Home Depot Announces Layoffs and Store Closures

[Mike Taylor]

Link here.

One of them is right up the road from me. More people unemployed. Yuck.

[Sandman]

Ok.. it's time for me to chime in. Don't these companies know that by laying off people they are CONTRIBUTING to the problem? By them laying off people, they have less money to spend, which would cause another company to lay people off.. and so on and so forth.

[Diablo]

As sad as this all is, the economy is in a down turn because of unacceptable spending and unrealistic growth. This is basically a massive market correction that will not hit bottom anytime soon. Look at the housing market where homes have been artificially inflated for decades. People were buying homes that they could not afford assuming that no matter what, the home value would continue to climb and there would be someone willing to purchase the home. Now with the economy so uncertain, no one is willing to spend money for fear that they may lose their job in the future. This lack of spending leads to more reduction in production and economic growth. Heck, even France and Germany, the industrial power house of Europe, is getting killed as orders are dropping. This is especially troubling as it shows that the finance issues of the US and England have effected the EU. It shows that no country or sector of the global economy is immune and the decline is feeding itself downward.

Most worrying to me is the long term social/political issues just brewing below the surface in China. The average Chinese citizen has put up with a lot because the new economic policies of the government brought a lot of wealth and jobs. Don't be surprised if protests like Tienamen Square start happening again as massive layoffs hit their country. As much as I like to say I think more social freedoms would be good for the Chinese, the break up of the USSR didn't make the world any safer.

[SG15Z]

Man another company! This is not good. And I fear it's only the beginning. Kroger has already begun cutting hours. And I'm sure other retailers are doing the same. But store closings? I hope Kroger doesn't go down that road. I really don't want to deal with it. My store thankfully is safe because of the little amount of compition in our area, at least for now. But the other Houston stores......Well let's hope being across the street from 4 competitors doesn't cause any problems...

[draggar]

Link here.

One of them is right up the road from me. More people unemployed. Yuck.

Yep, 3 here in south Florida, one of them I used sometimes when I'm in the area.

Ok.. it's time for me to chime in. Don't these companies know that by laying off people they are CONTRIBUTING to the problem? By them laying off people, they have less money to spend, which would cause another company to lay people off.. and so on and so forth.

They don't care since Wall St rewards them with more people buying their stock and the stock goes up because of that. It's a rather hypocritical economy / society. Maybe if large corporations didn't hoard money like they are...

My company announced massive layoffs, too. Why? We're gaining customers, they're spending more (per customer) so why the layoffs?

[Mike Taylor]

Ours is actively trying to avoid layoffs, so much so that the CEO has announced his retirement.

[SG15Z]

Ours is actively trying to avoid layoffs, so much so that the CEO has announced his retirement.

Wow, I want your CEO! [/pout]

[iradney]

Ours is actively trying to avoid layoffs, so much so that the CEO has announced his retirement.

We need to clone this CEO. It's not often that they look further than their golden/platinum/diamond parachutes and think of the people that actually bring in the money...

[Mike Taylor]

Well, he's 59 and sadly, even with his impending retirement folks will be let go from our company, at the corporate level, on February 19th. Target's gonna be doing the same, it seems.

Article Here

And Here.

[draggar]

Just got the word yesterday --

26% of the technology department will be let go (IT, RF field ops, RF engineering etc..).

Edit: Plus;

No pay raises, no 401K match, no education reimbiursement

[Mike Taylor]

Damn, Draggar. That stinks.

[Mike Taylor]

NEC cutting 20K Jobs Worldwide

[draggar]

8,000 layoffs yet my company bought a 30 second ad during the superbowl.

Gee, I wonder how many jobs, er, dollars, the ad cost them?

[Mike Taylor]

I wonder if the income they rake in will be enough to cover the money they spent getting it made and aired?