In news this morning, on the one hand interested Americans have an Obama homeowner relief plan that amounts to a drop in the proverbial bucket where real mortgage equity is concerned. And on the other end of the economic travesty, Pepsi appears on the ropes now, slated to cut 8,700 jobs worldwide. If anyone suggests we are anywhere near the end of this recession during your workday, please punch them in the nose.
PepsiCo chief Indra Nooyi relayed the bad news on the company’s short term earnings to the New York Times, her tenure at the company having been overshadowed by this economic crisis. Pepsi dividends have not met Wall Street expectations in some time, the stock currently paying out about 50 cents per share less than experts predicted. However, the interesting thing about the PepsiCo news is how the company apparently plans to reorganize itself. According to the NYT’s piece, the nearly 9000 jobs being sacraficed will essentially pay for increasing ad and marketing spend! How’s that for bad PR? People and families cast out for Facebook campaigns? Or?
The President of the United States, and his missile scientists economic advisers, hammer out a deal with big banks (instead of just forcing them) to pay out $25 billion to 1 million homeowners in peril or already homeless. As the Seattle Times’ headling suggests – the “Deal to aid 1 million homeowners; won’t solve housing market’s ills.” As that story suggests, currently about 20 percent of all home mortgages in the US are “underwater” – meaning their value is less than what is owed on them. Pretty much the situation the US and the World is in right now – underwater, gasping for air economically. And regulators worldwide schedule more meetings.
Since 1898 Americans have enjoyed a cold bottled softdrink (first called Brad’s Drink). Now the world’s second most famous beverage (not counting milk and water) joins a long list of iconic companies either in or gathered around the dead pool. Kodak just blew taps on their bugle for their camera production, that company having succumbed to closed windows of opportunity and this Great Recession.
The only metric that matters - jobs that fuel the American Dream - from the New Deal via Wikipedia
Anyone with enough sense to matter has to be suspicious of any good business news these days. Video game sales down over 30 percent last month, the US Post Office BROKE!, just type in “business bankruptcy into Google News search and you get over 10,000 results. Hell, even actor Gary Busey has filed for Chapter 7.
Maybe this is a bit premature, but will America finally announce she is bankrupt soon? Sorry, but my imagination turns to scenes from disaster movies like Titanic here. The ships purser ushering ladies in fur coats into the chill night; “There’s nothing to worry about, Titanic is unsinkable.”
Meanwhile, up on the bridge of steamship world our seafaring leaders rumble about trying to get elected captain of this country or that. Putin in the Russian Federation, Obama and a tent full of clowns in America, and so on. Isn’t it interesting none of these people have a solution to world economic problems? Or if they do, they’re keeping it top secret. Think about this for a moment. The last time Pepsi had such problems was at the depth of the Great Depression, the company entering bankruptcy - but emerging on the other side. Kodak traversed that economic disaster unscathed, and American Airlines did too.
What’s different from now and after the crash of 1929? The economic situation today may actually be worse, all we need is another Dust Bowl to cement this idea. The bad news is, there’s no FDR on the horizon to offer up a fix. Without the fuel provided by American’s working, the torch and the dream are dead.
Photo credit – sinking dollar courtesy © britta60 – Fotolia.com
Video – courtesy © world-to-go.com – Fotolia.com
About Phil Butler
