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Hostess announced plans to liquidate this morning. While many lives will be disrupted, the employees have done the right thing by rejecting the vulture capitalist's ultimatums. We have passed the point where we can trust capitalists to act in ways which will serve the American People. They have shown themselves to be unworthy of our trust. They have betrayed us. We should instead turn to the valiant Hostess workers for inspiration. By rejecting the outrageous terms dictated to them by the parasites who own Hostess, they have struck a blow for working Americans.
Interestingly enough, the Teamsters disagree with you...
The BCTGM (Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco and Grain Millers International Union) chose a different path, as is their prerogative...
. Well, union dude, heres a hint. Those are NOT your jobs. Those jobs belong to the company to Hostess. They created those jobs, not you. You were looking for a job. They had a job. You found the job. Its theirs. They let you do it in exchange for money and benefits. You didnt give them a damn thing. You traded work for money.
3rd thread so far, I know of more junk, food junkies. They'll be more threads
i didnt realize wonder bread was still on the market
The closing of the Hostess plants in Cincinnati, Seattle and St. Louis appears to be an object lesson in the evils of vulture capitalism.
Hostess is owned by Ripplewood Holdings, a vulture capital firm, and two hedge funds, Silver Point Capital and Monarch Alternative Capital. As is typical for such parasites, they have loaded the company with debt and are slashing employment and benefits to maintain their profits.
According the union's fact sheet, Hostess has demanded a bankruptcy court allow:
An immediate 8% wage reduction;
The shift of at least 20% more health care costs onto its employees;
Elimination of the employees’ W-1 (retiree medigap insurance) and P-Plan (a pension supplement used to pay health and funeral costs);
Closure of additional plants (10-12), refusing to tell the union which plants are profitable, which plants will be closed, why, etc.
Elimination of the eight-hour work day.
"Outside of court, Hostess unilaterally stopped paying its pension obligations (that is its hourly contributions to the workers’ pension funds), in violation of federal labor law.
These outrages must be stopped. The Hostess workers are standing strong against predatory capitalism for the rights of all American worker. They deserve every patriotic American's full support.
The closing of the Hostess plants in Cincinnati, Seattle and St. Louis appears to be an object lesson in the evils of vulture capitalism.
Hostess is owned by Ripplewood Holdings, a vulture capital firm, and two hedge funds, Silver Point Capital and Monarch Alternative Capital. As is typical for such parasites, they have loaded the company with debt and are slashing employment and benefits to maintain their profits.
According the union's fact sheet, Hostess has demanded a bankruptcy court allow:
An immediate 8% wage reduction;
The shift of at least 20% more health care costs onto its employees;
Elimination of the employees W-1 (retiree medigap insurance) and P-Plan (a pension supplement used to pay health and funeral costs);
Closure of additional plants (10-12), refusing to tell the union which plants are profitable, which plants will be closed, why, etc.
Elimination of the eight-hour work day.
"Outside of court, Hostess unilaterally stopped paying its pension obligations (that is its hourly contributions to the workers pension funds), in violation of federal labor law.
These outrages must be stopped. The Hostess workers are standing strong against predatory capitalism for the rights of all American worker. They deserve every patriotic American's full support.
It was the fault of Hostess executives. Period.
Ask yourself, what changes of any significance, in the Hostess product line or branding, have occurred in your lifetime. Not much, if any, yeah? And brands do not manage themselves; here's what happened:
They had a great product, with good product depth. And a brand that ruled the national market, even in areas where loved local products had great mind share and loyalty, ie. Tasty Cakes in PA/NJ. They had an unbeatable model, both in products, brand, market awareness / acceptance and a distribution model few if any could afford to match, and certainly not nationally.
So they coasted on that. Did nothing to evolve their products or brand in significant way, even as Twinkies began getting negative brand recognition, as being some plastic food with a million year shelf life (brand aspect, not actually). So while perceptions and consumer wants evolved, and Snackwells, energy drinks, power bars, etc, etc, came into the market, slowly chipping away, Hostess did nothing to adapt to new market demands and competition.
Poor corporate management. End of story.
The closing of the Hostess plants in Cincinnati, Seattle and St. Louis appears to be an object lesson in the evils of vulture capitalism.
Hostess is owned by Ripplewood Holdings, a vulture capital firm, and two hedge funds, Silver Point Capital and Monarch Alternative Capital. As is typical for such parasites, they have loaded the company with debt and are slashing employment and benefits to maintain their profits.
According the union's fact sheet, Hostess has demanded a bankruptcy court allow:
These outrages must be stopped. The Hostess workers are standing strong against predatory capitalism for the rights of all American worker. They deserve every patriotic American's full support.
It was the fault of Hostess executives. Period.
Ask yourself, what changes of any significance, in the Hostess product line or branding, have occurred in your lifetime. Not much, if any, yeah? And brands do not manage themselves; here's what happened:
They had a great product, with good product depth. And a brand that ruled the national market, even in areas where loved local products had great mind share and loyalty, ie. Tasty Cakes in PA/NJ. They had an unbeatable model, both in products, brand, market awareness / acceptance and a distribution model few if any could afford to match, and certainly not nationally.
So they coasted on that. Did nothing to evolve their products or brand in significant way, even as Twinkies began getting negative brand recognition, as being some plastic food with a million year shelf life (brand aspect, not actually). So while perceptions and consumer wants evolved, and Snackwells, energy drinks, power bars, etc, etc, came into the market, slowly chipping away, Hostess did nothing to adapt to new market demands and competition.
Poor corporate management. End of story.
Says the person who has not one freaking clue what he/she is talking about.
End of Story.
It was the fault of Hostess executives. Period.
Ask yourself, what changes of any significance, in the Hostess product line or branding, have occurred in your lifetime. Not much, if any, yeah? And brands do not manage themselves; here's what happened:
They had a great product, with good product depth. And a brand that ruled the national market, even in areas where loved local products had great mind share and loyalty, ie. Tasty Cakes in PA/NJ. They had an unbeatable model, both in products, brand, market awareness / acceptance and a distribution model few if any could afford to match, and certainly not nationally.
So they coasted on that. Did nothing to evolve their products or brand in significant way, even as Twinkies began getting negative brand recognition, as being some plastic food with a million year shelf life (brand aspect, not actually). So while perceptions and consumer wants evolved, and Snackwells, energy drinks, power bars, etc, etc, came into the market, slowly chipping away, Hostess did nothing to adapt to new market demands and competition.
Poor corporate management. End of story.
Says the person who has not one freaking clue what he/she is talking about.
End of Story.
Perhaps. Have you been a senior executive for multinatonals corporations, for decades? Maybe you've sat on the board of a foriegn corporation or three? Or have a couple of decades experience as a VP-level marketing executive?
What is it you wish to school me on? (tip: I can answer yes to every question in para 1)
Says the person who has not one freaking clue what he/she is talking about.
End of Story.
Perhaps. Have you been a senior executive for multinatonals corporations, for decades? Maybe you've sat on the board of a foriegn corporation or three? Or have a couple of decades experience as a VP-level marketing executive?
What is it you wish to school me on? (tip: I can answer yes to every question in para 1)
And UFO's cruise by my house every night.
Anyone experienced in running a business would not claim to know "the real story" of why this business fails or succeeds without knowing detailed analysis. If you would have began your opinion as "Well I think..." then all would be fine and dandy. But to come here and claim to know exactly what happened "Period" - is a bit of a stretch unless YOU sat on the board, or held a position with the company.
You do not know....
1) Sales figures.
2) Capital expenses.
3) Lost/Won sales data.
4) Cost of operation historically and current.
5) Trial balance sheets.
6) Competition
Etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.....you know nothing. And any senior manager worth his weight in sand would not hazard a guess without inside knowledge.
So let me ask you: what has Hostess done to overcome those barriers that have been going up, increasingly, throughout the last 30 years of their products' life-cycle? Anything of signficance?
So let me ask you: what has Hostess done to overcome those barriers that have been going up, increasingly, throughout the last 30 years of their products' life-cycle? Anything of signficance?
I don't have a clue. I therefore made no definitive claim, one way or the other, what "really happened".
So let me ask you: what has Hostess done to overcome those barriers that have been going up, increasingly, throughout the last 30 years of their products' life-cycle? Anything of signficance?
I don't have a clue. I therefore made no definitive claim, one way or the other, what "really happened".
Sure you did. By contradicting mine, it assumes another claim is correct. So what is your claim, in contrast to mine?
Just another chapter in the loooong book of "The high cost of a cheap price"
I don't have a clue. I therefore made no definitive claim, one way or the other, what "really happened".
Sure you did. By contradicting mine, it assumes another claim is correct. So what is your claim, in contrast to mine?
No.
My "claim" is that you don't know enough about the cost/sales of the company to make an absolute stand that "this is what happened" period.
What is the average unit cost of competitive products? We don't know.
Is Little Debbie (Mckee Foods) unionized?
Ultimately, the "vulture capitalist", so called, serves much the same purpose in cleansing the market as its namesake does in the wild, to pick the bones of the dead and dying.
Obama will use taxpayer money to bail out Hostess and give it to the union. The execs will get big bonuses and retire. The Union workers will sell off the company to the Chinese and retire. Hostess operations will move overseas. The Chinese will begin making Twinkies for $.01 a piece, and sell them to us for a buck. Don't forget - it's all Bush's fault !View attachment 22588
Ultimately, the "vulture capitalist", so called, serves much the same purpose in cleansing the market as its namesake does in the wild, to pick the bones of the dead and dying.
1) would you rather have the food go to waste??
2) anyway, as a very slow liberal you are 1000% wrong since the first thing any new owner wants to do is buy it for x and make worth x+1000%. This is so obvious only a liberal would not know it. Why not go out and spy for Hitler and Stalin again?
