- Are Obama’s economic recovery plans radical?
* Mike: I’ll start today’s post with the latest salvo from Obama, which is what I had expected from him when he was elected. I think he tried the bipartisan route to no avail (no surprise there) and now he’s getting back to the Obama people elected (note: I didn’t vote for Obama). While the following story depicts Obama’s views as radical, what is truly radical about his plans? This is the only developed country without some sort of universal health care plan, so why is that radical? The plan doesn’t have to be in the same mold as our Canadian or Danish friends, but I believe it’s a vital that all citizens have access to affordable health care. Making companies compete for Medicare involvement is a step in that direction. Having some type of health care for all will take that burden off of US businesses, which will make them more competetive with thier foreign counterparts that don’t have to pay for health care directly. That should allow for companies to spend their resources on research and development and that should create more jobs.
Greener energy is also important since we send billions of dollars overseas, which could be put to better use in this country. And once the economy recovers in a few years the price of gas will spike back to $4 a gallon, so why not get a head start at addressing that issue before people start screaming again. These plans may seem radical to those who like everything the way it is, but any change can seem radical if you have that view.
And why wasn’t it considered radical to allow banks to create exotic and lethal investment instruments and assemble and sell unaffordable loan packages? Why wasn’t it considered radical to spend hundreds of billions on two wars and not report that spending as part of the overall budget? Why wasn’t it considered radical to pass a health care reform bill that didn’t allow for companies to compete? Why wasn’t it radical to increase the federal debt from $5 trillion to $10 trillion?
We as citizens will be the ones who determine if Obama’s plans are radical, not the paid-for, corrupt lobbiests that defile the halls of Congress.
* Some analysts say Obama’s proposals are almost radical. But he said all of them were included in his campaign promises. “It is the change the American people voted for in November,” he said.
Nonetheless, he said, well-financed interest groups will fight back furiously.
- Insurance companies will dislike having “to bid competitively to continue offering Medicare coverage, but that’s how we’ll help preserve and protect Medicare and lower health care costs,” the president said. “I know that banks and big student lenders won’t like the idea that we’re ending their huge taxpayer subsidies, but that’s how we’ll save taxpayers nearly $50 billion and make college more affordable. I know that oil and gas companies won’t like us ending nearly $30 billion in tax breaks, but that’s how we’ll help fund a renewable energy economy.”
via Obama tells powerful lobbies: Bring it on.
Jeff Stahler - Feb 28
-Larger layoff announcements and ecnomic reports:
US/Canada:
- California declares drought emergency
- California unemployment rate at 10.1 percent
- California paid for top officials’ free rides (Any wonder why CA is such a mess financially?)
- CVS Caremark to cut 230 jobs in Largo
- Economy shrinks at fastest pace in 26 years
- Yale announces layoffs
International:
- Microsoft/Google/IBM and other Rumors/News
General Economic News
Municipal News
US and some Canada Layoff News
International News
Hiring News
- Microsoft/Google/IBM and other Rumors & News -
* That possibility’s got the blogosphere all “a-twitter,” pardon the pun. Earlier this week, Google activated its Twitter account and all Tweets broke loose. As of Friday morning, Google had more than 26,000 followers.
The speculation is that, in a move similar to its purchase of YouTube, Google is interested in buying Twitter. Now, Google didn’t buy YouTube for its video capability—or at least not primarily. Google acquired YouTube in large part for its search tools. And it has paid off. Last summer, ComScore reported that YouTube’s search traffic for August surpassed Yahoo’s, which dropped some 5 percent in traffic from July.
* SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday declared a state emergency due to drought and said he would consider mandatory water rationing in the face of nearly $3 billion in economic losses from below-normal rainfall this year.
As many as 95,000 agricultural jobs will be lost, communities will be devastated and some growers in the most economically productive farm state simply are not able to plant, state officials said, calling the current drought the most expensive ever.
via California declares drought emergency | Environment | Reuters .
* New unemployment figures from the state of California are alarming. They show that one in ten people have lost their job.
via California unemployment rate at 10.1 percent - 2/27/09 – San Francisco News – abc7news.com.
* Carrie Lopez, director of the Department of Consumer Affairs, charged taxpayers to fly from Sacramento, where she works, to Los Angeles, where she lives, to attend a Justin Timberlake concert with her daughter. She listed the trip on her expense report as a meeting with the energy company that paid for the concert tickets. Lopez also billed the state for meals on days she received those meals for free from corporations, according to state records.
Rosario Marin, head of the State and Consumer Services Agency, blamed a miscommunication for her failure to repay $582 the state spent to fly her to Washington in July to speak at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, an appearance for which she received $1,000. She reimbursed the state for the airfare after The Times inquired about the trip last month.
via California paid for top officials’ free rides - Los Angeles Times.
* WASHINGTON (AP) — The economy contracted at a staggering 6.2 percent pace at the end of 2008, the worst showing in a quarter-century, as consumers and businesses ratcheted back spending, plunging the country deeper into recession.
The Commerce Department report released Friday showed the economy sinking much faster than the 3.8 percent annualized drop for the October-December quarter first estimated last month. It also was considerably weaker than the 5.4 percent annualized decline economists expected.
via The Associated Press: Economy shrinks at fastest pace in 26 years.
Ben Sargent - Feb 27
* The Dallas Housing Authority cut several jobs Friday after going over its budget for administrative costs in recent years.
* (Rochester, N.Y.) – Bausch and Lomb is cutting around 30 financial workers. The workers are based at the optics Center on North Goodman Street.
via Bausch and Lomb to Cut 30 Jobs - 13WHAM.com .
* New Haven (WTNH) – Yale University says as many as 300 employees could be laid off as the University copes with the economic downturn.
According the Yale Daily News , those who lose their jobs during the next six months will recieve double severance benefits. The University is also looking to cut staff salaries.
via Yale announces layoffs | WTNH.com.
* Faced with a 35 percent decrease in revenue, Selee Corp. laid off 23 hourly employees Friday.
It’s the first time since the early 1980s that the company has had to resort to layoffs, said President Mark Morse. The Hendersonville technical ceramics company specializes in the design and manufacture of porous technical ceramics and metals.
via Selee slashes 23 jobs | BlueRidgeNow.com | Times-News Online | Hendersonville, NC.
* LARGO — CVS Caremark plans to close its mail-order prescription drug operation here at the end of the month, eliminating 230 jobs.
*A manufacturing company is laying off employees at both of its facilities in northwest Iowa. Rosenboom Machine and Tool Human Resources Manager Jack Schreurs says the cuts include 12 permanent and 65 temporary layoffs in Sheldon and 19 permanent and 75 temporary layoffs in Spirit Lake.
via Radio Iowa: Company lays off workers in Sheldon, Spirit Lake.
* St. Cloud manufacturer Park Industries on Friday released statement saying it cut its staff but it wouldn’t say how many people it let go.
The company could not be reached for comment. The news release states Park Industries “would not comment” on the number of people affected by the cutbacks.
via Park Industries announces job cuts, number unknown | sctimes.com | St. Cloud Times.
* Another 84 full-time employees will be laid off at three-hospital William Beaumont Hospitals in Royal Oak, according to a hospital statement released Friday.
* The Boston Herald said today it needs 20 employees, about 5 percent of its staff, to take buy-outs as the recession takes a toll on advertising.
via Boston Herald to cut 20 more jobs - Daily Business Update – The Boston Globe.
* FOREST CITY, Iowa – Winnebago Industries is cutting pay and work hours in an effort to cut expenses and save jobs.
The Forest City-based motor home maker says most salaried employees will see a 3 percent cut in pay beginning March 1. Vice presidents will lose 10 percent of their paychecks, while Chairman and Chief Executive Bob Olson will receive a 20 percent salary cut.
The company also says workers must take a weeklong “unpaid leave of absence” in the company’s fiscal fourth quarter, with most taking June 29 to July 3.
via Winnebago Industries cuts salaries and hours -- chicagotribune.com.
* Hearst said it should not be assumed the reductions will result in the layoff of one-fifth of the paper’s payroll, which would equal roughly 90 people.
“We are already moving toward that 20 percent (cost reduction),” he said, noting a recent cut in newsprint use, among other changes.
via Times Union says it will cut staff size -- Page 1 — Times Union – Albany NY.
* Pearl River Casino Resort is continuing cost-cutting, this time reducing its workforce by 40 employees.
via Pearl River casino cuts 40 jobs | clarionledger.com | The Clarion-Ledger.
* The impact of the recession has caught up to Horizon, causing restructuring and benefit changes.
CEO Bill McKell confirmed Friday the company has had a reduction in mid-level management through both retirements and layoffs that included severance packages. The post-retirement benefits were eliminated for non-union employees, and the union recently voted to allow its post-retirement benefits to be terminated in lieu of layoffs.
via Horizon cuts retirement benefits, some positions | chillicothegazette.com | Chillicothe Gazette.
* German tyre group Continental plans to close a French plant and cut some 1,500 jobs, the Europe 1 radio station reported on Saturday quoting labour union sources.
The lay-offs, if confirmed at a Mar. 16 extraordinary meeting of the works council, would be the biggest wave of redundancies in the French auto sector since the global economic crisis started.
via Continental to cut 1,500 jobs in France: radio | Motoring | Reuters .
* NEW DELHI – Software firm Sapient has laid off 300 employees at its offices in Bangalore, Noida and Gurgoan as a result of the global economic downturn, which has impacted several IT firms.
via India Journal – South Asian News for Southern California.
* Cia. de Bebidas das Americas will shut a plant in Sao Paulo and cut 146 jobs as part of a cost- reduction plan, O Estado de S. Paulo reported, without saying where it got the information.
via Bloomberg.com: Latin America.
* Edinburgh-headquartered firm Dundas & Wilson has announced a redundancy consultation with up to 50 people across its three offices at risk of losing their jobs.
* Britain-based BBA Aviation will cut 350 jobs this year due to the fall in demand for private jet travel.
BBA, which provides services fro businesses and commercial jets, suffered a 20 percent decrease in demand for private jet travel in the last quarter of 2008.
* Wegmans, the high-end grocery chain that has built five markets in the Philadelphia region in six years, said yesterday that it would hire about 600 workers for a store in Collegeville due to open in October.
Hiring for the new 132,000-square-foot store – which will feature what is being billed as the first pub in a Southeastern Pennsylvania supermarket restaurant – will begin this month, with interviews taking place the final week of March, said Blaine Forkell, a 26-year Wegmans veteran who will manage the store. (Application information is at www.wegmans.com.)
via 600 hires and pub at new Wegmans | Philadelphia Inquirer | 02/28/2009.
* It may still be snowing outside, but the Forest Service is getting ready for its 2009 field season and will soon hire temporary, summer workers.
While most temporary employees will not actually start work until late in the spring or early summer, officials will begin reviewing applications and selecting temporary employees by mid-March. The Forest Service is encouraging potential applicants to complete their applications as soon as possible.
via Montana’s News Station – Fair. Accurate. To the Point. -Forest Service to begin summer hiring.
Mike: I keep receiving this note in the comment box, so I’ll post it and hope that this helps a few of you looking for work.
About.com choose 3 websites where job seekers got the best results -
http://www.linkedin.com (networking for professionals)
http://www.indeed.com (aggregated listings)
http://www.realmatch.com (matches you to the perfect job)
For those looking, good luck!
Mike: I’ll try to add more news as the weekend goes along…………..
Rob Rogers - Feb 28
* Microsoft is postponing, by about two weeks, the planned cuts in the amount it pays employment firms for many of its temporary workers, a spokesman confirmed this afternoon. The cuts had been set to start March 2, but they’re now slated to go into effect around mid-month.
* Microsoft may have just accomplished what the WashTech labor union tried to do for years — motivating its workers to band together and fight for their common interests. At least, that’s the aim of a new site called MSRateCuts.org, which objects to the pay cuts expected to result from Microsoft’s decision to reduce the rate it pays the agencies that provide many of its temporary workers.
* Microsoft on Thursday released a lengthy list of 36 improvements it plans to make to the release candidate (RC) for Windows 7, though the company did not provide any details on when that RC might actually be available.![[Report]](http://bloomberg.econoday.com/images/bloomberg/byconsensus_butt.gif)
![[Star]](http://bloomberg.econoday.com/images/bloomberg/star.gif)
![[djStar]](http://bloomberg.econoday.com/images/bloomberg/djstar.gif)
* Hat tip to one of my readers: Hamilton Sundstrand (Connecticut based division of UTC) told all of its employees today (26th) that there will be layoffs in the near future. The parent corporations CEO mention in a recent Hartford Courant article that layoffs should be complete by the end of the first quarter. The unfortunate ones number from from between 400 to 600. There will also be 5 furlough days off for all employees. 
* The operator of the Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy chains said it plans to close 100 stores in fiscal 2009 out of more than 3,100 locations. It expects to open about 50 new stores during the year, with about half outside the United States and the remainder focusing on outlet stores.
* Wal-Mart Canada announced a rare failure yesterday, confirming it will close down its six-store Sam’s Club wholesale division after five years of struggling against rival Costco Wholesale Canada Ltd…….
* PITTSBURG, Texas — Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. said Friday it will cut 3,000 jobs as it shuts down operations at three of its 32 chicken processing plants.
* Chicken processing company Pilgrim’s Pride is closing three processing plants to create $110 million in annualized net savings in the midst of a rocky economy where the company’s supply outweighs market demand.
* AAA said today it’s closing six offices in the Las Vegas area as part of a campaign to reduce costs.
* Cisco Systems eliminated nearly 30 jobs at its Research Triangle Park campus this week, part of a larger effort to reduce costs as sales slow at the technology company.
* Trubion Pharmaceuticals said today that it will lay off 25 employees, about one quarter of its work force, as the Seattle biotechnology company shrinks the number of product candidates it is pursuing.
* Medical-devices giant Medtronic Inc. (MDT) plans to freeze its workers’ base salary and trim compensation for its executive team in an effort to control costs while it faces economic and market pressures.
* Akeena Solar Inc. said Thursday lost $9.2 million, or 32 cents a share, in the fourth quarter, and would cut 20 jobs, or about 10 percent of its total staff.
* WETUMPKA, Ala. (AP) — Fruit of the Loom has announced it will close its carpet yarn plant in Wetumpka, cutting 138 jobs.
* Chrysler LLC will lay off as many as 150 people next month for an indefinite period at its Kenosha engine plant in response to slowing sales.
* Archer Daniels Midland announced Thursday that it will lay off an undetermined number of workers at its Jackson plant within the next few months.
* Dell has posted a slump in profits for the full year ended 30 January, and it now plans to make a further $1bn in annual cost savings by 2011.
* Stantec Engineering joined the parade of mining sector layoffs by handing out 11 pink slips in North Bay and six in Sudbury this week.
* Sub-Zero Freezer/Wolf Appliance, a builder of refrigerators, freezers and cooking appliances with facilities in Madison and Fitchburg, announced Thursday it plans to lay off up to 350 local employees on or after May 1.
* Kulicke & Soffa Industries Inc. plans to let go of 215 employees, according to a filing the company made with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday.
* OXFORD — Seventy-three Miami University employees will be informed next week their jobs will be eliminated as the university scales back 216 positions between its campuses.
* FootJoy will go the route of other shoe-related companies in Brockton as it falls victim to the dismal economy and shrinking demand for its products.
* But Brinkley officials say it’s what’s keeping many families there. It’s been the backbone of the town for more than 35 years. It accounts for the majority of the sales tax and supports 48 jobs, making it the biggest business in the city of 3,900.
* US firm Latham & Watkins is to lay off a total of 440 employees across its global network.
* SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — J. Crew Group Inc. said Friday it will cut 95 jobs, or about 10% of its workforce, to reign in costs. Most of the job cuts will affect the retailer’s New York offices. J. Crew also said it will suspend matching contributions for employees’ 401(k) plans, and eliminate merit based wage increases.
* Energy holding company NiSource Inc. on Friday said its business segment, NiSource Gas Transmission & Storage (NGT&S), will slash 370 to 380 jobs, across its 16-state operating territory over the course of 2009.
* BRIGHAM CITY — ATK Launch Systems has put its employees on alert, saying it plans to lay off 300 employees from the company’s three Utah locations by the end of March.
* Holland, MI — Without orders to fill, Tiara Yachts is laying off 3/4 of its workforce.
* General Motors Corp (GM.N) said on Thursday it would lay off more than 1,600 workers at one of its plants in Brazil and had put another 900 workers on paid leave for 30 days.
* BOART Longyear has posted a rise in annual profit but reduced its capital spending, suspended dividends and cut its global workforce by 20 per cent amid the sector downturn.
* FDK Corp, an affiliate of Japanese electronics firm Fujitsu Ltd, said on Friday it will cut 4,800 jobs or 40 per cent of its workforce at home and abroad to cope with a steep business downturn.
* PARIS -(Dow Jones)- French cosmetics giant L’Oreal SA’s (12032.FR) Body Shop chain Friday said it will cut 275 jobs, or about 3% of its workforce, worldwide, as the unit steps up efforts to respond to plummeting sales.
* Clothing company Pacific Brands says it will consider a federal government request to rethink its decision to cut 18 hundred and 50 local manufacturing jobs.
* Apple’s annual shareholder meeting was dominated, as usual, by groups using the event as a soapbox for furthering their political agenda. Apple COO Tim Cook only answered a couple real questions from individuals, and the crowd sang out happy birthday to Steve Jobs, who was away on medical leave.
* A chief executive has to work pretty hard to push his shares lower on a day when the market overall is surging.
*The thousands of contractors who work at Microsoft through third-party agencies are facing pay cuts beginning Monday, as Microsoft continues to look for ways to cut costs.
* Regardless of what Apple honchos said at today’s shareholder meeting, I have come to the sad conclusion that Steve Jobs will never return to the helm at Apple. This is another of those “I hope of am wrong, but . . .” posts that I hate to write. But, skipping the shareholder meeting is a more than subtle hint that Jobs won’t be back in the active role he’s enjoyed, if at all.
* NEW YORK (Reuters) – JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM – News) said it is cutting up to 14,000 jobs, more than previously disclosed, as it tries to reduce costs in the face of a slumping economy and higher credit losses.
* Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO: News ) eliminated about 250 jobs at its San Jose, California, headquarters, according to reports.
* Cisco Systems released 250 of its employees from its Milpitas office Wednesday in an effort to “realign and restructure” in order to avoid a larger-scale layoff, according to company executives.
* YELLOWKNIFE – De Beers Canada is laying off workers and suspending work with contractors at its Northwest Territories Snap Lake diamond mine.
* Sabic says it will have to lay off 100-to-125 employees at its Mt. Vernon facility.
* AbitibiBowater announced late Tuesday it was temporarily laying off 650 employees from its Fort Frances mill. It was the company’s second round of layoffs at the mill within three months.
* The company said it would cut 142 employees from its total workforce of of 2,845, as it realigns its strategic priorities, including expectations for reduced development, the company said in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing after the close of the market on Wednesday.
* Interface Inc. reported a deeper loss for 2008 and said it will cut another 290 employees.
* Chipmaker Spansion Inc. has informed the Texas Workforce Commission that it cut 163 jobs in Austin this week, roughly 14 percent of its workforce
* Elan Corp. said it will cut about 230 jobs — including 115 in South San Francisco — as it awaits the results of Phase III trials with its potential Alzheimer’s Disease drug bapineuzumab.
* TILBURY – The ArvinMeritor plant in Tilbury, which makes brakes for trucks, is shutting down. The Canadian Auto Workers union says it was informed yesterday morning of the decision to close June 3.
* Farmland Foods, Inc. has announced that it will shift spiral ham production to other facilities and close its New Riegel plant in April of this year.
* “When you’re in an economy that’s shedding millions of jobs, there’s not a lot of demand for incremental new copier capacity,” said Chris Whitmore, an analyst at Deutsche Bank AG. The slump also means more job cuts are likely at Xerox, he said. The company employed 57,100 people worldwide as of Dec. 31.
* Pioneer Drilling Co (PDC.A) posted a quarterly loss, hurt by charges and weakness in its drilling and production services units, and said it would cut its workforce by 37 percent.
* SAN DIEGO — San Diego-based AMN Healthcare plans to eliminate nearly 190 positions in California and three other states, including about 40 jobs at the company’s Carmel Valley headquarters, it was reported Thursday.
* Miami University, in an effort to cut $22 million from its budget, will lay off 73 employees at its Oxford and Middletown campuse
* NEWARK, Ohio (AP) — The Longaberger basket company is laying off 295 employees and reducing the wages of salaried workers, including the company president.
* Home Depot Inc. is laying off more than 100 local employees at its closing Expo Design Center store in Fairfax.
* MADRID (AFP) — Japanese automaker Nissan reached an agreement Wednesday with union officials at its plant in Barcelona to slash 1,400 jobs due to slumping global demand, Spanish media reported.
* FRANKFURT (ICIS news)–BASF will shrink in 2009 as the company faces up to a year of “unprecedented challenges,” its CEO said on Thursday as the German chemical giant reported heavy fourth quarter losses and announced at least 1,500 worldwide job cuts.
* At least 40,000 council jobs are expected to be lost this year, with two thirds of local authorities admitting that they are cutting posts to cope with the recession.
* British insurer Legal & General Group (LGEN.L) is planning to cut between 250 and 450 jobs, or up to 5 percent of it workforce, in response in changing business demand, the BBC reported on Wednesday.
* GKN, the British car and aircraft parts maker, has warned that it will axe a futher 2,400 jobs this year as the collapse in demand for new cars intensifies.
* HELSINKI, Feb 26 (Reuters) – Top Nordic IT services company TietoEnator (TIE1V.HE) plans to cut about 350 jobs in response to weakening demand, it said on Thursday.
* LONDON, Feb 26 (Reuters) – British independent mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse (CPW.L) is set to announce about 400 job losses on Thursday in a bid to cut costs and improve efficiency, The Guardian newspaper reported without citing sources.
* Centrica, the British Gas owner, is set to create 1,500 new jobs ahead of plans to invest £15bn by 2020 to ramp up its presence in the ‘green energy’ market.
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