Thursday, May 9, 2013

Good Thing They Rammed Through That Mining Bill

Remember how the Republicans, after they had been richly rewarded by the mining companies, just had to pass that mining bill that the mining companies wrote, even though it was illegal, violated centuries-old agreements and would ravish the environment of the Northwoods of Wisconsin?

They said that they had to do it because it was "shovel ready" jobs, gazillions of them, both up north and in Milwaukee.

So they rammed it through, even though the majority of people opposed it.

To date, it has not created one job.

And it doesn't look like it will create any jobs anytime soon (emphasis mine)
Menomonee Falls-based Magnetek Inc. today reported first quarter net income of $472,00, or 14 cents per share, down from $6.9 million, or $2.14 per share, in the same period a year ago.

The company’s net sales dipped to $25.1 million from $28.7 million a year ago.

The decrease in sales from the prior year quarter reflects sales declines of products for mining markets, and the company's decision to no longer pursue new sales opportunities in renewable energy markets.

"Challenging conditions in mining markets, combined with moderating demand and seasonal factors in material handling markets, resulted in both a sequential and a year-over-year decline in both sales and profitability. In response, we focused our actions during the quarter on controlling our payroll and other discretionary costs. Despite the lower sales levels, our continuing operations remained profitable, and our first quarter adjusted EBITDA achievement was more than 10 percent of sales," said Peter McCormick, Magnetek's president and chief executive officer.
But don't worry, the company has a plan in mind to keep the stakeholders from not raking in their profits. The article says that the company plans to screw over their workers by raiding their pensions.

How so thoughtful of them.

It also makes me wonder all the more what Scott Walker was selling in China besides ginseng.

12 comments:

  1. Caterpillar said a similar thing with its release last month. Proves again that the mining bill was a corporate giveaway, and nothing more.

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  2. The mining bill was to streamline the approval process it wasn't like the shovel dropped as soon as the ink dried on the bill. The mine still has to be approved, then they can start actually hiring.

    Keep laying down those straw men.

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  3. Right, by "streamline the approval process" you mean accept a lot of... uh, 'donations' from mine investors in exchange for lowering the bar so far on environmental impact (and cleanup costs and other liabilities) that the only people inconvenienced by all that battery acid left behind in the water table will be the citizens of Wisconsin.

    So what looked like 3rd and 20 yards to go, to make a profit from an investment in mining, is now more like 2nd and only a couple of yards.

    Moving those chains, despite well over half the crowd in the stands (especially those closest to the ball) making very loud and clear and demonstrative protests about the obvious bias of the zebras. (In this case, the Republicans.)

    ....But iron prices *are* falling. Like a heavy rock dropped from a high place. The world demand for iron is volatile to start with but there are quite a few other reasons that US Steel held the rights to all that low-grade (pretty crappy, really) taconite for so many decades without ever making a serious effort to invest and try to extract it. (Like, the mine site can only be profitable if the terms and conditions are politically engineered to be as one-sided and unfair to Wisconsin residents as possible. Which is what we got.)

    But check out the price of iron ore lately, and you tell me how many people will be "actually hired?"

    http://www.indmin.com/Article/3079289/Shipping-on-alert-worldwide-as-iron-ore-prices-crash.html

    http://nicosiamoneynews.com/2012/09/27/chinese-iron-mines-shut-amid-price-fall/

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  4. The Penokee mine is dead. Dumping mine waste into streams and wetlands is a violation of the Clean Water Act and the EPA's authority to pull permits for mountaintop removal mining has been upheld by the conservative D.C. Federal District Court of Appeals.

    Game, set, match. Republicans will need to find some other way to befoul northern Wisconsin.

    http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/04/24/1916861/in-huge-win-on-mountaintop-removal-with-big-implications-court-upholds-epa-authority-to-protect-clean-water/

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    Replies
    1. Yet, it's okay with you that Tom Barrett befouls Lake Michigan with millions of gallons of poop.

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    2. No one said that. Stay on topic, Anon.....

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    3. Anonymous at 1:14, money is needed to solve the sewerage problem. Will you support funding for increasing water treatment capacity in Milwaukee, even if that means raising taxes or borrowing money? Or are you only going to whine without a solution?

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  5. Yup, throwing every last shred of his community and social responsibility, Tom Barrett hunted down Doc Everett Brown and went back to the 1980's and early 1990's.

    They made sure that the proposals for a larger, more expensive sewer system would be defeated and the Deep Tunnel would be built instead. (Pretty good work, for part of that time he was teaching school, I think.)

    Then they rounded up the investors and contractors who would build it. They stashed their earnings at a USB account in Zurich that can only be accessed in the year 2056, after having deducted what they had to pay the people who were voting on the bill. Time means nothing to them....

    That's getting close to what Dollar Bill Williams and G-Tac are doing, but not really.

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  6. That high-speed rail Walker rejected sure looks good right now.

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  7. "Anonymous at 1:14, money is needed to solve the sewerage problem. Will you support funding for increasing water treatment capacity in Milwaukee, even if that means raising taxes or borrowing money? Or are you only going to whine without a solution?"

    Actually it's rather simple. If you own property with a combined sewer you pay an assessment to get it fixed. Why wasn't that done in the first place? For the same reason combined sewers were originally built.

    Whine without a solution??? You describe every post on this blog, but at this point, what difference does it make???

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  8. anon@ 843:

    You really don't know what is needed to fix a combined sewer, do you ?

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