Hostess going out of business

[KyMuscle]

Um, yeah, thanks for doing that complicated math for me… this bodybuilder is too dumb to figure it out on my own.

And it was MULTIPLE executive salaries, not just the CEO's salary, that were raised while the company struggled and the workers were ordered to do with less. And yes, I realize that the math works out the same regardless.

But that's not even the point.

Suppose the CEO, instead of raising his salary while cutting those of the workers, took a collaborative stance and said "We're in this together -- I'm asking you to sacrifice some pay and benefits and in return I'll freeze (Or, God forbid, even LOWER) my paltry $750,00 salary."

Might the workers’ union then have been conciliatory? Maybe?

But no, being the typical Wall Street-bred, As-Long-As-I-Get-Mine-I-Don’t-Care-About-Anyone-Else asshole CEO, with kindergarten-level management skills, he couldn’t lead by example. Instead, like the schoolyard bully, he rubbed it in the employees’ faces by increasing his salary threefold.

The employees recognized what was happening: the Wall Street vultures were going to get their $$$$$$$ one way or another, eventually eviscerating the company and sending the employees to the unemployment line. Because that’s what those motherfucking Masters Of The Universe do.

So, right or wrong, the unions hastened what was going to happen anyway.

The blame for this fiasco can be traced to lousy leadership skills, incompetent management, some workers' union intransigence, and Wall Street's limitless appetite for wildly speculating on instant riches rather than focusing on sane, long-term investing.

[Gregzs]

Perhaps not just yet:


http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/...uptcy.Hearing/

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — Twinkies will live to see another day.

Hostess Brands Inc. and its second largest union agreed on Monday to try to resolve their differences after a bankruptcy court judge noted that the parties hadn't gone through the critical step of private mediation. That means the maker of the spongy cake with the mysterious cream filling won't go out of business yet.

The news comes after the maker of Ho Ho's, Ding Dongs and Wonder Bread last week moved to liquidate and sell off its assets in bankruptcy court. Hostess cited a crippling strike started on Nov. 9 by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union, which represents about 30 percent of Hostess workers.

"Many people, myself included, have serious questions as to the logic behind this strike," said Judge Robert Drain, who heard the case in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York in White Plains, N.Y. "Not to have gone through that step leaves a huge question mark in this case."

The mediation talks are set to take place Tuesday, with the liquidation hearing set to resume on Wednesday if an agreement isn't reached. Jeff Freund, an attorney for the bakers union, said any guess as to how the talks will go would be "purely speculative."

In an interview following the hearing, Hostess CEO Gregory Rayburn said that there is enormous financial pressure to come to an agreement with the union by the end of the day Tuesday.

He noted that it's costing Hostess about $1 million a day in payroll costs alone to stay alive, with the money mostly going toward management to unwind the company. About 18,000 workers were sent home Friday after the company shuttered its 33 plants, meaning no sales are being generated.

"We didn't think we had a runway, but the judge just created a 24-hour runway," said Rayburn, who added that even if a contract agreement is reached, it's unclear whether all Hostess plants will get up and running again.
Hostess, weighed down by debt, management turmoil, rising labor costs and the changing tastes of Americans, decided on Friday that it no longer could make it through a conventional Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring. Instead, the company, which is based in Irving, Texas, asked the court for permission to sell its assets and wind down its business.

The company, which is in its second bankruptcy in less than a decade, had said that it was saddled with costs related to its unionized workforce. It brought on Rayburn as a restructuring expert in part to renegotiate its contract with labor unions.
Hostess, which had been contributing $100 million a year in pension costs for workers, offered workers a new contract that would've slashed that to $25 million a year, in addition to wage cuts and a 17 percent reduction in health benefits. The baker's union rejected the offer and decided to strike.

By that time, Hostess had reached a contract agreement with its largest union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which urged the bakers union to hold a secret ballot on whether to continue striking. Although many workers in the bakers union decided to cross picket lines this week, Hostess said it wasn't enough to keep operations at normal levels.

Rayburn said that Hostess was already operating on razor thin margins and that the strike was the final blow. The bakers union said the company's demise was the result of mismanagement, not the strike. It pointed to the steep raises executives were given last year as the company was spiraling down toward bankruptcy.

The company's announcement last week that it would move to liquidate prompted people across the country to rush to stores and stock up on their favorite Hostess treats. Many businesses reported selling out of Twinkies within hours and the spongy cakes turned up for sale online for hundreds of dollars.

Even if Hostess goes out of business, its popular brands will likely find a second life after being snapped up by buyers. The company says several potential buyers have expressed interest in the brands. Although Hostess' sales have been declining in recent years, the company still does about $2.5 billion in business each year. Twinkies along brought in $68 million so far this year.

[lartinos]

It is amazing how much publicity stupid shit like this gets, people love junk food.

[KyMuscle]

Further illustrating my point:

Twinkie-Bite-WEBcolor-525x363.jpg

[Rawstrength]

Long live the Twinkies!

[natenator]

From what I have read they employ 18,500 people. Why wouldn't the gov't step in and offer a loan like they did to the auto industry???

Because 18,500 is really the same as MILLIONS...

[matt1005]

I am a Little Debbie guy, but I don't think I have had one of those in years either.

[natenator]

Hostess Executives Demanding Bonuses...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanada...yre-demanding/


lol that takes some balls. Bankrupt a company then want to receive a bonus for doing so

[KyMuscle]

Mark my words, if the Obama administration doesn't craft policies that truly reign in Wall Street/corporate executive incompetence and excesses, those greedy, shifty, malevolent motherfuckers will drag this country into the gutter.

"Entitlements" are the cause of our economic problems? My ass!

Best way to fix the economy? Napalm Wall Street.

[MattyH7688]

Mark my words, if the Obama administration doesn't craft policies that truly reign in Wall Street/corporate executive incompetence and excesses, those greedy, shifty, malevolent motherfuckers will drag this country into the gutter.

"Entitlements" are the cause of our economic problems? My ass!

Best way to fix the economy? Napalm Wall Street.

Oh yea lets just destroy the worlds economy.. So well educated u r

[KyMuscle]

Based on your spelling there, it appears the pot is calling the kettle black.

And if you don't understand how Wall Street has abandoned its original mission as the spark of the American economy and has instead become this vampire-like predator that enriches itself at everyone else's expense, I'd suggest pulling your head out of the asscrack of Limbaugh/Beck/Fox and actually learning something.

[Mac]

Oh yea lets just destroy the worlds economy.. So well educated u r

Oh the irony in that statement.

Steve is very intelligent, Matty. Don't be so myopic.

I agree on getting rid of Wall Street. Thankfully as a self-employed individual I can control where my 401k is distributed, and it's no longer invested on Wall Street where it can be sucked dry by those criminals.

[MattyH7688]

Oh the irony in that statement.

Steve is very intelligent, Matty. Don't be so myopic.

I agree on getting rid of Wall Street. Thankfully as a self-employed individual I can control where my 401k is distributed, and it's no longer invested on Wall Street where it can be sucked dry by those criminals.

You do understand world markets and our economy is completely intertwined with Wall Street now. Not everyone is like you and self employed. Are there problems that need to be addressed? Sure.. But getting rid of it completely would be a disaster. Wealth of the average individual would plummet, innovation would be destroyed, it would be near impossible to get a mortgage, student loan, credit card, etc,,

[Mac]

You do understand world markets and our economy is completely intertwined with Wall Street now.

Yes, I do. Us old fucks are not as dumb as you would like to point out.

Surely we cannot just get rid of Wall Street in the same way we can't rid ourselves of the dependence of oil and replace it with better solutions.

The fact that I am self-employed has no bearing on any of this. There are many more small businesses than big businesses in our country, so there are a lot of people in my position.

Innovation has already been destroyed by the very people that control oil and international finance. Just look back to the carburetor that got 100mpg, 20 years ago.

I digress, as this thread is about HoHos

[PTB]

Wow!! All I was looking for was a little levity and to reminisce on some naughty treats some of us grew up on, not a political debate on who's wrecking the country.