It's the one place where the economy is growing!!!
Watcha gonna do, guv?
"China trade gap seen costing 60,000 Mass. jobs
The growing trade deficit with China has cost Massachusetts nearly 60,000 jobs over the past several years, with about two-thirds of those losses in manufacturing, according to a study.
Oh, so that is where my job went!
The study, released today by the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington think tank, used an economic model to estimate national job losses resulting from the trade deficit, and then apportioned them according to each state's share of US employment. A trade deficit occurs when a nation imports more than it exports. The nation's trade deficit with China hit a record $256 billion in 2007. Between 2001 and 2007, the United States lost 2.3 million jobs, including 1.5 million manufacturing jobs, according to the study. The China trade deficit cost Massachusetts nearly 40,000 manufacturing jobs, accounting for about one-third of all manufacturing job losses in the state during that period. Massachusetts manufacturing employment has been on the decline for years (Boston Globe July 30, 2008)."
Thanks, globalization and rapacious corporations!
Well, at least there is always Starbucks.
"Starbucks' cutting office jobs; earnings drop expected" by Associated Press | July 30, 2008
NEW YORK - Starbucks Corp., which already plans to shut 600 stores, said yesterday it is also cutting almost 1,000 office jobs as part of its bid to re-energize the brand and boost its profit.
Of the new cuts, 550 of the positions are layoffs and the rest are unfilled jobs. The disclosure came a day before Starbucks was set to report its third-quarter financial results, which analysts expect to show a substantial decline in profit because of slower traffic and a drop in sales at established stores.
For the company's investors, the store closures and layoffs offer some hope that the chain's declining traffic, profit, and stock price may all rise again. But optimism is absent among many of the company's employees, who say Starbucks is hurting its workers and customers to save its stock price. The shares have sunk 47 percent in the past year.
"Closing stores is definitely not for the employee or customer's benefit," said Dave Ebert, a 21-year-old barista in Minneapolis whose store is closing. "It seems like a lot of their business decisions lately have been shareholder-focused."
Lately?
The latest round of job cuts are in addition to the layoffs from the store closures, although not all employees at stores that are closing will lose their jobs. In a letter to employees, chief executive Howard Schultz said about 70 percent of employees in stores set to be closed this month have been transferred to other locations."
Yup, nothing is ever as bad as it seems, according to the Zionist-controlled AmeriKan MSM -- unless it is a "threat" to Israel, then it's way worse than it truly is!
At least there is Bennigan's down at the end of the block!
NEW YORK - Restaurant chains Bennigan's and Steak & Ale have filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, and stores owned by its parent company, including the Boston Bennigan's, will close.
The companies owned by privately held Metromedia Restaurant Group of Plano, Texas, filed for bankruptcy protection yesterday in Texas, less than two months after Metromedia said it was not preparing to do so.
Translation: The company told a BALD-FACED LIE!!!
In a Chapter 7 filing, a company seeks to liquidate its assets and shut down. Employees at what appeared to be a company-owned Bennigan's in Plano were greeted by a sign yesterday on the front door reading "WE ARE CLOSED. THANK YOU." Next door, a Steak & Ale sat empty.
How would you like to find that on the door when you show up for work?
Neither Bennigan's nor the Metromedia Restaurant Group returned calls for comment.
All restaurants have been struggling as consumers cut back on discretionary spending to deal with gas prices, the weak housing market, and inflation. The hardest hit have been casual dining chains and bar and grill restaurants. Meanwhile, commodity costs have soared, forcing chains to raise menu prices or see profits plunge."
But according to the Boston Globe today, EVERYTHING is OPTIMISTIC!!!!
Of course, I no longer go out to eat -- too expensive!!!!
