You were Warned.....
January 23, 2009
– Comments (11)
Hopefully you have prepared......
[STP] Suntech cuts 800 jobs, suspends 2,000 new hires
[GE] GE to reduce workforce, simplify its organization
Harley-Davidson laying off 1,100 as profit falls sharply
Oil service giant Schlumberger sees more tough times ahead
Bridgestone to cut 800 workers at Tennessee plant
Retailers at risk in 2009, he thinks, include outerwear specialist Eddie Bauer and teen-apparel-seller Pacific Sunwear, along with Zales, the big jewelry chain. All three shuttered at least 8% of their U.S. stores last year, with many more closings expected. The same is largely true of Charming Shoppes, the owner of Lane Bryant, which closed 150 stores last year. With a mountain of debt and losses totaling over $260 million over the most recent 12-month reporting period, the company will close another 100 locations this year.
Another possible casualty: Sears Holdings, operator of Sears and Kmart stores. A key to hedge fund manager Eddie Lampert's 2005 merger of the two chains was in the underlying real estate. But with those values down 30% or so since then, slumping sales hit even worse.
"I'd be surprised if Sears-Kmart makes it through the year," says Britt Beemer, who runs retail market-research firm America's Research Group.
Non-apparel specialists like Starbucks and Sprint Nextel won't be going away, but they will close hundreds more stores during the coming year, Davidowitz predicts. Narrow specialties (Sprint's cellphones) and high prices (Starbucks' coffee) are tough sells as the consumer mood turns thrifty. What plagues Starbucks will also affect other upscale goody chains like Mrs. Fields' Cookies, and causal dining outlets like Applebee's and Cheesecake Factory. Any of the neighborhood outlets for those restaurant chains could be a casualty this year. For too many customers now, it's McDonald's or bust.
http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/106466/Where-You-Won't-Shop-in-2009
If you really want to laugh...go back and look at the comments some of the Fools, like FloridaBuilder and others were saying when I was warning them last year at about this time...
In November, according to the NY Times, 3X the number of people dropped out of the workforce compared to those counted as unemployed....think about that for a second........could we be ALREADY at 25% unemployment (current reported rate is about 7%) if we used traditional unemployment counting methods as opposed to the revised methods currently utilized????
I have little doubt that we are ALREADY at 25% functional unemployment applying the Alstrynomics definition of those needing to work but not earning a basic needs subsistance living.
You have been warned....time and time again....with a variety of real life examples and exclamation marks and other various punctuation symbols....good luck as the time for honoring ourselves is coming to an end.
RSS Headlines
Fool UK