jobs. Seventy-three percent plan to maintain staffing levels, and 3 percent are undecided.

Click on the following to read the rest of the story:  Companies will be slow to hire | Daily Chronicle

Hunger in small towns

 

"Last year, people in 4.8 million households used private food pantries, compared with 3.9 million in 2007,

pantries are struggling to figure out how to keep up with the demand. Genoa's food pantry, located inside Faith United Methodist Church, has been serving 90 families and is running out of space. The city of Genoa is considering temporarily letting the pantry use the old city hall

Burlington-Hampshire Food Pantry is joining the Northern Illinois Food Bank to better serve its families and obtain food at a discounted rate rather than buying items at the regular price

the Genoa-Kingston Food Pantry reported assisting 90 families, but that number reached more than 100 during the Thanksgiving distribution,

Click on the following for more details:  Hunger in small towns :: The Courier News :: Local News