Category Archives: Business/Economics

Business/Economics, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? California: More courts closing down! Prison health care services closing down!

“As California goes, so goes the rest of the nation.”-phrase usually associated with government regulations originating in California, but it also refers to the economy

13 December 2012, California Correctional Health Care Services issued layoff warnings to 2,200 employees!  Officials want to layoff 829 people by March, 2013.

The U.S. Department of Labor reporting that unemployment compensation claims in California jumped by 24,411, for the week ending 08 December.

NASA reported that due to the approaching austerity measures (fiscal cliff) California will lose 4,586 NASA related jobs.

Reports say that Barclays could be laying off 2,000 people, some in California.

In Texas, The Greater Houston Partnership admitted the job growth they’ve created in Texas is at the expense of states like California: “Houston has been able to import workers — meaning we pull people out of California, we pull people out of Michigan, we pull people out of New York….”-Patrick Jankowski, vice president of research

12 December: A report says California’s biggest newspaper, the Los Angels Times, is up for sale.  Layoffs are expected.

11 December: The County of San Bernardino (the largest in the country) will layoff at least 44 court employees, and close courts.  Courts affected are in Chino, Barstow, Needles and Big Bear Lake.  Even after the cuts, the county court system is expected to be short $13 million, so officials say it’s likely more cuts will be made.

California based electric car maker, CODA, announced it will layoff 50 people.

Career Education Corporation, owner of private universities like Brooks Institution, announced they will begin laying off hundreds of employees at their Ventura and Santa Barbara campuses.  They blame declining student enrollment.

08 December:  In the County of San Bernardino, Community Hospital of San Bernardino and St. Bernardine Medical Center announced they will be laying of employees: “Currently, we are in communication with two unions that represent employees at the hospitals. Impacted employees have not been notified yet, since the details are not clearly defined at this time.”-Dignity Health spokesperson

According to California Manufactures & Technology Association (CMTA), California lost 33% of its manufacturing base from 2001 to 2011.  That’s 607,500 people unemployed.

According to the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning, California lost 23,000 teachers between 2008 and 2011, due to layoffs.   More teachers were forced out through early retirement.  This despite the fact that the number of students goes up every year.

 

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

Corporate & Polictical Evil: Right to Work laws have nearly destroyed Idaho’s economy!

13 December 2012, the governor of Michigan has signed into law their Right to Work act.  Recently there were claims that between 2001 and 2011 states with Right to Work laws saw an increase in pay, however that’s misleading.

Take for example Idaho.  The Gem State passed its Right to Work laws back in 1985.  The result was a crash in employee pay and benefits, not an increase.  But, since 2001 overall starting pay has gone up slightly, mainly because mandated minimum wage went up, not because of any Right to Work law!

I’ve talked to southeast Idahoans who began their adult lives working at jobs that started out between $11.00 to $15.00 per hour, plus benefits, and this was in the 1970s!  Now the average starting pay, in the same area of Idaho, is minimum wage ($7.50 per hour in Idaho) with no benefits!

According to researchers Stephen C. Cooke and Barathkumar A. Kulandaisamy, Idaho’s average wages, for 2009, were $10,700 below the national average!  Also, contrary to what supporters of Right to Work laws say, Idaho’s employment growth is being driven purely by its population growth, not any Right to Work law!  In fact, when you look at government data, it’s the population growth that’s saving Idaho from a full blown depression (one driver of the population growth are people retiring in other states and moving into Idaho)!

The researchers used data from the U.S. Census Bureau/Labor Statistics, data collected from 1971 to 2007.  The official government data backs up what the native Idahoans, now in their 50s, 60s and 70s, have told me: The economic situation for the working class has stagnated or gotten worse!

From 1971 to 2007 the median wage in Idaho has dropped by $6,445!  Median year over year wage growth rate in Idaho is negative 0.3%!  The number of college educated workers in Idaho is a negative 3.4%!  Right to Work has done nothing to create high skilled/high paying jobs, getting a big fat 0% in that category!

Cooke and Kulandaisamy added that Idaho’s “…cost of living only exacerbates wage differences.”

To contrast; Colorado is not a Right to Work state, here’s what the researchers had to say: “…Colorado appears to have made the transition from a low-skill to a high-skill equilibrium economy; Idaho…..have not. In particular, we posit that Idaho has a low-skill, low-wage problem.”

Even when you look at high skill/high wage jobs in Idaho, they still pay as much as $19,000 per year less than the national average!

Cooke and Kulandaisamy concluded that the reason why states, specifically Idaho, get stuck with low paying jobs is because state leaders refuse to invest in creating high skill industries. And, the decline in college educated workers is because state leaders refuse to invest in higher education.

The christian leadership of Idaho pushed Right to Work laws as a way of attracting lots of companies to do business in Idaho, including high skill jobs.  Well, after 27 years it’s obvious that right wing christian theory is a failure.

Most of those Idahoans I talked to, in their 50s, 60s and 70s, are still working (at places like Walmart), because they experienced such a huge decline in their pay and benefits, and there’s been such an increase in the cost of living here, that they can not afford to retire!

What about the claims that prosperity has increased in Right to Work states?  Of course it has, but not for the working class, the prosperity is being hoarded by a tiny minority who’re the ones truly benefiting from the Right to Work laws.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? More proof the Too Big to Fails are to blame; drug money, violating sanctions, tax evasion

13 December 2012, German officials announced they are investigating employees and executives of Deutsche Bank, for tax evasion and money laundering.   500 investigators descended upon the bank’s Frankfurt headquarters.  At least 25 employees are under investigation and five have already been arrested.  Some of the tax evasion claims involve the bogus carbon tax.

12 December 2012, the U.S. Treasury Department announced that the Japanese bank, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, will pay a fine of $8.6 million USD for violating U.S. sanctions against Myanmar, Sudan and Iran.

11 December 2012, HSBC was fined a record $1.9 billion for money laundering, sanctions violations and several people were arrested for the ongoing LIBOR scandal.   U.S. Department of Justice said the British bank laundered money for drug dealers and violated sanctions against Burma, Cuba and Libya.

It’s reported that other banks involved in the LIBOR scandal, such as The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Swiss bank UBS, are about to make a settlement.

The failed British bank, Northern Rock, cost taxpayers dearly: “This is £270m straight out of the taxpayers’ pocket. I’ve been repeatedly assured in parliament that there was no black hole in Northern Rock. U.K. Financial Investments and the Treasury didn’t know what they were talking about.”-Lord Oakeshott, Liberal Democrat

And let’s not forget the Queen of England’s own bank, Coutts (a division of RBS), which is also involved in money laundering for drug dealers.  Just think, the medical care being provided for Kate Middleton and her unborn baby is possibly being paid for with drug money (as well as taxpayer money) for all we know.

Business/Economics, International

Trilateral Commission: European Central Bank to become true central bank of Europe

13 December 2012, after months of trying to create a true central bank of Europe, European Union (EU) members agreed to give the job to the already existent European Central Bank (ECB).

The move is meant to standardize banking policies for EU members.  The ECB will be considered the “supervisor” of EU banks. It also allows the ECB to have full access to information from all EU member banks.

Even the United Kingdom, who is usually opposed to approving anything that would make the European Union stronger, agreed to the deal: “It shows that when you go in with a clear and principled argument and you make your case, then you can succeed and that’s what Britain has done tonight.”-George Osborne, U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer

Business/Economics, International, Technology, U.S.

Some Economic Recovery, for U.S.? Apple reverses outsourcing

07 December 2012, Apple CEO, Tim Cook, revealed that some computer manufacturing will be brought back to the United States.

However, the actual assembly of a specific line of Macs will still be contracted out.  Cook says they’re still figuring out where in the U.S. to assemble the computers.

Analysts say the move amounts to about a $100 million USD investment into the U.S. economy, which is tiny when you realize Apple has at least $1 billion in cash and other investments.  So, don’t expect this insourcing of a new Mac to be the cure all for the U.S. unemployment blues.

 

Business/Economics, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? California: Federal austerity to kill hundreds of thousands of jobs, largest court system in the U.S. to shut down, private sector job loses speeding up!

“As California goes, so goes the rest of the nation.”-phrase usually associated with government regulations originating in California, but it also refers to the economy

Federal government austerity measures (whether it’s the automatic fiscal cliff, or those agreed to by the President and Congress), could go into effect in January 2013 and could result in 225,000 Californians losing their jobs.  More than half of those would be from defense cuts (Almost $500 billion USD in defense cuts are being considered, which could result in at least half a million people losing their jobs across the country).

Defense contractor Northrop Grumman has already announced voluntary buyouts for 200 employees in California and Utah.

The second largest U.S. defense contractor, Boeing, said it will try to cut $1.6 billion from its operations by 2015.  The cuts will affect Boeing’s operations in California, including the selling or demolishing of Boeing property.

The Los Angeles court system (the biggest in the country) will shut down some operations.  Some of the courthouses to be closed are Catalina Island, Hollywood, San Pedro, Whittier and Pomona.  No word on how many people will lose their jobs.  The shut down of the courts will drastically affect civil cases.

Citigroup’s recently announced lay offs will affect about 240 employees in California.

The College of the Redwoods will cut a total of 39 jobs by June 2013.

Geron Corporation to cut 40% of employees after its cancer drug turned out to be a failure.

Entropic, home networking technology supplier to cable and satellite TV companies, will lay off 40 employees.

Memorial Medical Center to lay off 114 people by January 2013.

Dignity Health will let go 50 employees at their Saint John’s hospitals.

Kaiser Permanente officially announced 530 lay offs.

San Diego Hospice laid off 180 employees.

Santa Barbara Bank & Trust: “…468 positions will be eliminated over the course of the next twelve months. 80 percent of those whose positions have been eliminated will not depart the bank until at least April 30, 2013….”

Fourth Wall Studios suddenly laid off about 90% of its staff, reports say the layoffs were driven by a major shareholder: “It was a sudden decision and not necessarily expected by everyone, and I have to leave it at that…”-Jim Stewartson, CEO

The preceding list came from announcements made between 29 November and 06 December 2012.

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Yet another U.S. company invests big, but not in the U.S., in Korea

06 December 2012, for awhile now U.S. President Barack Obama has been touting his desire that U.S. corporations start investing into research right here in the United States.  Yet, a failing U.S. company has decided to spend money it supposedly doesn’t have outside the U.S.

Sears Holdings announced that they are bringing back their old Roadhandler tire brand.  You might think that’s good news, but the new Roadhandler tire is simply a Korean Hankook tire with the Roadhandler name on it.

Hankook tires have good reputation, but in these bad economic times when more and more U.S. citizens are losing their jobs, why couldn’t Sears (a company supposedly going broke) spend their big bucks investing in a quality U.S. made tire?

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Government Incompetence & What Economic Recovery? U.S. made aircraft parts being ripped off by Israeli military and scrap metal dealers, army vehicles and ammo disapearing!

06 December 2012, possibly because of the bad economy in Israel, but investigators now believe that Israeli Defense Force (IDF) personnel are involved in the theft of engines for F-15 and F-16 aircraft.  The engines might have been sold to scrap metal dealers.

The theft of engines took place at Tel Nof air base, near Rehovot, last year.

This is not the only time parts for U.S. made aircraft were stolen.  Last year police raided a scrap metal warehouse in Tel Aviv. It was full of new parts for U.S. made F-15 and F-16 aircraft.

Also, IDF ground forces have revealed that in the past few months several vehicles and at least 1,500 tank rounds went missing from an army base in southern Israel.

The economy is really bad in Israel, and has led to numerous strikes and protests.  The most recent strike involved nurses who said Israeli hospitals are full of sick people who are not being treated due to the fact that there is no money to hire more staff.

Business/Economics, U.S.

Sears & Kmart news: Sears dropped to negative! Looking for more independent owners. Execs get $1 million cash! Sears Hometown stores make big profits! Kmart becomes target for thieves, mostly women!

05 December 2012, Fitch Ratings has dropped Sears Holdings to negative CCC.  Fitch believes it is unlikely Sears/Kmart will recover, and even expects negative earnings in 2013. As other analysts have pointed out, Sears’ assets are still worth more than any expected revenues (one analyst said Sears was worth more dead than alive).

Executives of Sears Holdings got a some early Xmas money, by selling off, or trading in their vested shares of Sears Canada.  Some execs traded in the vested shares for unvested, worth about $280,000.  Those execs who already had unvested shares will get cash. According to paperwork filed with the SEC, the top five Sears Holdings execs got $1 million in cash!

The push to find independent owners of Sears Hometown stores increases, as profits increase. Reports say that profits at independently owned and operated stores jumped 29% from the year before!

In California, Sears returned to Banning, but as a smaller independently owned Hometown store. It’s being run by a former insurance salesman, and stocks only tools and appliances.

Also in California, a new Hometown store in Lake Elsinore is scheduled to open in February 2013. City officials say their tax revenues correlate with Sears’ increased profits in tools and appliances sold at the independent stores: “We certainly can tell based on Riverside County sales tax reports that people are spending money in these categories…”-Kim Joseph Cousins, Lake Elsinore Valley Chamber of Commerce.

Sears is looking for a Hometown owner in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin: “We’re looking for a person who wants to operate a successful business and is customer service oriented. This is an outstanding retail opportunity for a dedicated individual to participate in one of America’s hottest growth opportunities.”-Ed Sosniak, regional development manager for Sears Hometown Stores

Hometown stores are hot, for Sears Holdings, because the onus of paying the rent, utilities and employees is on the independent owner: “The local owner is responsible for start-up and on-going operating expenses associated with the store including: building or leasing a facility; providing in-store fixtures; hiring and training employees; payroll; and insurance…”

Sears makes its money by selling the owner the merchandise.   Hometown stores also employ far fewer people than a full blown Sears.

Sears online sales, cell phone sales, store-to-home sales and web-to-store sales also jumped 28%, however electronics sales crashed 30%!

For Kmart stores there’s been increasing reports of theft.  A man in Florida was captured on video stealing video game systems, four times!  The police are looking for him.

In Wyoming a Kmart was robbed by a woman with a gun (oh no, another one for Bob Costas). What did she want? Prescription drugs!

In Massachusetts, two women were arrested after trying to steal more than $1,000 in merchandise.  And in just the past couple of days, three other women were arrested for trying to steal $130 worth of merchandise!

In Ohio, a Kmart employee was attacked by a man with a box cutter (Bob Costas you better call for the banning of box cutters): “The suspect demanded money and was armed with a box cutter. While the victim was attempting to get his wallet, the suspect began slashing at the victim.”-Ronald Mizner Junior, North Canton Police

In New York, a man who just got out of prison apparently killed himself with drugs (Bob Costas you paying attention).  Police say he was found in a stolen car in a Kmart parking lot.

‘Tis the season

 

 

Business/Economics, International, Technology, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Yet another U.S. company invests big, but not in the U.S., in Japan

05 December 2012, for awhile now U.S. President Barack Obama has been touting his desire that U.S. corporations start investing into research right here in the United States.  Yet, U.S. companies continue to spend that money outside the U.S.

The latest is Qualcomm, who announced they will spend up to $120 million USD, by March 2013, on the failing Japanese company Sharp.

Sharp is now predicting it will lose a record $5.5 billion by the end of March 2013!

Sharp was hoping to be saved by a Taiwanese company, but that deal went south, partly because Sharp’s stock prices are crashing and burning (falling by 75%).

Qualcomm says it’ll use half the $120 million buying up Sharp stocks now, and the other half will be used when Sharp starts showing a profit.  Obviously the California based company has more faith in the Japanese economy than in the U.S. economy.

This could be a money maker for Qualcomm, if Sharp recovers, but if Sharp fails…..