If you thought oil companies make big profits...
Posted By: sam on 2008-08-25 In Reply to:
Note these were 2005 figures....no telling what they are raking in now. It is not about choice for Planned Parenthood. It is about MONEY.
Planned Parenthood Reports Record Profits, Abortions Performed
Received largest amount of taxpayer funding to date, nearly $273 million.
Planned Parenthood Federation of America released its 2004-2005 Annual Report on June 1, revealing a record income of $882 million and Planned Parenthood’s second-highest profit of $63 million. The organization also set a record number of abortions performed in one year¯255,015¯ and an all-time low in adoption referrals: 180 abortions were performed for every one woman referred to an adoption agency.
The organization is using these alarming numbers to promote their services and gain customers.
“Planned Parenthood will use any means or any claim to lure more customers and money,” said Wendy Wright, President of Concerned Women for America (CWA). “It insists that the morning-after pill will reduce abortions. Yet Planned Parenthood posts its highest number of abortions committed at the same time as its aggressive campaign promoting and selling the morning-after pill.”
On top of its $63 million profit, Planned Parenthood last year received its largest sum of state and federal taxpayer funding ever: $272.7 million, making Planned Parenthood the recipient of $3.9 billion of taxpayer money since 1987.
"During that time [Planned Parenthood] has surgically aborted more than 3.8 million babies in the womb. Just think of all the positive programs that could have benefited from our tax dollars had they not been wasted on such destructive efforts," said Jim Sedlak, the director of STOPP International, an organization specifically created to counter or “stop” Planned Parenthood, in a statement.
These funds, however, have not impeded any efforts for further government funding from the government.
“Planned Parenthood must assume that elected officials can't read a simple annual report,” said Sedlak in LifeNews.com, criticizing the organization for its perpetual “begging” for government funding despite its large profits. The organization’s greed may be because without the federal government to give them taxpayer dollars, the overall general public would not support them.
President Ronald Reagan in 1983, on the 10th anniversary of Roe v. Wade , wrote:
Our nationwide policy of abortion-on-demand through all nine months of pregnancy was neither voted for by our people nor enacted by our legislators-- not a single state had such unrestricted abortion before the Supreme Court decreed it to be national policy in 1973. Planned Parenthood’s desperation is currently seen in South Dakota, where it is seeking support from Washington, D.C., to counter the abortion ban signed into law by Gov. Mike Rounds (R) on March 6. The law makes it a felony for doctors to perform an abortion, except in order to save the life of the mother, and it is the most extensive abortion ban since Roe v. Wade.
The Planned Parenthood Web site that serves Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota denounces the abortion ban, stating, “This unconstitutional law is too restrictive and does not reflect the values of most South Dakotans nor most Americans.”
Wendy Wright disagrees. “If the South Dakota ban did not reflect the views of South Dakotans, then Planned Parenthood could rely on those citizens to fund its attempt to overturn the law passed by the majority of its representatives and signed by the governor,” she said. “But never shy to demand money from taxpayers, corporations, customers or donors, its affiliate director crossed the country to pass the hat among Washington, D.C., elites.”
South Dakota has paved the way for other states to create similar measures. Operation Rescue reports that five other states, Indiana, Georgia, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky, have introduced similar bans in their legislatures.
The Louisiana Senate just passed a conditional ban on abortion that would automatically be effective upon the overturning of Roe v. Wade or enactment of a constitutional amendment prohibiting abortion. The law makes exceptions to save the life of the mother or to prevent any permanent or critical injuries. Once the law is effective, those who perform abortions could be subject to up to 10 years in prison and be fined as much as $100,000.
Planned Parenthood is misguided to think that most people are ready and willing to combat current trends by states to ban abortion. Its eagerness in appealing to elected officials in Washington for continued taxpayer funding reveals Planned Parenthood’s inability to appeal to the American people for direct support.
“With Planned Parenthood’s record profits, it is funding a campaign to drum up opposition to abstinence programs and demand more government money,” said Wright. “Americans should use Planned Parenthood’s Annual Report to show government officials that as tax dollars given to Planned Parenthood have increased, so has its number of abortions.”
And here is something I did not know...check the quote below by Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood....red font. I was appalled.
EDITORIAL: Planned Parenthood targets blacks
Abortion protesters call on politicians to reject donations from Planned Parenthood and other such groups.
Planned Parenthood
Since the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, which overturned most state and federal laws outlawing or restricting abortion, an estimated 48,6 million babies have been aborted, according to the National Right to Life Committee. In particular, blacks are disproportionately impacted by abortion. Is Planned Parenthood deliberately acting to reduce the black population? Is it practicing a form of eugenics?
According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit organization focused on sexual and reproductive health research, 13 percent of the U.S. population is black, but 37 percent of all abortions are performed on black women. More than 10 million black babies have been aborted since 1973. Black women are 4.8 times as likely as white women to have an abortion. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also indicates that one out of every five white pregnancies ends in abortion, whereas one out of every two black pregnancies ends in abortion.
In a July op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, former Bush speechwriter and current Journal columnist William McGurn, rightly called upon the NAACP to be more active in providing alternative organizations for pregnant black women - institutions that will support them rather than speedily eliminate the unborn. He cites the moving words of Alveda King, a niece of the Rev. Martin Luther King, who had two abortions and subsequently changed her perspective: "I remember when I was pregnant and considering a third abortion. I went to Daddy King [her grandfather]. He told me, 'that's a baby, not a blob of tissue.' Unfortunately, 14 million African-Americans are not here today because of legalized abortion. It's as if a plague swept through America's cities and towns and took one of every four of us."
Fortunately, Miss King and others - such as the Rev. Clenard Childress, founder of Black Genocide.org, Day Garner of the National Black Pro-Life Union and Levon Yuille of the National Black Pro-Life Caucus - are bringing attention to Planned Parenthood's deliberate focus on minority neighborhoods. One-third of all abortions performed by Planned Parenthood in 2007 were on blacks, and a majority of Planned Parenthood's clinics are in minority neighborhoods.
A recent video on YouTube showed a Planned Parenthood development director eagerly taking money specifically to be earmarked for the elimination of black children. One caller said he wanted to do this because there are "definitely too many black people in Ohio." And the receptionist simply said, "O.K." Similar incidents in seven other states have sparked a call for a congressional investigation of Planned Parenthood - and we concur.
Congress must also put an end to the $300 million in tax dollars given last year to Planned Parenthood - the nation's leading abortion provider. The phone calls were made by California pro-life advocates in order to test the theory that Planned Parenthood deliberately targets the black population.
Margaret Sanger, who founded what is now Planned Parenthood, wrote a letter in 1939 to Clarence Gamble, with whom she was partnering to promote birth control and abortions in the black community: "We should hire three or four colored ministers, preferably with social service backgrounds, and with engaging personalities. The most successful educational approach to the Negro is through a religious appeal. We do not want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population, and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members."
In a protest outside a Planned Parenthood office in April, the Rev. Jesse Peterson, a conservative black minister from Los Angeles, told the crowd "before you go to bed tonight, more than 1,500 babies will be killed in a black woman's womb."
Planned Parenthood has also been accused of targeting other minority groups, including Hispanics, Asians and Native Americans. Approximately 30 percent of American women are nonwhite. However, acccording to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, 60 percent of all abortions performed annually are on African American, Hispanic and Asian women. A Hispanic baby, for example, is three times more likely to be aborted than a white baby. Abortion rates among Asian women are twice that of white women. Planned Parenthood insists it does not target nonwhites. Defenders of Planned Parenthood argue that the disproportionate rate of abortions among nonwhite women is due to the fact that white women have less "unintended pregnancies."
Abortion is a tragedy regardless of the ethnic or racial composition of the victim. But when a specific population is targeted for elimination, it is an abomination. Congress should stiffen its moral spine.
Verryyy interesting.
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Other related messages found in our database Oil Companies Experiencing Record Profits Click on the blue places to go to the link. Oil Companies Experiencing Record Profits Scott Horsley
All Things Considered , September 29, 2005 · Strong global demand for energy combined with tight supplies has resulted in record oil company profits. Some politicians are crying foul, especially after Katrina. But most analysts say it's the market at work.
I beg to differ on all three of the companies you labeled make crappy cars... Ohio where we have Ford, Chrysler and GM within a 20-mile radius of my house...it is sad because it is really affecting the economy around here with them closing...I for one would never buy a foreign car...My Dad retired from Chrysler and my Grandfather retired from Ford...
No, your post didn't make it sound like you thought No Oil Company Profits Left Behind What counts more in Bush's America? Oil company executive bonuses/company profits or education?
Ga. Schools to Close Two Days to Save Gas
Georgia's Public Schools to Close for First Two Days of Next Week to Conserve Fuel After Rita
By DICK PETTYS
The Associated Press
Sep. 24, 2005 - Most of Georgia's public schools will be closed Monday and Tuesday, taking two early snow days, in an effort to conserve fuel in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Gov. Sonny Perdue asked for the closings on Friday, estimating that closing all of the state's schools would save about 250,000 gallons of diesel fuel by idling buses, plus an undetermined amount of gasoline by allowing teachers, staff members and some parents to stay home. Electricity also would be conserved by keeping the schools closed, he said.
If Georgians stick together, work together and conserve together we can weather whatever problems Rita brings our way with the least possible inconvenience, Perdue said.
All but four of the state's 181 school districts said they would comply with the governor's request.
One of the four, Floyd County Schools, refused to join the effort because it already planned to close for a weeklong break starting next Friday. Closing would give us two days of school next week, district spokesman Tim Hensley said.
As he did in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Perdue also asked residents and ordered government agencies to limit nonessential travel and use commuting alternatives including telecommuting, car pooling and four-day work weeks.
If demand is reduced, he said, we will have enough market power to hold prices down. All together, we can influence demand within our state.
Tim Callahan, spokesman for the 61,000-member Professional Association of Georgia Educators, said he worried that Perdue's announcement would prompt panic buying.
I wonder if it's going to create the type of panic that we saw a few weeks back that drove prices over $3, said Callahan, referring to the long lines and record-high prices following Hurricane Katrina.
During the price escalation, Perdue and the legislature suspended the state's gas tax, saving motorists an estimated 15 cents per gallon. While several other states considered taking similar action, Georgia was the only one to suspend the tax.
The state's monthlong gas-tax holiday expires this Friday, but Perdue has ruled out extending that tax break because the state's $75 million gas-tax surplus has been drained.
AAA reported the state's average price for regular unleaded was $2.59 per gallon as of Wednesday, but increases of up to 28 cents per gallon were reported Friday.
Why doesn't Obama impose a windfall profits tax on the... Record gas prices/Exxon profits at all time high. sm You are the one who tried to make this windfall tax profit thing an issue. Over the past few days, your posts accusing Obama of being a Marxist/socialist black liberationist theologian have been effectively challenged by alternative viewpoints of "windfall tax," "rebate," and "black liberation theology." The right-wingers and media are constantly pushing for "immediate/emergency" relief from the high price of gas. We debate the pros and cons of McCain's tax holiday/offshore drilling versus Obama's tax rebate funded by an "emergency" excise tax and his other longer-term initiatives, particularly in view of the fact that in a time when we are paying record-shattering prices for gas, Exxon is posting record-shattering profits.
There is nothing evil about recognizing that there is something wrong with this picture and that the oil companies should bear some responsibility in the consequences we all pay for their greed. Rebate coupons, schemes and incentives are as American as apple pie. We are forced to stuff their pockets with these obscene profits in the absence of price regulation. It is not too much to ask that they come out from behind their curtain of corruption once in a blue moon and show some appreciation to the consumers whose hard-earned money "trickles up" to the wealthiest among us. BTW, the CEOs did exactly what to earn this "windfall?"
Maybe you are not feeling the same pinch the rest of us are dealing with. When some of our fellow citizens are making decisions between paying for their obscenely priced medications versus their obscenely priced food versus their obscenely priced housing versus their obscenely priced gas with their stagnant wages, or worse still, their unemployment checks because their jobs are the latest ones to bite the dust and be shipped overseas and the $60 that it takes to fill their tanks to make a thorough job search is prolonging their misery and that of their families, it is reasonable that we might consider all the possible alternatives to address this problem. An energy rebate is a good idea for those of us who are not bent on bashing Obama 24/7 and I suspect most of us could care less where it is coming from.
And George supported bigger profits for bigger business and richer people, that was soooo much bette oil companies oil companies if one of your most pressing concerns is that the large corporations are being abused by government, keep reading. Have you seen news reports on the executives are given huge million dollar bonuses and pensions? A lot of them "earn" them by closing facilities, firing workers, destroying unions, downsizing or removing benefits from workers. Our benefits go down; corporate execs compensation are sky-rocketing. The history-making profit of the oil companies this quarter in the billions? Do they still need more tax breaks? Sorry, my sympathy and concern for the well-being of these corporations is minimal to none.
But if you really want to protect the corporations, vote McCain!
If they help car companies out, they will have to do it again and again for the next 2 years because that is how long it is going to take car companies to make a good economy vehicle. If government bails them out, next will come airlines and so on. We do not have enough money to bail them out for the next 2 years. Those companies BURN money each month.
Do not get me wrong, I do want the American car companies bailed out. I WILL ONLY OWN AMERICAN MADE CARS. NEVER will buy a foreign made car so I can help the car companies stay in business. Geesh, I am from Michigan, born and raised there for 18 years. Most of my family is from Michigan on my mother and father's side.
If the car companies fold, we could have the Great Depression or close to it. Shoot, Toyota and Honda, etc., could buy our car companies and now will be foreing made cars only. It is a mess, chaos mess. What I do know is most of my family in Michigan blame the American car companies. My cousin just took early retirement from them 3 weeks before the US financial mess. Thank God he did. A 3 car companies had years to design and make cars better than Toyota, but did not. Some of my family members blame the gas companies for jacking up the price of oil which is what started the car companies to have problems. If only the oil companies did not raise it to 4.00, our 3 American car companies just might not be in the mess they are in. So now my family believes it should be the OIL COMPANIES to bail them out since they started the mess with high gas prices. Family actually do not want the government to bail out car companies because the costs will be from you, me, and the USA and will go on and for the next 2 years. Family wants them to stop production, think about what to build next and then start building it. The 3 car companies need to make what consumers want and need.
It is a mess and horrible. I personally do not want so many jobs to be lost. It is such mixed feelings. I just want new jobs created NOW. Drill, drill, drill, and create new technology and start building and working by all of us coming together and creating new jobs and what we really need for these new jobs. Hope this all makes sense, I am really tired from a long night of working.
So do we let the car companies die for now? I just thought it might be nice to hear an original thought. sm Drug companies Maybe the tobacco companies have Insurance companies. I'd like to see the insurance companies You've got to think of all the other companies that would go out of business if the auto industry tanks, not to mention the auto workers themselves (what's left of them).
I don't think it would be a good idea. They stated 3 million people would lose their jobs if they let the industry tank. That would really throw us into a depression.
Actually, I agree, these companies all 3 didn't just hit bankruptcy level at the same time. As a matter-of-fact I seriouisly doubt they are even in a financial crisis. I think they've been working up to this panic for the past 6-8 years. Unfortunately your husband and other companies that have supplied the big 3 are going to suffer. I think this is all a smoke screen and what they REALLY want is to get out from under their union contract. Do you really think if that happens they are going to lower the costs of their cars? Nope. They'll take as many billion as they can wanagle out of Bush and then file BK which will let them out from under their union contract. Then miracously they'll recover.
As for people and their big Hummers, SUVs, etc. That is a bit on the "look what I've got" front. I think those Hummers are undoubtedly the UGLIEST things I've every seen. I know a couple of people who bought them with payments approaching $1000 a month and they worry how they're going to pay their gass bill. BOOHOO!!!
Things are going to get rough for all of us. Even if Obama does what he promised, it probably won't be in his first term. It will take him that long to undo 8 years of Bush....not to mention Clinton before him and Big Daddy before him.
I took it for what it IS -- companies getting TAX BREAKS I feel bad for the companies that are being taken down with them, though. They don't deserve it.
GE stock on Friday was only $.10 a share. So sad. Other stocks are just as bad and some of them were good ones before all this started.
But insurance companies already tell us no What's the difference who says no? Some insurance companies pretty much say no to everything but wellness visits - and that's simply so they can find out if you develop a condition, so they can drop your coverage on a threabare excuse, or jack your rates to the moon so you'll have to drop it. Then no other company has to cover you due to it being preexisting. I don't want to pay for insurance that only covers me if I'm not sick!
At least if there was universal healthcare, even with a wait, they'd have to treat you eventually instead of NEVER. And do it for free.
How are insurance companies... ...involved in the transcription of patient notes?
That just doesn't make sense.
Insurance companies and the politicians they buy.. Doesn't anybody in DC have a conscience? The system as it stands now is disgusting. They are literally making billions by killing of thousands upon thousands (maybe millions?) of Americans. Anyone with half a brain should recognize profit-driven health insurance only serves the best interest of the CEOs of the insurance companies - not healthcare recipients! This needs to change NOW!
I saw my first AMA commercial last night urging people to vote with the millions of uninsured Americans in mind. I loved it! It is at least a step in the right direction. Vote with the healthcare crisis in mind people!
Insurance companies cont...sm Oil companies employ people too... Lobbying for big drug companies....oh my! http://sirenschronicles.com/2008/08/24/hunter-biden-lobbyist-for-big-pharma/
What will happen if the car companies bankrupt. Better pray car companies are not next in line. Maybe if small businesses like MT companies receive a tax credit as a reward/incentive to keep jobs INSIDE the USA, that policy will help American MTs.
That's Obama's policy.
If by draining and destroying companies you mean MT job? If a company is "destroyed" by providing them, maybe it's time for them to go down. Had unions not done their thing, we would still have child labor, lax, noncompliant or nonexistent safety standards in factories and various other industries, exclusionary hiring practices, substandard wages, no benefits, be fired without redress and basically would not have much of a middle class to speak of, not to mention a much wider disparity of wealth distribution. It might be a good idea to sit and reflect for a moment or two exactly how much unions have contributed to our economic culture and what things would be like had they not. There is still a place for them in terms of preserving the advances that have been made. No doubt, these things would be disappearing right and left, slowly but surely, in their absence. Just look at what's happened in our own MT sector.
If by draining and destroying companies you mean MT job? If a company is "destroyed" by providing them, maybe it's time for them to go down. Had unions not done their thing, we would still have child labor, lax, noncompliant or nonexistent safety standards in factories and various other industries, exclusionary hiring practices, substandard wages, no benefits, be fired without redress and basically would not have much of a middle class to speak of, not to mention a much wider disparity of wealth distribution. It might be a good idea to sit and reflect for a moment or two exactly how much unions have contributed to our economic culture and what things would be like had they not. There is still a place for them in terms of preserving the advances that have been made. No doubt, these things would be disappearing right and left, slowly but surely, in their absence. Just look at what's happened in our own MT sector.
If by draining and destroying companies you mean MT job? If a company is "destroyed" by providing them, maybe it's time for them to go down. Had unions not done their thing, we would still have child labor, lax, noncompliant or nonexistent safety standards in factories and various other industries, exclusionary hiring practices, substandard wages, no benefits, be fired without redress and basically would not have much of a middle class to speak of, not to mention a much wider disparity of wealth distribution. It might be a good idea to sit and reflect for a moment or two exactly how much unions have contributed to our economic culture and what things would be like had they not. There is still a place for them in terms of preserving the advances that have been made. No doubt, these things would be disappearing right and left, slowly but surely, in their absence. Just look at what's happened in our own MT sector...or the example of WalMart, the most notorious union busters around.
The unions are killing companies, though. That is 15 Companies That Might Not Survive 2009 Who's next?
With consumers shutting their wallets and corporate revenues plunging, the business landscape may start to resemble a graveyard in 2009. Household names like Circuit City and Linens 'n Things have already perished. And chances are, those bankruptcies were just an early warning sign of a much broader epidemic.
Moody's Investors Service, for instance, predicts that the default rate on corporate bonds - which foretells bankruptcies - will be three times higher in 2009 than in 2008, and 15 times higher than in 2007. That could equate to 25 significant bankruptcies per month.
We examined ratings from Moody's and data from other sources to develop a short list of potential victims that ought to be familiar to most consumers. Many of these firms are in industries directly hit by the slowdown in consumer spending, such as retail, automotive, housing and entertainment.
But there are other common threads. Most of these firms have limited cash for a rainy day, and a lot of debt, with large interest payments due over the next year. In ordinary times, it might not be so hard to refinance loans, or get new ones, to help keep the cash flowing. But in an acute credit crunch it's a different story, and at companies where sales are down and going lower, skittish lenders may refuse to grant any more credit. It's a terrible time to be cash-poor.
That's why Moody's assigns most of these firms its lowest rating for short-term liquidity. And all the firms on this list have long-term debt that Moody's rates Caa or lower, which means the borrower is considered at least a "very high" credit risk.
Once a company defaults on its debt, or fails to make a payment, the next step is usually a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. Some firms continue to operate while in Chapter 11, retaining many of their employees. Those firms often shed debt, restructure, and emerge from bankruptcy as healthier companies.
But it takes fresh financing to do that, and with money scarce, more bankrupt firms than usual are likely to liquidate - like Circuit City. That's why corporate failures are likely to be a major drag on the economy in 2009: In a liquidation, the entire workforce often gets axed, with little or no severance. That will only add to unemployment, which could hit 9 or even 10 percent by the end of the year.
It's possible that none of the firms on this list will liquidate, or even declare Chapter 11. Some may come up with unexpected revenue or creative financing that helps avert bankruptcy, while others could be purchased in whole or in part by creditors or other investors. But one way or another, the following 15 firms will probably look a lot different a year from now than they do today:
Rite Aid . (Ticker symbol: RAD; about 100,000 employees; 1-year stock-price decline: 92%). This drugstore chain tried to boost its performance by acquiring competitors Brooks and Eckerd in 2007. But there have been some nasty side effects, like a huge debt load that makes it the most leveraged drugstore chain in the U.S., according to Zacks Equity Research. That big retail investment came just as megadiscounter Wal-Mart was starting to sell prescription drugs, and consumers were starting to cut bank on spending. Management has twice lowered its outlook for 2009. Prognosis: Mounting losses, with no turnaround in sight.
Claire's Stores . (Privately owned; about 18,000 employees.) Leon Black's once-renowned private-equity firm, the Apollo Group, paid $3.1 billion for this trendy teen-focused accessory store in 2007, when buyout funds were bulging. But cash flow has been negative for much of the past year and analysts believe Claire's is close to defaulting on its debt. A horrible retail outlook for 2009 offers no relief, suggesting Claire's could follow Linens 'n Things - another Apollo purchase - and declare Chapter 11, possibly shuttering all of its 3,000-plus stores.
Chrysler . (Privately owned; about 55,000 employees). It's never a good sign when management insists the company is not going out of business, which is what CEO Bob Nardelli has been doing lately. Of the three Detroit automakers, Chrysler is the most endangered, with a product portfolio that's overreliant on gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs and almost totally devoid of compelling small cars. A recent deal with Fiat seems dubious, since the Italian automaker doesn't have to pony up any money, and Chrysler desperately needs cash. The company is quickly burning through $4 billion in government bailout money, and with car sales down 40 percent from recent peaks, Chrysler may be the weakling that can't cut it in tough times.
Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group . (DTG; about 7,000 employees; stock down 95%). This car-rental company is a small player compared to Enterprise, Hertz, and Avis Budget. It's also more reliant on leisure travelers, and therefore more susceptible to a downturn as consumers cut spending. Dollar Thrifty is also closely tied to Chrysler, which supplies 80 percent of its fleet. Moody's predicts that if Chrysler declares Chapter 11, Dollar Thrifty would suffer deeply as well.
Realogy Corp . (Privately owned; about 13,000 employees). It's the biggest real-estate brokerage firm in the country, but that's a bad thing when there are double-digit declines in both sales and prices, as there were in 2009. Realogy, which includes the Coldwell Banker, ERA, and Sotheby's franchises, also carries a high debt load, dating to its purchase by the Apollo Group in 2007 - the very moment when the housing market was starting to invert from a soaring ride into a sickening nosedive. Realogy has been trying to refinance much of its debt, prompting lawsuits. One deal was denied by a judge in December, reducing the firm's already tight wiggle room.
Station Casinos . (Privately owned, about 14,000 employees). Las Vegas has already been creamed by a biblical real-estate bust, and now it may face the loss of its home-grown gambling joints, too. Station - which runs 15 casinos off the strip that cater to locals - recently failed to make a key interest payment, which is often one of the last steps before a Chapter 11 filing. For once, the house seems likely to lose.
Loehmann's Capital Corp . (Privately owned; about 1,500 employees). This clothing chain has the right formula for lean times, offering women's clothing at discount prices. But the consumer pullback is hitting just about every retailer, and Loehmann's has a lot less cash to ride out a drought than competitors like Nordstrom Rack and TJ Maxx. If Loehmann's doesn't get additional financing in 2009 - a dicey proposition, given skyrocketing unemployment and plunging spending - the chain could run out of cash.
Sbarro . (Privately owned; about 5,500 employees). It's not the pizza that's the problem. Many of this chain's 1,100 storefronts are in malls, which is a double whammy: Traffic is down, since consumers have put away their wallets. Sbarro can't really boost revenue by adding a breakfast or late-night menu, like other chains have done. And competitors like Domino's and Pizza Hut have less debt and stronger cash flow, which could intensify pressure on Sbarro as key debt payments come due in 2009.
Six Flags . (SIX; about 30,000 employees; stock down 84%). This theme-park operator has been losing money for several years, and selling off properties to try to pay down debt and get back into the black. But the ride may end prematurely. Moody's expects cash flow to be negative in 2009, and if consumers aren't spending during the peak summer season, that could imperil the company's ability to pay debts coming due later this year and in 2010.
Blockbuster . (BBI; about 60,000 employees; stock down 57%). The video-rental chain has burned cash while trying to figure out how to maximize fees without alienating customers. Its operating income has started to improve just as consumers are cutting back, even on movies. Video stores in general are under pressure as they compete with cable and Internet operators offering the same titles. A key test of Blockbuster's viability will come when two credit lines expire in August. One possible outcome, according to Valueline, is that investors take the company private and then go public again when market conditions are better.
Krispy Kreme . (KKD; about 4,000 employees; stock down 50%). The donuts might be good, but Krispy Kreme overestimated Americans' appetite - and that's saying something. This chain overexpanded during the donut heyday of the 1990s - taking on a lot of debt - and now requires high volumes to meet expenses and interest payments. The company has cut costs and closed underperforming stores, but still hasn't earned an operating profit in three years. And now that consumers are cutting back on everything, such improvements may fail to offset top-line declines, leading Krispy Kreme to seek some kind of relief from lenders over the next year.
Landry's Restaurants . (LNY; about 17,000 employees; stock down 66%). This restaurant chain, which operates Chart House, Rainforest Café, and other eateries, needs $400 million in new financing to finalize a buyout deal dating to last June. If lenders come through, the company should have enough cash to ride out the recession. But at least two banks have already balked, leading to downgrades of the company's debt and the prospect of a cash-flow crunch.
Sirius Satellite Radio . (SIRI - parent company; about 1,000 employees; stock down 96%). The music rocks, but satellite radio has yet to be profitable, and huge contracts for performers like Howard Stern are looking unsustainable. Sirius is one of two satellite-radio services owned by parent company Sirius XM, which was formed when Sirius and XM merged last year. So far, the merger hasn't generated the savings needed to make the company profitable, and Moody's thinks there's a "high likelihood" that Sirius will fail to repay or refinance its debt in 2009. One outcome could be a takeover, at distressed prices, by other firms active in the satellite business.
Trump Entertainment Resorts Holdings . (TRMP; about 9,500 employees; stock down 94%). The casino company made famous by The Donald has received several extensions on interest payments, while it tries to sell at least one of its Atlantic City properties and pay down a stack of debt. But with casino buyers scarce, competition circling, and gamblers nursing their losses from the recession, Trump Entertainment may face long odds of skirting bankruptcy.
BearingPoint. (BGPT; about 16,000 employees; stock down 21%). This Virginia-based consulting firm, spun out of KPMG in 2001, is struggling to solve its own operating problems. The firm has consistently lost money, revenue has been falling, and management stopped issuing earnings guidance in 2008. Stable government contracts generate about 30 percent of the firm's business, but the firm may sell other divisions to help pay off debt. With a key interest payment due in April, management needs to hustle - or devise its own exit strategy.
Amazing, huh? Big companies down to individuals NOBODY can make Saddam look good. But Bush seems to be the ONLY one who can make him look less If you can't make abortion illegal, just make it impossible (sm) That's right, Bush is still alive and well. Check this out.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#28024676
Yeah, I know it's MSNBC, but how many other people are doing a lame duck watch?
Chavez oil versus American fat cat oil companies Article from Juan Gonzalez, a NY Daily News columnist, RE: Hugo Chavez and his oil versus American oil companies:
Oil fat cats vs. Hugo Chavez
I pulled into the Mobil gas station on 11th Ave. in Manhattan yesterday for my weekly stickup from the oil companies. Their take this time was an astonishing $3.05 per gallon for premium unleaded.
"Every three or four days the price goes up," said Patel, the man in charge of the station. "Lots of complaints from my customers."
Complaints from everyone except oil executives.
Last year, Exxon/Mobil, the world's largest corporation, posted the highest profits of any company in history - more than $25 billion. The oil giant, based in Irving, Tex., is on track to shatter that mark this year, with revenues that now approach $1 billion per day.
Which brings me to Pat Robertson and Hugo Chavez.
Robertson, the right-wing evangelist and friend of the Bush family, publicly called this week for the U.S. government to kill - or at least kidnap - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
"This is a dangerous enemy to our south, controlling a huge pool of oil, that could hurt us badly," Robertson said. His less-than-Christian remarks ignited an outcry and forced him to issue an apology of sorts, though he still insisted that he had at least "focused our government's attention on a growing problem."
That "problem," quite simply, is that Chavez, a radical populist who has been voted into office repeatedly by huge majorities in his own country, controls the largest reserve of petroleum outside the Middle East.
Neither Robertson, nor former oil executives George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Condoleezza Rice, nor their buddies at Exxon/Mobil, Chevron, etc., are happy about all this.
Even more scandalous for Big Oil, Chavez is using Venezuela's windfall not to fatten his own country's oligarchy but to benefit the Venezuelan poor and help neighboring countries.
Yesterday, while Robertson was issuing his half-baked Chavez clarification, the Venezuelan president was in Montego Bay, Jamaica, where he announced a new oil agreement with that country's prime minister, P.J. Patterson.
Under the agreement, Venezuela will supply 22,000 barrels of oil a day to Jamaica for a mere $40 a barrel. That's far lower than the current world price of about $65 a barrel. With the price of gasoline in that destitute nation already more than $3.50 a gallon, the Chavez plan means more than half a million dollars a day in savings for Jamaica on oil imports.
Chavez also announced his government will provide $60 million in foreign aid to Jamaica and finance the upgrading of that country's oil refineries.
The agreement is part of a broader Chavez plan called Petrocaribe, which he unveiled at a Caribbean summit in Venezuela last June.
At that conference, Chavez offered the same kind of deal to the leaders of more than a dozen other neighboring nations, including Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernandez and Cuba's Fidel Castro.
Fernandez jumped at the offer because his government is nearly bankrupt from oil prices. Last year, the Dominican Republic spent $1.2 billion on oil imports; this year, it expects to fork out more than $3 billion. The price of gasoline in Santo Domingo has zoomed past $4 a gallon in recent days.
Pat Robertson looks at Chavez and sees a devilish danger. He wants our government to "take him out." Over at the White House, Bush and his aides may use more restrained language, but their goals are not much different.
But there's a whole different view down in Latin America, where a half-dozen nations have seen liberal and populist governments swept into office in recent years.
Down there, Chavez has become the new miracle man of oil. Unlike Exxon/Mobil and the Big Oil fat cats, who wallow in their record profits while the rest of us pay, Chavez is spreading the wealth around.
A dangerous man, indeed.
No good American security companies?? OK, I'll bite. What insurance companies and when? 2.9 million jobs tied to 3 car companies http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1858702,00.html?cnn=yes
Pretty scary stuff. Another Great Depression coming?
Awesome, thanks. Now I have a list of companies to patronize. Actually, the list was more a list of individuals who made contributions towards passing prop 8. Seems silly to boycott an entire organization because one guy or gal who happens to be employed there contributed to passing prop 8. Just goes to show you that gay right's activitists lack a certain amount of intelligence.
Government now owning/running U.S. car companies? Yes, slimy mortgage companies who have no oversight....they don't ask anything If the profit factor (insurance companies)... Companies that offshore---Hillary versus Barack Barack Obama introduced the Patriot Employer Act of 2007 to provide a tax credit to companies that maintain or increase the number of full-time workers in America relative to those outside the US; maintain their corporate headquarters in America; pay decent wages; prepare workers for retirement; provide health insurance; and support employees who serve in the military.
PLEASE, everybody, see that Barack Obama is for keeping jobs in America and has shown this by passing this tax credit to encourage jobs in America. This is something he has already done, so we know he will help us fight this in the future. PLEASE DO NOT VOTE FOR HILLARY, who supports our jobs being outsourced.
I have stood behind Barack Obama and have sent emails questioning what he plans to do to help MTs
I believe that one of the ways we can ALL show support is to refuse to accept a position with a company that outsources offshore. I used to work for Spheris MT COMPANIES, AS SMALL AS THEY MAY BE, PROSPER!! Apply for a job with a company that does not offshore! We have to start somewhere!
I promise to never work for a company that offshores...will you? I promise to help keep Hillary Clinton out of the White House...will you?
the drug companies that fund the research for new drugs Please be right about taxing companies that send buisness overseas. MTs would sure be in a slightly better position if it cost MTSOs more money to do business outside of the US than in it.Thought this was good so I thought I'd share Down the drain? Beware of Obama's plan to 'spread the wealth around'
By Betsy Newmark
If the McCain campaign can’t use this Obama quote
“Your new tax plan is going to tax me more, isn’t it?” the plumber asked, complaining that he was being taxed “more and more for fulfilling the American dream.”
“It’s not that I want to punish your success. I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you, that they’ve got a chance for success too,” Obama responded. “My attitude is that if the economy’s good for folks from the bottom up, it’s gonna be good for everybody … I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.”
Plumbers of the country, unite! Forget about the work and effort you put into building up a business or the scummy work that you do that many of us don’t know or don’t want to do. If you have succeeded, you should be willing to give up more of what you earn to help those who haven’t had the great good luck that you have had to be a successful plumber. Remember how Obama is going to give 95% of all of us a tax cut even though over 30% of the population doesn’t pay taxes?
He might call it a tax credit, but what he’s really doing is his vision of “spreading the wealth around.” It sounds a lot like Huey Long’s 1935 plan
Remember…This is the guy who said in the ABC debate revenue fair
GIBSON: All right. You have, however, said you would favor an increase in the capital gains tax. As a matter of fact, you said on CNBC, and I quote, “I certainly would not go above what existed under Bill Clinton,” which was 28 percent. It’s now 15 percent. That’s almost a doubling, if you went to 28 percent.
But actually, Bill Clinton, in 1997, signed legislation that dropped the capital gains tax to 20 percent.
OBAMA: Right.
GIBSON: And George Bush has taken it down to 15 percent.
OBAMA: Right.
GIBSON: And in each instance, when the rate dropped, revenues from the tax increased; the government took in more money. And in the 1980s, when the tax was increased to 28 percent, the revenues went down.
So why raise it at all, especially given the fact that 100 million people in this country own stock and would be affected?
OBAMA: Well, Charlie, what I’ve said is that I would look at raising the capital gains tax for purposes of fairness.
Just what we need in these fragile economic times — a guy who wants to raise taxes because he thinks it’s a matter of “fairness” and time to “spread the wealth around.”
That will be some incentive for other plumbers who want to work hard and build up a successful business.
But don’t worry - according to Joe Biden, it’s the patriotic thing to do.
Haha! I thought I was the only one who thought he looked oh, pullllllllleeeze save Poor Drug Companies spiel. you didn't answer mine. Where did you hear that the U.S. doesn't make vaccines? Or is it merely more conservative fiction? Because it's simply not true.
You're talking about all this as if it's a leisurely endeavor that isn't time sensitive. I'm talking about protecting my family and your family from a potential bio terror attack using smallpox.
And you're right. No response is necessary at all because you haven't said anything worthy of one.
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