"Bank of America was one of the first companies to receive US taxpayer funds as part of the novel plan by the Treasury Department to invest directly in financial institutions"
Is that what you thought the BAILOUT was going for, readers?
Related: The Boston Globe Tells Chicago Workers to Sit in the Back of the Bus
"35,000 jobs will go at Bank of America; Total among largest in ailing finance sector" by Ross Kerber and Todd Wallack, Globe Staff | December 12, 2008
Bank of America Corp. yesterday said it plans to cut up to 35,000 jobs over the next three years, about 10 percent of its workforce, as it absorbs its $50 billion purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co. and a rapidly weakening economy.
The cuts by the Charlotte, N.C., bank are among the largest by any financial firm since the housing and credit crisis earlier this year pitched the economy further into recession. They also vividly emphasize the vast scale of layoffs by companies in the face of what many economists forecast will be the longest slowdown to hit the nation since World War II.
In November, Citigroup said it would reduce its worldwide employment by more than 50,000, and Sun MicroSystems disclosed plans to cut 6,000 workers, 18 percent of its workforce. Also yesterday, the US Labor Department reported that new claims for unemployment benefits reached their highest level since the 1982 recession.
And they got BAILOUT DOUGH, too!
"We're going to see a lot more bad news over the next several months," said Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, who predicted the state will be hit hard because the financial sector has long been a pillar of the local economy. "No one is immune. It's like an avalanche."
The nation's largest retail bank, Bank of America is also the largest retail bank in Massachusetts with 309 branches and 8,000 employees. Among operations in Boston are its wealth and investment management divisions, which includes the Columbia Management mutual funds unit and US Trust, its private banking business for wealthy customers....
Uh-oh! And they told us our banks were stable!
Related: Who Owns New England's Banks?
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US Representative Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, has long pushed to have Bank of America meet its promised employment levels in Massachusetts following its purchase of FleetBoston Financial Group. The Newton Democrat predicted the number of job cuts would be smaller in Massachusetts because the bank does not have many employees from Merrill or another company it recently acquired, Countrywide Financial Corp., located here.
"So given the rationale of the cuts, they should be less than proportionate" on regional employees, Frank said. "They can't use the consolidation and results from buying Merrill as a reason to reduce employees here," he said. Frank said the size of the cuts is confirmation of how bad the economy is and provides further evidence of the need for Congress to pass a massive spending plan to stimulate the economy.
Kofi Jones, a spokeswoman for the administration of Governor Deval Patrick, said in a statement, "We will continue to work closely with Bank of America during this period of economic uncertainty. Given that Massachusetts is the headquarters of Bank of America's private wealth management sector, we hope the potential impacts on Massachusetts employees will be as minimal as possible."
I'm so sick of shit-filled politicians!
.... The scale of the bank's announced cuts was still a surprise. Gary Townsend, a principal of a Maryland investment firm that specializes in financial stocks, said the numbers reflect how big Bank of America had become after acquiring Merrill, Countrywide, and LaSalle Bank in Chicago within little more than a year.
So bailout $$$ went for buy-ups and mergers, 'eh? No mortgages paid off?
"Bank of America has an awful lot on its plate," said Townsend, whose firm owns shares in the company. Making sharp cutbacks, he said, "is what Bank of America does when it acquires."
.... Bank of America was one of the first companies to receive US taxpayer funds as part of the novel plan by the Treasury Department to invest directly in financial institutions to spur lending and economic activity. But Frank said that in exchange for receiving $25 billion, Bank of America should not be required to preserve jobs.
"In fairness to them, what we told them is it's for lending. The capital infusion isn't a jobs program," Frank said yesterday.
No, nothing is that comes from Washington -- unless it's a DAMN WAR!!
Otherwise, it is LOOTING TIME!!!!
So WHY they DRAGGING THEIR HEELS on YOUR BAILOUT, AmeriKa?
Oh, that's right, you don't need a job!
"October exports slide; jobless claims reach high" by Bloomberg News | December 12, 2008
WASHINGTON - US exports slid to a seven-month low and the number of Americans filing first-time claims for unemployment benefits surged to the highest level since 1982, signaling the economy is shrinking even faster than previously estimated.
Like it is a FREE-FALLING TRADE TOWER on 9/11?
The October export slump, caused by recessions spreading through US trading partners, spurred an unexpected widening in the trade deficit to $57.2 billion, a Commerce Department report showed in Washington yesterday....
Wait until you see the reason why!
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"Conditions are deteriorating at a fairly rapid pace globally," said Carl Riccadonna, a senior economist at Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. in New York. Following the trade report, economists at Morgan Stanley in New York projected the economy would contract at a 6 percent annual pace this quarter, rather than 5 percent....
HOLY CRAP!! That is ONE HELL of a CONTRACTION!!!!!
Rather than helping shrink the trade gap last month, as most economists predicted, oil contributed to the deterioration. A record $15.56 drop in the price of imported crude in October was swamped by a 70.9 million-barrel jump in purchases that was also the biggest ever, the report showed. Excluding petroleum, the trade gap was little changed at $24.5 billion.
So OIL was HALF of the JUMP?
Here's glass, Amurkn!
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Well, thank the stars the job cuts aren't hitting Massachusetts!
"Office Depot to shut five Mass. stores" by Chris Reidy, Globe Staff | December 12, 2008
Office Depot Inc. will close five of its seven stores in Massachusetts as part of a larger strategic review that will result in the closing of 112 underperforming stores in North America over the next three months.... --more--"
Oh.
