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Since Walmart, $WMT, is Cleaning Up Their Image This Week; Perhaps They Will Ban Shrimp From Slave Labor Camps

[youtube://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDzlZCCNgrU 450 300]

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“Shrimp has been hovering near the bottom of the list of things I will eat for a while. Unless you make a point to get it wild, chances are very good it has been raised in a crowded pond and treated with loads of antibiotics. Factor in itsmammoth carbon footprint, and the fact that many of the developing world’s mangroves have been displaced in recent years to make room for shrimp farms, and my appetite for these crustaceans all but disappears.

Now we can add labor abuse to shrimp’s laundry list of problems.

A group of shrimp workers has been protesting dismal conditions in a Thai factory for weeks. The factory, Phatthana Seafood, is one of several brands under a corporate umbrella called PTN Group, and is distributed by Rubicon, a major supplier to Walmart here in the U.S.

Not only is Phatthana being accused of skimping on the pay they’ve promised to workers (and keeping a percentage of it against the debt workers incur to travel to the factory — a practice described in the human rights community as “debt bondage”), but they’ve also reportedly been keeping the workers’ passports and releasing them only for a (steep) fee.

Sok Sorng traveled from Cambodia to Thailand to work in a large, industrial seafood factory and is now regretting the choice to leave home. According to the Bangkok Post, the 20-year-old was told he “would have the job for two years and would receive living arrangements and a food allowance.” But when he arrived, he found that fees for both living expenses and passports not mentioned in the original contracts had been deducted from workers’ salaries. The Thai paper also reports:

He found he had to work 26 days a month. He got his salary every two weeks, but half was withheld to ensure he did not run away. “Most of the workers wanted to go home, but we will be in debt from preparing to travel and an unknown amount we are told to pay to get passports and transportation,” he said.

All this might explain why Sorng has become a spokesperson for the protest. And while the Asian news outlets covering the story don’t pretend the seafood processor is using practices unheard of for Thailand, the mere fact that so much of the product is being distributed globally — and to Walmart, no less — has helped raise the profile of the protests.

To put this in context, shrimp is America’s top-selling seafood. Walmart, meanwhile, is our biggest grocery retailer. Put the two together and you can picture how the massive global stream of frozen, cooked shrimp pours into American households. (This also explains how the shellfish went from being a rare, expensive delicacy to a $1.99 fast-food menu add-on.) There are still a few sources of domestic shrimp in the U.S. (the Gulf of Mexico being one of the largest), but around 90 percent of the shrimp we eat comes from abroad, and most of that comes from Thailand, Vietnam, and South America. (China is also a large producer, but they eat much of what they produce.)

In other words, this is not an obscure story about one of those less important foods. And if the recent media spotlight on Foxconn Technology and its relationship with Apple have taught the American public anything, it’s that most things made for the U.S. travel en masse a convoluted path from one closed-door operation to another. And it’s never easy to access the truth about the way workers are treated behind those doors. The foreign factories producing our food are no different.

Organizers for Making Change at Walmart — a project of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union — have been helping the shrimp workers at Phatthana Seafood raise their profile and put pressure on the multinational retailer. The group recently senta letter to Walmart [PDF] detailing the abuses in the factory (as well as a second factory in Thailand that ships over 70 percent of its canned pineapple product to Walmart).

In their letter, the American labor union references Walmart’sstandards for suppliers, which states that “all labor must be voluntary” and “workers must be allowed to maintain control over their identity documents.” The union’s letter reads:

As you know, the confiscation of documents is a violation of Thai law as well as Walmart’s Standards for Suppliers. Receiving half the hours and pay promised to them and without promised lodging and transportation, many of the workers face malnutrition because they are unable to even afford enough to eat.

Walmart, meanwhile, has spent the week promoting the company’sprogress on its sustainability milestones (which they presented to the public in a glitzy meeting that was webcast around the world). The company’s goals, as it describes them, are: “To be supplied 100 percent by renewable energy; to create zero waste; and to sell products that sustain people and the environment.”

Meanwhile, around 300 of the migrant workers at the shrimp factory must rely on a donated rations from an NGO because they can’t currently afford to eat. As organizer Sok Sorng told The Phnom Penh Post: “They need food so much because [they have received] no money from work.”

 

 

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BoA: This Historical Pattern Says We’re Going To Get A ‘Full-Blown Rally’ Very Soon

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“Just like every other election year, we’re due for an April-May pull-back in the markets and a rally from June through August, argues Bank of America Merrill Lynch analyst Stephen Suttmeier in a note published today.

The market is in a “confirmed correction” right now, he writes, but just like every other election year, this will turn into a full-blown rally come summer:

On average, the April-May period is the weakest two-month period for the Presidential election year and this is followed by the strongest three-month period in June-August. This supports the case for buying on dips, and diverges from the non-Presidential election year and average seasonal patterns.

The market direction for the Presidential election year in the April-August period is similar to the 2 Year of the Decennial Pattern, which also supports the case for a correction into late spring/early summer, ahead of a summer rally.

According to average monthly data for election years appears to also predict a slight market pullback in September and October after a strong summer rally.

 

election year versus normal year market data

Bank of America Merrill Lynch

 

Admittedly, 2012’s rally is a little bit off the scale, with movements since March looking more dramatic than a typical election year:”

 

election year versus normal year market data line graph

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Bernanke Points to ‘Increased Possibility of a Sudden Fiscal Crisis’

“(CNSNews.com) – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that the current trajectory of the federal budget – marked by large annual deficits – was “clearly unsustainable” and that “serious economic consequences” could result.

“Having a large and increasing level of government debt relative to national income runs the risk of serious economic consequences,” Bernanke told the Senate Budget Committee Tuesday.

“Even the prospect of unsustainable deficits has costs, including an increased possibility of a sudden fiscal crisis. As we have seen in a number of countries recently, interest rates can soar quickly if investors lose confidence in the ability of a government to manage its fiscal policy.”

Bernanke said that while nobody knows when a fiscal crisis will come, it is surely “ever closer.”

Watch and read more

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Shareholders Sue Walmart. $WMT, Over Bribery Charges

“WILMINGTON, Del (Reuters) – A shareholder sued the board and several officers of Wal-Mart Stores Inc on Wednesday over allegations that the company’s Mexican affiliate paid bribes to local officials.

The lawsuit seeks to recover damage to the company’s reputation as well as costs of investigating the claims, according to the complaint, which was filed in the Court of Chancery in Delaware, where Wal-Mart is incorporated.

The “illegal payments have and will continue to irreparably damage Wal-Mart’s corporate image and goodwill and jeopardize its ability to do business in foreign countries,” said the lawsuit, which was brought by Henrietta Klein.

The complaint was filed as a derivative lawsuit, which seeks to recover money on behalf of the company rather than shareholders….”

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XOM Hikes Dividend 21%

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ExxonMobil (XOM: 86.48, +0.17, +0.20%) increased its quarterly dividend by 10 cents on Wednesday, appeasing investors who have long urged the company to boost its yield in line with industry rivals.

The Irving, Texas-based company lifted its dividend by 21%, to 57 cents from 47 cents, payable on June 11 to shareholders of record on May 14.

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NK Faces Their Impotency: Step 1, Denial

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North Korea is armed with “powerful modern weapons” capable of defeating the United States, a top military chief in Pyongyang said Wednesday amid increased speculation abroad about the nation’s missile arsenal and nuclear ambitions.

Vice Marshal Ri Yong Ho emphasized the importance of strengthening the military to defend North Korea against threats it sees from the United States and South Korea. He called his nation a nuclear and military power and praised new leader Kim Jong Un, believed to be in his late 20s, as a “military strategist” who has been giving the army guidance for years.

“The Korean People’s Army is armed with powerful modern weapons … that can defeat the (U.S.) imperialists at a single blow,” he told party and military officials, using familiar descriptions of the country’s rivals.

The meeting, attended by Kim Jong Un, was held to mark the 80th anniversary of the army’s founding. The Associated Press was among foreign news agencies based in Pyongyang allowed to observe the closed meeting at the April 25 House of Culture.

Ri, who is chief of the army’s General Staff, did not provide further details about North Korea’s weapons, but his call to arms comes as the United States, Britain and others warn the nation against a provocation that would further heighten tensions. The Korean peninsula officially remains at war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

North Korea is believed to have some nuclear weapons but not the technology to put them on long-range missiles.

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Occupy Movement Back? GE Meeting Interrupted

DETROIT (Reuters) – Nearly 100 protesters affiliated with the “99 Percent” populist movement disrupted General Electric Co’s annual shareholders’ meeting on Wednesday in an attack on the largest U.S. conglomerate’s low tax rate.

The demonstrators, who began chanting “Pay Your Fair Share” when the meeting began, were quickly ushered out of the meeting — held in the Detroit building that houses General Motors Co’s headquarters — but could still be heard chanting protests as the meeting got underway.

After their exit, Chief Financial Officer Keith Sherin stepped up to defend GE’s tax practices, and noted that the company’s low tax rates in 2008 and 2009 were the result of heavy losses at GE Capital.

“Over the 2008 through 2010 time period we lost over $30 billion in credit losses at GE Capital and that reduced our pre-tax income and also our rate,” Sherin said. “Our U.S. tax expense last year was $2.6 billion. We are a large taxpayer, we pay our taxes and we very much support tax reform.”

As they were ushered outside, protesters rejoined a large crowd of hundreds of other demonstrators with signs that read “Tax Dodgers at Work” and “This is What Democracy Looks Like.” Police herded them away from the riverfront building.

The protesters were part of the “99 Percent” movement, an offshoot of last year’s Occupy Wall Street protests. Both are loosely organized around the idea that the U.S. economy no longer serves the needs of most Americans. The “99 Percent” moniker contrasts the average citizen to the nation’s wealthiest.

None of the demonstrators were arrested, unlike the scene at Wells Fargo & Co’s shareholder meeting in San Francisco a day earlier, where about a dozen were arrested.

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Fear The Chief Import From Europe

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With two of Europe’s biggest economies (UK and Spain) sliding back into recession in the past two days, there’s a growing concern that the region’s economic problems will spread far beyond its own borders. Add in the fact that there’s an uptick in nationalist rhetoric from places like France and the Netherlands (as well as the likelihood that street protests will resume as we hit May Day next week), and the European saga demands our attention and respect all over again.

As much as we can count on our economic leader (Bernanke, not Obama) to take action sooner rather than later, data points, like durable goods, had their sharpest drop in 3 years, making the waiting that much more uncomfortable.

“So much of economics is sentiment,” says Jeff Macke, in the attached video. “People just don’t spend when they feel bad.”

And neither do companies, I might add, a response that may have already started to materialize, given the shocking drop in durable goods.

The tricky question is, when does all of this become too big to ignore? And if we do, indeed, start paying closer attention to Europe’s descent, how much of an impact will it have on the global economy, as well as our own and China’s?

So far, stocks in the U.S. and Europe appear to be immune to such worries and are galloping higher on the heels of strong results from Apple (AAPL) and Boeing (BA). In reality, a sizable portion of the pop is predicated on the belief that bad economic news will garner more prompt service from the Stimulator in Chief, Ben Bernanke.

Yet amidst this relative domestic bliss and short-term appetite for stocks and risk-taking, the fact cannot be ignored that the S&P 500 is on track to post its first losing month of the year—it’s biggest dip since September—and that the mighty Tech Sector (XLK) is actually leading the way down.

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Obama Administration Proposes Child Labor Laws Down on the Farm

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“A proposal from the Obama administration to prevent children from doing farm chores has drawn plenty of criticism from rural-district members of Congress. But now it’s attracting barbs from farm kids themselves.

The Department of Labor is poised to put the finishing touches on a rule that would apply child-labor laws to children working on family farms, prohibiting them from performing a list of jobs on their own families’ land.

Under the rules, children under 18 could no longer work “in the storing, marketing and transporting of farm product raw materials.”

“Prohibited places of employment,” a Department press release read, “would include country grain elevators, grain bins, silos, feed lots, stockyards, livestock exchanges and livestock auctions.”

The new regulations, first proposed August 31 by Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, would also revoke the government’s approval of safety training and certification taught by independent groups like 4-H and FFA, replacing them instead with a 90-hour federal government training course.

Rossie Blinson, a 21-year-old college student from Buis Creek, N.C., told The Daily Caller that the federal government’s plan will do far more harm than good.

“The main concern I have is that it would prevent kids from doing 4-H and FFA projects if they’re not at their parents’ house,” said Blinson.”

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