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Circuit City Cuts 3,400 'Overpaid' Workers

Circuit City fired 3,400 employees in stores across the country yesterday, saying they were making too much money and would be replaced by new hires willing to work for less.

The company said the dismissals had nothing to do with performance but were part of a larger effort to improve the bottom line. The firings represent about 9 percent of the company's in-store workforce of 40,000

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Circuit City chief executive Philip J. Schoonover

received a salary of $716,346, along with a $704,700 bonus last year. He also has long-term compensation of $3 million in stock awards and $340,000 in underlying options, according to company filings

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The US National Guard has been insanely prohibited from using its weapons against armed drug dealers and others at the US-Mexico border. They have been warned that they are to only provide support for the US Border Patrol. This dictate came from the US government and, presumably, the Mexican government as well. Now, Democrat leaders are planning to apply this policy to US troops fighting terrorists in Iraq.

In an attempt to usurp and end the Executive branch of government’s Constitutional powers and ability to wage wars, Democrats are planning to issue legislation that would take all US troops out of a combat role and place them into the tenuous and hazardous position of a ‘support role’—only. Note: We presume this attempt to seize power from the President of the United States only applies to Republican presidents.

With both their rhetoric and actions, Democrats continue to show the world that they are against the US and fully in agreement and alignment with the terrorists’ mission and goals. . .

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House Dems Pushing for Largest Tax Increase in History

Pro-family experts say tax hike would devastate families

Tax relief signed by President Bush in 2001 and 2003 is scheduled to expire in 2010, and some Democratic lawmakers want to see it end – effectively raising taxes to the highest level in history.

Meanwhile, conservatives are demanding tax relief be made permanent.

In a budget-resolution package, Democrats promised to balance the national budget by 2012 by finding "$900 billion in additional revenues." What they don't spell out is that the money comes directly from Americans' pockets.

The budget proposal is slated for a vote Thursday in the U.S. House.

Brian Riedl, senior budget analyst for the Heritage Foundation, said liberals are working hard to convince Americans they're not really raising taxes.

"The fact is that in 2010, tax rates will increase and the government will begin collecting hundreds of billions of dollars more than if the tax rate stayed at the current level," he said. "A scheduled tax increase is still a tax increase."

The average tax hike per household would be more than $2,641 annually. In addition, the child tax credit would be reduced from $1,000 per child to $500, and the marriage penalty would be brought back into the tax code.

According to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, if the president's tax relief is not made permanent, a family of four earning $50,000 would see taxes go up 132 percent. A single parent with two children earning $30,000 would see taxes raised 67 percent.

And the billions lifted from America's families would all be spent by bureaucrats, Riedl said.

"That's money that could otherwise go for groceries, child expenses, school expenses, the mortgage and bills," he said.

Andy Roth, director of government affairs at The Club for Growth, added that the billions quickly turn into trillions.

"You go into trillions when you go out to 10 years," he said. "The fact that the Bush tax cuts 'expire' is the word game they're playing – it's a tax hike."

Democrats point to the budget deficit, but Roth called that a losing argument.

"The deficit is quickly shrinking and a lot of people believe that the budget is going to be balanced by the end of 2008," he said, "a lot sooner than people would have thought."

The real motivation is Democrats want to increase spending on their favorite programs, he said.

Riedl agreed.

"The Democrats will take the trillions of dollars in tax increases and first put a couple hundred billion dollars toward spending increases even above the spending spree we've seen since 2001," he said. "The rest of the money will likely go towards paying Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid -- because they absolutely refuse to pare back those programs whose budgets are growing out of control."

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Gee, I wonder if "smiley" cut his own salary as part of this company-wide cost cutting program?

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In fact, the reason he gets a salary like this is his spine for making decisions like this.

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the lack of spine displayed in standing up to the stockholders in defense of the employees

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But you have to hand it to Circuit City. Without spending a dime for advertising or public relations, it managed to send a powerful message to its major constituencies.

It has made clear to consumers that it doesn't give a fig about service or being a good member of the community.

It has let store employees know they have jobs, not careers, and shouldn't expect much of a raise, no matter how long they stay or how well they perform.

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Now that things are looking up, top executives decided to reward the people who helped engineer the turnaround with a pink slip and a piddling severance check, telling them they'd have to wait 10 weeks to reapply for their old jobs, at lower pay.

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And investors now know that their company is so cavalier about reputational risk that, for $100 million or so in annual cost savings, it is willing to become the symbol of everything that is rotten about American capitalism. So far, Wall Street's reaction has been to discount Circuit City shares by about 5 1/2 percent.

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CC's bottom line has shown some distress, lately. $110 million will be saved by this move, Circuit City says.

But I say to CC to not jump the gun on your math. I and millions of other discriminating technology and appliance buyers will opt for alternative chains where short-sighted parsimony and cruelty are not at the heart of policy. Places such as BestBuy and Fry's come to mind.

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Hopely this post qualifies for "Once upon a time" - -

Americans had a right to use private ballots
for union elections.

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I made a mistake in how I admonished my friend Mike for complaining about you. Mike will no longer post here and if I treated him unfairly in defending you it upsets me big time.

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I and millions of other discriminating technology and appliance buyers will opt for alternative chains where short-sighted parsimony and cruelty are not at the heart of policy

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That last time I bought a nice TV, I bought it from a local family owned place. They offered to deliver it, install it, and they replaced all of cables and stuff for free when they were here. They got my business for life.

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Cicuit City is a place I've looked at for bargains, not lifetime employees that can dazzle me with their years of experience.

Like Peewee, I bought the last couple TV's from the local smaller shop that provided better service and came close enough in price.

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While your words defend the perpetrators of the problem, your actions denounce them.

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You and Peewee are both small business owners, so naturally you want to place yourself on the side of business vs the side of the employee in any discussion or debate,

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but now you are confronted with the reality that the big corporations use these dispicable, heartless tactics to lower their costs, thereby making it impossible for small businesses like yours to compete.

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They are partners of mine, along with a couple of hundred other retailers.

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Originally posted by bill king:
Once again the actions speak for themselves.

You say you are not interested in experience, yet you want service. Better service comes with a more experienced staff.

But I think I see what is going on here...

You and Peewee are both small business owners, so naturally you want to place yourself on the side of business vs the side of the employee in any discussion or debate, but now you are confronted with the reality that the big corporations use these dispicable, heartless tactics to lower their costs, thereby making it impossible for small businesses like yours to compete.

Then you have the issue of community, all those people thrown out on the street had families and Circut City wasn't facing bankruptcy or even operating in the red. It was just a move to increase profit.

It doesn't matter what kind of business you are in, sooner or later, the big dogs will come after your slice of the pie. When they do you will be whistling a different tune, but then it will be too late for you.

Unless you own a franchise, which gives you immunity against the big dogs because you are actually just one of their employees, with an investment.

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own 2 franchises and one separate constuction company. It doesn't give us any immunity to cometition and certainly doesn't make us anyones employee.
More clueless armchair quarterbacking.

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Originally posted by bill king:

I may have let that comment slide, if you hadn't accused me of being a clueless armchair quarterback. The fact is, I owned a financial services business, with 18 full time employees, 3 locations and was doing 10,000 sales a year.

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This was no franchise and along with the greater risks came greater rewards. Unfortunately, my business failed, due mostly to economic conditions, but I gained a world of insight into owning a small/medium sized business.

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Your construction company qualifies as a stand-alone business and, as you already know, has serious competition from the big companies out there. Unless the business atmosphere changes in there near future, all business will be conducted by a handful of huge multi-national corporations.

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The difference is generally that a brand name has been established and is accepted as a better product (in a nutshell).