Tag Archives: debt

Business/Economics, U.S.

Media Incompetence & What Economic Recovery? Sears & Kmart not ‘closing’ stores, just not gonna renew their leases. Misleads lazy media, dozens more stores being shut down before Xmas, due to expired leases!

02 October 2012, the local media in the state of Maine reported that “Unlike last winter’s mass closings……Lewiston’s Sears is the only one closing now.”-Sun Journal, Lewiston, Maine

That’s a big FAIL Sun Journal!!!  There’s at least a handful of Sears and Kmart store being shut down for the same reason as the Lewiston, Maine, store: Sears Holdings is not renewing leases!

The people of Morristown, Tennessee, were shocked to learn their local Sears is not renewing their lease, and as many as 72 employees will be laid off!  Sears Holdings hopes to have the store shut down by January 2013.

The local mayor said Sears gave them no warning: “It was a surprise to us. Also, it’s disappointing. Although we have a lot of good news going on in our city with new jobs, it’s disappointing to lose 72.”-Danny Thomas, Mayor of Morristown

A resident of Morristown is pissed off: “…people havin’ trouble findin’ jobs, I mean it’s gettin’ close to Christmas and stuff, what’s these people gonna do?”-Nicole Harbin

Another store closing (which could have been part of the June announcements) is the Sears at the Liberty Fair Mall, in Martinsville, Virginia.  Even if it was announced back in June, folks around Martinsville say it’s news to them.

Officially the Liberty Fair Mall Sears is being closed due to “…failing to come to terms on a new lease…”-Martinsville Bulletin, 16 September 2012

That wasn’t the reason given in the June announcement, anyway, another 75 employees out of work by Xmas!

Here’s a store closing that definitely wasn’t on the June list: Village Mall Sears in Auburb, Alabama.  “We’re expected to exit the building by the end of December. The lease is not being renewed at that store.”-Kimberly Freely, Sears Holdings

This is the second Sears Holdings store closing in Auburn.  The local Kmart was shut down back in April.  Sears had been in operation in Auburn since 1951!

At the end of 2011, Sears Holdings said they would close up to 120 U.S. stores in 2012 alone.  They even established a store closing list, which recently disappeared from their website (I checked again this morning, 02 October 2012)!

So far, since the end of 2011, Sears Holdings publicly announced at least 102 closings (on their now missing store closing list) and also announced the possible sale of 11 stores to major mall owner General Growth Properties (GGP).

What the mainstream media doesn’t tell you is that Sears Holdings has been aggressively closing down stores since 2010.  At least 174 stores closed with the result of 13,920 people losing their jobs!

Sears Holdings continues quietly closing Kmarts as well.  Recently the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry was notified that a Kmart store will be closed at the Pittsburgh Parkway Center Mall.  54 employees out of work by 06 January 2013!

In Florida, local media surprised that yet another Kmart is closing, despite the fact that it’s probably part of the June announcement.

A Jacksonville Business Journal article talks about the two Florida Kmarts mentioned in the December 2011 announcements, and seems ignorant of the 2012 announcements: “In December 2011, Sears Holdings released a list of 79 stores it was closing. But the company planned to close between 100 and 120 in total. On that list, two local stores were closed…”-Jacksonville Business Journal, 17 September 2012

I guess they weren’t paying attention to my postings in Blind Bat News!!!

Another Florida media source, Jacksonville Daily Record, does not mention the June closing list, but did say the Jacksonville (on Beach Boulevard) Sears is not mentioned on the Sears Holdings website (as I stated above, the closing lists have disappeared).

Don’t expect things to get any better, recently Sears was ranked 5th out of 12 companies with the Least Valuable Employees.  And don’t forget the Mitt Romney/Bain Capital/Carlyle group connection!

Just to help out those mainstream local media sources, and to give you an idea of the impact this is having across the United States, here’s a list of known store closings/closed stores for 2012.

Alabama: Gadsden Kmart, Mobile Sears Grand/Essentials, Auburn Kmart.

California:   El Monte Sears Grand/Essentials, two San Diego Sears Grand/Essentials.

Colorado:  Broomfield Kmart, Glenwood Springs Kmart, Lone Tree Sears Great Indoors, Longmont Sears.

Georgia: Macon Sears, Buford Kmart, Douglasville Kmart, Atlanta Kmart, Columbus Kmart, Jonesboro Kmart.

Florida: Fernandina Beach Kmart, Callaway Kmart, Orange City Kmart,  Deland Sears Grand/Essentials, Stuart Sears Grand/Essentials, West Palm Beach Sears Grand/Essentials, Port St. Lucie Sears Grand/Essentials, Crystal River Sears, New Smyrna Beach Kmart, St. Augustine Kmart, Pompano Beach Kmart, and recently revealed Jacksonville Kmart.

Idaho: Lewiston Sears.

sears chubbuck

Floundering Sears at the GGP owned Pine Ridge Mall in Chubbuck, Idaho.

Kmart Pocatello

Floundering Big Kmart in Pocatello, Idaho. Are they next to go in Idaho?

Indiana:  Anderson Sears Full Line, Saint John Kmart, Indianapolis Kmart.

Iowa:  Cedar Rapids Kmart, Davenport Kmart.

Kansas: Lawrence Sears Full Line.

Kentucky: Middlesboro Sears Hard lines, Winchester Kmart, Hazard Kmart.

Maine: Lewiston Sears.

Maryland: Ellicott Sears Grand/Essentials.

Michigan: Brighton Sears Grand/Essentials,  Harper Woods Sears Full line, Monroe Sears Full line, Adrian Sears Full line, Washington Township Kmart, Chesterfield Kmart.

Minnesota: Willmar Kmart, Duluth Kmart, New Hope Kmart, White Bear Lake Kmart.

Mississippi: Jackson Sears Full line, McComb Sears Full line, Columbus Sears Full line.

Missouri: Lee’s Summit Sears Grand/Essentials, Saint Louis Sears Full line.

New Hampshire: Nashau Sears Grand/Essentials, Keene Sears Grand/Essentials.

North Carolina: High Point Sears Full line, Moorehead Sears Full line, Rocky Mount Sears Full line, Statesville Sears Full line.

Ohio: Chagrin Falls Kmart, Springfield Kmart, two Toledo Kmarts, Medina Kmart, Columbus Kmart.

Oregon: Roseburg Sears Full line.

Pennsylvania: Upper Darby Sears Full line, Pottstown Sears Full line, and recently revealed Pittsburgh Kmart.

South Carolina: Sumter Sears Full line.

Tennessee: Antioch Sears Full line, Cleveland Sears Full line, Oak Ridge Sears Full line, Hendersonville Kmart, and recently revealed Morristown Sears Full line.

Virginia: Norfolk Sears Full line,  Midlothian Kmart, Richmond Kmart.

Washington: Walla Walla Sears Full line, Lacey Kmart.

Wisconsin: West Baraboo Sears Grand/Essentials, Rice Lake Kmart.

Don’t forget, this is the 2012 known list of closings, there were closings in 2011 and 2010 as well, and they’ll be more for 2013.

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

What Economic Recovery? Hewlett Packard boss to reveal her secret plans!

“I believe in creative destruction.”-Meg Whitman, CEO Hewlett Packard

“It’s staggering, this is now the cheapest big stock in the last 25 years. That reflects an industry belief that the company is going to decline.”-A. M. Sacconaghi, Bernstein Research

According to a New York Times article, Meg Whitman will reveal her tactical plans for rejuvenating Hewlett Packard (HP) on Wednesday, 03 October 2012.

HP employes thousands of people in the United States (Boise, Idaho. Houston, Texas. Costa Rica), but those jobs have been disappearing, and under Whitman’s plans could be reduced even more. She wants to continue HP’s spread across the world, already HP has at least 60,000 employees in India alone!

Whitman says she hopes to get her changes completed within four years.  But one thing’s for sure, HP has got to stop buying up losing companies: Just last year HP spent $10 billion USD buying a company called Autonomy.

Here’s a good thing about Whitman, she hates bureaucracy.  The first thing she did at HP was to consolidate and trim the upper management.

On 03 October we’ll find out just how much more trimming she’ll do to the rest of the company.

 

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Mitt Romney’s Staples to close 75 stores! Downsize 30 more!

26 September 2012, Staples, considered an example of success for vulture capitalist Bain Capital (Mitt Romney sat on Staples’ board of directors for more than a decade), is in big trouble.

On 25 September, officials with Staples announced they will close down 75 stores worldwide (at least 30 in the United States with 15 of those being accelerated closings, 45 stores and delivery businesses in Europe).  Staples will also downsize/relocate another 30 stores in the U.S.

Will the Pocatello, Idaho, Staples make the new closings hit list?

Common sense tells you that means more job losses, even though company officials are claiming that won’t happen.

Sales at Staples are crashing, especially for computers.  Company officials say they are shifting to more internet based business.

For the quarter ended July 2012 Staples reported an overall 6% decrease in sales, compared to the same time in 2011: “Our second quarter results fell short of our expectations due to softer than expected sales trends in North America and ongoing weakness in Europe and Australia.”-Ron Sargent, CEO

In North America sales decreased 3%, but around the world Staples saw a 10% decrease!

Staples has also revised its future sales outlook downward, and is expecting hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars in costs just to close down all those stores!

Mitt Romney, and others with Bain Capital, once called Staples their prime example of success.  Here’s just a sampling of other companies that Bain Capital is involved with: AMC Entertainment, Aspen Education Group, Brookstone, Burger King, Burlington Coat Factory, Clear Channel Communications, Domino’s Pizza, DoubleClick, Dunkin’ Donuts, D&M Holdings, Guitar Center, Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), Sealy, The Sports Authority, Toys “R” Us, Warner Music Group and The Weather Channel.

Once you start investigating all the companies that Bain Capital is involved with, or affiliated with, it becomes clear that it is unAmerican Corporate America’s vulture (venture) capitalist investment companies that are killing our economy.

And Mitt Romney says as President of the United States he’ll do for the country what he did for Corporate America!

International, U.S.

Christian Crimes: Church leaders ripped off their own charities! 9/11 charity scam, Katrina charity scam, tax evasion in the tens of millions of dollars!

“Not only was this (nonprofit) plundered to fund the operating deficits of the church, the amounts were spent on personal items of the pastor’s family, and thus were items of taxable income.”-Bruce Kowal, former accountant for Reverend Carl Keyes

“If the New York attorney general were to ever find out, then goodness knows the kind of trouble you and the church could be in, never mind the IRS or the feds!”-David Cushworth, former accountant for Reverend Carl Keyes

25 September 2012, ongoing reports by the Associated Press (AP) proves that you can’t trust church leaders.

The AP report says that Reverend Carl Keyes got hundreds of millions of dollars in donations for charities related to 9/11, Hurricane Katrina and other disasters, as well as international charities (Urban Life Ministries, Aid for the World and many others that aren’t even registered with the proper authorities).

He used much of the money to fund his Manhattan church (eventually sold off to his benefit), pay his own personal debts, buy a $950,000 USD house in New Jersey, and even pay for his son’s college education.  He also failed to report donations used for personal expenses to state and federal tax collectors.

His own accountants resigned in protest.

Of course the christian leader denies everything: “Sorry that you don’t have a real ‘story’ here, but the truth is actually quite boring since no one did anything wrong.”-Jennifer Polovetsky, attorney for Reverend Carl Keyes

 

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

What Economic Recovery? Hewlett Packard spending millions to save money in Idaho? Announces even more layoffs! Refuses to pay fair share in taxes! Hoping to save itself by making a deal with the devil: Israel!

“Just think of all the value that they have destroyed. It has been a case of just horrible management.”-Brian Marshall, ISI Group

23 September 2012, the past month has been a busy month of announcements from struggling computer maker, Hewlett Packard (HP).

At the end of August, HP reported a quarterly loss of $8.9 billion USD! (Dell computer maker also reported a big loss)  Then at the beginning of September, HP officials announced they will layoff 29,000 employees by 2014, that’s an increase of 2,000 from their layoff announcement in May of this year.

HP blamed the quarterly loss on down sales, and the cost of downsizing the company!

According to an Idaho Statesmen report, HP spent $50 million, over the past few years, downsizing its operations at the huge Boise HP campus.

The report also pointed out that HP is refusing to publish just how many people have lost their jobs at the Boise campus.  The Idaho Statesmen estimates it to be in the hundreds (at least 320).

HP also isn’t mentioning the fact that they’ve spent more than $40 billion on buying up worthless companies!

Just days ago a U.S. Senate investigation revealed that HP is one of thousands of unAmerican Corporations (including Microsoft) that are working hard to avoid paying taxes.

“The bottom line of our investigation is that some multinationals use our current tax system to engage in shams and gimmicks to avoid paying the taxes they owe.”-Carl Levin, Senator from Michigan

The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations discovered that HP avoided paying $4.5 billion in taxes, from 2009 to 2011, by using complicated offshore loan deals  (you see it’s not just Mitt Romney, everyone in unAmerican Corporate America does it).

Of course HP officials deny it: “I can assure the committee that HP takes seriously its obligations to accurately follow accounting principle and to pay taxes that it owes.”-Lester D. Ezrati, HP

HP also has operations in Israel, and today it was announced that HP is in the running for a huge military contract worth half a billion USD!  (IBM, Dell and Lockheed Martin have also bid)

The contract will be for a new huge Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) computer server farm based in the Negev desert.  It will be the main server farm for electronic logistics, communication and military intelligence operations being run by other newly built bases in the Negev.

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Hoku pulls stocks from NASDAQ, deregisters with SEC.

Hawaii based Hoku Corporation is no longer selling stocks, through NASDAQ anyway.  At the beginning of September 2012, Hoku filed a Form 15 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), asking for their existing shares to be deregistered.

This means Hoku will not have to make any reports to the SEC for the next 90 days.

Back in July Hoku delisted from NASDAQ.  Hoku Corp. is blaming their fall on the crashing price of polysilicon.  Hoku Corp. shut down their Hoku Materials polysilicon operation in Idaho, back in May.

Hoku Corp. is looking for a buyer for its Hoku Solar division.

Hoku Corp. stocks are now being traded Over The Counter (OTC). As of  17 September 2012, they were selling for only .07 cents per share.

HOKU CONTINUES DOWNWARD SPIRAL. POCATELLO PLANT MOTHBALLED! 

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Idaho’s Coldwater Creek loses $17 million! Store closings will continue!

On 29 August 2012, Coldwater Creek reported a 2nd quarter loss of $17 million USD.  It’s the third quarter in a row for the women’s apparel retailer.

The Sandpoint, Idaho, based company blames it on falling sales (again).

Direct catalog sales dropped $5 million, retail/outlet stores and spas dropped $12.3 million, compared to the same time last year.  Some of the sales loses were blamed on the closing of 24 Coldwater Creek stores across the United States, since 2011 (four closed during the 2nd quarter of 2012).

Company officials say one of their plans to improve financial performance is to move existing stores into smaller locations, as well as closing another 20+ stores by 2013.

NASDAQ is threatening to delist Coldwater Creek from its stock exchange, because the price of one share is still below $1.00.

Also at the end of August, a former Coldwater Creek official was sentenced to 18 months in prison, and more than $246,000 in restitution, after pleading guilty to embezzling the company.  The judge rejected a plea agreement which called for a sentence of only 90 days in jail.

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

Government Hypocrisy: United States renews Iran sanctions exemptions for 11 countries! Sign that the U.S. isn’t ready for war with Iran, yet.

14 September 2102, U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, revealed that eleven countries are being exempted from U.S. sanctions against Iran.

They are: Japan, Belgium, Britain, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain.

As in the first round of exemptions, these latest exemptions are good for 180 days.  This smacks of a government trying to buy time; time to prepare for war, and time to allow allies to stock pile oil.

Hillary Clinton made a statement that sounded like a broken record: “We have brought significant pressure to bear on the Iranian regime, and we will continue to work with our partners to ratchet up the pressure on Iran to meet its international obligations.”

Business/Economics, U.S.

Class Warfare & What Economic Recovery? Federal Reserve says the U.S. is doomed? Implements QE3 out of desperation!

“Fewer than half of the eight million jobs lost in the recession have been restored……If the fiscal cliff isn’t addressed, as I’ve said, I don’t think our tools are strong enough to offset the effects of a major fiscal shock….”-Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve (the privately run Central Bank of the United States)

13 September 2012, while the Federal Reserve was issuing harsh warnings about the lack of economic recovery, the U.S. Department of labor reported that weekly first time unemployment applications went up by 15,000 people!

In an act of utter desperation, the Federal Reserve announced they will implement a third round of easy money for the Too Big to Fail banks, known as QE3.  Recent reports out of the United Kingdom revealed that quantitative easing does not help the overall economy, it only makes the super rich richer!

The U.S. Central Bank said it would inject cash into the markets by attempting to buy $40 billion USD worth  “…of agency mortgage backed securities, undertake additional asset purchases and employ its other policy tools as appropriate….” every month!

“Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days.”-James 5:1-3, New International Version of the Bible

Business/Economics, Opinion, U.S.

Religious & Corporate Hypocrisy: Mormons, like Mitt Romney, say they hate government bailouts, but Mormon owned bank has yet to payback taxpayers for $1.4 billion TARP bailout!!!

“You cannot serve both God and Money.”– Jesus of Nazareth

“Let Detroit Go Bankrupt”-Mitt Romney opinion piece blasting the auto industry bailout by the federal government, 18 November 2008

You might have heard how, only this year, Mitt Romney took credit for the government bailout of the auto industry, seemingly forgetting about his New York Times editorial from 2008, blasting the bailout.  I wonder what he thinks about a Mormon owned bank, Zions Bank, firstly taking a $1.4 billion USD government loan, and, secondly being the only bank that got more than one billion taxpayer dollars that has failed to pay back the taxpayers?

Zions Bank branch in Pocatello, Idaho.

“…..people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.”-1 Timothy 6:5, New International Version of the Bible

Mormon (aka Latter Day Saints [LDS], but their holy book is called Book of Mormon, not Book of Latter Day Saints) Brigham Young started Zion’s Savings Bank and Trust Company in 1873.  It was owned directly by the LDS church until 1960, when a group of Mormon investors (Keystone Insurance and Investment) bought controlling interest in the bank.  The bank became a full fledged corporation and the name was changed to Zions Bancorporation.

“For the love of money is a root of all evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith….”-1 Timothy 6:10-12, Bible

Since then the Mormon run bank has been taking over other banks (gee kinda similar to what Mitt Romney did with Bain Capital).  It’s still run by family members of the original Mormon investors that took over in 1960.

Principal Subsidiaries: California Bank & Trust; The Commerce Bank of Washington; National Bank of Arizona; Nevada State Bank; Vectra Bank Colorado; Zions First National Bank.

“Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.”-Ecclesiastes 5:10, New International Version of the Bible

In 2008 (in fact it was the same month that Mitt Romney wrote his New York Times editorial) Zions Bankcorp was one of the first in line to apply for, and get, a $1.4 billion TARP (aka Too Big to Fail bank bailout) loan from the federal government, in direct contradiction to what many Mormons think about ‘hand outs’ from the government.  The latest reports say Zions Bankcorp has paid back only half of the taxpayers’ money, and that it is one of only three banks which still owe taxpayers more than half a billion dollars!

But wait, there’s more!

In classic Mitt Romney/Bain Capital tactics (or is it now clear that it’s really Mormon tactics), the banks have been paying back their government loans with more government loans! (Mitt Romney at Bain Capital did not use his own money, but used money from investors and loans to buy up, cut up and sell off U.S. companies that were seen as competitors to his pet corporations, like Staples vs American Pen & Paper, Toys r Us vs KB Toys, and now Kmart vs Sears)

An October 2011 Wall Street Journal report showed that banks were using money meant for small business loans to pay back TARP.  This is one reason why banks cut back on issuing those small business loans to small businesses!

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that banks were also using money from different versions of TARP, to pay back their original Capital Purchase Program (CPP) version of TARP.

Under the CCP the U.S. Department of Treasury bought huge numbers of stocks in the Too Big to Fail banks.  Banks pay back the Treasury when they buy back their stocks, at a much higher price of course.  So far the Treasury (and technically the taxpayers) has been making huge profits off the bank buy backs.  Except for Zions.  The Treasury Department is getting antsy about those banks that have not bought their stocks back.

The GAO also suggested that the banks that have yet to pay off their loans, like Zions, are on the verge of going down the toilet.  The GAO suggested that these banks were on a ‘secret troubled banks list’ used by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the FDIC has denied they keep such a list).

Mitt Romney, and the Mormon owners of Zions Bank are perfect examples of “Do as I say, not as I do.”  Do we really want that kind of person as President of the United States?  Oh wait, it’s too late, we’ve had dozens (and they all claimed to be christians)!

“It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”– Jesus of Nazareth