useless as tits on a boar hog without links.
On Tue, Nov 11, 2008 at 1:28 AM, Lone Wolf <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> Layoffs mount, economic crisis deepens in the US
> By Tom Eley
> 11 November 2008
>
> Monday brought a number of fresh indications—including mass layoffs,
> bankruptcies and negative labor market data—that the US is entering a
> deep economic crisis.
>
>
> DHL Express, the country's third largest parcel delivery company, now
> joins the ever-increasing list of companies making massive cuts in its
> labor force. It announced on Monday that it was laying-off 9,500
> workers and shutting down hundreds of service centers. The cuts are in
> addition to a 5,400 employee reduction announced last May.
>
>
> Economic conditions have also led to a reduction, for the first time
> since 2001, in the quantity of shipping that DHL and rivals Federal
> Express and United Parcel Service carry out.
>
>
> The layoffs themselves will devastate the small town of Wilmington,
> Ohio, where DHL is headquartered. About 3,000 of the town's 12,000
> residents work directly for the company, while the remainder relies on
> it indirectly. "They're taking away everything from me, my family, my
> friends—this whole town," DHL employee Sherry Barrett told CNN.
>
>
> Also on Monday, Circuit City, the second largest electronics retailer
> in the US, filed for bankruptcy protection. Prior to the announcement,
> manufacturers had begun to cut off product line shipments fearing that
> the company would not be able to make its payments. Circuit City
> simultaneously announced 700 layoffs among its corporate staff.
>
>
> Only one week ago the company announced that it was closing 155 of its
> retail stores and laying-off 7,000 workers. Thousands more will
> undoubtedly lose their jobs as a result of the bankruptcy
> announcement.
>
>
> Nortel, a telecommunications firm, announced 1,300 layoffs along with
> a freeze on salary increases after reporting a third quarter loss of
> $3.4 billion. It is not yet clear where the Canada-based corporation
> will carry out its latest headcount reduction, but it has operations
> at dozens of sites in the US and around the world.
>
>
> On November 7, the nation's largest toymaker, Mattel, announced 1,000
> job cuts worldwide, including more than 170 at its El Segundo,
> California, headquarters.
>
>
> On November 6, GlaxoSmithKlein, the world's second largest drug maker,
> announced it was laying of 1,000 workers in the US.
>
>
> The financial industry is also preparing a new round of mass layoffs
> for 2009—as many as 150,000 worldwide and 70,000 in the US alone--
> according to a Monday report in the Financial Times.
>
>
> Over the next few years, New York City may shed between 55,000 and
> 78,000 finance jobs according to a recent Federal Reserve Board
> survey. Financial sector layoffs for 2009 are likely to be made public
> later this month as major financial firms prepare their respective
> budgets for the upcoming year.
>
>
> The dismissals will come on top of the massive reductions that have
> already taken place or are currently underway in the financial sector.
> Citigroup is in the midst of laying-off 23,000; the collapse of Lehman
> Brothers and Bear Stearns has resulted in the loss of another 23,000
> jobs; Merrill Lynch has fired 5,700; Morgan Stanley 4,400; and Goldman
> Sachs is dismissing 3,200 employees.
>
>
> The series of announced layoffs—in virtually every sector of the
> economy--arrives on the heels of a sharp drop in employment in
> October, when 240,000 jobs were eliminated and the official
> unemployment rate soared to 6.5 percent.
>
>
> Monday was also another bleak day for US auto giant General Motors.
> Its stock fell by 23 percent, reaching its lowest level in 60 years,
> after analysts for Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan, and Barclay's Capital
> warned investors that GM's prospects were grim.
>
>
> Deutsche Bank lowered its target for GM equity to zero dollars,
> predicting that GM was unlikely to avoid bankruptcy or "bankruptcy-
> like" conditions, and that any government bailout would not benefit
> shareholders.
>
>
> Also on Monday, GM issued its quarterly report with the US Securities
> and Exchange Commission. It revealed that that the mortgage component
> of its GMAC LLC financial arm may soon collapse, and that Delphi
> Corporation, GM's spun-off parts-maker, might never emerge from
> bankruptcy protection. GM controls 49 percent of GMAC, while Cerberus
> Capital Management LP, which owns Chrysler, controls 51 percent.
>
>
> In another sign of a rapidly worsening economy, the Conference Board's
> monthly labor market index fell sharply. The Conference Board is a New
> York-based business research group. The index, which assesses eight
> employment-related economic indicators, has fallen 12 percent in one
> year. Part-time and temporary jobs have been especially hard hit over
> the past six months, the index reveals.
>
>
> According to Gad Levanon, the Conference Board's Senior Economist, the
> data "suggests we will experience even greater deterioration in the
> labor market in the months ahead, and that the unemployment rate will
> continue to rise sharply well into 2009. The economic developments of
> the last two months made it clear to businesses that demand for goods
> and services in the US is [sic] declining, and businesses are
> responding by aggressively slashing their payrolls. Unfortunately," he
> said, "it seems this environment will persist for several more
> quarters and business leaders will continue reducing their
> workforce."
>
>
> As winter approaches, the federal government has done almost nothing
> to alleviate the suffering of millions of working class people who
> have been thrown on to unemployment lines, or who face home
> foreclosure, eviction, or personal bankruptcy.
>
>
> The indifference of both the Democrats and Republicans to this social
> catastrophe engulfing millions stands in stark contrast to the
> alacrity with which they carry out the dictates of the financial
> aristocracy.
>
>
> The federal government also announced an expanded government rescue
> package for the giant insurance company, American International Group,
> (AIG), this Monday, which will amount to a total of $150 billion, $40
> billion of which will be invested directly into AIG despite the
> company's disclosed losses of $24.5 billion from July through
> October.
>
>
> According to a report by Bloomberg News, the federal government has
> extended over $2 trillion in emergency loans to major financial
> concerns in the past fifteen months and the Federal Reserve Board has
> thus far refused to reveal who has received the taxpayer infusions. On
> November 7th, Bloomberg News filed a lawsuit against the board,
> demanding that it release information pertaining to the recipients of
> the $2 trillion largesse, and also about the toxic assets which the US
> Government has now taken onto its books as collateral
>
> >
>
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