World War 3, U.S. Economic Front: Job losses & store closings 05 June 2013. Thousands more in health care and pharmaceuticals laid off! No more dog food? California hit hard again!

In South Carolina, two coal fired electric power plants will be closed, four years ahead of schedule!  Originally SCE&G was going to convert them to natural gas.  At least 70 people unemployed.

Delta Airlines closes its Memphis, Tennessee, hub.  230 unemployed!  Delta officials say it is due to reduced sales and increased fuel prices, they swear it’s not because of their merger with Northwest Airlines.

Florida based trucking company Ryder Logistics laying off 60 employees.  The company is closing its Roanoke, Texas office.  According to stock analysts the company is doing well.  The Ryder Career Center’s slogan is “The road to the future starts here.”  I guess the future ends in unemployment.

Endo Health Solutions ending jobs for 700 people!  It’s blamed on the failure of the drug maker’s latest poison.  The U.S. FDA denied approval of its testosterone injection.  The company also blames expiring patents which allow generic versions of its drugs to be made.  Company officials say as a result they need to cut $325 million USD from their yearly budget.

In California, another drug maker is in trouble with the FDA.  Officials with Impax say they have to layoff at least 110 employees!   Impax makes generic versions of name brand drugs. They recently tried to get FDA approval for their Parkinson’s drug, but failed.  The FDA has inspected the Hayward, California, factory several times, noting violations each time. the company now needs to cut $15 million from its budget.  In San Diego, Palomar Health laid off 84 hospital workers.  They blame cuts to Medicaid/Medicare caused by the Obama/Romney Affordable Health Care Act.  Also, Actavis (formerly Watson Pharmaceuticals) laid off 17 employees in Corona.  In Los Angeles, Deluxe Laboratories laid off 79 people. Massachusetts based Caliper Life Sciences laid off 47 people in Mountain View.  In Poway, Sysco Foodservice San Diego laid off 70 employees. In Walnut, Sysco Foodservice Los Angeles laid off 100 people!  And Medical Billing Technologies laid off 48 employees in Visalia.

A drug maker in Massachusetts in trouble as well.  AVEO Oncology laying off 140 employees!  Company officials say they underestimated how much ‘restructuring’ they were going to have to do.  They say they underestimated by at least $190 million!

And the Christian God can’t stop 150 people from losing their jobs with Sacred Heart Health System in Florida!  Hospital officials blame it on Obama: “….facing daunting challenges because of a decline in revenues caused by government cuts in Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement.”

In New York, ProHEALTH closing its North Massapequa location in August.  24 people unemployed.  I couldn’t find any published reason for it, but they’ve been cutting back on operations and laying people off in several other states prior to this announcement.

121 people losing their jobs when the Mars Petcare closes its pet food factory in Joplin, Missouri, in September!  Mars Petcare is also closing a factory in Pueblo, Colorado. 40 people unemployed.  Back in 1992 the city of Pueblo essentially gave Mars Petcare $1.6 million to move to town.   Company officials blame it on crashing pet food sales.

In Michigan, the Flint School District announced they will have to layoff even more people.  75 more positions will possibly be eliminated, on top of the 138 announced in May!  And the Midway Roller Rink in Battle Creek closed after 57 years of family fun.  Reports say the owners had to sell out to a local property developer, who is going to tear it down.

After 60 years of operations the privately run Joytime Preschool closed in Lake Forest, Illinois.  The owners said the time was right to retire. In Rantoul, Deena’s women’s clothing store shut down.  It was the town’s oldest store.  The owner blamed it on the casual style trend.

Ivy Tech Community College ending operations at 20 of their Indiana facilities!  The school has $68 million in debt!  School officials do not blame it on declining enrollment, in fact they say enrollment is up, but the state has not come through on the funding to match the increased enrollment!

In Louisiana, eight Whitney Bank offices being closed.  It’s part of evil Hancock Holdings’ closure of 40 bank offices across five states.

Marriott International laying off several hundred employees in Fredrick County, Maryland, by December!  Company officials said they are outsourcing the jobs!

Two people lost their administrative jobs with Historical Society of Western Virginia. It’s blamed on the bad economy which has caused a decline in membership and funding.  In May the Society lost 300 members!

Commercial Metals Company laying off at least 50 people at its Magnolia, Arkansas, steel mill.   Company officials blamed the bad economy: “…it is necessary to align our workforce with the lower current business level that we are experiencing.”-Steven Hughes

California based celebrity bridal gown designer Monique Lhuillier closed her shop in Edina, Minnesota.  The designer blames crashing sales of bridal gowns on the bad economy.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DoL) doesn’t count the hundreds of layoffs involving less than 50 people each, in its mass layoff reports. It also doesn’t count all the little ‘mom & pop’ businesses that shut down.