Incomplete list of publicly announced layoffs & shutdowns:

American Family Association is urging ‘christians’ to close out their Wells Fargo bank accounts, to protest the banks public support of homosexuals.  Really?  I can think of a much better reason to dump that bank, like it’s one of the Too Big to Jail banks that caused our economic meltdown and is part of the ongoing robo-home foreclosure nightmare!

Arkansas: Pulaski Technical College blaming what I call Disappearing Students Syndrome for forcing them to shutdown their west Little Rock (wLR) campus.   In Fall 2014 they had a total of 510 students on the wLR, but for Spring 2015 only 362 students attended classes on the wLR campus!

Arizona: PetSmart warned of impending layoffs at its Phoenix HQ.  At least 15% of employees will be laid off over the next few weeks.  It’s directly related to PetSmart being sold to vulture capitalist BC Partners, back in March.

California:  Remember when I reported back in May that the term synergies now meant layoffs?  Apparently main stream news sources in California took hold of that concept (Another O.C. merger reminds us that ‘synergies’ means layoffs – but it didn’t always).  The latest article out of The Golden State reports that Orange County will see massive layoffs due to “synergies”.  They include expected layoffs from the mergers of companies like drugs makers Allergan & Actavis, computer chip makers Broadcom & Avago, and what housing market recovery? The latest merger between home builders Standard Pacific & The Relyan Group.   The new CEO of tax-sucker Aerojet Rocketdyne confirmed that 250 jobs will be eliminated at their Rancho Cordova HQ, and another 250 across the U.S., over the next four years!  Great Harvest Bread shutting down its 11 years old Folsom store by the end of the month, no explanation.  News reports say it’s the last Great Harvest Bread store in the Sacramento area.  In San Francisco, after six years Wexler’s upscale BBQ restaurant shutting down and being sold-off.  The owner said the timing is right to get out and spend more time with his family.  And San Francisco based clothing retailer GAP announced it will eliminate 250 HQ jobs, plus shutdown 175 stores across the United States (140 by the end of 2015)!  The 250 job cuts apply only to GAP’s HQ and does not count the layoffs caused by the store shutdowns.  Company administrators said the slashing & burning is necessary to save the GAP, but then ironically admitted the store shutdowns would cause them to lose $300-million USD in sales!   Riverside County warns that 114 people could become jobless under the budget for the upcoming fiscal year!  47 county prosecutors and 51 animal control personnel could be let go.  In Arcata, after 17 years Rookery Books shutdown, the owner blamed “Amazon”.

Connecticut: The maker of the M16 and M4, 179 years old West Hartford based Colt Defense, now chapter 11 bankrupt busted.  Administrators blame crashing sales on the Obama regime’s Department of Defense.    Newtown school administrators announced they want to shutdown the Hawley Elementary School, due to what I call Disappearing Students Syndrome. Pissed-off taxpayers then demanded to know why $50-million in donated money is being spent on rebuilding the infamous Sandy Hook Elementary School if there aren’t enough students! Some parents even said they did not want their children attending the new Sandy Hook school.

Florida: In Fort Lauderdale, wholesale company Commonwealth-Altadis issued a shutdown WARN saying 150 people will become jobless by the end of the year!  In Miami, after only six months Ted’s restaurant will shutdown by the end of the month.

Hawaii: The state run ObamaCare Hawaii Health Connector laid off 25 people. It’s because state administrators are shifting from running their own ObamaCare website to the federal government’s insurance exchange website.

Illinois: In Peoria, after more than 50 years Strode Music shutdown.  The owners blame crashing sales, they even had to stop renting out instruments two years ago.

Indiana: Bloomingfoods Co-op is eliminating an undisclosed number of jobs (so far 18 people laid off, but reports say more layoffs are in the works), blaming a 20% crash in sales on “competition”.   But is the real reason because employees tried to unionize?  What automotive industry recovery?  Gear drive/power transmissions maker Oerlikon Fairfield laid off 50 people at their Lafayette factory.  Administrators blamed the bad economy.

Kentucky: After eight years the owner of My Old Kentucky Homebrew announced he’s shutting it down in July.

Maryland: The first medical research school in the United States, John Hopkins University, announced they must eliminate jobs due to crashing federal taxpayer funding, and increased costs artificially created by new federal regulations.  At this point 109 jobs being eliminated or “reorganized”!  However, unnamed employees say they’ve been warned that 10% of the 20-thousand employees will eventually be laid off!

Massachusetts: 51 years old Marian Court College shutdown due to “insurmountable financial challenges…..given declining enrollment numbers”.

Michigan: Battle Creek Public Schools eliminating 23 jobs. The district is lacking $2.1-million.  East Grand Rapids Board of Education laying off four people, cutting pay and moving some teachers to part time. The district is so short on funding that parents have started donation drives for the schools.  Ypsilanti Community Schools laid off 18 teachers, blaming it on a $2.2-million drop in state level taxpayer funding caused by a 7.8% drop in enrollment (they lost 325 students from last year)!  It must be pointed out that state funding was actually increased by $163 per student, but what I call Disappearing Students Syndrome is so massive in Michigan that the increase in per student state funding cannot make up for the losses! The Grand River Coffee Café in East Lansing shutdown.  Troy based Olga’s Kitchen now chapter 11 bankrupt busted.  However “The future is bright for Olga’s Kitchen. The 28 restaurants are now profitable and growing in profitably.”  News reports basically said the chain restaurant didn’t want to pay its debts.  Gee, if bankruptcy was only that easy for us individuals.

New Jersey: Brick Township School District eliminated 24 bus driver jobs.  The transportation manager blamed the school board for being a bunch of control freaks!  Administrators warned that by not laying off more bus drivers they are going to have to cut jobs elsewhere.     Their original plan was to eliminate 31 bus drivers, but they caught heat from the union.   Newark, the biggest city in the state, eliminated 155 school district employees, and the teachers union says that doesn’t include the teachers who are next on the chopping block!

New York: The Veterans Affairs New York Harbor Healthcare System announced it is shutting down its Brooklyn unit in July.  VA administrators said that with the drastic budget cuts for next fiscal year the only way to continue funding programs is to halt inpatient care.  In NYC, 15 years old Lucky announced it will stop publishing hardcopy version of their magazine and focus on virtual (internet) issues only. At least 14 unlucky Lucky employees have been laid off.

Oregon: In Hillsboro, after 80 years the Hank’s Thriftway grocery store shutting down, after a surprise announcement: “Starting Monday June 15th, we will be open short hours 10am to 7pm to liquidate the inventory. During this time we will be offering a 25% discount on all items other than lottery, money orders and postage stamps. All sales will be final and we will not be able to accept checks.”

Pennsylvania: God refuses to stop the shutdown of three of ‘his’ churches; Incarnation of Our Lord Church, Our Mother of Sorrows and Holy Saviour Church.  Church administrators said all are in desperate need of repair work that the congregations (members) cannot afford to pay for.

Puerto Rico: A mass exodus is taking place in the U.S. Territory, the Pew Research Center says there are more Puerto Ricans living in Florida than in Puerto Rico.  From 2010 to 2013 there was a net exodus of 48-thousand people, purely for economic reasons: “We’re in unprecedented territory because this is, in recent memory, the biggest out-migration that Puerto Rico has experienced!”-Mark Lopez, Pew Resaerch Center

Texas:  58 Head Start employees being laid off across Refugio, Goliad and Bee counties.

12 – 14 June 2015:  “I want off the roller coaster of uncertainty.”

WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification

The U.S. Department of Labor (DoL) no longer issues mass layoff reports: “On March 1, 2013, President Obama ordered into effect the across-the- board spending cuts (commonly referred to as sequestration) required by the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act, as amended. Under the order, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) must cut its current budget by more than $30 million, 5 percent of the current 2013 appropriation, by September 30, 2013. In order to help achieve these savings and protect core programs, the BLS will eliminate two programs, including Mass Layoff Statistics, and all ‘measuring green jobs’ products. This news release is the final publication of monthly mass layoff survey data.”