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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Brumar89 who wrote (641902)	1/12/2012 7:23:13 AM
From: Brumar89	1 Recommendation Respond to of 1578538

Hostess, maker of Twinkies, Wonder bread, goes bankrupt Americans eating healthier - that's no excuse. Why didn't they adapt to the changing market? This is just poor management. They also cite their union and pension problems. A lot of their employees are in the Teamsters union. Will Obama step in, screw the debt holders to protect the union? I mean, liberals think bankruptcy means ALL their employees losing their jobs, so Obama will nationalize the company and save them like he did with GM and Chrysler, right? .... But longer term, the 87-year-old company has a bigger problem: health-conscious Americans favor yogurt and energy bars over the dessert cakes and white bread they devoured 30 years ago. Last year, 36 percent of Americans ate white bread in their homes, down from 54 percent in 2000, according to NPD Group. Meanwhile, about 54 percent ate wheat bread, up from 43 percent in 2000. Consumption of healthy snacks is growing, too. About 32 percent of Americans ate yogurt at least once in two weeks in 2011, for instance, up from 18 percent in 2000. ..... In Hostess' Chapter 11 filing on Wednesday, the company said its rivals have combined and expanded their reach, heightening competition in the snack space. Hostess' competitors range from Bimbo Bakeries, which makes Entenmann's baked goods, and McKee Foods, which make Little Debbie snack cakes. It also faces competition from larger food makers like Sara Lee and Kraft Inc. Additionally, Hostess employees are unionized while most of its competitors aren't. As a result, Hostess has high pension and medical benefit costs. The company has 19,000 employees and operates in 48 states. Hostess did not announce layoffs but spokesman Lance Ignon said Wednesday that the company will make future decisions "in the best interest of the company." ..... "This company has tremendous potential if we can remove the barriers to success," Driscoll said. The Teamsters Union, which represents about 7,500 of Hostess' delivery drivers and merchandisers, said in a statement on Wednesday that it is also committed to working toward a solution. ..... finance.yahoo.com