Incomplete list of publicly announced layoffs & shutdowns:
The second largest magazine distributor/publisher in the country, Source Interlink Distribution, laid off employees in California, Florida and Michigan. This includes the editor of Automobile magazine. The company also publishes Motor Trend, Hot Rod, Camaro Performers, GM Hi-Tech, Super Chevy, Import Tuner, Honda Tuning and Super Street. Word is, all these iconic magazines will be consolidated into just a couple of publications! Operations in Michigan will be moved to California. There are rumors the company is actually shutting down due to the loss of their contract with Time Inc. Six thousand jobs across the country could be affected!
Arizona: What housing market recovery? Housing market research company Zillow reports that at the end of March Yuma County had the highest negative equity (homebuyers are paying way more than what the homes are really worth) in the state, 38%. Pima and Cochise counties are close behind.
California: Too Big to Jail Bank of American announced more layoffs, this time 50 employees in Brea will be laid of in July. In Oakland, Alta Bates Summit Medical Center warned of massive 1584 layoffs by the end of July! In Montebello, Beverly Hospital laying off 17 people in July. In Sylmar, God can’t stop the all powerful Obama Care from killing 274 jobs with Saint Jude Medical in July! In Atwater, Mi Pueblo Foods shutting down in August, 279 jobs lost! In San Francisco, Grand Cafe shutting down in July, 63 jobs lost. CDIHS/OMI Head Start laying off 76 people in July. In Sunnyvale, taxsucker Lockheed Martin warned of 62 layoffs to take place in July. In Santa Anna, energy supplier AGR Group shutting down in August, 203 jobs lost! The company is facing a lawsuit by employees over failure to pay for work performed. In Mountain View, Symantec continues to kill jobs, this time 42 people will become unemployed in June. In City of Jurupa Valley, QS Wholesale laying off 66 employees in July. In West Covina, California Pizza Kitchen announced they are laying off 60 employees in August. What housing market recovery? Housing market research company Zillow reports that at the end of March Lassen County had the highest negative equity, 43%! Close behind is Imperial, Kern, Tulare, Lake, Merced, Madera, Yuba, Colusa and Del Norte counties, all with more than 30% of homeowners ‘underwater’!
Idaho: What housing market recovery? Housing market research company Zillow reports that at the end of March Elmore County had the highest negative equity, 42%! Bingham County came in second with 29%. It must be noted that realty data from many Idaho counties are not being made public, such as Bannock County (which is the hardest hit economically)!
Illinois: Chicago based investor analyst company Morningstar announced it will no longer work for Sears Holdings. Apparently the owner of Sears and Kmart stores is doing so bad that Morningstar is leaving the sinking ship now.
Kentucky: On of the largest advertising companies in Lexington, Meridian-Chiles, now chapter 7 bankrupt busted.
Massachusetts: Zillow reports that the counties of Suffolk, Middlesex, Plymouth, Norfolk and Essex have 78,873 homes with underwater mortgages (homebuyers are paying way more than what the homes are really worth), at the end of March.
Michigan: In Lansing, Cup of Dessert (aka Decker’s Coffee) shutdown. What housing market recovery? Wayne County announced 557 properties to be auctioned off just in the month of June! These are properties that were seized for failure to pay taxes. In 2013 Wayne County put up for auction nearly 20-thousand properties, the most in the whole World! Not all sold, and the county came up short $182-million USD! In the failed state city of Detroit: “…118,000 properties owe more than $500 million in unpaid property taxes. These properties are in addition to the more than 84,000 Detroit properties to which various public entities already hold title as a result of tax foreclosure.”-Detroit Blight Removal Task Force
Minnesota: The epilepsy floor of the United Hospital was shutdown, due to cuts in payments and increased costs caused by Obama Care! The operator of the hospital, Allina Health, revealed just how much Obama Care is killing the healthcare industry; in the 1st quarter of 2013 Allina Health had $22.3-million in operating income (profit after operating costs are subtracted, a little more specific than net profit). For the 1st quarter 2014 operating income crashed to just $449-thousand!!! The owner of dozens of Minnesota Taco Bells and Pizza Huts is now chapter 11 bankrupt busted! 140 jobs threatened! Border Foods and Sky Ventures already sold off 54 Pizza Huts back in December. They’ve already been sued for $8-million in back due rent! The company is asking the bankruptcy court to allow them to sell off more restaurants. Company officials cry ‘What economic recovery?’: “Sales have remained stagnant, costs have increased….The combination of the factors has led to a condition where the….margins have decreased and making additional capital investments….is not prudent.”-Barry Zelickson, VP
Missouri: In Kansas City, after 83 years (and surviving the Great Depression) men’s clothing store Jack Henry shutdown, 25 jobs lost. It’s blamed on “current trends” in clothing: “When the clothes are gone, the Jack Henry brand will be gone as well…the end of an era for a Kansas City icon.”-Spiro Arvanitakis, co-owner
Nevada: What housing market recovery? Zillow reports at least 30% of homeowners in Las Vegas have negative equity, in other words they’re paying way too much for their homes than what they’re worth.
North Carolina: High Point Regional UNC Health Care killed 115 jobs! Hospital official, Greg Taylor, blames Obama Care for causing not just insurance reimbursement reductions, but “…admissions decrease….surgical procedures decrease, and we think that is part of where the market is headed. It’s been playing out all across the country.”
New York: In Buffalo, Main Court/Main Seneca announced they are shutting down in August, 82 jobs lost. Canisius College warned it will layoff an undisclosed number of employees for the upcoming school year. It’s blamed on decreasing students and increasing benefit costs caused by Obama Care. In Farmingdale, environmental and disaster recovery consultant ProSource Technologies suddenly shutdown after losing their state contract, 366 jobs lost! In Melville, employment staffing company Adecco Group announced it is shutting down in December, 154 jobs lost! Who said internet companies are killing brick-n-mortar stores? Once again an internet upscale clothing store killing jobs. This time Fab will layoff 90 people, it’s the internet company’s third round of layoffs in the past ten months, and by the way all the layoffs are coming out of its New York operations only!
Ohio: What economic recovery? The new company created by the merger of Anchor Hocking and Oneida kitchen ware, EveryWare Global, is in big trouble. Even with huge layoffs and factory shutdowns the company is reporting it lost $38.4-million in its first quarter of 2014! In Beachwood, retail property owner/manager DDR revealed that the closure of 400 Office Depot stores will directly affect 50 of their properties. However, DDR officials also revealed they’ve been cutting Office Depot a deal on rent (below-market value), and maybe they can jack up the rents once Office Depot vacates. In Perrysburg Township, Ace Hardware announced they are killing 105 jobs in July! They are shutting down their 40 years old Retail Support Center. In Toledo, iconic The Blade newspaper announced they are killing 131 jobs! The 179 years old newspaper is shutting down its Toledo production and mailing operations beginning in August.
Oregon: In Portland, MulvannyG2 Architecture shutdown. They’re consolidating operations. In Beaverton, Obama Care medical device tax forcing Greatbatch/Electrochem Solutions to move to Mexcio. 170 jobs lost by the end of 2015!
Pennsylvania: In Canonsburg, GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy Custom Fabrication Plant shutting down in October, 130 jobs lost! GE (General Electric) is the same company that designed the disaster reactors at Fukushima Daiichi, and Hitachi helped build them.
Tennessee: God can’t stop the all powerful Obama Care from killing 75 jobs at Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare: “…the current healthcare environment is presenting financial challenges for hospitals across the country….As a result, we are examining ways to reduce costs from our system. We’re finding ways to save through measures such as standardizing medical devices and not filling open positions where it makes sense. But even after making those changes, we still need to find additional ways to reduce costs.”-Gary Shorb, CEO
Texas: What housing market recovery? Zillow reports that at least 31% of homebuyers in Bell County are paying for homes that are worth much much less than what the mortagages will end up costing the homebuyer!
20 – 26 May 2014: Massive education cuts!
The U.S. Department of Labor (DoL) doesn’t count the hundreds of layoffs involving less than 50 people each, in its mass layoff reports. It also doesn’t count all the little ‘mom & pop’ businesses that shut down.
“Our ideals and principles, as well as our national security…..That’s what makes America different. That’s what makes us exceptional.”-Barack Obama, 10 September 2013