TEPCO asks for Y1 tril in public funds in exchange for giving gov't 51% control

Let TEPCO go bust. Then buy it all for far less.

With all the govt/pulic handouts youd think these R swipes would be paying compo to those who are entitled but no they are still dragging the chain on it. Hurry up Tepco we want our claim paid too you have been sitting on it for months now.

Also the govt should tell tepco they are taking over the outfit completely and for senior company executives to empty there desk by 5pm tomorrow afternoon and vacate the offices.

Absolute bunch of stuff thats falls out of a puppies rear end this lot.

I'm not familiar with TEPCO's balance sheet, but I would think that the taxpayer's deserve 100% of the company. It's not as if TEPCO can find a buyer now. Still, I wonder if it could ever be restored to profitability.

How about 100% control and TEPCO go take a hike!

Screw you Tepco, you lost all your bargaining chips when you decided to give up on Japan, if it wasn't for Kan ordering your workers to stay Tokyo would have been evacuated.

Why is TEPCO initiating this proposal? Shouldn't the gov't just seize control, or is that too impolite?

So they whine and complain and try to stall payouts to the victims, but are looking for -- is this their third of fourth massive injection of public funds? right away?

Anyway, glad this scumbag of a company will lose its majority share, but given the government was a big part of the problem in this whole affair, and the fact that they would suddenly be making a lot of money from an electric company, is that a good thing? I can just picture them agreeing to the deal and then one day later impressing the need on the public to turn the reactors back on (more than they are doing now), and insisting new ones be built.

tmarie....the fat cats are protected due to the fact that TEPXO is a Stock Held kaisha. That is why people incorporate so they protect their own personal assets. None of us have a right to touch their personal assets including heirlooms, houses cars, iPads etc. That is why I am incorporated too. Just in case someone eats and gets sick, or falls on one of my stoves.

Government's responsibility day one was to say right, you messed up TEPCO. You're NATIONALIZED!

That would prevent any one invested from getting anything out of the company -and rightly so. After compensation and clean up (gov coffers, we're talking astronomical figures) TEPCO managers and share holders, in a perfect world, would know to expect knocks at the door for the difference.

Yet TEPCO carries on with loyalties to.. share holders( ?), suppliers of expendable workers( ?) as if still a viable (albeit corrupt) business and all was well when it's not. TEPCO is a foot dragging zombie. It's doing a terrible job and it's hurting people. It's high time for government to come in and pull the plug.

Screw TEPCO. They've done enough damage already.

I think that the Government and Sumitomo Mitsui Bank (Japan) which has injected trillions of Yen quietly to keep TEPCO alive, should just seize control of TEPCO and decide for themselves how best to maximize the value of the assets and resolve the crisis at the Fukushima power stations.

According to Japan Times, Reactor No 2 radiation level is now up to 72 sieverts per hour, so not even a robot can get inside that reactor building now. How much radiation is actually spewing out of that damaged building? What doesn't Japan Today report this information?

Sounds something like "Let's Make a Deal" with Monty Hall.

Hey, wait just a second. Please raise the consumption tax to 50%. That will fix the problem.

TEPCO also faces a growing bill for the work to dismantle the crippled plant and to clean areas polluted by radiation.

Crap, TEPCO has been using the same references of a whole reactor for those crippled reactors there can be NO cold shutdown like state and NO decomissioning / dismantling of high radioactive scrap metal and goo. Bury it now and stop wasting time.

this is ridiculous... "I know we are irresponsible, but forget that and give us more mopney from the people that we affected because our fault". This is lame.

So the people who ran TEPCO got to pocket millions for ignoring safety protocol, and yet ask the masses to share the cost when things got out of control.

The sad thing is, the government seems to sympathize with these crooks!

No to TEPCO. Let it dissolved. That's the product of their greed and incompetency.

@JGal,

Incorporation is all fine and well, but it doesn't protect the criminally negligent.

smithinjapan

I can just picture them agreeing to the deal and then one day later impressing the need on the public to turn the reactors back on (more than they are doing now), and insisting new ones be built.

Yea, maybe one day. Especially if the LDP gets back into power - it might happen. If the Japanese people let it happen, that is. Wouldn't that be the ultimate irony? Considering that Noda is right now trying to convince the rest of the world not to fall for the 'myth of safety' about nuclear reactors....

And this is because TEPCO ignored all the warnings they were given and the J-Gov failed miserably to make sure that 'power to the people' was feasible. Now, 'the people' are gonna foot the bill for the ignorance and stupidity of these two parties. TEPCO and the J-Gov should be giving free power to the whle country for the disgraceful way they managed this! Instead, they are gonna make us and 'Naoki Average' foot the bill? Go and get $%#$&!!!!

1 yen ! The 1 trillion is what I would ask the execs of Tepco to pay as a fine for the mountain of wrongdoings over the years.

"Why make trillions when we could make ... billions?"

lol @ Laguna. Dr.Evil was a very intelligent man however compared to all the deadbeat staff and management of TEPCO.

BTW - Thanks for the 80,000 yen you muppets. Think I will invest in some balloons filled with vomit and other matter and hurl them at the TEPCO staff when they go to lunch...

Translation, we make huge profits for years by taking safety risks to keep our costs low. Part of our profits we used to buy off the LDP party so they let do whatever we wanted to do , like say that reports that showed how dangerous our nuclear plants were was too dangerous to release to our employees or the pubic. But now that our money grubbing ways and bribes to the LDP no longer work, and thousands or acres of land and water are radioactive, we want the taxpayers to bail us out because we are too big to fail.

Let Tepco go bankrupt. The government will be the only buyer and the cost will zero to buy, billions of course to repair the damage TEPCO management has caused. TEPCO management belongs in jail, along with the Olympus management.

Govt should take over the company spin off the non-nuclear sectors to recover small part of investment, if corporate bond holders want a claim of the pie, their welcome to it as long as they want to take liability for their portion of the clean up the nuclear waste (so basically nothing so sad but go invest in Greek Debt). Anyone on the board down can keep their salary as long as they stay but any perks or benefits will only be limited to maybe 5-10 yrs down the road if this problem is settled (let's face it, they might not be the best but do you know anything about nuclear power plants?) , shut down a wider area around the reactors for a ban on agriculture and spend as much money as necessary to get the reactors under control. This will kill the Japanese economy if it gets any worse. Can you imagine what nuclear meltdown/any reactor going critical could do the economy? Spend whatever it takes because it will be worth it in the long run.

TizalleymanMar. 29, 2012 - 07:07PM JST In the States the gov't can regulate business, loan/grant money to businesses, but they don't own them...

Until quite recently in U.S. history, the government owned or administrated all utilities. We've only had problems with energy and water when private entities with minimal oversight were allowed to manage or own power and water (Three Mile Island or Enron anyone?).

Three of the largest power entities in the U.S., the Bonneville Power Administration, the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Colorado River Authority are all public. City Light and Power of Seattle owns its own dams. Combined, they control flooding and provide power and water for about 1/3 of the U.S. All the problem children of power generation in the U.S., coal and nuclear, are ostensibly publicly regulated but are private, for profit corporations.

Power and water are public good and therefore belong in the hands of the public. TEPCO should be nationalized with an eye to shutting down those nuclear facilities that can't be modernized. Unfortunately, that would mean about a 75% loss of electrical generating capacity in Japan as most of the reactors in Japan are of the same vintage and design as those at the Daiichi facility and have reached, or will shortly, their useful lifespans.

Where will the Japanese government get the Y 1 trillion???? They will borrow the money and load even more debt unto the backs of the Japanese people..Japans debt is already 280 percent of GDP,the highest debt ratio of all other industrialized nations and most of the debt is owned by Japanese citizens in form of investments in Government bonds or securities..Just like in the US,EU and other new world countries the problem has grown out of control and the only fix is to print"barrow" more money and in slave the populace via the tax system.There is a push to raise the consumption tax going on right now and government financial control of TEPCO is going to take place..you can bet on that, and rate hikes for electricity will be coming .. We have the same problem in the US with funding of failed big business. But,what choice do the people have?? None really,The disaster has already happened,clean up efforts,restitution,and safely shutting down and removing of these reactors must be done.. The failed business wins,the banks win,the government expands,and the populace loses.. All of us,the private citizens around the globe are facing are headed for some very hard times,We are stuck in a cycle corruption and there seeems to be no way out.

Government's responsibility day one was to say right, you messed up TEPCO. You're NATIONALIZED!

Former PM Kan used this as a threat when Tepco wanted to evacuate all workers after a few hours, it is well documented he said basically "if you don't stay and fix the problem you will be nationalized".

so what happened to all the money when they were making profits year after year?

TEPCO Fool me once , shame on you, Fool me twice , shame on me!

This was actually TEPCO's second price. First they asked for a Gazillion yen, but people pointed out that that wasn't an actual number.

"Why make trillions when we could make ... billions?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vohNUTTx3A

That doesn't make a wit of sense. More like the government can take 51% control and liquidate TEPCO assets to pay to the victims. Or are they going to be dupes and agree with TEPCO?

We do? Other than the big banks, most of which have paid back their TARP funds, which companies are currently being bailed out by the U.S. government in the manner in which TEPCO is getting funding?

(Please correct me if I'm wrong) US has the same kind of law to protect power company. Japan's 1961 Act on Compensation for Nuclear Damage is based on U.S. federal law called Price-Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act that was first passed in 1957.

The Price-Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act (commonly called the Price-Anderson Act) is aUnited States federal law, first passed in 1957 and since renewed several times, which governs liability-related issues for all non-military nuclear facilities constructed in the United States before 2026. The main purpose of the Act is to partially indemnify the nuclear industry against liability claims arising from nuclear incidents while still ensuring compensation coverage for the general public. The Act establishes a no fault insurance-type system in which the first approximately $12.6 billion (as of 2011) is industry-funded as described in the Act. Any claims above the $12.6 billion would be covered by a Congressional mandate to retroactively increase nuclear utility liability or would be covered by the federal government. At the time of the Act's passing, it was considered necessary as an incentive for the private production of nuclear power — this was because electric utilities viewed the available liability coverage (only $60 million) as inadequate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price%E2%80%93Anderson_Nuclear_Industries_Indemnity_Act

Please excuse my ignorance because I'm not quite sure how this works. But if the gov't takes over the electric company, aren't there a couple of issues to address? I could see definite conflict of interest issues, gaining of a monopoly on utilities, etc. For example, the politicians say "We're running a bit low in the public coffers...let's raise the price of electricity". This would basically allow them to "raise taxes" without actually raising taxes...

In the States the gov't can regulate business, loan/grant money to businesses, but they don't own them...

starting to sound alot like fannie and freddie

So they expect the government to bail them out and then buy them and get just 51%? Wow. Sad thing is, I can see it happening.

Are the fat cats going to give back any of their savings??