Category Archives: Idaho

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

What Economic Recovery? More trouble for Idaho’s Hoku polysilicon factory, looks more and more like the deal is off!

“If service is terminated, these high value systems may freeze, causing irreparable and material damage to Hoku’s plant assets. Any damage would need to be repaired, at additional cost, prior to continuing with the commissioning and operation of the plant.”-Hoku Corporation complaint to Idaho Public Utilities Commision

“The fact of the matter is, Hoku has missed a payment it owes to Idaho Power and has failed to provide….any assurance that such a payment will be forthcoming. Idaho Power has concerns that if the commission allows the Hoku complaint to run the usual course….Hoku could potentially become millions of dollars delinquent in amounts it owes.”-Idaho Power response

Pocatello, Idaho’s, polysilcon factory, run by Hoku Materials (which is a subsidiary of Hoku Corporation, which is 60% owned by China’s Tianwei New Energy Holdings Company Limited) has run into trouble with Idaho Power, again.

Hoku failed to pay its electric bill, and Idaho Power says it will discontinue service.  Hoku was served with the disconnect notice on December 22.  This is not the first time Hoku has had trouble with their electric bill.

Earlier this month, Chinese media reported that Hoku had started operations, but now it’s clear that was just wishful thinking by Tianwei New Energy Holdings Company Limited.  The Chinese claim was based on Hoku CEO Scott Paul saying things were ready to go back on November 21.

This just adds to the ever growing problems with Hoku:  Their CFO resigned, they lost nearly $8 million in their last reporting quarter, they had to sell majority shares to Chinese companies (as well as take Chinese loans) to raise enough money to finish construction of their factory, and the ongoing tit for tat trade war between the U.S. and China (involving U.S. made polysilicon and Chinese made photo voltaic products) could mean curtains for a company that has hundreds of people in the Chubbuck/Pocatello area hoping to get a job with Hoku.

GLOBAL ECONOMIC WAR: IDAHO POLYSILCON PRODUCER, HOKU, QUIETLY STARTS OPERATIONS,  LOSES MILLIONS OF DOLLARS AGAIN

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

Corporate Evil: Sears & Kmart connected to Romney’s Bain Capital! Bain Capital working with Carlyle Group!

News reports have been revealing that the Mitt Romney co-founded Bain Capital (and its affiliates) are behind many of the huge job layoffs in the United States, since the late 1980s.

Turns out that Bain Capital could be involved with the problems at Sears and Kmart!!!

In 2005, Vornado Realty Trust bought 7.5 million shares of Sears Canada. Vornado was also involved with Bain Capital in taking over Toys “R” Us, which  took over KB Toys resulting in 3,400 jobs lost.

Vornado also backed the take over of Sears by Kmart in 2005, leading to the creation of Sears Holdings Corporation.

Part of the recent list of Sears/Kmart store closings showed that several Sears stores were being converted into Kmart stores.  Is this just a Bain Capital inspired conspiracy to shut down Sears?

In another posting I showed how the demise of KB Toys, and the take over of Toys “R” Us, were part of the Mitt Romney style of ‘investing’ which results in net job losses.

In the early 1990s, Bain Capital, along with a company called Acadia Partners, bought the Coldwell Banker subsidiary from Sears.

Here’s the scary thing. In the short time I researched Romney’s creation, Bain Capital, it became clear that the so called investment company is involved in almost every corporation in the United States!

Bain Capital, along with dozens of other so called investment companies (including the infamous Carlyle Group) are systematically taking over and shutting down businesses in the United States.  Those shut downs are not based on the true performance of those companies, but on the personal desires of those involved in the so called investment companies (as I tried to explain in a previous posting). And it’s all about the money.

Of interest is the fact that Bain Capital’s 13F-HR filing, for June 2011, shows that it owns stocks in only five companies!  Their 13F-HR statement says those five companies make up 100% of their stock holdings. Pretty pathetic for such a prolific investment company!

Political Incompetence & Corporate Evil: CHRISTIAN/MORMON MITT ROMNEY CO-FOUNDED BAIN CAPITAL, WHICH HAS BEEN DESTROYING JOBS SINCE 1984! DESTROYED JOBS IN CHUBBUCK, IDAHO. DEMISE OF KB TOYS CONNECTED TO TOYS “R” US

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

Political Incompetence & Corporate Evil: Christian/Mormon Mitt Romney co-founded Bain Capital, which has been destroying jobs since 1984! Destroyed jobs in Chubbuck, Idaho. Demise of KB Toys connected to Toys “R” Us

“Mitt Romney’s history at Bain Capital is not going to help his image as a job creator.  Now, we want to disclose that NBC Universal and Bain Capital are each a part owner of the Weather Channel.  Bain Capital’s main business model is buying companies like American Pad and Paper and restructuring [industry code for ‘slash and burn’] them.  In many instances, Bain turned a profit by strip mining these companies.  American,  AMPAD is what it’s known, the stock was driven down [on purpose by Romney, I explain a little further in the article] and the company went bankrupt.  They fired hundreds of workers along the way.”-Ed Shultz, MSNBC

MSNBC is admitting that a company affiliated with NBC, Bain Capital  co-founded by Mitt Romney, has been destroying jobs, not creating jobs as Romney claims.

In 1984 Romney co-founded Bain Capital, which grew out of Bain & Company.  The soul purpose of the company is to buy out other companies, then gut them and sell them off piece by piece. Of course this means jobs are destroyed.

Interestingly, back in October, MSNBC’s Ed Shultz actually downplayed Romney’s connection to Bain Capital.  He and some of his guests, stated that a photo published in the Boston Globe was fake: “…it’s probablly a joke photo.”

Now Ed Shultz is backpedaling.  He, along with other MSNBC anchors and reporters, are revealing that Bain Capital has been behind many of the job loses in this country since the late 1980s!

The New York Times reported that Romney left Bain Capital in 1999, but, as part of his ‘retirement package’ is making money off their continued slashing and burning of U.S. jobs.  According to the article, Romney, 13 years after leaving Bain Capital, is still making millions of dollars off his retirement package!

old kb toys pine ridge mall

Former location of KB Toys, Pine Ridge Mall, Chubbuck, Idaho

Anybody remember KB Toys? I do. I was an employee of the Chubbuck, Idaho, Pine Ridge Mall at the time they closed down the KB Toys store in that mall. By 2004 KB Toys went bankrupt and 3,400 people lost their jobs! Guess what, one of Bain Capital’s affiliated companies was behind that!!!

pine ridge mall

Fading Pine Ridge Mall, Chubbuck, Idaho

Oh, and what about Romney’s connection to Massachusetts? Romney ‘retired’ from Bain Capital in 1999.  The Bain Capital partnership took over KB Toys in 2000.  KB Toys is headquartered in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Romney became governor of Massachusetts in 2002.  In 2003 the Bain Capital partnership started shutting down KB Toys stores. Mmmm, connection?

Here are some more examples of deals that resulted in job losses at the hands of Romney’s Bain Capital (and affiliated companies like Holson Burnes Group): Clear Channel Communications, 2,500 job cuts.

Photo album factory in South Carolina, 150 jobs lost.

Sensata Technologies, a European company with U.S. operations, several hundred U.S. employees lost their jobs.

American Pad & Paper, or AMPAD, lost 185 jobs.

The case of AMPAD reveals how Romney’s Bain Capital works.  They buy up companies in the same market, then they whittle them down until there is only one or two in the market, who then become big money makers by default.  AMPAD’s competitor was Staples. Romney touts Staples as a good example of his management skills, but what the Boston Globe found out (and reported in a 2007 article) is that Romney simply bought out competitors and shut them down until Staples was just about the only game left in town.

Now how about the KB Toys deal? KB Toys and Toys “R” Us were the top toy stores in the United States.  A company connected to Bain Capital buys out KB Toys and shuts them down.  What about Toys “R” Us? Yes there’s a Bain Capital connection.  In 2005, one year after the KB Toys bankruptcy, Toys “R” Us was taken over by KKR Group, Vornado Realty Trust and Bain Capital for $6.6 billion!  In 2009 Toys “R” Us takes over what is left of KB Toys; website, trademarks, and intellectual property rights.  Mmmm, you seeing the pattern?

This goes against the principle of the free hand of capitalist competition.  The jobs lost because companies went out of business were not actually due to any ‘poor’ performance of the employees, or lack of sales, but because the ‘investors’ Romney & Co wanted it that way!

Also, Bain Capital works the same way the rest of Corporate America does, they don’t use their own money to take over companies, they take out huge loans from the too big to fail banks that got taxpayer bailouts!

One report said Romney’s “investments” have resulted in at least 12,000 U.S. jobs lost!  It’s probably more than that, the way Bain Capital and affiliated companies shut down businesses does not result in net jobs gained, but net jobs lost!  Anybody remember Oliver Stone’s 1987 movie Wall Street?

Opinion: MITT ROMNEY CONSTITUTIONALLY INCOMPETENT. RELIGION BASED MARRIAGE LAW WILL VIOLATE CONSTITUTION.

Washington DC BS: MITT’S MYSTERY MONEY NOT EXPLAINED BY LATEST ADMISSIONS

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Health insurance rates in Idaho could go up more than 10%, thank you ObamaCare

Two insurance companies, that are part of Milwaukee based Assurant Health, have notified that Idaho Department of Insurance, that they will jack up rates by more than 10% in 2012.

Those two operations are John Alden Life Insurance and Time Insurance.  They’ve both filed rate increases of 13%!

This is part of the 2010 health care reforms, commonly known as ObamaCare.  Under the reforms an insurance plan that went into effect after September 1, can be subject to such rate increases.

The 2010 reforms actually allow insurance companies to jack up their rates as long as they can make a convincing case.  Some of the many accepted excuses are age and if you smoke.  Now how is that supposed to keep costs to consumers down?

To find out if your insurance plan (if you even have one) is jacking up your rates you can check companyprofiles.healthcare.gov.

 

Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/12/29/1932970/2-idaho-health-insurers-file-rate.html#storylink=cpy

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Sears post partial list of store closings. Idaho, Oregon, Colorado & Washington makes the list

It’s only been two days since Sears Holdings announced they were closing up to 120 Sears and Kmart stores, and now they have named 79 of those stores.

I already explained why their Chubbuck and Pocatello, Idaho stores could be closed.

Sears store in Lewiston Center Mall, Lewiston, Idaho, makes this initial list of 79 closings.  The list does not provide details on any timeline for closing.

Some regional media sources have stated that other stores in the area “escaped” the list, however the list is only 79 of as many as 120 total closings (and it could be more).

Other Pacific Northwest Sears stores that made this early list are in Roseburg, Oregon, Longmont, Colorado and Walla Walla, Washington.  Also, the Kmarts in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, and Spokane, Washington will be closed.

Also, a Sears store in Denver, Colorado, that was formerly a Kmart store, will be converted back into a Kmart store.

You can find out more by going to www.searsholdings.com and looking under their media tools section.

 

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? No big Xmas sales for Sears & Kmart, up to 120 stores will be closed, look out Pocatello & Chubbuck

“While our past practice has been to keep marginally performing stores open while we worked to improve their performance, we no longer believe that to be the appropriate action in this environment.”-Lou D’Ambrosio, CEO of Sears Holdings

Sears Holdings, which owns Sears and Kmart stores, said this year’s holiday sales sucked big time!  They’re claiming a big drop in business compared to last year (as much as 5.2%), and they just can’t afford to keep their “marginally performing” stores open.

The cities of Chubbuck and Pocatello, Idaho, are home to such marginally performing stores.

sears chubbuck

Sears at the Pine Ridge Mall in Chubbuck

The Sears is located in the Chubbuck Pine Ridge Mall, and has never done well (I used to work for the mall before it was sold to a company out of Chicago, Illinois).  Two other ‘anchor’ stores, that were doing better than Sears left the mall a few years ago, and many people around here have been wondering why the Sears is still open.  Well, it might finally be curtains.

pocatello fred meyer

Fred Meyer at the former Pocatello Mall location

The Sears in Chubbuck used to be located in the old Pocatello Mall, but that mall went down the toilet in the late 1990s, and has since been torn down and replaced with a Fred Meyer dominated strip mall. Even the new Fred Meyer strip mall suffered the demise of the Gottshalks store a few years ago.

gottschalks pocatello

The vacant Gottschalks, in Pocatello, Idaho

In Pocatello, the Kmart has been struggling for years, the customer foot traffic has never come close to what the Chubbuck WalMart, or the Pocatello Fred Meyer gets.  After Sears and Kmart merged to form Sears Holdings (and the Kmart bankruptcy), the Pocatello Kmart was spared from the many closings of Kmarts around the country.  But this might be the writing on the wall for the Pocatello Kmart.

Kmart Pocatello

Big Kmart, with small sales, in Pocatello

Even though business for Sears and Kmart continues to crash, a recent customer satisfaction survey, by Strategic Resource Group, showed that dedicated Sears/Kmart shoppers were happy with the service.  SRG also thinks most Kmart closings will take place outside the North East/Great Lakes region, and that means Idaho is a target.

Speaking of Target, Target and WalMart are the main reasons why Sears and Kmart are going down; they just can’t compete.  (do the economic analysts ever consider the fact that we “consumers” no longer have the cash or credit to support so many retail businesses?)

For Sears and Kmart stores that will remain open, big time cuts are planned.  Sears Holdings wants to cut $300 million, just in inventory.  They hope to cut another $200 million in ‘fixed’ costs (that’s industry code which includes employees and employee benefits).

Happy New Year!

 

 

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

Global Food Crisis & What Economic Recovery? Beef production crashing in Idaho

No thanks to the closing of a beef processing plant in Nampa, Idaho’s beef production is down 80% from the year prior!  That’s according to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.

According to the State stats, and contrary to the stereotype, potatoes are not the number one agriculture product of Idaho!  Dairy products are number one, followed by cattle/beef production, so you can see why it’s so important to Idaho’s economy.

Not only is Idaho’s beef production down from last year, it’s been dropping like a rock, 52%, from January 2011 to November 2011.

The USDA pointed out that overall beef production in the entire United States was down 2% from last year.

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Full time employment down In Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Maine and Vermont

A report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that while part time employment is going up, it’s being offset by a drop in full time employment!

The top five states for increased part time work are Montana, Oregon, Maine, Vermont and Idaho.  Montana leads the country with a 39% increase in part time work.

In Idaho there was an average of about 515,000 people with full time jobs in 2007. In 2010 that number dropped to 445,000.  At the same time, in 2010 the number of part time jobs increased 35%. 

As far as full time wages go, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says the average full time pay in Idaho, in 2010, was $666 per week.  That’s a piddly 4.6% increase from 2007, and it’s one of the smallest increases in the entire United States!

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

Global Economic War & Corporate Incompetence: Idaho polysilcon producer, Hoku, quietly starts operations, loses CFO, loses millions of dollars again

Pocatello, Idaho’s, polysilcon factory, run by Hoku Materials (which is a subsidary of Chinese owned Hoku Corporation), officially and quietly started operations on December 1st.  That’s according to Chinese media citing Tianwei New Energy Holdings Company Limited, the Chinese company that controls 60% of Hoku Corporation.

Interestingly no mention of the start of operations has come directly from Hoku.  Hoku Corporation did announce the resignation of their CFO, treasurer, and secretary, Darryl Nakamoto.  His resignation will be effective March, 2012.

Another loss, this one missed by local Idaho media, is the fact that Hoku Corporation continues to bleed out money.  Its latest report, ending September 30, 2011, showed Hoku with a net loss of $7.9 million (computed in accordance with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles)!

I’ve posted before about the conundrum Hoku is now in, since it is 60% owned by the Chinese: “…Hoku is set up in a bad position; action by the U.S. government could hurt their new plans to sell Chinese PV products, and retaliation by the Chinese government could hurt their pending polysilicon orders.”

I wonder why Hoku is keeping so quiet about their operations start up in Idaho, while it’s making front page news in China?

GLOBAL ECONOMIC WAR: IDAHO’S HOKU SILICON FACTORY MAY BE ENDED BEFORE IT STARTS. CITY OF POCATELLO GUILTY

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

What Economic Recovery? Idaho’s Micron loses big time, again. Many Idahoans still think Micron is Idaho’s major employer

Computer chip maker Micron reported another quarterly loss;  U.S.$187 million! This follows a $135 million loss the previous quarter.

It was hoped the end of a lawsuit, in Micron’s favor, would be a sign of better times to come, but not so.

A west Idaho newspaper reported that many Idahoans think of Micron as the Boise’s biggest private employer. Back in October I posted how real estate web sites, and even Wikipedia, incorrectly report Micron as the biggest employer in Boise.

With Micron’s continued loses it’s possible that they now employ less than the 5,000 people reported at the end of 2009.