30 posts tagged “economy”
Court filing shows bankrupt electronics retailer seeks approval to sell merchandise in its remaining 567 stores.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Bankrupt electronics retailer Circuit City Inc. said Friday it has asked for court approval to close its remaining 567 U.S. stores and sell all its merchandise.
The company said it has 34,000 employees.
"We are extremely disappointed by this outcome," James Marcum, acting CEO for Circuit City, said in a statement. "We were unable to reach an agreement with our creditors and lenders to structure a going-concern transaction in the limited timeframe available, and so this is the only possible path for our company."
In a filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Circuit City - the No. 2 electronics retailer after Best Buy (BBY, Fortune 500) - said it had reached an agreement with four companies to start the liquidation process.
The company said the sale would begin Saturday and run until March 31, pending court approval.
The retailer's Web site and call center will cease to operate after Jan. 18.
Circuit City said employees will receive 60 days notice of the termination.
Employees who are laid off earlier will get pay and benefits for the 60-day period beginning Friday, the retailer said.
Those who remain with the company to assist with the liquidation, will receive pay and benefits.
Circuit City also operates about 765 retail stores and dealer outlets in Canada. The company said its Canadian operations, which employ 3,000 workers, will continue to operate.
The company said it will redeem its gift cards through the liquidation sale, but the cards will have no value once the stores are closed...
Circuit City could still find a lifeline if Golden Gate Capital, one of the reported lead bidders for the merchant, bought the company and restructured it primarily as an online business with very few physical stores."This would eliminate overhead costs, vendor conflicts and other issues," he said. "Circuit City has an almost $1 billion online business. So there is a future for it in that regard...
From the Kaiser Health Tracking Poll: Election 2008 -- October 2008:
Nearly half (47%) of the public reports someone in their family skipping pills, postponing or cutting back on medical care they said they needed in the past year due to the cost of care. For example, just over one-third say they or a family member put off or postponed needed care and three in ten say they skipped a recommended test or treatment – increases of seven percentage points from last April’s tracking poll which asks the same question...
"I've abandoned free market principles to save the free market system."
President George W. Bush
Washington, D.C., Dec. 16, 2008
HRC - The Human Rights Campaign Foundation has released it's "Buying for Equality Guide" for 2009
...The Human Rights Campaign Foundation's Buying for Equality guide will help you easily support companies that support equality for LGBT Americans.
Ratings in Buying for Equality are based on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's annual report card, the Corporate Equality Index. A record 260 businesses scored 100 percent on this year's report, which is a significant increase from the 195 businesses that earned a perfect score last year. From enhanced domestic partner benefits to transgender inclusion in non-discrimination policies, we are seeing a revolution in the American workplace.
Download the guide here: Buying for Equality 2009 - pdf
Canada rated world's soundest bank system
Thu Oct 9, 2008 2:41pm EDT
By Rob Taylor
CANBERRA (Reuters) - Canada has the world's soundest banking system, closely followed by Sweden, Luxembourg and Australia, a survey by the World Economic Forum has found as financial crisis and bank failures shake world markets.
But Britain, which once ranked in the top five, has slipped to 44th place behind El Salvador and Peru, after a 50 billion pound ($86.5 billion) pledge this week by the government to bolster bank balance sheets.
The United States, where some of Wall Street's biggest financial names have collapsed in recent weeks, rated only 40, just behind Germany at 39, and smaller states such as Barbados, Estonia and even Namibia, in southern Africa...
Two days after a 90-year-old Ohio woman shot herself as deputies tried to evict her from her foreclosed home, Fannie Mae has decided to forgive the delinquent loan and give her the house outright, CNN reports.
90 year-old woman shoots self inside foreclosed home
A 90-year-old Akron, Ohio, woman who shot herself as sheriff's deputies tried to evict her from her foreclosed home became a symbol of the nation's home mortgage crisis Friday.
Addie Polk is being treated at Akron General Medical Center after shooting herself at least twice in the upper body Wednesday afternoon, her city councilman said.
U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, mentioned Polk on the House floor Friday during debate over the latest economic rescue proposal.
"This bill does nothing for the Addie Polks of the world," Kucinich said after telling her story. "This bill fails to address the fact that millions of homeowners are facing foreclosure, are facing the loss of their home. This bill will take care of Wall Street, and the market may go up for a few days, but democracy is going downhill...
Let the infighting begin.
The power bill increase is the result of a 20 percent rate hike passed down from the Tennessee Valley Authority, which supplies power to parts of Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia.
That's right! now that we are conserving our gas and staying home, we get a double digit increase in our electric bills. It looks like our bill will increase anywhere from $20 - $45 a month depending on the season.
Jon Stewart compares President Bush's Economy speech with his Iraq War speech. I know it's not déjà vu; because that would be French.
déjà vu
Pronunciation: \ˌdā-ˌzhä-ˈvü, -ˈvue\
Function: noun
Etymology: French, adjective, literally, already seen
1 a: the illusion of remembering scenes and events when experienced for the first time b: a feeling that one has seen or heard something before
2: something overly or unpleasantly familiar
