Thomko Petro Chemical Blog

Companies that use the testing process is only growing, and it includes much more than the petro-chemical industry.

Although there is growth all over the Golden Triangle with the expansion of refineries like Motiva and Total, there's a slight bump in the road.

The Industrial Alliance says more and more potential employees are failing drug tests and can't work for the expansion projects.

Some drug screening agencies say companies are calling daily, wanting to have their employees screened.

Rob Bittle is the owner of Advantage Drug Testing in Beaumont. He says his business is booming since the announcement of several refinery expansions in South County. In fact, he says his company has grown more than 300 percent.

But with that growth, comes a problem with finding enough employees to pass the tests. Out of every fifty, eight people will fail. "We do see them and see people denied access and unfortunately they lose their jobs.

This doesn't allow us the number of people we need to build and maintain facilities, according to Mark Viator, a facilitator with the Industrial Alliance.

The Southeast Texas economy at a deficit. "With a current workforce of about 13 to 14 thousand  another 14 thousand. needed. Every employee that walks through the gates must take a drug screening.

"Delivery people, supply people, supply houses, sub contractors, special skills and services, engineers are all required to be drug screened," says Bittle. "They have a responsibility to the community, environment, their employees, their equipment, to make sure people are fit for duty. Not taking drugs. A responsibility and trust the industry is not willing to break."

Drug screening agencies say the number of companies that use the testing process is only growing, and it includes much more than the petro-chemical industry.
 
http://www.kfdm.com/news/says_25751___article.html/drug_people.html

On the global world market, the United States is for sale - and at discount prices.

A Saudi conglomerate buys a Massachusetts plastics maker last year. A French company starts a new factory in Michigan at the end of last year, and a British company buys up a New Jersey cough syrup maker.

A German company broke ground in last November in Alabama on a $3.7 billion stainless steel plant  - all the while touting about the low cost of production in the United States and the chance to reach many millions of customers - in particular because NAFTA allows goods to flow into Mexico and Canada free of duty.

The weakened American dollar has made our companies and properties cheaper on the global market - especially for European and Canadians.

And while our economic growth is weak, other countries like Russia, Saudi Arabia, China and Germany have strong growth and one key economic factor the U.S. does not have - strong exports.  

According to research firm Thomson Financial, foreign investors poured $414 billion last year into securing stakes in American companies, factories - and other properties through private deals, and purchases of public traded stocks. 

That staggering amount accounts to more than one-fourth of all deals announced for the entire year. And during the first two weeks of 2008, foreign businesses have invested $22.6 billion in American companies.

Canada is the leading country buying stakes in American companies spending more than $65 billion in 2007, but other countries' purchases are growing rapidly. South Korea's investments were totaled to more than $10.4 billion last year; Russia invested $572 million; and India $3.3 billion.

If the dollar continues to drop, look for more foreign companies buying up U.S. assets at even more bargain prices.

While State officials and government officials in Washington are courting more and more foreign money in an effort to convence Americans that the economy is indeed growing, there are also concerns about foreign countries gaining an influence over U.S. financial systems and military related technology. But even with these concerns, vast pools of money are still being courted from China to the Middle East. It's a Catch 22 situation because all this foreign investment may be preventing the U.S. from sinking deeper into financial crisis.

Wall Street is benefiting because banks like Merrill Lynch, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley have sold stakes to government controlled funds in Asia and the Middle East to compensate for huge losses on subprime mortgages.

Some American workers are also benefiting. Five million Americans now work for foreign companies set up in the United States, and those jobs pay 30% more than similar work at domestic companies. Almost a third of these jobs are in manufacturing, which explains why many States are looking for more foreign investment.

Bottom line - The U.S. has lost more than three million manufacturing jobs since 2001, with foreign trade often taking the blame. Foreign-made goods now account for roughly one-third of all wares consumed in the United States, and now our economy is vulnerable to decisions made very far from our shores.

Source: New York Times - by Peter S. Goodman and Louise Story 

The world's 13th richest persons, Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, is coming to the financial aid of Citigroup - one of the world’s mightiest banks.

Why? Because Citigroup is one of the big losers in the subprime mortgage scandal - to the tune of $22.2 billion in bad loans and mortgages - $9.83 billion in the fourth quarter of 2007. Actually Citigroup is seeking a total of $12.5 billion to strengthen its balance sheet.  

But this isn't the first time the Saudi billionaire has come to the aid of Citigroup. Back in 1991 he invested $590 million due to loan losses suffered in the U.S., along with the Latin American market.

Prince Abdullah, is the largest Citigroup "individual shareholder" with 3.6% ownership of the biggest U.S. bank by assets through Kingdom Holding - which the Prince controls.

Another large individual investor is Sanford I Weill, Citigroup's former chairman. The two largest individual shareholders have a good relationship - so good in fact that the Prince Abdullah and Weill met privately to oust then chairman Charles O. Prince III, however the chairman resigned on his own late last year - at least that's how the story goes.    

Other investors include the government of Singapore with a $6.88 billion investment, the Kuwait Investment Authority, the largest company shareholder - Capital Research & Mgmt., and the New Jersey Division of Investments.

At the heart of this billion dollar loss are 4,000 layed off employees - and it is rumored that Citigroup will lay off even more in the coming months.

Take a deep breath, you won't believe this - Americans disqualified because they are "Americans" - CT

How Fake Job Ads Defraud Americans To Secure Green Cards For Immigrants:

Immigration attorneys from Cohen & Grigsby explains how they assist employers in running classified ads with the goal of NOT finding any qualified applicants, and the steps they go through to disqualify even the most qualified Americans in order to secure green cards for H-1b workers.

See what is really meant by the term a "shortage of skilled U.S. workers."

Microsoft, Oracle, Hewlett-Packard, and thousands of other companies are running fake ads in Sunday newspapers across the country each week.

See and hear the video, and pass this along 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCbFEgFajGU