Laying Off People to Pay The Ones Previously Laid Off

This is bizarre.

Muncie, Indiana is faced with laying off firefighters who are currently employed so they can pay about $250,000 to long term unemployed fire firefighters.

The city self insures unemployment benefits, so with the recent extension of unemployment benefits of 20 weeks by the federal government Muncie will be out of money to pay existing firefighters.

They will be laid off to pay the long time firefighters. The hitch is that they will also have to pay the newly unemployed firefighters.

Only a government agency could end up with a situation like this.

The economic recovery continues????

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Mayor warns of more potential firefighter layoffs

By NICK WERNER • nwerner@muncie.gannett.com • November 10, 2009

MUNCIE — Additional layoffs might be in store for the Muncie Fire Department, Mayor Sharon McShurley said Tuesday.

The reason is not only ironic, but a classic example of the law of unintended consequences.

Muncie might have to lay off more firefighters to pay extended unemployment benefits to the 32 firefighters laid off in June.

The revelation came during a question-and-answer session after McShurley’s address Tuesday to the Muncie Rotary Club, a sort of state of the city speech.

An audience member asked McShurley if congress’s recent decision to extend unemployment benefits by 20 weeks in hard-hit states such as Indiana would affect Muncie.

“That comes out of a salary line item,” McShurley said. “There will be ramifications.”

McShurley went on to say extending unemployment would cost the city about $250,000. Muncie is self-funded when it comes to unemployment and pays the expense from the city’s general fund.

The $250,000 would have to come from within the fire department, McShurley said.

Muncie laid off 5 rookie police officers at the same time, but they had not been on the department long enough to collect

Isn't Amazing How Quickly The Government Severs Jobs and Relationships in the Private Sector

BBDO and Chrysler have been doing business for 65 years. Not anymore. I am finding it alarming how quickly the federal government is releasing employees and severing business ties in a matter of months.

They have closed down dealerships all across America, deciding to let thousands go.

Saturn and Chrysler dealerships are being closed along with a whole list of supporting suppliers who will lose their jobs.

Could anyone imagine the Federal government slashing even 200 federal employees?

The private sector is being dismantled as quickly as possible.

Do you see Fannie Mae, a government agency, losing thousands of employees despite an $18 billion dollar loss this quarter? The answer is a resounding NO. The double standard is being played out daily.

Do we see bloated money losing (Billions per annum)operations such as union based Amtrak shedding employees? No. They are all government employees.

Control of employment is rapidly shifting to a government controlled economy and not many are raising a ruckus.

These rapid moves are changing America into a totally different country.

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Advertising agency BBDO announces Windsor layoffs after split with Chrysler

By Dalson Chen, The Windsor StarNovember 9, 2009

Windsor staff of worldwide advertising agency BBDO have received notice they’ll be out of their jobs at the end of January.

On Monday, BBDO Worldwide announced that it will close its Detroit and Windsor offices when the agency’s current contract with Chrysler ends on Jan. 26.

The move affects a total of 485 employees in Detroit and Windsor, about 80 of whom work in the Chrysler Canada building at the corner of Ouellette Avenue and Riverside Drive.

Roy Elvove, a spokesman at BBDO’s headquarters in New York City, said BBDO has had a relationship with Chrysler since 1944.

According to an agency statement, BBDO was informed by Chrysler in July that “they were not prepared to continue under the current contractual framework.”

State of Georgia - No Signs of Recovery Here

Everyday a new report comes in that shows state tax revenues are in free fall. All of our news outlets are continuing to pump the recovery.

Which is it, recovery or recession?

Taxes are unavoidable, so if the revenue decline is 17.8%, my guess is that the media and press are full of it. They are trying hard to convince the public that all is well. I understand the reason for trying to do so.

We have built a House of Cards that goes beyond words. One in six people now works for the government. It used to be one in almost twenty.

Can we support a top heavy structure? States and the fed are running monstrous deficits, so I think the answer is that if things can't go on like they are, they won't.

The government is left with no other choice than to pump the stock market higher, it's the only bubble that's easy to pump. All other efforts have failed so far.

It is causing the US dollar to continue to drop. How this is going to end is anyone's guess. Most of the money printing cycles such as the one we are in end up with the currency (US dollar in this case) in the graveyard.

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State tax revenue falls 17.8% in October

Atlanta Business Chronicle
Monday, November 9, 2009, 3:09pm EST

The amount of revenue the Peach State pulled in from various taxes plunged 17.8 percent in October, the Georgia Department of Revenue reported Monday.

Georgia took in $1.14 billion last month, compared with $1.39 billion in October 2008.

The $1.14 billion total includes $398 million in sales tax revenue (down 18.2 perceont), a deficit of $4.9 million in corporate income tax revenue (down 120.8 percent), $610.6 million in individual income tax revenue (down 15.5 percent), $65.1 million in motor fuel tax revenue (down 14.2 percent) and $6 million in property tax revenue (down 31.1 percent).

Through October, state tax revenue was down 15.1 percent to $4.66 billion

Number of Problem Banks Continues to Grow

The current tally of problem banks in this country is now up to 505.

In case you were wondering, the banks are everywhere and in places not to have been known to have significant real estate problems. We all know about California, Nevada and Arizona and their foreclosure problems.

However, the state with the most troubled banks is Washington with 26.3% of their banks in trouble, followed by Utah with 25% of their banks in trouble. We close out the top 5 with Oregon at 19.5%.

The magnitude of this problem is enormous, one that will not go away and just continues to worsen by the week. I simply can't imagine how many more are out there that the FDIC hasn't had time to get to.

One of the banks closed this week had assets of $1.4 billion dollars, so in some cases, there are some sizable banks in this group.

The bad debts are being absorbed by Mom and Pop taxpayer. Our deficit will continue to grow in 2010. The real estate bubble write offs have a long way to go, unfortunately.

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Unofficial Problem Bank List Grows to 505

by CalculatedRisk on 11/06/2009 09:27:00 PM

This week we looked over the numbers to determine which states have the most stress in their banking sector. For the ranking, we added together the number of institutions that are on the Unofficial Problem Bank List and failures since 2008 and divided by the number of institutions headquartered in the state and failures since 2008.

Interestingly, Georgia is not the top ranked state. Here is the top 10 list; actually top 11 as Maryland and Colorado are in a virtual tie. Please note that we only ranked states with at least 15 institutions headquartered within their borders, as we did not want the ranking influenced by a small banking market.

State	Percent
Washington	26.3%
Utah	25.0%
Arizona	21.3%
Nevada	20.0%
Oregon	19.5%
Georgia	19.2%
California	17.8%
Florida	16.3%
Michigan	13.2%
Maryland	10.8%
Colorado	10.6%

Washington State leads the way with more than 26 percent of its banking industry either under formal enforcement action or having failed.

No wonder the esteemed governor wrote a letter to the state’s congressional delegation complaining about bank regulators.

Round Two For This Retailer

Remember how companies were going to start hiring when the economy recovered. Quicksilver is a retailer that just announced their second round of layoffs as people continue to cut back on shopping.

This retailer has cut 700 jobs in the last two years.

You would think they're gearing up for the Christmas selling season.

Today's unemployment report showed that 40,000 people lost their jobs in retailing in October 2009. This is normally the start of hiring, not hiring, for the Holiday seasonal sales period.

Quiksilver Cuts More Jobs

By MICHAEL LYSTER

Orange County Business Journal Staff

Huntington Beach-based clothing maker Quiksilver Inc. has laid off 125 workers at its headquarters and elsewhere in Southern California as part of its ongoing cost cutting.

In all, 200 jobs were cut including 75 vacant positions at Quiksilver, which makes clothes inspired by surfing, skateboarding and snowboarding.

The cuts came at Quiksilver’s America unit, including at its Roxy brand for young girls and women and DC Shoes, a maker of shoes and clothes inspired by skateboarding.

Cuts also came at the company’s Mira Loma warehouse.

Earlier this year, Quiksilver cut 200 jobs. The latest cuts bring Quiksilver’s layoffs to more than 700 in the past two years as its deals with the worst retail downturn in recent memory and its own financial issues.

Warren Buffett Gets In The Act - Not In The Way You Might Think

There was a loud roar when Warren Buffett stepped up and bought a railroad company this week. It was his largest dollar commitment ever for one company.

While he was buying, he was also doing something he never does. He has been chopping employees, closing facilities, replacing CEO's, etc.

Some of you may recollect that he has always indicated that he leaves companies alone once he buys them. He will only step in if there's a significant problem.

That has now happened.

Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s managers may deliver more cost cuts to Chief Executive Officer Warren Buffett after the billionaire replaced Richard Santulli as the head of a money-losing plane-leasing unit.

Berkshire executives have eliminated jobs and closed plants as the sale of bricks, jewelry and luxury flights suffered in the recession. The company, which reports third-quarter results today, may need further reductions, even as the U.S. recovers, said Jeff Matthews, founder of the hedge fund Ram Partners LP.

Buffett was a NetJets client before acquiring the firm in 1998 from Santulli, the inventor of fractional jet ownership. Santulli added about 648 jobs at Columbus, Ohio-based NetJets in 2008 before presiding over about $350 million in losses in the first half. Sokol announced 300 job cuts in September and the additional layoffs yesterday (495 pilots).

“Nothing is forever, even at Berkshire,” Matthews said.

Buffett replaced Marvin Beasley in April as CEO of Helzberg Diamond Shops after saying in an interview that consumers “won’t go in our jewelry stores” because of the recession. A year earlier, Beasley told the Kansas City Business Journal that Helzberg wasn’t planning more job cuts after eliminating 21 positions, saying, “we think it’s going to be OK.”

Helzberg has 234 U.S. stores, according to its Web site, compared with the “nearly 270” tally given by the company in April when the transition was announced. Marti Greathouse, a spokeswoman for Helzberg, didn’t return a call seeking comment.

Berkshire last year cut jobs at businesses including Clayton Homes Inc., which builds manufactured housing, and brickmaker Acme Building Brands. The 10 largest employers among Berkshire’s operating units cut staff by 1.2 percent last year, “a significantly smaller decline than total U.S. employment,” according to an analysis by Bill Bergman of Morningstar Inc.

‘No Alternative’

Buffett told shareholders at the firm’s annual meeting in May that he expected more reductions. Shaw Industries, the world’s largest carpet manufacturer, said in October 2008 it was closing a spun yarn plant in Trenton, Georgia, to cut production. About 440 workers were affected, the company said in a statement.

“There really is no alternative,” Buffett said in May. “They are all getting hit because of the recession,” he said, referring to Berkshire’s retail and manufacturing businesses.

The U.S. economy returned to growth in the third quarter and Buffett said while the country has made “enormous progress” from a year earlier, the recovery isn’t complete.

“The patient really went into the emergency room and it won’t come out of the hospital entirely for a while,” he said in an interview in September with the CEO of Berkshire’s Business Wire unit.

Green Jobs Go By The Wayside - No Signs of Recovery

Unemployment surged to 10.2% today and the market rallied on the news. WE're in recovery by only losing 190,000 jobs. I have never heard such idiotic talk.

How do you recover when the job losses pile on one another. Even solar panel jobs are being cut.

This entire market is being held up by a lot of hot air from every corner of the media. We now have 17.5% of the populace unemployed when part timers and people who haven given up are counted.

In addition, we have record numbers of people filing for Social Security disability, since they too have lost hope of getting a job. Many of these people have been a part of the workforce and are now saying I have to find a way to at least get some money for food on the table.

Meanwhile we're now up to 36.5 million people getting food stamps. That's one out of every eight families in America that are in poverty, out of money and can't even afford to buy groceries.

Jobless Recovery!!

There is no such thing.

Let's hope things improve shortly. This economy, speaking in medical terminolgy, could be classified as being in critical condition.

GE To Close Its Solar-Panel Manufacturing Plant In Delaware

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- General Electric Co. (GE) plans to shut down its only solar-panel manufacturing facility, as it found that prices for panels fell below production costs, Clean Technology Insight has learned.

"On October 23 we announced the restructuring of our solar business to employees and our intent to close the Newark [Del.] facility," said Milissa Rocker, spokeswoman for the company, in an interview.

GE's production facility is a victim of a rapidly evolving solar market, where older U.S. plants are shutting down, reducing production, or outsourcing abroad, even as some foreign manufacturers, like those from China, plan to open new manufacturing in the U.S.

The decision to shut down production was "mainly due to the challenges in the solar industry, including overcapacity levels that are twice demand and industry pricing that's below the cost of producing the panels," said Rocker.

GE plans to stop manufacturing crystalline silicon panels on Jan. 1, 2010. It will close the plant by the end of June of next year, she said.

The plant currently employs 82 people. All will be laid off, receiving severance and benefits packages, she said.