Tech, electronics, and finance sector fuels societal divide in U.S.; “prejudice and power in a dual economy”

Posted on May 2, 2017 by admin

From Alternet

America Is Regressing into a Developing Nation for Most People

A new book reveals that the U.S. is becoming two distinct countries, with separate economies, politics and opportunities.

By Lynn Stuart Parramore
April 22, 2017

This post originally appeared on the blog of the Institute for New Economic Thinking.

You’ve probably heard the news that the celebrated post-WW II beating heart of America known as the middle class has gone from “burdened,” to “squeezed” to “dying.” But you might have heard less about what exactly is emerging in its place.

In a new book, The Vanishing Middle Class: Prejudice and Power in a Dual Economy, Peter Temin, professor emeritus of economics at MIT, draws a portrait of the new reality in a way that is frighteningly, indelibly clear: America is not one country anymore. It is becoming two, each with vastly different resources, expectations and fates.

Two roads diverged

In one of these countries live members of what Temin calls the “FTE sector” (named for finance, technology and electronics, the industries that largely support its growth). These are the 20 percent of Americans who enjoy college educations, have good jobs and sleep soundly knowing that they have not only enough money to meet life’s challenges, but also social networks to bolster their success. They grow up with parents who read books to them, tutors to help with homework and plenty of stimulating things to do and places to go. They travel in planes and drive new cars. The citizens of this country see economic growth all around them and exciting possibilities for the future. They make plans, influence policies and count themselves lucky to be Americans.

The FTE citizens rarely visit the country where the other 80 percent of Americans live: the low-wage sector. Here, the world of possibility is shrinking, often dramatically. People are burdened with debt and anxious about their insecure jobs if they have a job at all. Many of them are getting sicker and dying younger than they used to. They get around by crumbling public transport and cars they have trouble paying for. Family life is uncertain here; people often don’t partner for the long-term even when they have children. If they go to college, they finance it by going heavily into debt. They are not thinking about the future; they are focused on surviving the present. The world in which they reside is very different from the one they were taught to believe in. While members of the first country act, these people are acted upon.

The two sectors, notes Temin, have entirely distinct financial systems, residential situations and educational opportunities. Quite different things happen when they get sick or when they interact with the law. They move independently of each other. Only one path exists by which the citizens of the low-wage country can enter the affluent one, and that path is fraught with obstacles. Most have no way out.

The richest large economy in the world, says Temin, is coming to have an economic and political structure more like a developing nation. We have entered a phase of regression and one of the easiest ways to see it is in our infrastructure: our roads and bridges look more like those in Thailand or Venezuela than the Netherlands or Japan. But it goes far deeper than that, which is why Temin uses a famous economic model created to understand developing nations to describe how far inequality has progressed in the United States. The model is the work of West Indian economist W. Arthur Lewis, the only person of African descent to win a Nobel Prize in economics. For the first time, this model is applied with systematic precision to the U.S.

The result is profoundly disturbing.

In the Lewis model of a dual economy, much of the low-wage sector has little influence over public policy. Check. The high-income sector will keep wages down in the other sector to provide cheap labor for its businesses. Check. Social control is used to keep the low-wage sector from challenging the policies favored by the high-income sector. Mass incarceration: check. The primary goal of the richest members of the high-income sector is to lower taxes. Check. Social and economic mobility is low. Check.

In the developing countries Lewis studied, people try to move from the low-wage sector to the affluent sector by transplanting from rural areas to the city to get a job. Occasionally it works; often it doesn’t. Temin says that today in the U.S., the ticket out is education, which is difficult for two reasons: you have to spend money over a long period of time, and the FTE sector is making those expenditures more and more costly by defunding public schools and making policies that increase student debt burdens.

Getting a good education, Temin observes, isn’t just about a college degree. It has to begin in early childhood, and you need parents who can afford to spend time and resources all along the long journey. If you aspire to college and your family can’t make transfers of money to you on the way, well, good luck to you. Even with a diploma, you will likely find that high-paying jobs come from networks of peers and relatives. Social capital, as well as economic capital, is critical, but because of America’s long history of racism and the obstacles it has created for accumulating both kinds of capital, black graduates often can only find jobs in education, social work, and government instead of higher-paying professional jobs like technology or finance— something most white people are not really aware of. Women are also held back by a long history of sexism and the burdens — made increasingly heavy — of making greater contributions to the unpaid care economy and lack of access to crucial healthcare.

How did we get this way?

What happened to America’s middle class, which rose triumphantly in the post-World War II years, buoyed by the GI bill, the victories of labor unions and programs that gave the great mass of workers and their families health and pension benefits that provided security?

The dual economy didn’t happen overnight, says Temin. The story started just a couple of years after the ’67 Summer of Love. Around 1970, the productivity of workers began to get divided from their wages. Corporate attorney and later Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell galvanized the business community to lobby vigorously for its interests.[1] Johnson’s war on poverty was replaced by Nixon’s war on drugs, which sectioned off many members of the low-wage sector, disproportionately black, into prisons. Politicians increasingly influenced by the FTE sector turned from public-spirited universalism to free-market individualism. As money-driven politics accelerated (a phenomenon explained by the Investment Theory of Politics), leaders of the FTE sector became increasingly emboldened to ignore the needs of members of the low-wage sector, or even to actively work against them.

America’s underlying racism has a continuing distorting impact. A majority of the low-wage sector is white, with blacks and Latinos making up the other part, but politicians learned to talk as if the low-wage sector is mostly black because it allowed them to appeal to racial prejudice, which is useful in maintaining support for the structure of the dual economy — and hurting everyone in the low-wage sector. Temin notes that “the desire to preserve the inferior status of blacks has motivated policies against all members of the low-wage sector.”

Temin points out that the presidential race of 2016 both revealed and amplified the anger of the low-wage sector at this increasing imbalance. Low-wage whites who had been largely invisible in public policy until recently came out of their quiet despair to be heard. Unfortunately, present trends are not only continuing, but also accelerating their problems, freezing the dual economy into place.

What can we do?

We’ve been digging ourselves into a hole for over 40 years, but Temin says we know how to stop digging. If we spent more on domestic rather than military activities, then the middle class would not vanish as quickly. The effects of technological change and globalization could be altered by political actions. We could restore and expand education, shifting resources from policies like mass incarceration to improving the human and social capital of all Americans. We could upgrade infrastructure, forgive mortgage and educational debt in the low-wage sector, reject the notion that private entities should replace democratic government in directing society, and focus on embracing an integrated American population. We could tax not only the income of the rich, but also their capital.

The cost of not doing these things, Temin warns, is incalculably high, and even the rich will end up paying for it.

“Look at the movie Hidden Figures,” he says. “It recounts a very dramatic story about three African-American women condemned to have a life of not being paid very well teaching in black colleges, and yet their fates changed when they were tapped by NASA to contribute to space exploration. Today we are losing the ability to find people like that. We have a structure that predetermines winners and losers. We are not getting the benefits of all the people who could contribute to the growth of the economy, to advances in medicine or science which could improve the quality of life for everyone — including some of the rich people.”

Along with Thomas Piketty, whose Capital in the Twenty-First Century examines historical and modern inequality, Temin’s book has provided a giant red flag, illustrating a trajectory that will continue to accelerate as long as the 20 percent in the FTE sector are permitted to operate a country within America’s borders solely for themselves at the expense of the majority. Without a robust middle class, America is not only reverting to developing-country status, it is increasingly ripe for serious social turmoil that has not been seen in generations.

A dual economy has separated America from the idea of what most of us thought the country was meant to be.

Lynn Parramore is contributing editor at AlterNet. She is cofounder of Recessionwire, founding editor of New Deal 2.0, and author of “Reading the Sphinx: Ancient Egypt in Nineteenth-Century Literary Culture.” She received her Ph.D. in English and cultural theory from NYU, and she serves on the editorial board of Lapham’s Quarterly. Follow her on Twitter @LynnParramore. 

[1] http://reclaimdemocracy.org/powell_memo_lewis/ [posted by editor]

http://www.alternet.org/books/america-regressing-developing-nation-most-people

Posted under Fair Use Rules.

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Canada: “The slippery slope” — privacy violation at center of city’s proposal to ‘mine’ Smart Meter data

Posted on May 1, 2017 by admin

Comment: Privacy is lost as soon as the surveillance is attached to the home. When they talk about “protecting privacy”, what they are really talking about is confidentiality. and as we know, promises of confidentiality are not kept. 

From the Toronto Sun

By Antonella Artuso
April 30, 2017

Dr. Ann Cavoukian, a three-term Ontario privacy commissioner and the executive director of the Privacy and Big Data Institute at Ryerson University, said Toronto Mayor John Tory’s comment that the city would “mine” residents’ water and hydro usage data to figure out how many homes are vacant raises privacy red flags.

The City of Toronto should not turn smart meters into snitch meters, a globally-recognized privacy expert says.

Dr. Ann Cavoukian said Toronto Mayor John Tory’s comment that the city would “mine” residents’ water and hydro usage data to figure out how many homes are vacant – the first step in his proposal to levy a special property tax on speculators – raises privacy red flags.

“I’m so appalled by this because it’s people’s private information. That’s what private property means. It’s private,” said Cavoukian, a three-term Ontario privacy commissioner and the executive director of the Privacy and Big Data Institute at Ryerson University. “I just think they haven’t a clue what they’re doing here in terms of how inappropriate it is – it is completely contrary to the law.

“This is a terrible erosion of what we consider to be the concept of private property,” she said.

Tory told reporters that city staff are preparing a report on empty homes to determine if a speculator tax will be effective in slowing down the dizzying rise in Toronto home prices and opening up more properties for purchase or rent.

Premier Kathleen Wynne, in her budget this week, confirmed that her government not only intends to give Toronto the “broad authority to levy an additional property tax on vacant homes,” but is open to offering other municipalities the same power.

When asked to explain how the city would use water and hydro data to see if a home is empty, Tory spokesperson Don Peat said the mayor is waiting to receive a report from city staff on a possible vacant homes tax.

“The report – which the mayor requested – is expected to contain details on how the City would determine whether a home is vacant and any arising privacy issues,” Peat said in an email. “Until those details are available, it would be premature for the mayor to weigh in.”

Cavoukian said the mayor stated that he would “mine” the data, and she can’t see how the city can establish vacancy without violating the privacy rights of all property owners in a municipality.

“This is bulk surveillance. They’re going to cast a big net and go fishing and see what they catch – all without the knowledge or consent of the individuals involved,” she said. “They have no authority to do this.”

Information on how much water is used or electricity consumed can only be collected and used for the purpose originally intended – paying bills – and it’s unacceptable to use it for a secondary purpose, she said.

Even if the information is just used to determine the overall extent of the vacant unit problem, which she considered unlikely, it would still be an inappropriate use of the data, Cavoukian said.

Governments, in particular, must be very careful about how they use the information they collect, she said.

When former premier Dalton McGuinty brought in legislation mandating a smart meter on every home, Cavoukian said she met with him to raise her concern that people’s private information might be wirelessly transmitted and abused.

McGuinty agreed that it was important to put in strong controls right at the start, and the privacy commissioner went on to produce several papers on the issue and meet with hydro authorities to spell out the rules.

People often don’t realize what their electricity use says about them – like when they are in or their midnight TV watching habits, she said.

And what about snowbirds who are away for almost half the year, she asked.

“This is where the slippery slope starts. And that’s why I want to put the walls up right now. Don’t even contemplate doing this, Mr. Tory,” Cavoukian said.

http://www.torontosun.com/2017/04/30/privacy-violation-at-heart-of-citys-potential-plan-to-mine-smart-meters-expert-2

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Propaganda and the war on science: 

Posted on April 28, 2017 by admin

One of the placards at a March for Science event promoted “sound science”. That term was coined by the tobacco industry to sow doubt on the science on cigarettes.

Galileo was not consensus science, and he was not considered sound science. He was, thankfully, rigorous independent science.

Corporate Pseudo-Science, Edward Bernays and the 2017 March for Science

By Dr. Gary G. Kohls
Global Research, April 27, 2017

Propaganda: “a message designed to persuade its intended audience to think and behave in a certain manner. Thus advertising is commercial propaganda. Or institutionalized and systematic spreading of information and/or disinformation, usually to promote a narrow political or religious (or commercial) viewpoint.” — from http://www.businessdictionary.com/

Mercenary: ”a person primary concerned with making money at the expense of ethics.”

“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, and our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of…It is they who pull the wires that control the public mind.”  — Edward L. Bernays, the Father of Propaganda in America and Sigmund Freud’s nephew, from his seminal book Propaganda (1928).

 “Entire populations, which were undisciplined or lacking in intellectual or definite moral principles, were vulnerable to unconscious influence and thus susceptible to wanting things that they do not need. This is achieved by manipulating desires on an unconscious level.” – Edward Bernays, From the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science (March 1947)

I recently heard a talk given by the author of a book whose theme was “the war on science”. The author happened to be on the national steering committee that helped to organize last weekend’s March for Science. The author was not a scientist, but he appeared to be fairly well read about some of the issues about which I was also concerned, such as global warming, resource depletion, pollution, over-population and other highly probable environmental catastrophes.

We were on the same page in opposing the Trump administration’s proposals to de-fund the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and regulatory agencies such as the EPA. We also both opposed the Trump administration’s threats to cut funding for pro-science initiatives such as dealing with the remaining un-remediated SuperFund pollution sites that have been created by reckless and unregulated corporations, municipalities and the American military. (NOTE: Pentagon Inc is the biggest polluter on the planet.)

However, during the speech, I was disappointed to hear the author boldly state as fact a widely-propagated media, medical and pharmaceutical industry myth that falsely claims that vaccines (presumably including the 270 new experimental ones that are in Big Pharma’s pipeline) are totally safe and efficacious (when they are injected into the muscle tissue of tiny, even premature infants whose blood-brain barriers and immune systems are not yet developed enough to keep out the mercury, aluminum and live viruses).

Obviously, unbeknownst to this non-scientist author, his statement revealed that he was ignorant or otherwise unaware of the voluminous body of documented, peer-reviewed and unbiased neuroscientific evidence that refutes the oft-repeated claim – or perhaps it just revealed the success of the indoctrination process that he and so many others, including far too many health journalists, had heard again and again. One only needs to recall Goebbels dictum: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it as truth.”  

(For that evidence that refutes the lie about vaccine safety, go to:
https://go2.thetruthaboutvaccines.com/docuseries/replay/  ;
www.nvic.org;
http://vaxxedthemovie.com/;
www.vactruth.com;
http://www.vaccinationinformationnetwork.com;
http://www.greatergoodmovie.org/learn-more/science/

The Fluoridation of America’s Water Supplies

The author also disappointed me when he repeated the American Dental Association-propagated (and fluoride industry) myth that the widespread fluoridation of municipal water supplies with the hazardous waste by-product of the fertilizer industry (fluoride) has no downsides (implying that fluoride supplementation is totally safe for the bodies and brains of children, notwithstanding the documented proof  that the ingestion of that neurotoxic mineral can cause lowered IQ levels, hypothyroidism and brain damage, as well as fluorosis of bones and teeth.

Image result for fluoride

The statement also ignored the fact that the fertilizer industry’s waste products contain an variable combination of fluorosilicic acid, sodium fluorosilicate and sodium fluoride, in addition to untested-for-contaminants like arsenic. It is important to note that fluoridation of water supplies is banned in most municipalities in Europe (on the basis of good, unbiased science), with no evidence of any increase in the incidence of dental caries in those non-fluoridated communities. (Explore www.fluoridealert.org for much more – and also read the warning on the next tube of fluoridated Crest toothpaste that you can find on the grocery store shelf.)

Edward Bernays, the Father of American Propaganda

Image result for edward bernaysEdward Bernays is considered the Father of American Propaganda. His writings on propaganda inspired Nazi Party leader Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda and Public Enlightenment to be really good at his job. One of Bernay’s most influential corporate “accomplishments” occurred in the mid- to late-1940s, when he was hired by ALCOA (the Aluminum Company of America) to orchestrate a public relations campaign to convince political leaders and the public that it would be good if ALCOA’s highly toxic by-product (fluoride salts) were added to the nation’s drinking water supplies under the guise of preventing tooth decay in children. (Google “Edward Bernays, the Father of American Propaganda” and “A Chronology of Forced Fluoridation in America” for more.)

Bernays’ propaganda campaign worked like a charm, with many state legislatures (including my state of Minnesota) passing laws that compelled reluctant municipalities to fluoridate their water supplies with the waste product that had up until then been responsible for so much poisoned air, water, soil, food, vegetation, livestock and other living things surrounding ALCOA’s aluminum smelting plants.

The aluminum industry, with the help of the American Dental Association (which is still in denial about the serious neurotoxicity of the mercury in its dental “amalgam” fillings), was enabled to sell its otherwise unmarketable and poisonous by-product – and they made a profit to boot! Win-win-lose.

Bernays’ and ALCOA’s fluoride caper was just another example of how cunning mercenary lobbyists that work for sociopathic corporations can convince non-scientist legislators to do their bidding, especially if the politicians also accept campaign contributions from those often criminal enterprises! (It should be noted, by the way, that, in recent years, most of the highly caustic fluoride powder that is purchased by American municipalities like Duluth comes from the toxic smokestacks of the phosphate fertilizer industry [rather than from the aluminum industry] and that the handlers of the fluoride powder need to wear hazmat suits.)

It is obvious to any close observer of what industry calls “science” is that there are at least two types of science:

1) the biased, Big Business kind of science that hires well-trained scientists to perform the necessary research in order to develop products that will make money for the company and its investors, and

2) the unbiased kind of science that is in it for altruistic reasons – with scientists that work for the advancement of pure knowledge, the advancement of society and the creation of a more humane and prosperous world for everybody – hoping, of course, to make a decent living at the same time.

The first kind of science – the one that has been dominant in American society for far too long – must be regarded with extreme suspicion, for it hires scientists that are expected do the will of the corporation’s non-scientist management and marketing teams that may be serial liars and manipulators of statistics. Far too often – because of the intense competition, corporations  find themselves unable to afford following ethical principles other than the so-called “business ethics” (an oxymoron) that they may have learned in the business administration course they once took in school.

Mercenaries, Whether Scientists or Soldiers, Can’t be Trusted to do the Honorable Thing

Continue reading →

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Peer review in the raw: N.P. Singh, the comet assay and “Radiation Research”

Posted on April 27, 2017 by admin

From Microwave News
April 27, 2017

This story was 20 years in the making.

If you want to know what it has been like to do research on the potential health effects of cell phone radiation, please read this story. I hope it will change the way you think about the peer review process and the power of entrenched interests to manipulate what gets published in the scientific literature –and, ultimately, shape public opinion.

This story should also help you understand how EMF/EMR research has come to be falsely portrayed as junk science.

Narendra P. Singh, known to friends and colleagues simply as NP, died last December at the age of 69. When his family wrote to me with the news, Singh’s wife asked me not to publish a tribute or an obituary at that time. I honored her request, but now, after a decent interval, I break my silence, in part to make good on a promise and to settle some unfinished business.

Read the story here .

http://microwavenews.com/news-center/singh-comet-assay-radiation-research

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Contributions needed to continue this work

Posted on April 25, 2017 by admin

To date, readers of this website have not contributed to pay for its work. Fortunately, colleagues have stepped up to help when the situation became dire.

I hope you will change that. Please make a one-time or ongoing contribution so that real bills can be paid and this website and work can continue. Believe me when I say that $5 and $10 donations would help.

Since 2012, this website has provided expert reports, industry documents, and international media articles for those investigating Smart Meters. This service is critical for informed discussion at local, state, and federal levels internationally.

Please support the work that goes into making that happen. Thank you.

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Taxpayer-funded federal agency shows utility companies and regulators how to game the system and charge the public to “restore profitiability” and “mitigate financial impacts” from conservation, efficiency, and solar

Posted on April 24, 2017 by admin

From Electricity Markets and Policy Group, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

PDF
New LBNL report finds earnings impacts to utility shareholders can be mitigated through many existing ratemaking and regulatory approaches but with important implications for customer rates and bills

Dear Colleague,

We are pleased to announce the release of a new report from Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) examining the financial impacts of a combined portfolio of energy efficiency (EE) and distributed photovoltaic (PV) systems on a prototypical northeast utility’s shareholders and ratepayers. The report also considers business model reforms that could be pursued by utilities and regulators to mitigate the financial impacts. Finally, the report assesses bill impacts on participating and non-participating customers using illustrative EE program types and PV investments.

The analysis is the first effort to jointly assess the financial impacts of EE and PV. The study relies upon a pro-forma utility financial model that LBNL developed and previously deployed for the purpose of analyzing the utility shareholder and ratepayer impacts of utility-sponsored energy efficiency programs and customer-sited PV in isolation. For the present study, we enhanced the financial model to take into account more granular modeling of the relationship between impacts of EE and PV on utility load and costs, and how that relationship changes at increasing EE and PV penetration levels over time.

An EE and PV portfolio, representing the most aggressive savings goals and PV adoption forecasts in the northeast region, resulted in about a 24 percent reduction in shareholder earnings and ROE for the northeast, distribution-only utility. Impacts on average retail electricity rates were also significant, increasing by about 22 percent over 20 years (i.e., 3% per year compared to 2% per year in the business as usual case).

We also examined the impact of a number of possible business model reforms, including alternative rate designs (e.g., adding a residential demand charge, increasing customer fixed charges), utility revenue decoupling, utility ownership of distributed PV, and targeted shareholder performance incentives. The report shows that a number of these reforms could restore utility profitability to levels similar to what would occur in the absence of distributed PV.

Finally, the report makes important findings about the financial impacts of aggressive EE and PV on the utility bills of participating and non-participating customers. We found that increases in average retail rates had real financial implications for not just non-participants, but also for those whose investments in EE measures (e.g., residential product rebate and low income programs) generate more modest savings of energy and demand that are unable to keep pace with the rising retail rates. In contrast, residential customers who invest in PV systems or EE measures that produce greater energy savings (e.g., whole home retrofit) experience bill savings that offset most or all the increase in retail rates.

A webinar presentation of key findings from the report will be conducted on Thursday, May 11 at 10:00am Pacific Time.

We appreciate the funding support of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability.

Best regards, and we apologize in advance for any cross-postings,

Andrew Satchwell, Peter Cappers, and Charles Goldman
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Contacts
Andrew Satchwell
(510) 486-6544
ASatchwell at lbl.gov

Peter Cappers
(315) 637-0513
PACappers at lbl.gov

Charles Goldman
(510) 486-4637
CAGoldman at lbl.gov

Electricity Markets and Policy Group
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
emp(dot)lbl(dot)gov

 Electricity Markets and Policy Group, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, 1 Cyclotron Road, MS 90-4000, Berkeley, CA 94720

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Kentucky bill would allow customers to “opt out” of smart meters

Posted on April 22, 2017 by admin

http://www.lrc.ky.gov/record/17RS/SB121.htm

Senate Bill 121

AN ACT relating to metering of electric service.

Create new sections of KRS Chapters 96 and 278 to define “smart meter” and to require utilities seeking to install smart meters to give notice to affected customers and the right to opt out of having a smart meter installed on the customer’s premises; specify that customers are not required to pay for any electricity necessary to power the smart meter.

From 14 News
March 10, 2017
Paige Hagan, reporter

HENDERSON CO., KY (WFIE) – We’ve heard your concerns over a sudden spike in energy bills.

Now, hundreds of outraged Kenergy customers are pushing state legislators to do something about it.

Kentucky Senator Dan “Malano” Seum introduced a bill that would allow people to “opt out” of the new smart meters that Kenergy customers are saying are causing their bills to surge.

We’re told hundreds in our viewing area called into Frankfort on Friday pushing for the bill.

Senate Bill 121 would “require utilities seeking to install smart meters to give notice to affected customers and the right to opt out of having a smart meter installed.”  You can read the bill in its entirety here.

Hundreds of Kenergy customers in the region are saying their bills have doubled, and some tripled.

We sat down with Kenergy customers Valerie Gentry and her husband at their home in Henderson County.

The Gentry’s showed us hundreds of signatures they’ve collected from outraged customers. They tell us they’ve been in touch with an attorney, planning to take Kenergy officials to court.

“It’s a community issue, and it’s not just a few people. It’s thousands,” Valerie Gentry said.

Gentry created a Facebook page for concerned Kenergy customers. In just two weeks, it’s generated over 16,000 members also upset by their bills.

On the other hand, utility providers say cold snaps in December caused a spike in electricity use, while at the same time, they say, smaller bill credits, rate increases, billing and meter changes-all approved by the Public Service Commission-caused bills to increase.

But, the Gentry’s aren’t buying it.

“Usage is going even when you’re turning your breaker off. You’re paying for the meter itself just to be a smart meter,” Gentry said. “It hurts so bad, it’s a decision between feeding your kids or trying to borrow money to pay your bill, because, these bills are not cheap.”

The Gentry’s say they’re not giving up until they gets answers that make sense.

Public Service Commission officials say it’s up to the utility company to determine if it wants to offer an opt-out policy for the smart meters.

Kenergy does not have that policy.

Copyright 2017. WFIE. All rights reserved.

Posted under Fair Use Rules

http://www.14news.com/story/34728231/senator-introduces-bill-that-would-allow-customers-to-opt-out-of-new-smart-meters

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Kentucky Attorney General finds “little support” that Smart Meters will benefit customers “in any way”; eliminates Smart Meter plan

Posted on April 22, 2017 by admin

“After careful review of the filings in this case, we find little support that smart meter deployment will benefit the ratepayers in any way.”
Andy Beshear, Kentucky Attorney General [1]

From Kentucky.com
April 19, 2017
By John Cheves

Attorney General Andy Beshear on Wednesday announced a settlement with Kentucky Utilities and Louisville Gas & Electric that would reduce a large rate increase the companies requested in November. It also would shelve the utilities’ controversial plan to more than double the fixed monthly charge that all customers must pay, regardless of how much electricity they use.

For a typical Central Kentucky home that buys 1,179 kilowatt hours of electricity per month from KU, the monthly bill would rise by $4.21 under the settlement rather than by $7.16, as KU originally sought.

“My office clearly understands the need for utility companies to maintain their infrastructure to better serve ratepayers,” Beshear said in a prepared statement. “But the settlement reached with my office will lessen the impact to Kentuckians by not passing on excessive costs in ways that would be crippling to hundreds of thousands of ratepayers.”

The Kentucky Public Service Commission will review the terms of the settlement at a May 9 hearing in Frankfort.

KU and LG&E initially asked the PSC for a $210 million increase in their annual revenue to pay for a variety of expenses, including infrastructure replacement and the installation of wireless “smart meters” that would allow the companies to more closely track energy use and outage locations. The settlement with Beshear eliminated the plan for smart meters, which the attorney general said would cost ratepayers $350 million without providing them with much benefit.

KU and LG&E sell electricity to nearly 950,000 customers around Kentucky; LG&E also sells natural gas to about 325,000 customers. They are owned by the PPL Corporation of Allentown, Pa.

In a prepared statement, the utilities on Wednesday said they have agreed to accept a $122 million increase in annual revenue. PPL reports making nearly $400 million in profit in Kentucky last year on statewide operating revenue of $3.1 billion. The company this year is boosting its dividend for shareholders by 4 percent to $1.58 per share…. [2]

[1] http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2017/03/09/ag-beshear-wants-big-cut-lge-ku-rate-plan/98960212/

[2] http://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article145479849.html

http://kentucky.gov/Pages/Activity-stream.aspx?n=AttorneyGeneral&prId=306 — Press release

 

 

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Arizona: Epic failure! Electric co-op replacing all 40,000 Elster Smart Meters after 3 years, and APS replacing 20,000 Elster Smart Meters per year — due to communication failures

Posted on April 20, 2017 by admin

And Navopache is telling customers it is an upgrade — see webpage link below.

Information and Perspective by Warren Woodward
Sedona, Arizona
April 20, 2014

Yesterday I received news that Navopache Electric Cooperative, a utility that serves customers in the White Mountains of eastern Arizona and western New Mexico, is replacing all of its Elster brand “smart” meters with Landis & Gyr “smart” meters.

Upon hearing the news, I phoned Navopache. The person I spoke with said initially that Navopache was “upgrading” their meters and replacing all 40,000 of them. In our subsequent conversation she said the Elster meters had “bugs” and communication problems. She also said the Elsters were only about 3 years old.

What a colossal waste! If Navopache had stuck with analog meters, those much less expensive and reliable analog meters would still be in service today, tomorrow and for decades to come.

This Navopache news has relevance to the current APS rate case because a fraudulent 20 year “smart” meter service life is being proposed by APS, ACC Staff and the Residential Utility Consumer Office (RUCO). RUCO, by the way, is supposed to represent residential customers in the rate case but in reality represents no one but RUCO. (To see how badly RUCO has lied and sold us out in the APS rate case in order to further RUCO’s elitist, social engineering agenda, see pages 9 to 15 of my testimony here: http://docket.images.azcc.gov/0000179034.pdf . ACC Staff’s lies are detailed at pages 3 to 9.)

Because I am an Intervenor in the APS rate case, I get to do discovery. I get to ask APS questions. Via discovery, I found that APS’s Elster meters are lasting about as long as Navopache’s. From my testimony:

At APS’s Response to Woodward’s data request 2.12, APS admits thousands of meters failed to communicate and, after an average life of just 4 years, were replaced as follows:

2014 – 19,203 meters replaced
2015 – 22,287 meters replaced
2016 (As of 10/2016) – 20,172 meters replaced

This failure to communicate is a problem that is ongoing. APS: “This specific communication issue was first identified in 2014 and continues to be an issue today, albeit a minimal one.” Some 20,000 meters failing every year is a “minimal issue?”

I guess when you have lax regulators along with a monopoly on 1.25 million customers like APS does, then the ongoing waste of 20,000 failed “smart” meters per year is nothing to worry about. However, when you have only 40,000 meters to begin with like Navopache does, a failure rate like APS’s wipes out your entire meter stock quickly.

What’s amazing is how Navopache didn’t learn a thing from the epic failure, but instead Navopache is just replacing one brand with another. What was that definition of insanity most of us have heard, doing the same thing and expecting a different result?

“Smart” meters simply do not last. Because actual metering is only one fifth of what a “smart” meter does, the I.R.S. classifies them as a computer with only a 6 year life. Indeed, a utility executive testifying before the U.S. Congress said they only last 5 to 7 years. You can read about that as well as details of tens of thousands of other APS “smart” meter failures, as well as the 140,000 that went obsolete after less than 10 years, at pages 40 to 46 of this testimony: http://docket.images.azcc.gov/0000178628.pdf .

Undaunted, and as such reminding me very much of the Black Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Navopache claims at its website [1] (and in ALL CAPS to make certain we are persuaded) that “smart” meters offer “improved EFFICIENCY,” “improved RELIABILITY,” and “improved AFFORDABILITY.” Sure. Except when they don’t.

By the way, this is the same Navopache Electric Co-op that said their “smart” meters transmit only once every four hours. “Navopache Caught Lying” [2] is a YouTube I did 3 years ago of a Navopache “smart” meter shortly after it was installed. I guess no one told it that it was only supposed to transmit once every four hours because, like utility lying about “smart” meters, it never stops.

[1] http://w ww.navopache.org/content/ami-0

[2]

Click to access 20170420_woodward_NavopacheElectricCoop.pdf

http://www.sedona.biz/editorial-and-opinion/letter-to-the-editor/letter-to-the-editor-epic%20-fail-navopache-electric-coop-replacing-all-40000-smart-meters-afterjustafewyears/

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In 1976 classified memo, U.S. govt said 1-15 microW/cm2 a potential health hazard and unacceptable: FCC exposure limits are 1000 microW/cm2

Posted on April 18, 2017 by admin

Wikileaks released a 1976 memo (below) to the U.S. Secretary of State regarding microwave radiation levels measured inside the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. It is titled: MOSCOW SIGNAL – APPROACH TO GROMYKO. It was classified “SECRET” until 2006. It was written by Ambassador Walter Stoessel to Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and marked NODIS — No Distribution (other than to persons indicated) . More information on the memo is on the Wikileaks website. Stoessel died of leukemia at age 66 in 1986. He was stationed at the embassy on three different occasions. [1]

Main points:

Frequency detected: above 1 GHz 
Daily duration of exposure: 18 hours per day
Levels detected in the embassy: 1-15 microW per cm2
Levels in comparison to typical background levels in U.S. cities: several orders of magntitude above = 1000s to 100s of thousands times greater, or more, than 1976 U.S. background levels

U.S. medical experts’ “considered opinion” was that prolonged exposure to 1-15 microwatts  per cm2 constitute a potential health hazard.

U.S. officials said, “No level of radiation in the U.S. Embassy which is significantly above the typical background level in residential areas of large industrial cities is acceptable to us.”

Why are FCC exposure limits 1000 microW per cm2 — 100s of times greater than U.S. medical experts’ “considered opinion” of a potential health hazard in 1976 and tens of millions of times greater than what U.S. officials deemed acceptable?

There were U.S. conferences in the 1950s and 1960s on the biological effects of microwave radiation,[2] and the Canadian National Research Council paper of 1973 warned about increasing public exposure to microwave radiation through commercial uses.

Then, commercial and military uses ramped up, the U.S. EPA’s EMF lab was defunded and shut down, a draft federal report on RF was gutted, and the state of California’s EMF lab was shut down. Tom Wheeler (CTIA), Reed Hundt (FCC), and Al Gore (Congress) effectively stopped public. medical, and scientific opposition through the 1996 Telecom Act prohibiting state and local governments from regulating RF from cell towers.

And reports have found —
Cell towers often exceed FCC limits.
Wireless devices (cell phones, iPads, etc.) exceed FCC limits as commonly used.
Wi-Fi’d classrooms can exceed FCC limits when students are using computers.

Excerpts from the 1976 memo:

–THE LEVELS OF RADIATION IN THE EMBASSY BUILDING MEASURED OVER TIME BY U.S. TECHNICIANS, AND THOSE MEASURED JOINTLY WITH SOVIET TECHNICIANS, ARE SEVERAL ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE ABOVE THE TYPICAL BACKGROUND LEVEL IN U.S. CITIES, AND ALSO ABOVE THE BACKGROUND LEVEL MEASURED IN U.S. RESIDENCES IN MOSCOW WHICH ARE AWAY FROM THE CHANCERY BUILDING.

–OUR MEDICAL EXPERTS ARE OF THE CONSIDERED OPINION THAT PROLONGED EXPOSURE TO MICROWAVE RADIATION AT THE LEVELS MEASURED IN THE U.S. EMBASSYCONSTITUTE A POTENTIAL HEALTH HAZARD.

–NO LEVEL OF RADIATION IN THE U.S. EMBASSY WHICH IS SIGNIFICANTLY ABOVE THE TYPICAL BACKGROUND LEVEL IN RESIDENTIAL AREAS OF LARGE INDUSTRIAL CITIES IS ACCEPTABLE TO US.
———————————————-

From Wikileaks

1. FOLLOWING IS TEXT OF INFORMAL PAPER LEFT WITH GROMYKO, AS MENTIONED IN PARA ONE REFTEL.

BEGIN QUOTE

PRINCIPAL CONCLUSIONS OF U.S. EXPERTS

—MEASUREMENTS OF RADIATION LEVELS TAKEN BY US SPECIALISTS IN U.S. EMBASSY MOSCOW OVER PERIOD OF SEVERAL MONTHS INDICATE THAT EMBASSY IS RECEIVING TWO RADIATION BEAMS OF MICROWAVE ENERGY IN THE FREQUENCY RANGE ABOVE ONE GIGAHERZ. ONE COMES FROM A POINT TO THE EAST OF THE CHANCERY AND THE OTHER FROM A POINT TO THE SOUTH.

–THESE EMANATIONS ARE PRESENT, EITHER ALTERNATELY OR OCCASIONALLY SIMULTANEOUSLY, FOR PERIODS APPROXIMATING 18 HOURS PER DAY.

–THESE BEAMS HAVE RESULTED IN RADIATION DENSITIES WITHIN CHANCERY OFFICES AND SOME APARTMENTS OF PERSONNEL RANGING FROM 1 TO 15 MICROWATTS PER SQUARE CENTIMETER.

–JOINT MEASUREMENTS CONDUCTED WITH SOVIET EXPERTS ON JANUAYR 28,

SECRET

SECRET

PAGE 02 MOSCOW 01437 311559Z

WHEN ONLY ONE OF THE PREVIOUSLY DETECTED SOURCES WAS EMITTING IN THE LOWER ENERGY RANGE OBSERVED PREVIOUSLY, WERE CONSISTENT WITH PREVIOUS U.S. MEASUREMENTS. IN PARTICULAR THEY CLEARLY REVEALED THE DIRECTIONALITY OF THE BEAM FROM THE EAST.

–THE LEVELS OF RADIATION IN THE EMBASSY BUILDING MEASURED OVER TIME BY U.S. TECHNICIANS, AND THOSE MEASURED JOINTLY WITH SOVIET TECHNICIANS, ARE SEVERAL ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE ABOVE THE TYPICAL BACKGROUND LEVEL IN U.S. CITIES, AND ALSO ABOVE THE BACKGROUND LEVEL MEASURED IN U.S. RESIDENCES IN MOSCOW WHICH ARE AWAY FROM THE CHANCERY BUILDING.

—OUR MEDICAL EXPERTS ARE OF THE CONSIDERED OPINION THAT PROLONGED EXPOSURE TO MICROWAVE RADIATION AT THE LEVELS MEASURED IN THE U.S. EMBASSYCONSTITUTE A POTENTIAL HEALTH HAZARD.

—NO LEVEL OF RADIATION IN THE U.S. EMBASSY WHICH IS SIGNIFICANTLY ABOVE THE TYPICAL BACKGROUND LEVEL IN RESIDENTIAL AREAS OF LARGE INDUSTRIAL CITIES IS ACCEPTABLE TO US.

END QUOTE.

2. SUMMARY OF FULL REPORT WILL BE TRANSMITTED AS SOON AS AVAILABLE, HOPEFULLY TODAY, AND TEXT FULL REPORT WILL BE SENT SO AS TO BE AVAILABLE IN WASHINGTON BY OPENING OF BUSINESS FEB. 2. STOESSEL

SECRET

NNN

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/11/obituaries/walter-j-stoessel-jr-dies-at-66-a-former-ambassador-to-moscow.html

[2] http://kompetenzinitiative.net/KIT/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/KI_Brochure-6_K_Hecht_web.pdf
Russian research compiled for the German government in 1997, released in 2012 (English, 2016)

https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1976MOSCOW01437_b.html

https://wikileaks.org/plusd/pressrelease/#1976 scroll down to Wikileaks Special Project K from April, 2013

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