First the bad news.
January 10, 2012
Twinkies Maker Preparing for Chapter 11 Filing
The privately held Irving, Texas, company, which employs roughly 19,000 people and carries more than $860 million in debt, has been facing a cash squeeze amid high labor costs and rising prices for sugar, flour and other ingredients, according to people familiar with the matter.
...
Sales of Hostess's signature Twinkies have recently declined a bit while the overall bakery snacks category has been about flat.
Declining sales? Rising costs? How very stagflationary of them.
November 4, 2007
Twinkie Prosperity
Declining sales? Rising costs? How very stagflationary of them.
Here's the good news. We weren't in a recession in November 2007 and we aren't now!
December 1, 2008
It's official: Recession since Dec. '07
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The National Bureau of Economic Research said Monday that the U.S. has been in a recession since December 2007, making official what most Americans have already believed about the state of the economy.
Sorry for not posting much lately. It's been an expensive and emotionally draining year so far.
ReplyDelete1. A great deal of dental work is being done to my teeth this month (four visits, two down two to go). Let's just say that once the dust settles the money could have spent on a cheap new car instead. Sigh.
2. Our cat isn't doing well (emergency vet over the weekend). Tack on another grand.
3. Our dog had her teeth cleaned and minor surgery today (skin growth removed).
4. I was trying to relax last night, but then our bird had a seizure. She gets them from time to time. There's not much that can be done about it.
For those keeping track at home, we're touching base with 3 different vets (our primary vet, our bird vet, a 24 hour emergency vet) and 1 dentist. It's just 10 days into the year.
My sympathies. There's not a thing I wouldn't do for my shepherd girl.
ReplyDeleteMark,
ReplyDeleteI hear you. My own 12 year old mutt had dental surgery after she stopped eating on Christmas..one dead tooth, and a gum infection...and the good news is she's her old self again. I figure this is why I save money...so she can get what she needs. But to have your whole house in need, now that's stress. As for you, all my best wishes. Better good teeth than a used Civic.
tj and the bear,
ReplyDeleteWe're not even sure what our dog Honey has in her. On casual inspection, she's a lab. On closer inspection, her tongue has some seriously dark spots on it.
Is this a Chow mix?
Honey is doing great. She's got a few stitches but she's acting like it is no big deal. I joke that she is directly related to the Honey Badger, lol.
fried,
ReplyDeleteBetter good teeth than a used Civic.
Any opinion on good teeth compared to a base model new 2012 civic? That's pretty much where I will be. No joke.
Meanwhile, I'm still driving a 1996 Camry. It has less than 100k miles on it. No complaints.
a base model new 2012 civic?
ReplyDeleteMark,
No joke, that's real money and to add to it, the personal discomfort is not small. If my sympathy was not clear, I apologize. Seriously, as a blog reader, we want you to live long and prosper. I hope that the rest of your household is recovering as well.
All best wishes.
If poverty is want of utility then wealth is satisfaction of utility, ie. being well.
ReplyDeleteThat's the fiscal beauty of the health care sector, the state of being well is worth a lot to the consumer, which creates profit margins over the cost of providing the needed health services.
Just last night I was reading of a medical doctor in SF (E.B. Perrin) who was buying up tons of land in the west, hoping to reap a profit when the railroads arrived.
Dude knew from rent-seeking, I'll give him that.
fried,
ReplyDeleteI really feel for the people who live paycheck to paycheck (not by choice of course) who suddenly find themselves looking at bills of this magnitude. And I have the nerve to think I am stressed out? (I am.)
I hope that the rest of your household is recovering as well.
All the pets are doing very well today. Whew! :)
Troy,
ReplyDeleteIn anticipation of coming railroad developments, he bought up property also in Shasta, Tehama, Mendocino, Sonoma, Marin, Napa, Alameda, and Los Angeles counties.
I'm picturing his counterpart in Detroit in recent years. Can't sell fast enough. Sigh.
From 2008...
Motor City's woes extend beyond auto industry
The roots of Detroit's current plight go back decades. Court-ordered school busing and the 12th Street riots of 1967 accelerated an exodus of whites to the suburbs, and many middle-class blacks followed, shrinking the city's population from a peak of 1.8 million in the 1950s to half that now.
All the pets are doing very well today.
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear it!
BTW, my ride is a 2002 SUV with 173K on it.
tj and the bear,
ReplyDeleteAround the World Seven Times in Ten Years
Jules Verne wasn't thinking big enough, lol.
Our cats died last year (both aged 17). Our car continues (aged 17).
ReplyDeleteWe buy cars so rarely that we always feel entirely out-of-touch with things.
dearieme,
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear that. Two pets in one year is rough.