Terrorism as an excuse for downsizing?

Okay. I'm going to be rather brief here.

I just read that Sara Lee laid off some 14,000+ workers. Sara Lee. You know. "Nobody doesn't like Sara Lee!"

Uh... why?

Certainly this wasn't impacted by the terrorist strikes. "Since September 11, people have lost their desire to eat delicious pastries and the like, so to break even, we have to lay off 14,000 of our workers." Come on. I believe that it was affected for a couple days - none of us were eating properly afteward. But it's not like it just stopped.

What about some of these other companies that blame September 11? I was reading one about a local company in Fairfax that "had a solid business play, and were about to start making a profit. But after September 11, it all went downhill." This is, of course, the excuse for them going bankrupt. They were a technology company. I'm sorry. But what a fucking excuse. Are you serious?

How many of these have you seen? Ridiculous claims blaming the terrorists on a failed business plan. Man. What next? "Well, I'm sorry I burnt the quesadillas, but after September 11, I just haven't been able to flip a tortilla right..." Whatever.

Let's be concerned for Boeing's commercial staff, places like Airtours, American Airlines, etc. They have legitimate claims. Places that were hit obviously suffered big damages. "Aerial Tours of the World Trade Center, Inc" isn't coping so well. But come on. Ma & Pa's Ice Cream Shop doesn't need to close its doors because of the terrorist attacks. They close their doors because they aren't making money.

[elSicomoro]

Don't be so sure dham...businesses of all types are being hurt by 9/11...

For example, The Swiss Colony generally hires many temporary employees for the Christmas season, many of them coming from their homebase of Monroe, Wisconsin. That help is hired in November, early in the month I believe. They have yet to hire that extra help though...business has taken a downturn, especially since September 11th. So, go order some goodies from them.

Given that many of us live in large cities, we are suffering too. Tourism is down, which means less income into the city. Of course, this can lead to the closure of businesses, a tax hike, etc. The city of Philadelphia started running new ads a few weeks ago trying to get folks to spend the weekend here. And of course, all the NYC ads.

Granted most places were probably doing bad due to the economy already...but September 11th certainly didn't help.

Well. No one in their right mind shops at the Swiss Colony anyway. Can you say "$40 for a cake"?

But Sara Lee... man. The underwear business didn't suffer as a result of 9/11. Neither did the fuckin' pastry industry. Come on. People eat and wear underwear. It's a fact of life.

People have had less money though... which explains why they don't buy Swiss Colony shit - who can afford that stuff?

[Undertoad]

I thought people were more oriented towards comfort foods.

But businesses need all sorts of excuses for their annual reports. A few years back I heard of a pet supply business reporting a bad year due to El Nino. Yeah right.

Hahaha.

Seriously. That's what I'm saying - are the shareholders really buying this shit? Do they pitch this drivel and it actually works? I just find it hard to believe that this passes. I mean... Sara Lee? COME ON!

El Niño. Hehehehe.

[elSicomoro]

Originally posted by dhamsaic
Well. No one in their right mind shops at the Swiss Colony anyway. Can you say "$40 for a cake"?

Speak for yourself. I love Swiss Colony! Plus, you can find stuff that is reasonable.

Seriously though, I'm not saying that some of this "we're having problems b/c of 9/11" fluff isn't shit. Last I checked, only 2 airlines had taken up the bailout. But I don't think it's a stretch to say that some companies are losing money due to the September 11th attacks.

Heh.

My original argument wasn't as good as it could have been. I didn't have a lot of time to write it so it was, as I said, rather brief.

Companies are definitely losing money. But I'd say the layoff of 14,000+ employees is a little more than "losing money"

Swiss Colony stuff *is* good. I cannot and will not argue that.

To paraphrase Quentin Tarantino: "That's a pretty fucking good piece of cheese. I don't know if it's worth $73.49 but it's pretty fucking good."

[jet_silver]

Maybe it was the indigestion they got when they swallowed Earthgrains. Those "The promise of Earthgrains" commercials made me want to huck up my breakfast anyway.

I don't know how many times I've seen mergers like these end up resulting in job cuts. But they'll cast blame, if they can, on anything from sunspots to dearth of holy water. 9/11 is a wonderful catch-all for blame, because it's not disprovable: Um, err, well -something- must have happened, therefore it was the WTC attack.

I think I've made some 20 posts today. I broke 300 after getting to work and now I'm an Elite Elitist. I guess that's what 14 hour days will do to you.

Anyway. Like you said, jet, I've definitely noticed a trend with people laying blame on 9/11. I happen to read a lot, and I notice this everywhere that a company is downsizing or going out of business or whatever. Without fail, the problem is 9/11. Every time. EVERY FUGGEN TIME! I seriously haven't heard one company go "well, our business model is severely flawed. We just weren't making money." There's always the blame on 9/11. Man. It must have hit EVERYTHING hard. Everyone had PERFECT BUSINESS MODELS beforehand and now all of a sudden, "consumers just aren't spending." Bullshit. I just bought a fuckin' Xbox and 4 games. I'm buying a computer. I'm not the only one. Nintendo Gamecube sales are through the roof. People are buying. You're just an idiot with no acceptable business plan.

[Scopulus Argentarius]

....in some cases, a face saving excuse for management....

It has not been a worthy excuse for some.


Sara Lee's down Krispy Kreme is up...

[tw]

Originally posted by dhamsaic
[b]Okay. I'm going to be rather brief here.

I just read that Sara Lee laid off some 14,000+ workers. Sara Lee. You know. "Nobody doesn't like Sara Lee!"
Uh... why?

First, if I remember correctly, most of Sara Lee's business is not confectionary or food. Underwear is just another of the many businesses that are part of Sara Lee (is it 'Fruit of the Loom'?).

Second, 9/11 is how bean counters justifying their mistakes. Recessions are created by a shortage of innovation. As the Economist noted, only 7% of the nation's industries were contributing to a boom economy. Now Bethlehem Steel and USX will cite 11 Sept for their downturn? Bull. Before 11/9 (how it is written in the rest of the world), George Jr was to apply protection from other innovative but foreign steel companies. But George did not execute that anti-American policy of increased tarrifs because he needed world-wide support for an Afghan war.

Because George Jr did not implement tarrifs against innovative steel companies, that is a reason for big steel's 'sudden' demise? Of course not. Bethlehem Steel and USX are anti-American companies that must be bankrupt so as to remove their MBA management. 11 Sept had nothing to do with those anti-innovation decisions in USX and Bethlehem Steel - companies that still have not ever built an electric arc furnace 40 some years after that technology was innovative.

Add Xerox, Kodak, Polaroid, and AT&T to the list of companies that have contributed to the recession. 11 Sept also make these companies stifle innovation for the past decade. Name a killer product in the past decade from any of these companies? Good luck. Add them to the list of anti-American companies. No innovation - no killer products and higher costs in their less innovative and 'late to market' products.

We know that the recession in the computer industry is directly traceable to the bottleneck - the last mile. OK. If the computer industry has a downturn, then what industry will be innovative instead? Autos?

We know that GM still sells 1960 technology engines in 2001 - and therefore sells cars at no profit. That GM cars are so poor as to not be exportable. We know that Jacque Nasser was so anti-American as to run up cost of Ford vehicles by more than $1000 per vehicle (the fights between Nasser and Bill Ford were so violent that security had to be called by the secretaries).

OK. A shortage and reduction in innovation in the domestic auto industry. What about energy? Good luck. We are so inefficient that the world's third largest producer of oil now imports 2/3rd of its needs. The world's second (?) largest producer of natural gas now imports natural gas. Where is there any encouragement to innovate in energy?

Enron? That is where the energy industry innovated? They used MBA school tactics to cook the books. So a biggest energy company was not making any real profits over most of the past decade. When will that appear in the economy? Did 11 Sept cause the bankruptcy of Enron? Of course not. Enron's shady business practices simply will not contribute to a recession until now - no thanks to 11/9.

The current economic problems are directly traceable to a shortage of innovative products over the past four years. 11 Sept had nothing to do with it. However 11 Sept did cause people to suddenly notice where the economy was already going.

The Economist has an index to measure the value of currencies - The Big Mac. Their index for recession is just as interesting. It has been saying we were entering recession 3 quarters ago. What did 11 Sept have to with an event that long since preceded 11 Sept? Nothing.

Name me a 'killer' product from Sara Lee in the last ten years. Maybe I better rephrase that. Name me an innovative product....

The nice thing about recessions. We get to see who has been cooking the books with MBA skulldugdery. Enron is one. Xerox will be on that list. GM's shortage of profits should start appearing on the spread sheets if they stop spinning off assets.

Maybe nuclear power will have to post real world profits and losses? How about the insurance industry that has been masking a serious 'avoidance of facts' from their actuarials.

11 Sept had but a month long effect on the economy. Things not purchased in Sept were simply purchased in October along with other things that would have normally been purchased in October. Notice the many who still use neo-classical economics theory to blame 11 Sept. We are in recession due to a shortage of innovative products - and too many economists just don't want to face that fact. So they lay blame on silly things - such as 9/11.

[jennofay]

there have been problems where i work, not because of the economy, but because people are afraid that tysons corner center (big mall in northern va, for those of you who dont know) is going to be the next terrorist target.

we had one girl who had to quit because her mom was so afraid of this (of course this particular mother still has her bottled water and canned food supply in the basement from y2k, soo.....)

i think that excuse is silly. with the economy being like it is, i would think people would be looking for jobs, but applicants have dropped to almost nothing over the last few months. ive talked to other managers in other stores, and theyve been having the same problem.

twin towers, pentagon, ...the mall???

right....

Tyson's could very well be hit. It's the biggest mall in the richest county of the wealthiest nation in the world. It reeks of symbolism (at least, in a terrorist's mind, it does).

However, that doesn't mean we need to stop living our lives. Life is no fun if you spend it running scared.

So while I don't think that whatever her name is should have been forced to stop working, I can certainly understand why she felt that way.

[jaguar]