U.S. Job Losses & Store Closings 20 – 21 July 2014: Thousands more to lose their jobs in California! Landlords so desperate they’re offering free rent! Is 270 years old upscale company going bust? More casinos going bust! Obamacare kills mental health!

Incomplete list of publicly announced layoffs & shutdowns:

More proof the internet is not killing brick-n-mortar stores: After only six months Qplay shutdown.  The internet TV service provider was founded by the same people who created TiVo.  Some customers said the service was “terrible”.

Arizona: What housing market recovery?  Maville Interiors now chapter 11 bankrupt busted, 200 jobs could be lost!  The company was one of the largest house painting contractors in the Grand Canyon State.  Because of the housing market implosion the company has not been able to pay suppliers or federal taxes.  In Flagstaff, legal drugs pusher Walgreens shutting down their distribution center over the next nine months, 345 jobs will be lost!  Company officials say “we now have excess capacity” and need to shutdown distribution centers.

California: In Sacramento, the Starbucks coffee house on 15th & H streets shutdown. It’s blamed on low sales.  In Rancho, Super Glue-Pacer Technology announced it will layoff 14 employees in September.  In San Diego, TGI Friday’s warned it is shutting down a restaurant in September, 56 jobs lost. In Vacaville, Switzerland based legal drugs pusher Novartis announced they are laying off 57 employees in September.  Botox maker Allergan laying off 15-hundred people in Irivine, Santa Barbara and Carslbad, by Thanksgiving time in November!  Reports say if the company is taken over by a British empire Canadian rival then 5-thousand people will become jobless!

Illinois: In Rockford, the College of Medicine shutting down their psychiatric clinic  by the end of September.  2-thousand patients affected!  Clinic officials blame never ending funding cuts, thank you Obama Care!

Kentucky: So much for Obama Care.  The Kentucky Association of Regional Programs says 33 of 50 mental health programs across the state have shutdown!  Four mental health providers have cut their operating hours in half!  Kentucky Department for Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities blames Obama Care (Affordable Care Act) for changing how mental health care is handled.  More than 1-thousand patients affected!

Massachusetts: In New Bedford, after 82 years (and surviving the Great Depression and numerous recessions) Converse Photo Supply shutdown.  Don’t blame technology, the owners had gotten into the business of recovering pics off memory cards that were thought to have been erased.  The owners said they sold the building after they were approached by a property speculator.

Michigan: In East Lansing, after 50 years Goodrich’s Shop Rite shutdown. The owners said their lease expired and the property owners wanted mo money.

Minnesota: In Minneapolis, after 15 years Office Depot shutting down in September.  It’s part of the Office Depot, OfficeMax merger.

Mississippi: After only two years Margaritaville Casino warned of bankruptcy and that it will shutdown in September, 350 jobs lost!  The attorney for the casino blames the property owners: “Everybody wants a better outcome, everybody but the landlords.”-Michael Cavanaugh

New York: Once again the Daily News killed jobs, this time 17 people let go.  This comes after the newspaper raised its price from 75 cents to $1.25.  After 270 years, British empire Sotheby’s is in trouble and warned its New York employees of layoffs.  Company officials told the U.S. SEC that they need to cut $13-million USD.  In Hauppauge, Microsoft announced they are shutting down their computer program operation in October, 32 jobs lost.

Ohio:  In Toledo, the commercial rental market is crashing.  Local news media showed many rental properties with “free rent” signs in the windows!  Landlords said the problem is that potential renters claim they can’t afford the rent.  On top of that, if they try and sell the property many buyers are being denied loans by the Too Big to Jail banks!  One property owner says this problem goes way back before the 2008 market crash: “Between 1999 and 2001 I thought this town was going to move, that something was going to happen. It didn’t happen…..This was a huge investment ….”-Dino Sarris, Macid Corporation

Pennsylvania: In Ridley, after 50 years the Wawa store shutdown.  Company officials say they’re building a new one.

18 – 19 July 2014

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 shutdown. It doesn’t count people who get a severance for being laid off.

“Our ideals and principles, as well as our national security…That’s what makes America different. That’s what makes us exceptional.”-Barack Obama, 10 September 2013